The 19th Europe-China Business and Technology Cooperation Fair opened on Thursday in Chengdu City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, attracting business delegations from more than 20 countries.
As a core event of the fair, this year's matchmaking negotiation session attracted over 170 enterprises from 22 countries and regions, with the ratio of Chinese and foreign enterprises setting a record to reach 1:1. Many representatives of European enterprises came with specific projects and reached cooperation intentions on the spot.
More than 360 negotiation sessions have been scheduled this year, and most European representatives have made appointments for at least four negotiation sessions.
"We made our two meetings today, and also we met so many other people in the middle, today around seven or eight people, very good. Just now we were talking about like an airport twin project," said Marquis, representative of a Spanish enterprise.
Louis, another representative of a Spanish enterprise, brought a modular aquaponics system developed by his company, hoping to implement the project in China relying on the country's vast logistics network and huge market.
"I think there's a lot of possibilities to work here, and I think I see people are serious to cooperate. So I like here in Chengdu, absolutely delight to start up here," said Louis. French wine merchant Herve just received a favorable market response at a promotion event held in Beijing. Now he turned to this fair to look for distributors.
"Chinese people are very welcoming and they are really open to business. We have for the moment found an importer in China, which is based in Hangzhou. Mr. Wang explained that he could accept our product in a storage which is close to Beijing," said Herve, representative of a French enterprise.
Europe-China Business, Technology Cooperation Fair opens in Chengdu
Europe-China Business, Technology Cooperation Fair opens in Chengdu
Europe-China Business, Technology Cooperation Fair opens in Chengdu
An evocative situational song and dance performance has vividly connected the Red Army's perilous crossing of a snow-capped mountain with a modern tunnel engineering marvel during a televised gala commemorating the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Red Army's Long March on Thursday.
The Long March (1934-1936) was a defining military maneuver undertaken by the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, symbolizing endurance and perseverance which ultimately paved the way for the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
Titled "Ode to the Long March," the five-part gala broadcast by the China Media Group (CMG) centers on key historical junctures of the arduous 12,500-kilometer journey.
One of these performance segments sought to bring to life the Red Army's strenuous crossing of a snow-topped peak during the epic military trek. It weaves together two eras -- the soldiers' desperate climb through the blizzards and the modern-day construction of a tunnel through the same mountain -- to show how the spirit of perseverance endures across generations.
Through poignant dialogue and an enchanting song, the piece shows soldiers supporting one another through a fierce snowstorm, culminating in a young soldier's dream of drilling a hole through the mountain once the revolution is won. This vision comes to life as the stage setting shifts to the present day, featuring a powerful exchange between a Red Army commander and a modern engineer, symbolizing their shared determination to conquer nature's barriers.
The segment depicts the Central Red Army's June 1935 crossing of the Jiajin Mountain in southwest China's Sichuan Province, the first major snow mountain they encountered on the Long March.
Decades later, over 600 workers labored for 45 months to build the Jiajin Mountain Tunnel of the G351 highway, an engineering marvel that has permanently ended the winter isolation of over 110,000 local residents.
Integrating music, dance, drama, and folk art, the performances at the Gala vividly recall the immense hardships the Red Army endured and showcase the firm beliefs held by the Communist Party of China (CPC), even in the face of sacrifice and suffering.
The broadcast followed a commemorative meeting held earlier on Thursday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech.
The Long March began in October 1934, when 86,000 poorly armed soldiers began a grueling 12,500-kilometer journey across some of the country's harshest terrain to establish a new revolutionary base. The march concluded in October 1936 when three main Red Army forces converged in northwestern China.
Gala performance bridges past, present with nod to Long March history, modern engineering
