PowerChina Supports Cultivation of Highly Skilled Talent in Zambia

LUSAKA, Zambia, Jan. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — On the Kafue River about 90 km south of Zambian capital Lusaka, Zambia’s first large-scale hydropower station is humming smoothly.

Commissioned in July 2021, the Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower Station, constructed by PowerChina, plan to install five Francis turbines, with a total installed capacity of 750 mw.

Not only has the plant accelerated the industrialisation process of Zambia, it has also changed the fate of many young people in Zambia. The 35-year-old Gift Kapanda is one of them.PowerChina Supports Cultivation of Highly Skilled Talent in Zambia

In 2017, life took an incredible turn for the young Zambian when he visited the Sinohydro Training Institute, which was launched by PowerChina to offer free vocational training courses to train skilled workers for the hydropower project and generate talents for local projects in Zambia. Kapanda was enrolled in the institute and studied electrical engineering and started his “transformation.”

Like Kapanda, the fate of more than 300 young people in Zambia has completely changed by the Sinohydro Training Institute. The skills they gained at the institute have transformed their lives.

With an investment of $1.45 million, the institute was established by PowerChina in 2017, and recruits students from all over Zambia, provides free education and training, free accommodation, and living allowances, with the aim of cultivating urgently needed skilled talents in the field of infrastructure construction for Zambia.

So far, the institute has trained 332 students, including 10 women as technicians, who have become the backbone of this project as well as other engineering construction projects in Zambia. Most of them work for the power project after they complete training, Fang Zhi, dean of the institute, told ChinAfrica.

“I used to be an ordinary electrician who could only do some simple wiring or repairs, but it is different now. I have received professional and systematic training. With practice, I have become a good electrical engineer,” Kapanda told ChinAfrica.

China’s aid to Africa has been falsely accused as “neo-colonialism,” and the image of Chinese companies in Africa has also been viciously distorted and vilified. “The fact is that Chinese enterprises in Africa employ a large number of local workers through the localisation of human resources, which greatly promotes local employment, improves the living standards of local people, and enhances the sense of belonging, happiness and responsibility of local employees,” Zhou Qingguo, project manager of the Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower Station Bureau, told ChinAfrica.

Since the Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower Station came into operation, more than 10,000 local employees have been employed, accounting for 90 percent of the power project’s workforce.

Since entering the Zambian market in 2001, PowerChina has been deeply involved in the country’s development. “By cultivating and employing local people, it is possible to strengthen the exchanges between the Chinese and African people, so as to better bring their hearts closer,” said Song Mingming, country representative of PowerChina in Zambia.

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Hisense CES 2023: Expanding Global Footprint and Paving the Way for Ongoing Growth

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — On January 4th, David Gold, President of Hisense USA, delivered a speech at Hisense CES 2023 Press Conference, sharing Hisense’s international growth and successes in terms of its global layout, technology innovations, B2B business, smart development, and its sponsorships and partnerships.

Hisense TV ranks No.2 globally in TV shipments in 2022

High-Level of Scale, Efficiency and Flexibility Making Hisense Stand Out in the Industry

Hisense TV has reached a record-high performance in 2022, ranking No.2 globally regarding its TV shipments. This accomplishment incisively demonstrates Hisense’s dedication to high-quality products as well as its resilience amid challenging circumstances.

Owning a total of 66 overseas companies and offices and 31 R&D centers, Hisense is selling its products to more than 160 countries and regions. With its acquisitions of brands like Toshiba TV, gorenje and Sanden, Hisense has brought its global operations to a new level, expanding its product categories even further.

Hisense has also been expanding the B2B business as a new growing sector. In addition, in the trend of smart development, Hisense has generated the smart home strategy, utilizing its strengths in both display technology and home appliances. “Our VIDAA smart TV operating platform and ConnectLife smart home appliance platform bring together smart home appliances to create a connected ecosystem,” said David.

Ongoing Global Partnerships and Sponsorships Making Hisense a Household Name

It has been a long journey since it first declared that “Hisense’s Future is Counting on Overseas” in 2004. As one of the official sponsors of the FIFA World Cup 2022TM, Hisense is earning an unprecedented growth in its brand awareness. In addition, its ongoing sponsorships of UEFA, Paris Saint-Germain and the United Soccer League have also made Hisense become more familiar to global consumers, which has taken Hisense’s globalization process to a new stage.

At the Hisense CES 2023 Press Conference, David Gold recalled Hisense’s tremendous growth in the global market by investing in manufacturing, research and development, strategic acquisitions, new partnerships, and high-performing products. In the upcoming years, Hisense will strive to advance even further, with a vision to stay ahead of the latest advances in fields related to consumer electronics, displays, appliances, commercial applications, and more.

