Top searches: Space module Mengtian, China-U.S. phone talks, COVID-19 in China
The United States should carefully study the report of the 20th CPC National Congress if it really wants to understand China, said Chinese FM Wang Yi.
Today's newsletter is about trending topics on China's social media WeChat on Monday. The successful launch of Mengtian module, means a step closer to China's space station, a milestone for China's space exploration. Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a phone call with his U.S. counterpart Antony Blinken over China-U.S. relations. And Shanghai Disney Resort shut abruptly on Monday as COVID-19 flare-ups still trouble Shanghai and some other cities and regions.
Monday's top 10 trending searches on WeChat as of 5:00 p.m. (0900 GMT):
#1 China’s Space Station lab module Mengtian successfully launched
梦天实验舱发射任务圆满成功
#2 Wang Yi: The US should stop containing and suppressing China
王毅：美方应停止对华遏制打压的做法
#3 Seven departments announce regulations on celebrity endorsement
七部门出手规范明星代言活动
Seven Chinese government departments issued a piece of guidance together to further regulate celebrity endorsement, according to the official WeChat account of State Administration for Market Regulation. The document gives detailed requirements on celebrities making commercials, asking them to shoulder more social responsibility, including making sure of the authenticity of the advertisement.
#4 Shanghai Disneyland is closed indefinitely starting from Oct. 31
上海迪士尼10月31日起暂时关闭
#5 The resignation of "the richest Chinese woman" causes the stock price of the company to plunge
“中国女首富”辞职公司股价大跌
Wu Yajun, the Chairwoman of Longfor Properties Co. Ltd, resigned due to old age and personal health problems. Wu is said to top the richest Chinese woman list multiple times in the past, and her retirement caused the company's stock price to plunge over 40 percent on Monday, according to information on the Internet. Founded in Chongqing municipality in southwest China in 1993, the company's business covers apartment buildings, business complexes and other real estate businesses across China.
#6 Shanghai government's official WeChat account responded that Pudong district transported kindergarten kids [affected by COVID-19 to other places]
上海发布回应浦东转运幼儿园小朋友
#7 The death toll of India suspension bridge collapse climbs over 100 -- Reuters
印度吊桥坍塌已致超百人遇难
#8 China won't take part in Japan naval fleet review, according to Japanese media -- the japan times
日媒称中国将不参加日本阅舰式
#9 Lula wins Brazil's 2022 presidential election -- Reuters
卢拉在2022巴西总统选举中获胜
#10 ASML opposes the U.S. restrictions on selling lithography machines to China -- Bloomberg
ASML拒绝美要求禁止对华出售光刻机
#1 China’s Space Station lab module Mengtian successfully launched
China launches space station lab module Mengtian -- ChinaDaily
China's Mengtian space lab module, the third major component of the nation's Tiangong space station, was launched on Monday afternoon in a key step to complete the in-orbit assembly of Tiangong.
The lab module's carrier — a Long March 5B heavy-lift rocket — blasted off at 3:37 pm at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the southernmost island province of Hainan.
After flying more than eight minutes, the rocket placed the spacecraft into a low-Earth orbit nearly 400 kilometers above the ground in which Tiangong is traveling.
In the next couple of hours, the Mengtian is scheduled to rendezvous and then dock with the Tiangong station's Tianhe core module, according to the China Manned Space Agency.
What's the Mengtian module's role in China's upcoming space station? And what kind of experiments will be carried out up there? Here are answers from nature.
The final module, Mengtian, is one of two modules designed to host scientific experiments — the other, Wentian, was launched in July. Together, Mengtian and Wentian will make up the space station’s arms by docking onto the core module, Tianhe, which has been orbiting Earth since April 2021. The Mengtian module is critical to restoring symmetry to the station because it is currently “flying along lop-sided, which requires a lot of energy to keep oriented,” says Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Several cargo missions and astronauts have already visited the outpost, and a three-person crew now lives there.
On board are more than 20 mini-laboratories fitted with centrifuges, cold chambers reaching temperatures as low as –80 °C, a high-temperature furnace, multiple lasers and an optical atomic clock. These will be used to conduct experiments similar to those carried out on the International Space Station (ISS), including investigations into how long-term confinement in low Earth orbit affects astronauts’ health, how to prevent fires on various materials, and the quantum properties of gases. Three facilities located on the outside of the station will help to study the effects of cosmic radiation on plants and microorganisms.
