Around 500 black-faced spoonbills, an endangered species with only thousands remaining worldwide, are currently breeding on an island off the coast of Zhuanghe City in northeast China's Liaoning Province under local authorities' protection.
The endangered black-faced spoonbill, a large white wading bird with a distinctively spoon-shaped beak resembling a traditional Chinese pluck instrument called pipa, is under the first-class state protection and in the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.
According to the 2025 census, the global population of the species is 7,081.
Every year in mid-to-late March, black-faced spoonbills set off from their wintering grounds and migrate northward to Zhuanghe City, where they engage in mating, nesting and chick-raising activities.
To ensure the safety of these black-faced spoonbills, Dalian coast guard has increased patrols and deployed electro-optical surveillance equipment in the area since March.
They are also conducting regular island inspections without disturbing the birds in collaboration with other departments to track their activities in real time.
Meanwhile, the core habitat area of the birds has been closed up, with fishing banned in their foraging areas to secure a stable food supply for them.
The black-faced spoonbills are expected to remain in Zhuanghe until October, when the fledglings will join the grownups on their southward journey to wintering grounds.
Endangered black-faced spoonbills seen breeding in Liaoning
The chairman and president of the American Chamber of Commerce in South China expressed optimism about U.S. President Donald Trump's state visit to China.
Trump landed in the Chinese capital on Wednesday evening for a three-day state visit to China at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Guangzhou, Harley Seyedin, chairman and president of the chamber, highlighted the visit's critical importance to the chamber's members, which account for about 40 percent of China-U.S. business trade and investment.
"The American Chamber of Commerce in South China has over 2,300 members, which account for about 40 percent of all U.S.-China business trade and investment. Therefore, his trip is extremely important to us, and we're very excited about the fact that he's coming," said Seyedin.
"Certainty is extremely important in business and I do believe that his trip will bring about certainty on a number of issues, especially on investment and cooperation and sales. And I think we will do very well with the fact that he's here. The Greater Bay Area, which consists of Hong Kong, Macao and nine cities on the mainland, has a GDP of 2.1 trillion U.S. dollars. I think the fact that President Trump is here is going to signal that we can continue to expand our business, we can continue to cooperate with our Chinese partners and prosper and benefit from the opportunities that will be available," said Seyedin.
He noted that the visit was crucial to a majority of chamber members who now focus on the Chinese market rather than exports.
"I do believe that his arrival will signal better cooperation in many, many new areas, What this will resolve is the reduction of tariffs and I do expect that reduction in tariff levels that's going to be very important. Seventy-seven percent of the members of the American Chamber of Commerce based in South China are not in the export business anymore. They are primarily here importing from the United States components and parts and products, and manufacturing in China for the Chinese market. So the Chinese market has become very important to us. And therefore President Trump's visit, his cooperation with President Xi Jinping, his meetings are gonna be extremely beneficial in our ability to penetrate the Chinese market, even in a greater way than we have in the past," the chairman said.
He also pointed out opportunities for U.S. companies in China's green industrial transformation, citing collaboration in electric vehicles (EVs), batteries, healthcare, AI, and consumer products.
"China is developing new technologies from which we can benefit by cooperating with our Chinese partners - EVs, batteries as well as health care. China is now the leading innovator of new drugs. We know that we can work together with China on many clinical trials in development of new technology. We can work together in AI areas. We think that AI is not necessarily just defense, it is an area that's very important to business going forward. In addition to that, there are just about every consumer product that you can imagine that we provide here in China, and we're gonna continue to do that," he said.
Trump's China visit to boost investment, cooperation: business leader
