Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday urged efforts to make the Palace Museum a major education base for fostering patriotism and an important window for the world to better understand Chinese civilization and the Chinese nation.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when visiting an exhibition marking the 100th founding anniversary of the Palace Museum in Beijing.
The exhibition themed "A Century of Stewardship: From the Forbidden City to the Palace Museum," features 200 pieces (sets) of cultural relics and documents, including masterpieces of calligraphy and paintings, as well as bronze ware and jade artifacts, demonstrating the development of the museum.
Xi listened carefully to the explanation during the visit and paused to observe the relics and inquire about relevant details.
Hailing the Palace Museum as a hallmark of Chinese civilization, Xi said the museum should carry forward its fine traditions, adhere to the principle that cultural relics belong to the people and serve the people, and work harder to protect, restore and make good use of the cultural relics.
Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, also visited the exhibition.
On Oct 10, 1925, the Forbidden City, the vast walled complex that once served as China's imperial palace, was opened to the public for the first time, along with its priceless imperial art collections, marking the founding of the Palace Museum.
Xi calls for turning Palace Museum into window for Chinese civilization
Xi calls for turning Palace Museum into window for Chinese civilization
An artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model specialized for analyzing human genetic diversity was launched at Shanghai's cutting-edge Model Speed Space innovation hub on Tuesday.
Named SNPBAG, it is the world's first large model built specifically for genomic analysis, promising to precisely predict diseases and advance personalized health care.
The model focuses on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the most common type of genetic variation among people, which influence traits such as height, intelligence and personality.
Currently, SNPBAG can be used for ancestry tracing and kinship identification. In the future, with further training, it is expected to predict disease risks at various life stages based on DNA sequences, offering higher screening accuracy than existing genetic testing methods.
"As far as we know, traditional methods examine SNPs point by point for correlations with traits like height or intelligence, without taking into account, for example, interactions between or among genes. Therefore, we need a model that can autonomously identify these complex relationships. Now, we've found such a tool that can bring close two gene expressions [of the human body] that are far away from each other and provide biological interpretations," said Tang Kun, an expert of computational biology and founder of Shanghai Feipu Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.
Looking ahead, the model will support the development of China's sovereign genomic database, promote its domestic self-reliance, enhance AI-driven drug discovery and improve the target screening success rates by over 200 percent. It also aims to make precision health care more accessible.
"The most well-known application is non-invasive prenatal screening. Currently, only a few conditions are covered by national insurance, but there are over 20,000 rare diseases in children. We are now collaborating with Shanghai Children’s Hospital to expand screening coverage," said Lu Sitong, CEO of Shanghai Feipu Intelligent Technology.
With SNPBAG, non-invasive prenatal screening is expected to detect a broader range of rare diseases in the future. The company said it also plans to launch consumer-facing products to benefit the general public.
China launches world's first foundation model for genomic analysis
