Alibaba staffers cheer in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. It took just 96 seconds for Alibaba Group to net 10 billion yuan worth of gross merchandise volume on Monday just after midnight, faster than last year's 125 seconds to cross the same threshold. [Photo/VCG]
Editor's notes: The annual Singles Day shopping frenzy ended Monday with new sales records achieved by Chinese merchants and e-commerce platforms. Alibaba, the initiator of the Double 11 shopping carnival in 2009, achieved record high sales of 268.4 billion yuan ($38.4 billion) this year.
A staff member sorts packages at a warehouse in Lian Yungang, East China's Jiangsu province. Tmall logged 1 billion delivery orders in 16 hours and 33 minutes, 6 hours and 45 minutes earlier than last year. [Photo/VCG]
Staff members unload the goods from a high-speed train in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province. Some 120,000 kinds of products were newly imported to China on the Tmall International platform and the growth rate hit 300 percent for those brands entering China for the first time. [Photo/VCG]
Packages to be delivered are placed in a Suning logistics center in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province. All postal and express delivery companies handled 535 million packages across the country on Nov 11, three times higher than the daily processing volume since the second quarter this year, up 28.6 percent year-on-year, according to the State Post Bureau. [Photo/VCG]
Participants communicate with each other during the marine aircraft design and production contest at Weihai Vocational College in Weihai city, East China's Shandong province, Nov 11, 2019. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization Countries Vocational Skills Contest kicked off on Monday. Participants from 20 countries and regions will compete in 13 contest events such as mobile robots, welding, western food cooking and so on. [Photo/Xinhua]
Participants compete in the CAD (computer-aided design) mechanical engineering design contest at Weihai Vocational College in Weihai city, East China's Shandong province, Nov 11, 2019. [Photo/Xinhua]
Participants compete in the fashion technology contest at Weihai Vocational College in Weihai city, East China's Shandong province, Nov 11, 2019. [Photo/Xinhua]
Participants compete in the prototyping contest at Weihai Vocational College in Weihai city, East China's Shandong province, Nov 11, 2019. [Photo/Xinhua]
A participant competes in the welding contest at Weihai Vocational College in Weihai city, East China's Shandong province, Nov 11, 2019. [Photo/Xinhua]
Long Qiang works as a mechanic on the Chongqing section of China Railway Chengdu Group. Like a doctor, Long’s job is to keep a close eye to ensure the healthy operation of equipment on high-speed train D5053 so passengers are assured a safe, comfortable journey.
He often holds a flashlight and walks inside or around the train to ensure all monitored parts are viewed every three hours. (Photos: China News Service/Su Zhigang)
Bags of parcels containing goods purchased during the Singles’ Day shopping festival are loaded onto a train at a station in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province for delivery to Nanjing City in Jiangsu Province, Nov. 11, 2019. (Photos: China News Service/Liu Zhongjubn)
China’s rapid railway network is also contributing to the fast transportation of numerous express parcels, which can reach a historical high during the Nov. 11 Singles' Day sales, one of the largest online shopping sprees worldwide. (Photos: China News Service/Liu Zhongjubn)
The Jilin-1 Gaofen 02A, which belongs to the Jilin-1 satellite family, is launched by Kuaizhou-1A (KZ-1A), a carrier rocket at 11:40 a.m. (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Guansu Province, Nov. 13, 2019. (Photo/China News Service)
Taylor Swift performed for her Chinese fans at Guangzhou Tianhe Sports Center in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province on Nov 11. [Photo provided to China Daily]
An automatic vending car makes its debut near the National Stadium, otherwise known as the Bird’s Nest, in Beijing, Nov. 11, 2019. Equipped with smart technologies, the driver-less vehicle can move around the Olympic Park, a popular tourism destination, allowing customers to purchase items by scanning a QR code. (Photo/VCG)
The city recorded its lowest temperature of minus 2C or 28F. Strong winds, snow and rain have swept Central and Eastern China, significantly bringing down temperatures. (Photo/ICphoto)
A red bronze horse-head statue was brought back by Macao-based tycoon and collector Stanley Ho Hung-sun and handed over to the National Cultural Heritage Administration in Beijing on Wednesday. The statue appeared in the National Museum of China on Wednesday afternoon and joined a temporary exhibition on cultural relics that have been returned from overseas since 1949. First built in 1707, the Old Summer Palace, or Yuanmingyuan, the former imperial resort of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in northwestern Beijing, was often referred to as "the garden of gardens" for its lush landscapes and numerous temples, palaces and pavilions. It covered a 350-hectare area, about five times that of the Forbidden City.(Photo provided to China News Service)
The lead actress of Peking Opera masterpiece The Drunken Beauty and a male opera singer perform When East Meets West at the opening ceremony for the 6th Qianmen Historical and Cultural Festival in Beijing on Nov 1, 2019. [Photo by Yang Xiaoyu/chinadaily.com.cn]
Visitors to the festival can learn about the hub’s long-standing history and experience its contemporary art through a number of exhibitions. A raft of pop-up stores showcasing handicrafts and cultural creative products born out of cultural heritages from around the country should also not be missed.
A piece of Beijing carved lacquer-ware is on display at the Li Ziqi pop-up shop on QianmenDajie in Beijing on Nov 1, 2019. [Photo by Yang Xiaoyu/chinadaily.com.cn]
A visitor stands next to a terra cotta warrior replica in front of a store on QianmenDajie in Beijing on Nov 1, 2019. [Photo by Yang Xiaoyu/chinadaily.com.cn]
Yang Changqin teaches trainees the techniques of bamboo weaving at the training center in Chishui, Southwest China's Guizhou province, on Nov 12, 2019. [Photo/Xinhua]
Yang Changqin processes bamboo at her workshop in Chishui, Southwest China's Guizhou province, on Nov 12, 2019. [Photo/Xinhua]
Yang Changqin, a young woman from Chishui, Southwest China's Guizhou province, has become the inheritor of the local bamboo weaving technique. And from this intangible cultural heritage, she's found a way to lift not only herself, but local villagers, out of poverty.
With the right climate and natural environment, Chishui now boasts nearly 9 hectares of bamboo forest, which provides adequate materials for bamboo-related industries. Local farmers have been relying on this tropical plant to increase their income over the past few decades.
Students have class at Nongyong Primary School in Nongyong Village of Bansheng Township, Dahua Yao Autonomous County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nov. 11, 2019.
Students have lunch at Nongyong Primary School in Nongyong Village of Bansheng Township, Dahua Yao Autonomous County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nov. 11, 2019.
Students clean the multifunctional teaching board at Nongyong Primary School in Nongyong Village of Bansheng Township, Dahua Yao Autonomous County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nov. 11, 2019.
Aerial photo taken on Nov. 11, 2019 shows Nongyong Primary School located in the deep mountains at Nongyong Village of Bansheng Township, Dahua Yao Autonomous County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Local government in recent years carried out many measures for the poverty alleviation work, and invested more than 5 million yuan (about 713,970 U.S. dollars) to transform and expand Nongyong Primary School. Besides the new teaching building, dormitory building, canteen and toilets, lots of advanced facilities including multimedia classroom, vocal music room, library and distance teaching system have also been accessible to the students. To further improve the teaching facilities, the school also planned to expand the campus area with the construction of new teaching building and playground. (Xinhua/Huang Xiaobang)
