Chinese economy sees steady progress and strong vitality

(ECNS) --- Recently released economic data spanning sectors including transportation, intellectual property protection, and rural road mileage, indicate steady progress and strong vitality in the Chinese economy.

January-April: China's transportation economy maintains positive momentum

According to the Ministry of Transport, China's transport economy maintained a positive trend in the first four months of 2024, with stable growth in freight volume, port cargo throughput, and passenger flow.

The latest data shows that from January to April, China achieved a commercial freight volume of 17.27 billion metric tons, a year-on-year increase of 4.5 percent.

National ports handled a total cargo throughput of 5.55 billion metric tons, up 5.2 percent year-on-year, with domestic and foreign trade throughput growing by 3.5 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively. Container throughput reached 104.03 million TEUs, an increase of 9 percent year-on-year.

In terms of cross-regional passenger flow, the first four months saw a nationwide cross-regional passenger flow of 21.9 billion, marking an 8.5 percent year-on-year increase.

National investment in fixed transport assets totaled 1.0016 trillion yuan ($XXX ), a year-on-year decrease of 3.3 percent. Within this, waterway investment reached 61.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.6 percent.

Strengthening intellectual property protection

Recently, the China National Intellectual Property Administration(CNIPA) and seven other departments jointly issued a plan for Intellectual Property (IP) protection system development, aiming to strengthen national IP protection.

The CNIPA outlined seven key tasks, including improvements in IP protection policies and standards, enforcement and judiciary measures, authorization and confirmation procedures, protection management, social co-governance, the national security governance system, and support capabilities.

The plan also sets forth two phased goals. The first is to make substantial progress in modernizing the IP protection system and its capabilities by 2027.The second looks to achieve modernization of the IP protection system and capabilities by 2035.

Large-scale harvesting of summer wheat begins

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, nearly 20 percent of the nationwide wheat harvest has been completed, with daily mechanized harvesting covering more than 4 million mu (about 266,800 hectares) for four consecutive days. This marks large-scale commencement of the summer wheat harvest in China. Over 16.5 million sets of agricultural machinery are expected to be deployed nationwide. 

Rural road mileage grows by 18.5 percent over ten years

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Transport announced that China's rural roads have achieved historic milestones over the past decade. A total of 4.2 trillion yuan has been invested in rural road construction, resulting in approximately 2.5 million kilometers of new or upgraded rural roads. By the end of 2023, the total mileage of rural roads had increased from 3.8816 million kilometers at the end of 2014 to 4.6 million kilometers, representing an 18.5 percent growth.

50 million rural migrants settled in cities since 2019

The Ministry of Public Security announced on Monday that since 2019, 50 million rural migrants in China have moved to cities and settled. By the end of 2023, the urbanization rate of the national registered population reached 48.3 percent.

Currently, except for a few mega-cities in the eastern region and some provincial capitals in the central and western regions, restrictions on household registration have been fully relaxed.

World-leading 175,000 cubic meter LNG carrier launched

A liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier developed by China State Shipbuilding Corporation's Dalian Shipbuilding Industry was launched on Monday.

The carrier is 295 meters long with a total cargo capacity of 175,000 cubic meters, enabling it to dock at most major LNG terminals worldwide.

The ship will undergo underwater mooring trials and the construction of its cargo containment system, with delivery expected in mid-August 2025.

Sixth C919 aircraft delivered to China Eastern Airlines

The sixth C919 aircraft from Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) was officially delivered to China Eastern Airlines (CEA).

This is the first aircraft from an additional order of 100 C919s placed by CEA. The aircraft has received upgrades to its cockpit display and cabin entertainment systems. By the end of this year, CEA's C919 fleet is expected to grow to 10 aircraft, operating more new routes.

90,000th China-Europe freight train X8157 departs

The 90,000th China-Europe freight train, X8157, departed from the Khorgos railway port in Xinjiang on Tuesday, bound for Malaszewicze, Poland, with an estimated travel time of 12 days.

On Saturday, train X8157 departed from the Xi’an International Port Station, passing through Lanzhou in Gansu and Urumqi in Xinjiang before reaching Khorgos. After switching to a diesel locomotive at Khorgos, it will proceed to the Altinkol station in Kazakhstan for reloading.