China's 2025 box office tops 48 bln yuan

China's box office revenue for 2025, including advance sales, has so far surpassed 48 billion yuan (about 6.62 billion U.S. dollars), latest data showed on Sunday.

Local productions continue to lead audience interest.

Among the newly scheduled releases is the war drama "Gezhi Town", which tells the lesser-known story of civilians in a remote mountain town near Yichang defending their home after the fall of Nanjing.

The suspense category is also well represented, with "Under Current", "The Fire Raven", and "Escape from the Outland" promising tension-filled narratives full of twists.

Comedy-drama "Made in Yiwu" focuses on everyday individuals navigating bizarre and humorous circumstances. Films such as "My Father's Son", "The Lost Daughter" and "Revisiting an Old Friendship" add emotional warmth to the schedule, offering options for families and general audiences alike.

Two titles already drawing attention — "Resurrection" and "Green Love" — will continue their theater runs into December.

"Resurrection" adopts a bold structure, unfolding across six chapters and spanning a century's worth of dreams and memories on screen.

"Green Love" stands out as China's first feature film centered on adolescents living with HIV/AIDS, addressing an important issue rarely spotlighted in domestic cinema.

International films are also contributing to the box office.

"Avatar: Fire and Ash", directed by James Cameron and the third installment in the iconic sci-fi franchise, is set to deliver another visually striking journey with advanced glasses-free 3D technology. Animated sequel "Zootopia 2" and the latest heist thriller "Now You See Me: Now You Don't" are also sustaining strong audience interest thanks to their well-established fan bases.

China's 2025 box office tops 48 bln yuan

The Langqi passenger terminal in Fuzhou of east China's Fujian Province officially commenced a new departure tax refund initiative for travelers heading on the "mini three links" route on Tuesday, with streamlined measures boosting the efficiency of tax refunds and speeding up customs clearance procedures.

The "mini three links" refers to direct trade, postal and transport services launched in 2001 between Fujian Province and the Taiwan-administered Kinmen and Matsu islands. It serves as a vital, convenient cross-strait passage for personnel exchanges and economic and trade interactions between the Chinese mainland and the Taiwan region.

At the heart of the upgraded service is an optimized procedure dubbed the "one document, one bag, one code" process, a simple and streamlined model designed to shorten clearance time for outbound passengers.

Under this framework, travelers who make purchases at designated pilot tax refund stores can have their qualified goods consolidated into a single sealed bag, with all corresponding tax refund information integrated into a unique QR code printed on the tax refund application form.

When departing via the Langqi passenger terminal, on-site customs officers only need to scan the QR code to retrieve and verify the details relating to the applicant's tax refund application. Travelers can then get quick customs clearance once the information is confirmed to be accurate, with no requirement to open their sealed shopping bags for repeated inspections.

Departure tax refund services launched at "mini three links" port in Fuzhou