David Gold, President of Hisense USA, speaks at Hisense's CES 2023 Press Conference

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A Cross-Generational Upgrade for Hisense, ULED X Technology Debuts at CES 2023

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — On January 4th, Hisense unveiled ULED X at Hisense CES 2023 Press Conference, a milestone in LCD TV technology for Hisense. ULED X represents a significant advancement in LCD television technology that offers the best ever picture quality in every frame and a realistic viewing experience with top-notch technologies including Mini-LED X, 5000+ Local Dimming Zones, 2500 nits peak brightness and Dynamic X-Display.

Stephen Yao, Assistant General Manager of Hisense USA, introduces Hisense’s ULED X at CES 2023

ULED X Improves Viewing experience

Since the introduction of the first ULED TV ten years ago, Hisense has been continually updating its ULED technologies to enhance the LCD TV viewing experience, and finally, at Hisense CES 2023 Press Conference, Hisense has successfully unveiled ULED X. The new 110 ULED X was recognized as a CES Innovation Award Honoree this year.

According to Stephen Yao, Assistant General Manager of Hisense USA, ULED X combines an impressive lineup of TV technologies, incredible processing power, and more precise control over the picture through active intelligent backlight control, pushing the display capability to its limits. Reportedly, ULED X can achieve three times the environmental contrast of conventional OLED TV, and two times the dynamic range of OLED TV.

Furthermore, ULED X can provide a brighter picture, deeper contrast, wider viewing angle, and ultra-low reflection ratios to deliver one of the best entertainment experiences available today. For instance, with ULED X, Hisense TVs can achieve a peak brightness of 2,500 nits and a contrast ratio of 150,000:1, which is believed to redefine consumers’ perception of “contrast”. Another crucial factor in ensuring the superior performance of the ULED X is the Hi-View Engine X, which controls over 20,000 Mini LEDs and more than 5,000 local dimming zones. In addition to its outstanding cinematic picture experience, ULED X also has a 30% wider viewing angle, and the addition of an ultra-low reflection panel ensures that everyone in the room can enjoy the same crisp picture quality no matter where they sit.

“We strived to make ULED X unlike any other LCD TV experience, and are proud of our achievement,” said Stephen Yao. Looking ahead, Hisense will step up their effort to upgrade its technology in LED/LCD TVs and continue to bring more superior products which can deliver premium viewing experience to global customers.

UX, a representative product of Hisense's ULED X technology

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CGTN: China’s preparedness for adjusting its COVID-19 policies

BEIJING, Jan. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Since China prioritized its COVID-19 response from the dynamic zero-COVID policy, some Western media and intellectuals have been questioning China’s “preparedness” of making the change.

Preparedness can only be evaluated by the results to which it leads – in the case of COVID-19, the number of lives saved. Since the outbreak, China has been preparing the Chinese to deal with the virus. The dynamic zero-COVID policy was put into place to buy time for the deadly original strain and the subsequent variants to become less deadly.

Li Guangxi, expert of the State Council’s Joint Prevention & Control Mechanism said in an interview that “once the virus come to the world, it was very severe. It will make hospital, especially for the ICU beds, occupied. It happened in every area of the world.” “And now, once the virus become much much less severe and mild, at this time, we want to ease our measures. We will certainly have some surge of the cases. However, the mortality rate and the severe type of COVID-19 will become much less than before,” Li said.

According to Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, proportion of severe and critically ill cases have fallen from 16.47 percent in 2020 to 0.18 percent in recent times.

The National Health Commission’s medical administration department’s director Jiao Yahui said in a press conference in December that China’s COVID-19 makeshift hospitals will be retrofitted and equipped with more treatment capacities to become sub-designated hospitals for COVID-19 patients. China has about 138,100 critical care beds, 10 per 100,000 people. There’s a total of 80,500 critical care specialists and 220,000 intensive care nurses in China, and over 106,000 doctors and 178,000 nurses are capable of handling ICU works.

To protect the vulnerable population, including the elderly, which is a critical challenge for the country, China has launched the second COVID-19 booster shot on December 14. The inhalable vaccine was also rolled out for those who are weary or unable to get a jab in the arm.

Supplies of anti-epidemic medicine were also ramped up. Beijing’s drug administration and authorities have sent joint working groups of more than 50 people to five large pharmaceutical wholesale enterprises in Beijing to alleviate the shortage of epidemic treating and prevention drugs. Data from the China Resources Pharmaceutical Commercial Group Co., Ltd showed that the company had supplied more than 3.5 million boxes of anti-epidemic drugs to over 4,000 clients in Beijing in a week – that included 300 hospitals, more than 2,200 community health centers and over 1,500 retail pharmacies.

In Shanghai, fever clinics in 145 secondary and higher-level hospitals were asked to remain fully open. In Zhejiang Province, internet hospitals have opened up in some cities to respond to the surging demand for diagnosis and treatment in fever clinics.

