A total of 23 rescued spotted seals were released into the waters off the coast of Dalian in Northeast China’s Liaoning Province on Tuesday as part of China's continuous efforts to protect the endangered species.
The seals were previously poached and sold, but have now been rehabilitated and marked for future protection, according to the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
The Global Times reporters visited the releasing spot and witnessed the process. A fishery law enforcement vessel arrived at a designated sea area near Dalian on Tuesday morning, carrying the spotted seals. The seals were released one by one into the sea through a special slide set up on the ship's side. They swam freely in the waves, returning to their natural habitat.
The spotted seal is a nationally protected animal in China and is classified as an endangered species. It is the only pinniped species that can reproduce in Chinese waters and is often referred to as the "panda of the sea."
The months of November and December are the migration and breeding period for wild spotted seals, and Liaodong Bay is an important habitat for them.
Thanks to enhanced protection measures the authorities have taken in recent years, the population of spotted seals in Chinese waters has reached approximately 2,000, while the global population is estimated to be between 400,000 and 600,000.
Genetic and ecological studies have shown that these 2,000 spotted seals have unique genetic genes and belong to a separate branch of independent evolution within the global population. This makes them of significant importance for the study and research on spotted seals.
To protect this rare animal, the Liaoning Dalian Spotted Seal Wetlands were established in 1992. Covering an area of 560,000 hectares with a coastline of approximately 370 kilometers, the wetlands focus on the protection of spotted seals and their ecological environment.
In January 2002, the Liaoning Dalian Spotted Seal Wetlands were included in the List of Wetlands of International Importance. The list was indentified according to the Convention on Wetlands, an intergovernmental treaty adopted on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar (thus commonly named Ramsar Convention). China joined the convention in 1992.
Now the wetlands have become a harmonious ecological haven with abundant biological resources, including various species of phytoplankton, zooplankton, and swimming animals. It is home to nationally protected species such as the spotted seal, finless porpoise, killer whales, false killer whales, common dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, and East Asian river dolphins.
Since 1992, researchers in Dalian have successfully rescued 388 spotted seals and released 299 of them back into the wild, according to media reports.
France's lower house of parliament approved a bill seeking penalties on fast fashion products on March 14. The bill calls for gradually increasing penalties up to 10 euros ($11) per individual item of clothing by 2030, as well as a ban on advertising for these products. The bill must head to the Senate before it becomes law.
According to their view, "The popularity of fashion retailers Shein and Temu has disrupted the retail sector while established players like Zara and H&M continue to largely rely on predicting shoppers' preferences."
The proposer of the bill, Anne-Cécile Violland, emphasized that it targets not only fast fashion brands like Primark, Shein, and Zara, but also e-commerce platforms such as Temu, AliExpress, Amazon and Zalando that sell fast fashion products.
Although the standards and thresholds for the companies covered by this bill have not been clearly defined, it is generally believed that it targets fast-rising and widely watched companies like Shein and Temu.
Their common feature is the clothing and textile supply chain in China, which reacts more quickly and agilely.
Once this bill is passed, fast fashion brands like Primark, Shein, and Zara and their Chinese clothing supply chains, as well as platforms with a large number of clothing and fashion product merchants and sellers from China such as Temu, AliExpress, Zalando and Amazon will be affected.
In recent years, with a strong industrial base and flexible supply chain model, Chinese-made fashion products are more diverse, updated faster, and have higher cost performance, attracting more purchases from French consumers and having an impact on the local retail industry in France.
Agence France-Presse stated that a series of measures taken by the French National Assembly are particularly aimed at "large-scale manufacturers from China."
An article published by French media, Les Echo, points out that the bill hides some potentially regrettable side-effects, unreasonable and naïve thinking, and less than legitimate motives. One side-effect is that the people who are ultimately impacted by this bill are not the "fashion victims" who are easily influenced by internet celebrities, but those from lower-income groups.
It is also unreasonable and naïve because it is based on the assumption that a product that is 10 times more expensive must be at least 10 times more durable, but this is not always true in many cases. And finally, a clearly less than legitimate motivation is that this bill appears to be tailor-made to impact companies with connections to China's textile manufacturing supply chain.
