Approaching Typhoon Noul to hit Guangdong, disrupting transport, daily life

Typhoon Noul, the 12th typhoon of the year, is expected to make landfall along the coast of south China's Guangdong Province between Saturday evening and Sunday morning, seriously affecting daily life and production activities.

Typhoon Noul was upgraded from tropical storm to severe tropical storm on Friday afternoon. After making landfall between Zhuhai and Raoping in Guangdong, the typhoon will turn northward and gradually weaken, according to the National Meteorological Center, which issued an orange alert, the second-highest in its four-tier system, for Noul on Friday.

As the winds are expected to continue to intensify, the Nan'ao Bridge in Shantou, a coastal city in Guangdong, will be closed starting 16:00 Saturday to ensure traffic safety, and the reopening time will be announced separately depending on the weather conditions in the bridge area.

"Typhoon Noul has three main characteristics: First, its movement speed is relatively fast. While typhoons in the South China Sea typically move at 10 to 15 kilometers per hour, Typhoon Noul is moving at 20 to 25 kilometers per hour, and it will make landfall along the central and eastern coast of Guangdong in less than 24 hours. Second, its intensity is expected to be strong. Currently, Noul's structure is gradually improving, the sea surface temperature in the South China Sea is high, and upper-level outflow is good, so its intensity will continue to increase. It is expected to reach the upper limit of typhoon strength or strong typhoon strength, and make landfall along the coast from Shenzhen City to Huilai County between tonight and next morning. After landfall, it will continue northward, penetrating inland. The third characteristic is its wide range of precipitation. Heavy to torrential rain, and locally extremely heavy rain, is expected in eastern Guangdong, the central and eastern Pearl River Delta, and northern Guangdong. Residents in these areas should be especially vigilant for flash floods and other geological disasters caused by the rainfall," said Han Pucheng, deputy chief forecaster of Guangdong Meteorological Observatory.

Approaching Typhoon Noul to hit Guangdong, disrupting transport, daily life

China's digital economy continued its robust expansion in 2025, with the added value of the core industries accounting for over 10.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), according to a report released Friday by the Cyberspace Administration of China.

The National Informatization Development Report (2025) showed the country's digital industry revenue reached 39.6 trillion yuan (approximately 5.8 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2025, marking an 8.8-percent growth year over year. Digital consumption by Chinese residents also surged, hitting 25.3 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.7 percent.

The growth spurt came as China accelerated its transition toward a digitized economic model, partly driven by massive investments in foundational network infrastructure like 5G and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), the newest version of the Internet Protocol.

By the end of 2025, the total number of 5G base stations in the country surpassed 4.83 million, according to the report. Two-thirds of prefecture-level Chinese cities had met the standards for "gigabit cities," driven by widespread dual-gigabit network deployment and 5G infrastructure expansion.

The number of active users of IPv6 reached 869 million in the year, accounting for over 77 percent of China's total internet user base, the report said.

Data from the National Data Administration (NDA) showed that the added value of China's digital economy as a whole reached 49 trillion yuan in 2025, accounting for about 35 percent of the GDP.

According to classifications by the National Bureau of Statistics, China's digital economy covers five broad categories: digital product manufacturing, digital product services, digital technology applications, data factor-driven industries, and industries supported by digital efficiency improvements.

China has also signaled strong intentions to continue the sector's high-quality development in the coming years. The 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) prioritizes efforts to advance Digital China development, as well as drive digital and intelligent transformation across all economic and social sectors.

Core industries in China's digital economy hit 10.5 pct of GDP in 2025: report