Hong Kong: Hospitals ink collaboration accord on Chinese medicine

The Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong Kong and the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine have signed a strategic collaboration agreement to support continued development of the former.

The two institutions will step up cooperation on various fronts, covering preparatory work for the commissioning of the Hong Kong hospital, exchange of Chinese medicine professionals, discussions about cross-boundary cases, the establishment of a sharing platform for drug interaction alert notification, the holding of Chinese medicine academic conferences, development of a scientific research network, and advanced nursing training in specialized services concerning Chinese medicine.

Macao: SAR children to enjoy studying on the mainland

The Guangdong provincial authorities have approved the setting up of the Chinese mainland’s first school for students from the Macao Special Administrative Region.

Located in the Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone on Hengqin Island, the school is called Hengqin School Affiliated to Hao-jiang Middle School.

Covering an area of 20,413.27 square meters, the school currently caters to kindergarten and primary school students, having a capacity to offer 12 kindergarten and 18 primary school classes.

Due to open in September, it has started enrolling students from Macao and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region holding mainland residence permits. Students from Taiwan and overseas with similar permits are also eligible.

The school plans to offer classes for kindergarten, as well as first and second grade primary school students in the 2024-25 academic year. Each grade will have only one class, with a maximum of 35 students in each class.

Guangzhou: City will host 2,500 activities to ring in Year of the Dragon

Guangzhou is pulling out all the stops to usher in the Year of the Dragon, which begins on Feb 10. It will organize more than 2,500 cultural and tourism activities, including the return of the grand fireworks display after a 12-year hiatus, to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Residents and visitors will be able to enjoy a wide array of festivities, including traditional celebrations at temples, lantern festivals, some 1,200 flower-viewing activities, and more than 100 cultural performances. Some enterprises will offer special travel packages, dining promotions and hotel discounts to attract tourists from around the world.

Guangzhou will light up the sky with a 45-minute fireworks display at White Goose Pool, south of Shamian Island in the evening on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Shenzhen: Outdoor enthusiasts to relish upgraded hiking trails   

Shenzhen has made great strides in improving its infrastructure for outdoor activities with the completion of a 420-kilometer hiking system.

The project is part of the city’s efforts to create a comprehensive network of parks and trails by next year, with more than 1,350 parks and various trails covering more than 4,000 kilometers. It will play a vital role in promoting exchanges among Shenzhen and Hong Kong hiking enthusiasts.

Zhuhai: Innovative methods speed up clearance procedures

Up to 194,000 metric tons of fresh agricultural produce, including aquatic products, fruits and vegetables, were transported to Hong Kong and Macao through Zhuhai’s Gongbei Customs last year.

With the Lunar New Year approaching, the authorities are urging enterprises to make full use of convenient solutions, such as pre-booking customs clearance procedures, to enable customs officers to streamline inspections of fresh products.

With a mobile application for agricultural products destined for Macao, the customs clearance process has been optimized, resulting in a 90 percent reduction in document submissions and a 50 percent improvement in the speed of clearance.

Gongbei Customs signed a cooperation pact with Macao’s Municipal Affairs Bureau in November. The move is expected to facilitate the clearance of 6,000 tons of aquatic products supplied to Macao annually, accounting for 75 percent of total supplies from the Chinese mainland.

Foshan: District becomes natl-level nighttime tourism spot 

Foshan’s Lingnan Tiandi has made the list of the third batch of national-level nighttime culture and tourism spots, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Located in the heart of the city’s Chancheng district, Lingnan Tiandi is home to 22 cultural heritage units, making the venue the largest of its kind in Foshan, with the densest concentration of cultural relics, and the most well-preserved traditional architectural style.   

Riding the wave of “first-store economy”, the commercial district has enticed nearly 100 brands to open their first or flagship stores in Foshan. More than 350 brands currently operate in the area.

Lingnan Tiandi saw a significant surge in the number of visitors last year — exceeding 32 million, with a year-on-year growth rate of more than 30 percent.

Huizhou: Economy sees 5.6% growth in 2023, eyes 6% this year 

Huizhou’s economy grew by 5.6 percent year-on-year to 564 billion yuan ($78.9 billion) in 2023, fueled by an all-around increase in trade, consumption and investment.

The city has set its GDP target for 2024 at 6 percent, and will boost its integration with other cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It will step up implementing rule alignment measures with Hong Kong and Macao, and promote research collaboration with universities within the Greater Bay Area.

Dongguan: Die, mold sector gets a boost with financial incentives

Dongguan is taking significant steps to propel the high-quality development of the die-and-mold industry.

With 21 measures, the city aims to foster growth in five key areas — enterprise support and cultivation; product research and development; industrial chain development; industrial agglomeration ecology; and talent introduction and training.

Support will be given to enterprises to increase capital and expand production. Leading businesses will also get backing for investment and settlement, along with financial incentives. The maximum financial aid for a single project will be capped at 10 million yuan ($1.4 million).

With more than three decades of development, Dongguan’s mold industry has grown into a vital national cluster, with more than 20,000 mold-related entities and a significant number of prominent mold enterprises.

Zhongshan: Mutual recognition of funds to benefit local employees

Zhongshan is allowing employees contributing to the housing provident fund in the city or Shenzhen to deal with 20 types of related transactions, including home purchases, retirement and rental withdrawals in both cities.

The new policy enables workers in Zhongshan and Shenzhen to enjoy convenient and efficient services without having to return to their own city’s housing provident fund center to conduct such transactions.

Jiangmen: New plan to drive logistics industry’s upgrading 

Jiangmen has unveiled a blueprint to accelerate the establishment of a modern logistics system, and promote the transformation, upgrading and high-quality development of the local logistics industry.

Under the plan, the city will build a modern logistics system by next year, making it adaptable to supply and demand, intelligent and efficient, and also green and safe. Jiangmen’s role as a logistics hub and the sector’s cost-effectiveness are expected to be strengthened.

Zhaoqing: City ranks among top 20 in China for best air quality

Zhaoqing is among six cities in Guangdong province with the best air quality in China, according to the national ambient air quality report for 2023 issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

Among 168 key cities surveyed, six of them in Guangdong — Huizhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Zhaoqing and Dongguan — were among the nation’s top 20 metropolises with the best air quality recorded in every month last year.