As the International Space Station is expected to retire in the coming years, China's space station will serve not only as a base camp for space exploration, but also a critical platform for international scientific cooperation in space.
Foreign astronauts are welcome to work in China's space station, Taikonaut Wang Yaping, also a delegate of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said during an interview at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 16.
China is implementing its first batch of international cooperation programs on board the Tiangong space station, and will hopefully upload those experiments by the end of the year. Foreign astronauts are welcome to Tiangong to make greater contributions to the shared future of mankind, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin remarked in April.
#2 Wang Yi: the US should stop containing and suppressing China
Wang Yi told Blinken that the major policies of the Chinese party and government will retain a high degree of continuity and stability. He noted that the US should carefully study the report of the 20th CPC National Congress if it really wants to understand China. The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis.
Chinese FM holds phone talks with U.S. secretary of state over bilateral ties -- Xinhua
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a phone conversation on Monday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the latter's request, with the two sides exchanging views on the current and future China-U.S. relations.
The United States, Blinken said, pays close attention to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and its report.
Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said the 20th CPC National Congress was a united, democratic and progressive one.
The most important achievement of the congress, Wang said, is that it responded to the common aspirations of the whole party and the people of the whole country, established General Secretary Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole, and established Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guiding ideology that must be adhered to for a long time.
China will continue to unswervingly follow the proven path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, Wang said, adding that the major policies of the Chinese party and government will retain a high degree of continuity and stability.
Wang stressed that the important message sent by the congress is that China will stick to the foreign policy objectives of maintaining world peace and promoting common development, continue to pursue the fundamental national policy of opening up, promote the overall progress of mankind with the Chinese path to modernization, and bring new opportunities to the world with China's new developments, which is the greatest stability China offers to the turbulent international situation.
The United States should carefully study the report of the 20th CPC National Congress if it really wants to understand China, Wang said, adding that China's domestic and foreign policies are open and transparent, and its strategic intentions are open and aboveboard. He also cautioned the United States against making conjectures by looking through tinted glasses and allowing ideological biases to cloud its eyes.
Wang said that bringing China-U.S. relations back to the track of stable development not only serves the common interests of China and the United States, but also meets the common expectations of the international community. The United States should stop containing and suppressing China and refrain from creating new obstacles for bilateral relations, he said.
The United States has adopted new export control regulations against China and restricted its investment in China, seriously violating free trade rules and gravely undermining China's legitimate rights and interests, and thus must correct those practices, Wang added.
The world is looking forward to U.S.-China cooperation, Blinken said, adding that the United States stands ready to maintain communication and cooperation with China on the next stage of U.S.-China relations and explore the basis of their bilateral relations.
The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis. Wang said that all parties should exercise restraint, make calm decisions and step up diplomatic efforts to prevent the crisis from escalating or even getting out of control.
The door of negotiations must not be shut as long as there is a glimmer of hope, and 100 percent efforts should be made for peace as long as there is a 1 percent chance, Wang said.
#4 Shanghai Disneyland closed from Oct. 31 until further notice & #6 Shanghai government's official WeChat account responded that Pudong district transported kindergarten kids affected by COVID-19
Shanghai Disney Resort announced on Monday that it will be closed immediately due to COVID-19. Visitors already in the park need a negative nucleic acid test result before they can leave, according to Shanghai Fabu, the Shanghai government's official WeChat account.
People that had visited the park since Oct. 27 need to test for COVID-19 three times in three days, said the account.
A post released published later said that Pudong district (where the resort is located) has sent a work group into the theme park to organize the testing work. And all the stranded visitors have been sampled.
On the same day, the Shanghai government confirmed that a kindergarten in Pudong district was affected by the epidemic, and relevant people in the area were transported to COVID isolation facility. All kids affected are accompanied by parents and are well taken care of. (Screenshot of the government's response is provided below)
Netizens applauded for the open and timely response, but some showed concerns for small kids on social media.
Shanghai reported 10 locally transmitted asymptomatic carriers on Sunday, among them nine were found in closed-loop management.
As winter is coming, COVID cases rise in multiple places across the country. According to National Health Commission, 479 locally transmitted cases have been spotted in multiple places across China, including 291 cases in Guangdong. And 2,220 local asymptomatic cases were reported on Sunday, including 468 cases from Guangdong and 358 cases from Xinjiang.
Earlier in October, The People's Daily, a flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China, published three commentary pieces on China's Dynamic Zero-COVID Policy on Oct. 10, 11 and 12, explaining why China must stick to the Dynamic Zero-COVID Policy.