Zhao Yongsheng, a researcher at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), said on March 15 that this bill clearly violates the "free trade" principles that Europeans have been advocating for many years and is a blatant step toward an "anti-globalization" approach, especially when it comes to France's trade policy toward China.
Zhao further said that this bill, which lawmakers claim is aimed at curbing so-called "fast fashion," not only defies logic, but is also untenable from a legal standpoint. Replying on "closing doors" to foreign companies is an outdated approach in today's world and market. Instead, France should look inwards and evaluate the situation to effectively improve the competitiveness of their products.
In 2022, France was the second-largest importer of Chinese clothing.
Unlike the "new three" export products represented by electric passenger cars, lithium-ion batteries, and solar batteries, clothing is a traditional featured product among China's exports.
In the field of clothing and fashion, well-known brands represented by Shein have emerged. Currently, Shein, Zara, Uniqlo, and H&M are among the top four global fashion brands.
With the continuous upgrading of China's clothing and fashion industry, enterprises that leverage the Chinese supply chain, such as Shein, have become the rule makers and trend leaders of the entire industry, leading the entire domestic industry from the bottom of the global industry chain's "smile curve" to the brands and technology research and development that make up the other end of the chain.
This is also an important manifestation of the increasing influence of China's fashion industry globally. Additionally, a large number of Zara, H&M and even French retailer Decathlon's industrial chain suppliers are also located in China.
E-commerce platform companies represented by Temu, AliExpress, and TikTok Shop are also rapidly developing in markets such as Europe and the US, and products from the Chinese supply chain are quickly going global.
According to the 2024 State of Mobile report released by data.ai, a market analysis agency, Shein, Temu, and AliExpress ranked first, second, and ninth respectively in the global shopping app download rankings in 2023, while Amazon ranked third.
The lawmakers say the reason they are accelerating the introduction of restrictions on fast fashion companies is to "help offset their environmental impact." Shein stated that it produces clothes based on existing demand, which allows its rate of unsold garments to remain consistently in the low single digits, whereas traditional players can waste up to 40 percent.
Shein added that the only impact of the bill would be to "worsen the purchasing power of French consumers, at a time when they are already feeling the impact of the cost-of-living crisis."
The Chinese clothing and textile industry chain behind brands and e-commerce platforms such as Shein, Primark, Zara, and Temu has had a serious impact on French companies, which may be an important reason for the introduction of the bill by French lawmakers. This is not the first time that France has targeted China's advantageous industries.
In February, the French government announced the suspension of a plan to lease electric cars at affordable prices to low-income households. The program had only been implemented for six weeks. The plan is expected to be relaunched in 2025.
French officials said the subsidy program was limited by the shortage of French electric cars and urged French automakers to speed up production. "There is huge market demand, but we don't have enough French products yet."
It is understood that electric cars eligible for this subsidy program must meet the latest "carbon footprint" and other relevant requirements set by the French government, which is believed to be aimed at excluding cheap Chinese electric cars.
French National Radio reported earlier that many European and US electric cars would also be affected by the new regulations since they include parts made in China, which means there may be "very few" electric cars left to meet the new standards.
China subsequently launched an investigation into the price of brandy imported from the European Union, which was seen as a counterattack against the EU's investigation into the influx of cheap Chinese electric cars into Europe. France was the hardest hit, considering it accounts for 99.8 percent of all EU brandy exports.
While products from the Chinese clothing and fashion industry chain have rapidly grown in European markets such as France, especially luxury goods, perfumes, and cosmetics, other fashion brands products from France have seen a steady increase in sales in China.
According to Bertrand Lortholary, the French ambassador to China, "France's exports of luxury goods to China have doubled in the past three years, including perfumes, cosmetics, fashion accessories, leather goods, jewelry, and wines and spirits."
"Since 2021, China has become the main market for French cosmetics exports worldwide," he added.
At the ongoing two sessions, the development of new quality productive forces and digital economy are the hot topics.
Seven years ago, the Government work report first proposed "speeding up the development of the digital economy." Since then, the digital economy has become an important engine for China's green transformation and a new driver of economic growth. In September last year, new quality productive forces theory was initiated to promote China's high-quality development.
