Traditional treatments, advanced equipment on China's navy hospital ship wow Brazilian visitors

Brazilian residents and military officers have embarked on eye-opening tours of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's hospital ship, the Silk Road Ark, where they witnessed the advanced medical equipment and unique traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments available on board.

The hospital ship arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil last Thursday, beginning a seven-day friendly visit along with medical exchange activities.

This is one of the stops for the hospital ship during its 220-day "Harmony Mission 2025" mission, and the first visit by a Chinese naval hospital ship to Brazil.

The ship features 14 clinical departments and 7 auxiliary diagnostic units, capable of performing over 60 types of medical procedures spanning general surgery, orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, and more. An onboard helicopter enhances its emergency medical rescue capabilities.

During the opening period, local residents, overseas Chinese, and representatives of employees of Chinese-funded institutions boarded the Silk Road Ark and visited the ship's medical equipment and learned about the operational procedures of the floating hospital, including the reception, triage, and treatment of wounded personnel.

"My first impression about this Silk Road Ark: amazing boat with great technologies, both traditional and modern. So, I think we have a lot to learn from the Chinese experience, and these strengthen our ties with China. Our Brazil-China friendship keeps getting stronger and stronger, and this also solidifies friendship between China and Latin America," said Brazilian resident Hebeta.

The Brazilian Navy also sent a team of experts to learn about the operational procedures of the ship's various testing equipment and exchange views on issues such as the maintenance of medical equipment in the maritime environment and the efficiency of testing during treatment.

Expert practitioners of TCM on board the ship also demonstrated acupuncture, massage, cupping, and scraping techniques to the visitors, explaining the principles of diagnosis and treatment using case studies, offering visitors an intuitive understanding of TCM culture.

"What I found especially striking was the contrast between modern medicine, what we would consider as modern medicine, and the more traditional Chinese medicine. So, we really feel like we are almost exploring a museum as well as a hospital at the same time," said Chloe, another resident of the country.

Since its arrival, the hospital ship has received more than 1,000 visitors from all walks of life in Brazil, becoming an important window for the Brazilian people to understand China's development and construction achievements and experience the charm of Chinese culture.

Traditional treatments, advanced equipment on China's navy hospital ship wow Brazilian visitors

A total of 297.665 million inter-regional passenger trips nationwide were recorded on Saturday, the second day of the five-day May Day holiday this year, transport authorities said on Sunday.

The figure represents a 1.7 percent increase from the same day last year and a 11.8 percent decline from Friday, the first day of the break.

Railway passenger trips rose 1.2 percent from a year ago to 19.781 million, 20.4 percent down the previous day and up 1.2 percent year on year.

A total of 273.86 million road trips were reported on the day, an increase of 1.8 percent year on year, and 11.2 percent less from the previous day.

Among them, commercial passenger trips reached 39.40 million, an increase of 14.9 percent year on year, while non-commercial passenger trips reached 234.46 million, roughly the same as the previous year.

The waterways handled 2.096 million trips, marking a 1.3 percent decline year on year.

The civil aviation passenger trips stood at 1.928 million, down 11 percent from the previous year.

China's postal sector collected 474 million parcels, up 6.3 percent from the previous day, and delivered 493 million parcels, down 4.6 percent from the previous day.

The May Day holiday, running from May 1 to 5, is typically one of the busiest travel periods of the year. During this time, millions of Chinese passengers hit the road to visit family or go traveling.

Holiday Day 2 sees 297.665 mln passenger trips