Chinese astronauts give Hong Kong, Macao students live lesson from orbit

Chinese astronauts aboard the Tiangong space station delivered a live-broadcast class designated to students in China's special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao on Wednesday, marking the fifth Tiangong Class session.

Shenzhou-23 commander Zhu Yangzhu, spacecraft pilot Zhang Zhiyuan and payload specialist Lai Ka-ying conducted the class, which features in-orbit demonstrations and a question-and-answer session.

Lai is the first payload specialist from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).

The astronauts introduced the station's three-module layout and demonstrated how a gyroscope maintains its direction in microgravity. They also showed daily life aboard the station, including baking a cake in the space kitchen, exercising on a treadmill and wringing out a wet towel.

Lai introduced rice, noodles and bread as staple foods available to the crew, and showed plants growing in the station's plant-growing facility, including sweet potato leaves, mint, several varieties of lettuce and kale.

Other demonstrations included a bauhinia flower -- Hong Kong's floral emblem -- floating in the microgravity environment, and a water-ball ping-pong demonstration. The crew also introduced the Tianyun camera, a space station instrument developed with input from a Hong Kong research team.

In the question-and-answer session, students asked about cuisine in orbit, astronaut training, artificial intelligence applications aboard the station, silkworm rearing and biology experiments, preparations for spacewalks and career choices.

The event was jointly organized by the governments of the Hong Kong SAR and the Macao Macao SAR, along with the China Manned Space Agency. More than 200 primary and secondary school students from the two regions attended the ground class at Tsuen Wan Public Ho Chuen Yiu Memorial College in Hong Kong, Lai's alma mater.

HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu and officials from both regions also attended the session. At the close of the event, Lee spoke with Lai in a live link, while the crew encouraged young people in Hong Kong and Macao to pursue scientific exploration.

The session was broadcast live to primary and secondary schools across both regions, as well as through official online platforms and local broadcasters.

Chinese astronauts give Hong Kong, Macao students live lesson from orbit

China's Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) welcomed 11 foreign banks as new direct participants at a bank-enterprise collaboration event in Xiamen of east China's Fujian Province on Tuesday, extending its reach across six new countries, including Rwanda, Türkiye and Uzbekistan.

A signing ceremony for the new participating banks took place on the sidelines of the 26th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT), which attracted delegations from 129 countries and regions, with 60 setting up exhibition areas.

The new agreements have further extended the global reach of CIPS -- a payment system that provides clearing and settlement services for cross-border RMB payments and trade -- expanding the network of direct participants in 133 countries and regions, while its business now covers 192 countries and regions, reaching some 5,300 banking institutions.

Mziwandile Mavuso, head of intraday liquidity management at South Africa's FirstRand Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in Africa, said direct participation in the system makes RMB payments smoother and simpler for bank clients.

"Through direct participation in CIPS, banks can offer faster and more transparent RMB payment services, reduce dependencies on multiple intermediaries," said Mziwandile Mavuso, head of intraday liquidity management at FirstRand Bank Ltd.in South Africa.

The event on Tuesday also saw CIPS launch its cross-border letter of guarantee service, a standardized messaging tool covering issuance, amendment, claims and refusal notices, easing guarantee arrangements across borders for lenders and their corporate clients alike and adding to the growing range of RMB applications in international payments.

The banking breakthrough was held for the first time as part of broader CIFIT trade fair, which is organized by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and has become an important platform for boosting investment and facilitating global development since it was first held in 1997.

China's cross-border payment system welcomes 11 foreign banks as new direct participants