For a long time, the definition of productivity has been the ability of humans to conquer and transform nature. The massive gains in productivity caused by Industrial Revolution led to huge resource consumption and waste emissions, resulting in multiple global problems. Therefore, it is necessary to redefine the connotation of productivity to ensure human sustainability and the coexistence of humanity and the nature.
New quality productive forces are the ability of humans to adapt to and utilize nature, a capacity that follows the principles of symbiosis and harmony between humans and nature, continuously advancing civilization and enhancing public welfare. New quality productive forces emphasize the reliance on scientific breakthroughs and technological innovations to achieve resource recycling and conservation, optimize resource management, and effectively promote the development of productivity in the process of transitioning to the ecological civilization.
From a theoretical perspective in viewing productivity, the development of new quality productive forces must involve cultivating new quality laborers and developing new quality ecological, digital, and industrial productivity to imbue labor materials with new quality connotations. In the current green transformation, through the application of technological innovations, transforming and upgrading traditional industries, and promoting the integration of the digital economy and the real economy to create digital industrial clusters.
The world is experiencing a wave of technological revolution and a new industrial revolution, with emerging information technology and digital transformation reshaping the economic landscape. It has become a consensus to promote the development of new quality productive forces through technological innovation. Undoubtedly, the digital economy has become the "fulcrum" for developing new quality productive forces, and it is also the core content of the development of new quality productive forces.
The digital economy uses data as means of production, modern information networks and intelligent algorithm as labor tools, digital industrialization as the foundation for development, and industrial digitalization as application scenarios to promote a new economic form that facilitates long-term sustainable development. The rise of the digital economy can lead to the restructuring of production factors, the reshaping of the geopolitical economic structure, and the reconstruction of the global geopolitical landscape, profoundly changing the way humans live and develop.
A report from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology revealed that the scale of China's digital economy is likely to reach 70.8 trillion yuan ($9.8 trillion) in 2025. With the rapid advancement of digital technology, the continuous expansion of the integration of digital reality, and the acceleration of the integration of digital intelligence, the digital economy will become a new driving force for economic growth and a core element in the cultivation of new quality productive forces.
Innovation, green development and intelligence are the most significant characteristics of the digital economy.
The digital economy is an innovative economy. The resources allocated by the digital economy are more concentrated on knowledge and technological innovation. The scope of innovation subjects has diversified. The digital economy is a green economy. Scientific development and the specific application of technology are increasingly shifting toward ecologicalization. The digital economy is an intelligent economy, where algorithm proves to be the key. Through algorithms and AI, the digital economy allocates resources and driving the development of an intelligent economy.
The digital economy provides us with a fulcrum and entry point for developing new quality productive forces. As the contemporary primary productive force and green productive force, new quality productive forces are indispensable to usher in robust future development. By promoting the development of the digital economy, we can drive climate governance, ecological protection, economic development, cultural prosperity, technological innovation, and social harmony.
For the government, it is essential to develop efficient and collaborative digital governance, formulate policies to support the high-quality development of the digital economy, and establish a fair and standardized digital governance ecosystem. The government should help build smart cities and digital villages, nurturing new business models, and injecting great vitality into the economy.
As an important powerhouse of China's economy, Guangdong Province has achieved a new milestone in 2023 by leading the nation in the total number of business entities, enterprises, foreign-invested enterprises, and private-owned companies.
The achievement is attributed to various factors, including the province's favorable business environment, experts said.
In 2023, the total number of registered business entities in Guangdong reached a staggering 18 million, representing a 10th of the country's total. The figure marked a significant increase of 1.7 million, or 10.6 percent growth from the previous year, making it the highest growth rate in the past five years, according to Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation.
The province also boasts the largest number of all types of enterprises in China. It is home to 7.8 million enterprises, accounting for one-seventh of the nation's total, which includes some 7.2 million private enterprises,
After the issuance of the guidelines on boosting the growth of private economy on July 19, 2023, Guangdong launched a series of measures to respond to the problems that private businesses face, and it focused on promoting fair market competition and protecting the legitimate interests of private businesses and entrepreneurs, Zhou Rong, a senior researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
For private enterprises of different sizes, including individual businesses, Guangdong Province responded to their problems in a targeted manner, published guidelines and solutions covering all industrial sectors to help private enterprises tackle their problems related with their business development, Zhou said.
