Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday visited a residential community in Shanghai's Huangpu District during an inspection trip to the city where he learned of the achievements made in urban renewal projects.
During the visit, Xi toured a local residential community where a series of buildings dating back nearly seven decades have been extensively renovated and upgraded in recent years, significantly improving the living conditions for residents.
The Shimin Xincun residential area in the Bansongyuan Road Subdistrict, where Xi visited, had four old buildings originally built back in 1957, but over time faced prominent problems such as structural safety hazards and lacked modern sanitation facilities.
However, the community was one of many residential areas to benefit from a comprehensive renovation project which was launched in Huangpu District in October 2022 with the aim of modernizing outdated buildings.
The large-scale initiative involved over 350 households and saw a combination of relocation, demolition and reconstruction efforts which sought to address housing safety issues and ensure each home had its own private kitchen and bathroom.
It also included the installation of elevators, new independent balconies, pocket gardens, underground parking, and other amenities in these residential areas, significantly improving people's living conditions. The project was completed in March this year, with 178 households having already moved back in.
This major housing renewal initiative set numerous city records for projects of a similar nature, including involving the highest resident participation as well as seeing the fastest overall relocation and construction progress.
During the inspection tour, Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed the need to fully embrace the people-centered philosophy of urban development.
Urban renewal initiatives should be carried out in a thorough, meticulous and effective manner in a bid to continuously enhance the people's sense of fulfillment, happiness and security, Xi said.
Xi visits residential community which benefited from urban renewal initiative in Shanghai
Rally participants gathered in the Japanese capital on Aug 9, which also marked the 81st anniversary of the Nagasaki atomic bombing, to voice strong opposition to the government's push to boost defense spending and revise the war-renouncing Article 9 of the national Constitution.
Holding anti-war placards, chanting anti-war slogans, protesters warned that remilitarizing the nation would betray its pacifist ideals and endanger future generations.
"Defense spending keeps increasing. Based on Article 9 of the Constitution, Japan pledged never to wage war again, yet it keeps strengthening its military. I find this extremely dangerous. They are also trying to revise Article 9. So I believe that for the sake of future young people and children, Article 9 must never be revised. Japan decided never to repeat the mistakes of waging a war after its defeat in WWII. I think we should continue to safeguard that commitment," said a rally participant.
For many in the crowd, the shadow of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remains a powerful moral compass as they believe that militarization offers no path forward for a nation that knows the devastation of war firsthand.
"Japan is the only country in the world to have suffered atomic bombings. Yet now Japan is going to deploy missiles. I believe Japan must never possess nuclear weapons," said another rally participant.
"I believe Japan has no future if it goes down the path of militarization. Nuclear weapons are absolutely bad for Japan," said a third woman, also a rally participant.
Beyond moral objections, some demonstrators said that Japan's economic vulnerabilities articulate that saber-rattling is a luxury the country cannot afford.
"I can't help but wonder what on earth a country with only a 36 percent food self-sufficiency rate would be fighting with. I have always been opposed to war, and I'm deeply dissatisfied with what the Takaichi administration is doing now," said another rally participant.
Other rally participants said that seeing revision of the Constitution could unleash unchecked military expansion, stripping away the very safeguards that have kept Japan at peace for eight decades.
"Article 9 of the Constitution is the key. If the nature of the Self-Defense Forces is elevated to a level beyond collective self-defense, which is explicitly written into the Constitution, it will allow the authority of the Self-Defense Forces to expand without limit. So no matter what, I want to prevent this from happening," said one more rally participant.
Japanese citizens rally against Takaichi's military expansion, constitutional revision
