A freight train on Thursday set off from Shijiazhuang City in Hebei Province to Tacheng City of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, marking the north China city's first scheduled train service using a rail-road transport model to destinations in Central Asia.
Loaded with 110 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of automotive parts, the train departed from Shijiazhuang international land port and headed for Almaty Region of Kazakhstan via Tacheng in northwest China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region.
The freight train service employs a combined rail-road transport model. After the cargo reaches Tacheng, a border city that directly adjoins Kazakhstan, it will be distributed across Almaty via "door-to-door" road transport, enabling rapid access to the broader Central Asian market.
Compared to freight trains that operate only when cargo is ready, scheduled freight trains run on fixed timetables, routes and frequencies, reducing logistics costs and accelerating capital turnover. The rail service will operate one train per week.
North China's Shijiazhuang starts scheduled rail-road freight to Central Asia
North China's Shijiazhuang starts scheduled rail-road freight to Central Asia
Music and dance filled the air at a cultural square in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province on Friday, as thousands of people gathered to join the traditional Munao Zongge dance, a national intangible cultural heritage.
At the square in Longchuan County, roughly 10,000 people, including local people of ethnic groups and tourists from across the country, took part in the grand song-and-dance celebration, stepping in unison as the dance formations shifted.
Among the dancers were members of the Jingpo people, one of Yunnan's many ethnic groups, who wore elaborate costumes adorned with peacock feathers.
Literally meaning "dancing together," Munao Zongge is the largest song-and-dance celebration of the Jingpo people. The dance, passed down for thousands of years in the region, is a spectacular blend of music, ritual, rhythm, and color.
Its formations are constantly changing, yet the performance never falls into disarray. The key lies with the lead dancers who control the rhythm and route of the entire dance.
The event unfolded on the second day of the week-long National Day holiday, a peak travel and tourism period when people across the country flock to cultural and scenic destinations.
Thousands join vibrant traditional dance in Yunnan during National Day holiday