Guangdong is also one of the most preferred destinations for foreign investors. In 2023, 21,000 newly foreign-invested enterprises were set up in the province, making Guangdong home to over 199,000 foreign-invested enterprises, accounting for a quarter of the nation's total.
Guangdong has also taken measures to optimize the business environment in the Greater Bay Area, creating a favorable investment environment for all overseas investors, Zhou said.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong and Macao-invested business entities in Guangdong Province amounted to 96,000 in 2023, up 15.5 percent year-on-year. Notably, over 8,000 entities were registered in 2023, rising 64.4 percent over 2022.
The success of Guangdong Province in attracting Hong Kong and Macao businesses is mainly attributed to the vigorous efforts made by the province in providing the best services. Measures were taken to optimize business environment in the Greater Bay Area, especially in promoting the linkage between the markets of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, Zhou noted.
The province is deepening reform of business registration system, implementing universal registration in the Greater Bay Area, and pushing electronic notarial instruments for Hong Kong investors, so as to realize full electronic registration of Hong Kong-invested enterprises, and facilitate investment and development of businesses in the Greater Bay Area, cctv.com reported.
The Shanghai Municipal Government has taken major steps to support the online economy, pledging various forms of support including funds, with a focus on advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain.
Since January 1, 2024, a total of 20 measures have been implemented to boost the online new economy in a range of areas, according to a notice from the Shanghai Municipal Government that was released on Thursday.
The city vowed to support the listing of online companies that are in line with national strategies, that have made breakthroughs in key core technologies, and have high market recognition. Qualified red chip online companies are also being encouraged to return to the domestic capital market, and platform companies will be supported in listing both in China and overseas.
The notice also vowed to encourage high-quality online new economy enterprises to participate in the construction of the city's AI computing power center and to work jointly to build a multi-level commercial intelligent computing power cluster in the city. Also, the city will support companies in areas such as Web 3.0.
Shanghai will also accelerate the construction of urban blockchain infrastructure and improve AI large model innovation capabilities. It will support online new economy enterprises to build large models with international competitiveness, encourage the formation of a data flywheel, accelerate model iteration, and provide special rewards to enterprises that have achieved significant results in accordance with regulations.
Notably, the city pledged up to 50 million yuan for projects that are in line with the nation’s and Shanghai’s key strategic and public welfare goals.
Shanghai’s latest support measures come amid an increasing focus in China on boosting sci-tech innovation, supporting the private sector and promoting high-quality development.
Through the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB), Chinese mainland residents can take international flights directly from Hong Kong International Airports (HKIA) without entry permit. The new policy, set to take effect on Tuesday, will further facilitate international travel for travelers from the Chinese mainland and drive passenger growth at HKIA.
This policy aims to simplify foreign travel procedures for mainland travelers through HKIA, and take advantage of the airport's direct international flights.
The move is expected to increase mainland passenger traffic at HKIA and create demand and business opportunities for Zhuhai International Airport in South China's Guangdong Province. According to media reports, Zhuhai Airport operates flights to nearly 90 mainland destinations, while HKIA offers direct flights to nearly 200 international destinations.
Zhuhai Airport will also open a multimodal passenger terminal to provide shuttle bus service for passengers traveling to Hong Kong Airport for transit flights. Passengers will board buses at Zhuhai Airport and go directly to the Skypier Terminal of Hong Kong International Airport after completing exit procedures and collecting boarding passes at Zhuhai Highway port.
Following the implementation of northbound travel for Hong Kong and Macao vehicles, allowing Chinese mainland travelers to travel via HKIA without entry permit will further integrate the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The action is also conducive to deepening business cooperation between airports in the area.
The border control of HZMB has set up a designated inspection channel in Zhuhai highway port to differentiate ordinary travelers and travelers to HKIA for inspection, and to provide convenient and high-quality customs clearance services, Lin Meihong, a senior official of HZMB boarder control was quoted as saying.
This policy will further leverage the bridge's central role of connecting the Greater Bay Area and influencing the western part of Guangdong, helping to promote the formation of a world-class airport cluster in the area, Lin said.