Prevention and control are a process of establishing institutions and boosting medical capabilities to deal with the evolving situations. China has rapidly adapted to the current situation and making adjustments based on feedback from the public and medical community. And the policy change reflects the fact that China is ready to take on what comes next.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-12-31/Is-China-prepared-for-shift-in-COVID-19-policies-Yes–1gcS2Uz1GYE/index.html

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CGTN: China’s dynamic zero-COVID policy sets the foundation for reopening

BEIJING, Jan. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — China has adjusted its response to COVID-19 prevention and control in recent weeks. It announced it will downgrade COVID-19 management from Class A to Class B infectious disease while resuming passport, visa issuance and easing border-entry policies starting on January 8, 2023. It also changed the Chinese name of the disease from “novel coronavirus pneumonia” to “novel coronavirus infection.”

China’s decision has drawn widespread criticisms from a section of the Western media outlets, and also the Western political and intellectual circles, same as the previous “dynamic zero-COVID” policy. Criticism ranges from comparing China’s latest COVID-19 surge to a “catastrophe” that could “put the global economy at risk” to scaremongering over the rise of “new coronavirus mutants.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said that “Currently, we are adapting our COVID-19 response measures to the new developments in the epidemic, so as to better coordinate epidemic response and socioeconomic development. We believe that, with the Chinese people’s joint efforts and solidarity, we will usher in a new phase of steady and orderly economic and social development.”

China’s dynamic zero-COVID policy protected people’s lives and bought time for understanding the virus based on science, for research and development of vaccines, anti-viral drugs and therapeutics, and for vaccinating more people nationwide.

According to the latest official data, China has administered over 3.4 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines nationwide with over 90 percent of its 1.4 billion population fully vaccinated. Over 87 percent of people over the age of 60 fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, China has rolled out the second booster shot with 13 types of COVID-19 vaccines approved for the purpose.

The figures speak for themselves. To this day, China has the lowest COVID-19 death toll among major countries in the world. In contrast, the U.S., with a quarter of China’s population, has reported over a million deaths. The past three years laid the foundation for China’s policy adjustments.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-12-30/China-s-dynamic-zero-COVID-policy-sets-the-foundation-for-reopening-1gbxNZWCc5a/index.html

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CGTN: China’s economic outlook after the COVID-19 policy shift

BEIJING, Jan. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — China’s recent announcement of changing its COVID-19 policies has drawn attention to its potentially negative economic impact.

True, China may face some challenges in its retail sales and consumer spending in the early days when the country downgraded its level of COVID-19 management. The lifting of COVID-19 related restrictions doesn’t mean an immediate rebound in economic growth. An increase of infection cases that could happen in any country – not just China – means that it takes time for people to get before they can go back to shops and restaurants.

But, latest figures have already shown the revival of China’s consumption market. Since the shift in COVID-19 policy, the attendance at some movie theaters in Beijing has returned to 75 percent of the regular level and popular diners have posted more than 80 percent of customer traffic, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported.

The optimization of COVID-19 response means Chinese residents will be more willing to travel and spend. Consumption will become a major driving force for economic growth, chief economist with China Securities Huang Wentao said in a recent interview with Xinhua. Wu Chaoming, chief economist with Chasing International Economic Institute, believes that the per capita consumption expenditure of Chinese residents would increase from 8 percent to 12 percent in the new year.

Many foreign firms are also upbeat about China’s economic outlook. “Although it (China’s downgrade of COVID-19 management) might bring some challenges in the short term, we believe we will see a meaningful recovery in the long run,” said Kenichi Tanaka, president of Fujifilm (China) Investment Co., Ltd, as Xinhua reported.

Admittedly, the arduous anti-virus battle over the past three years has caused some disruptions. But the Chinese economy has managed to consolidate its resilience. According to the General Administration of Customs, China’s foreign trade of goods expanded 8.6 percent year-on-year to 38.34 trillion yuan (5.78 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first 11 months of 2022.

Against the backdrop of the global virus-induced economic trough, China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an average annual rate of 4.6 percent from the third quarter of 2019 to the third quarter of 2022, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This is well above the world average. The figure of the United States – the world’s largest economy – stood at 1.6 percent during the same period. Major developed countries including Germany, France, Britain, and Japan saw their GDP expanding at below 0.5 percent.

China has also kept a relatively low inflation level at 2 percent, according to the People’s bank of China. The United States, however, has seen inflation reaching 9.1 percent in June, 2022, the highest rate in more than 40 years. According to the Moody’s Analytics 2022 data, soaring inflation caused ordinary American families to fork out $445 more per month compared to a year ago. While the skyrocketing costs of food, energy, and shelter put extra pressure on millions of American households already struggling with their family budget, China is seeing a decline in food prices – a 0.8 percent drop month-on-month in November, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

Fact speaks louder than words. China’s economy remains resilient and strong.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-01-01/Is-China-s-economy-outlook-grim-after-COVID-19-policy-shift-No–1gezTG6B7zO/index.html

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Armed Forces greets Copts on occasion of Xmas

Defense Minister and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces General Mohamed Zaki sent a cable of greetings to Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark Diocese on the occasion of the Christmas.

Also, Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Osama Askar sent a similar cable to Pope Tawadros.

Zaki and Askar directed to greet Armed Forces personnel on the occasion.

Source: State Information Service Egypt