More than 300 young herons were recently captured practicing flying from the Haohanpo cliffs along the Yellow River in Pinglu County, north China's Shanxi Province, considered a milestone before they take to the skies for good.
In the footage, young herons stand on the rocky ledges of the cliffs, spread their wide gray-and-black wings, and fly hard against the wind rising from the river valley.
The Haohanpo cliffs along the Yellow River are a natural breeding habitat for herons, where they build their nests on the rocky ledges, creating a unique ecological landscape.
Over 1,000 adult herons have bred on the cliffs this year, raising more than 300 chicks. Between June and July each year, the fledglings, after finishing their flight practice, will join the adults in migrating and searching for food along the Yellow River.
Over 300 young herons practice flying from cliffs in China's Shanxi
China's foreign trade showed upward momentum in the first half of 2026, with higher port throughput and growth in both imports and exports, according to official data.
According to the country's State Information Center, during the first six months of this year, China's average daily container throughput at ports nationwide increased by 6.7 percent year on year, and the average daily cargo throughput grew by 1.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the country's foreign trade structure has also been optimized, transforming high added-value products into the driving force for export growth.
Latest statistics showed that in the January-to-June period, the average daily number of international cargo flights increased by 4.6 percent year on year, with strong and sustained demand for high-value-added products, such as electronics.
"Facing the complex and ever-changing external economic and trade environment in the first half of the year, the resilience and competitiveness of China's industrial and supply chains have become increasingly evident. Foreign trade has not only achieved steady growth in scale but has also demonstrated a positive trend of 'quality imports and exports.' Looking ahead to the second half of 2026, as the benefits of institutional opening up continue to unfold, new momentum for the high-quality development of China's foreign trade will keep building up, likely providing further certainty and vitality to the global economy," said Wang Bingjie, assistant researcher with the National Development and Reform Commission's Institute of Foreign Economic.
China’s foreign trade shows great momentum in H1