At this stage, Chinese mainland travelers to HKIA will need to check in and complete exit procedures at Zhuhai Highway porter, in the future, travelers traveling via HKIA are expected to be able to complete their flight procedures directly at Zhuhai Airport, according to news.cctv.com.
HKIA is one of the busiest airports in South China. In the first 10 months of 2023, the airport's passenger traffic had reached 31.4 million, up 9.5 times compared to the same period last year, according to the Airport Authority Hong Kong.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is accelerating integration and facilitating convenience for local residents. On Sunday, the Digital Bay Area Development Forum in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province announced a new application which provides integrated transportation, payment and healthcare services to residents of the Greater Bay Area, it is now online on multiple platforms such as Alipay, Wechat, AlipayHK and MPay, according to Chinanews.com.cn.
A college research team from East China’s Jiangsu Province has recently released China’s first large language model (LLM), a type of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that uses deep learning techniques and massively big data sets to help conduct research on Chinese ancient books.
The LLM for ancient books was designed to intelligently process ancient texts, promote innovative development in the research and preservation of Chinese ancient books, enhance the efficiency and quality of the inheritance of traditional Chinese culture, and facilitate deep integration between LLMs and the processing of ancient books.
The LLM “Xunzi,” named after Xun Zi, one of the most famous philosophers in ancient China for his Confucian classic Xunzi, contains the vast majority of Chinese ancient books and documents including the collections of the “Complete Library in Four Sections” or “Siku Quanshu,” with a large-scale corpus of over 2 billion Chinese characters and words.
The research on Chinese traditional classics is a painstaking and laborious work even for scholars and experts, let alone for average learners. Thus, translating ancient texts into modern Chinese is one of its most important functions, Wang Dongbo, professor from College of Information Management of Nanjing Agricultural University in Nanjing, Jiangsu, who led the research team told the Global Times.
With the model, researchers can swiftly summarize the ancient texts and know about the themes of the ancient books. The model can also extract key information from the ancient texts, such as characters, events and places, to sort out the information with efficiency.
Besides, the model can also automatically generate ancient poems that comply with grammar and prosody rules with the prompts the users give to it to provide inspiration for poetry lovers. It can also precisely translate ancient texts into modern Chinese to help researchers understand the original meaning and connotation of ancient texts.
Led by Wang, the research team has been working in the area of digitization of ancient books and documents for a decade. Supported by the presence of the university’s strong computing power and based on the application scenarios provided by Zhonghua Book Company, the research team accomplished China’s first open-source LLM for ancient texts in AI.
The LLM has been published on websites such as github.com and modelscope.cn as open-source software, allowing users to download and use it for free.
“We trained Xunzi using big data built on ancient books which can be obtained for free on the internet just like the way OpenAI trained ChatGPT. Although we spent great effort, labor force and money into it, we still share it for free with the aim to encourage more people to study and pay attention to traditional Chinese culture,” Wang said.
More than 5,000 Chinese suspects of economic crimes fleeing overseas have been caught and arrested from over 100 countries and regions by the public security organs across the country since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), according to China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS).
A symposium on economic crime investigation work was recently held by the MPS in Suzhou, East China’s Jiangsu Province, to emphasize the improvement of the public security organs’ professional investigative capabilities and outline the modernization of economic crime investigation work, thepaper.cn reported on Monday.
According to the meeting, since the 19th National Congress of the CPC, public security organs across the country have solved 467,000 cases of various economic crimes, recovering direct economic losses of more than 280 billion yuan ($39.28 billion), apprehended more than 5,000 suspects of economic crimes fleeing overseas from more than 100 countries and regions, and collaborated with the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the National Commission of Supervision to apprehend 14 individuals among the 100 fugitives on Interpol’s Red Notice.
According to meeting notes, nationwide public security economic crime investigation work has consolidated outstanding achievements in combatting against crimes, preventing risks, maintaining stability, and serving the development of other sectors.
The meeting urged to further improve the investigation work, improve the quality of the public security investigative teams, enhance investigative efficiency and deepen the understanding of the rules of public security economic crime investigation work in the new era.
The meeting noted that economic crime investigation work has to be further developed with innovation and the help of big data, to improve technical capabilities.
