The Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, was blanketed by Beijing's first snow of this winter on Friday, transforming the 600-year-old imperial palace complex into a picturesque winter wonderland and drawing crowds of visitors eager to capture its beauty.
The UNESCO World Heritage site, once the palace of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties, saw its iconic red walls and yellow glazed roofs covered with soft white snow, creating a striking visual contrast.
Braving the cold, many tourists flocked there to record the beautiful scenes with their cameras.
Beijing's Forbidden City blanketed in snow
China's consumption growth continues to show resilience, with millions of new restaurants opening last year, underscoring robust demand in the domestic catering sector, said Zhang Yichen, a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Zhang, who is CEO of CITIC Capital and chairs the master franchise of McDonald's China, told China Global Television Network (CGTN) that 3.5 million new restaurants opened across the country last year, including about 1,000 new McDonald's outlets annually.
At this year's "two sessions," Zhang urged policymakers to introduce measures that would encourage dine-in consumption, linking the restaurant boom to broader efforts to sustain domestic demand.
"This is the amazing resilience of the Chinese economy and Chinese enterprises overall. It's that you have another 3.5 million restaurants, new restaurants, opened," he said.
Zhang believes the key challenge now is reviving in-person dining and shopping to sustain long-term consumption growth.
"In the short term we're actually gaining from that. But in the long run, I believe overall the industry will suffer and the economy will suffer. That's why I brought up the issue and I'm so glad that the government is clearly agreeing with my views. The fact that we're (McDonald's China) opening 1000 restaurants a year and the fact that there are new restaurants still doing very well, it's a clear indication there is consumption power, you just have to find them," he said.
The "two sessions" are the annual meetings of China's supreme organ of state power, the National People's Congress (NPC), and the top political advisory body, the CPPCC. Both bodies serve five-year terms and hold a plenary session each year.
The fourth session of the 14th NPC and the fourth session of the 14th National Committee of the CPPCC opened in Beijing on March 5 and March 4, respectively.
Zhang’s remarks underscore both the resilience of China's consumer market and the need for policies to secure sustained demand, a key focus of this year’s "two sessions."
CPPCC member seeks measures to boost dine-in consumption as China's demand stays resilient