The work has to focus on cracking down on counterfeit currency, cards, invoices, money laundering, tax-related crimes, securities-related crimes, crimes in finance, and other key areas, to continuously improve the fight against crime.
The discipline of the public security investigative team has to be constantly strengthened to improve the professionalism and capability of the team, according to the meeting.
What does it feel like to dive 100 meters deep under the surface of the ocean with one breath? "The hydrostatic pressure will be 11 times than that a person feels on the ground," Xu Tongtong, Chinese freediver and the country's record breaker, told the Global Times in a recent interview.
A person now titled with two record-breaking champions, the 35-year-old Xu is now the first woman of China reaching 100 meters under the sea level in history, after she claimed a gold in Constant weight (CWT) freediving discipline in Asian Freediving Cup in the Philippines in June.
The win of her first 100-meter try gave her courage.
During July, in another competition she participated in AIDA Panglao Depth Championship in Bohol Island, the Philippines, Xu finished her another 100-meter challenge in the Constant weight bi-fins (CWTB) depth discipline, ranking second place in the world.
"If we compare the 100 meters to the height of a building, it means we are about to jump from the 30th floor to the ground and then climb back to the roof top, with one breath," Xu added. "I feel so happy when I touched and grabbed the tab underwater.
This was a goal I set for myself three years ago, and I feel nice that the world can see the efforts we made as Chinese freediving athletes," she told the Global Times in an interview on the phone at her home in the Philippines.
The two records Xu set pushed China to reach the next level: Since then the depth record of Chinese women in freediving has entered the 100-meter level.
'First try'
Xu now lives in Boho Island, an area covering an area of 3,269 kilometers and known as top island in the Philippines.
The Boho Island has been boasting its hospitality of the freediving lovers. And it is also among the most popular freediving destinations in the country where international competitions are often held here.
But for Xu, the place means much more than a freediving heaven, as both of the two competitions she participated in with record breaking also took place here in Boho Island.
June's competition is her first ever try in challenging 100 meters freediving. "I made it," recalled Xu. "That was an unprecedented experience for me as I remembered my smile as I swam up out of the surface."
Before heading to the competition, she undergone a three-month systematic training where her coach developed a training program cut out for her.
"There were different proportions I needed to devote to in including the physical training and muscle training."
Based on her training plan, the last training Xu had the free diving reached 98 meters under the water. "By two meters deeper during each try, I would reach 100 meters by the time of my competition day."
"This needs a stable state of mind. If you're nervous you fail, but if you're not you win," Xu added.
Explaining the trick of the sport, Xu said that it is the opposite of the others as one needs to calm her/him down to be "as stable as possible in order to slow down the heart rate, which is essential to reduce the oxygen consumption."
A yearn for ocean
Born in Anhui, a landlocked province in East China, the 35-year-old free diver has a nickname Mutou, translated as wood often known by her friends. She also named her social media atlas after Mutou.
She believed in the flexibility of the wood as "a piece of wood can be carved into anything you want. And I wish I can have the quality just as the wood."
Xu started her swimming training as early as 8. Being a professional swimmer, Xu has participated in a string of competitions nationwide, where she won second place as her best result.
Xu's free diving enlightenment came from a video she accidentally came across on social media. As early as 2012, when she saw the famous French freediving champion Guillaume Néry "flying" in the ocean.
"Normally we swim horizontally, but I never try swimming vertically. And I decided to have a try."
From 2012 to 2017, Xu has traveled to islands across the world for freediving, where she would immerse in the enjoyment the ocean brought her.
"If we carry gas cylinders, the bubbles that pop out will keep those sea creatures from approaching us. We are just 'guests' in the ocean, and in the ocean, we are so small," said Xu.
In the years of her career in ocean, she also received help from Israeli freediving legend Aharon Solomons, who she met in China when the later traveled there for freediving classes.
According to Solomons, freediving is a kind of sport that requires intelligence, commitments and common sense, where he believed that Xu has all of them.
Among many sports, freediving can be dangerous, but "she has been outstanding," Solomons told the Global Times in an interview.
"I also feel honored that he coached me during my entering stage of the sport, and I've never experienced from a single injury," Xu recalled her experience when learning from Solomons.
Now in Israel, Solomons is still preparing for more competitions as he told the Global Times.
