Vice-Premier Liu Yandong meets Chinese athlete Wu Dajing, who won the men's 500-meter short-track speed skating gold medal at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea, on Sunday. Liu, as the special representative of President Xi Jinping, was invited to the Winter Olympics closing ceremony and met some of the Chinese athletes.Feng Yongbin / China Daily Beijing stole the show at the closing ceremony of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Sunday by presenting a high-tech handover performance at the gala finale to herald the start of Olympic Beijing time. The extinguishing of the Olympic flame in Pyeongchang, the Republic of Korea, on Sunday marked the beginning of a new four-year cycle to the 2022 Beijing Winter Games after Beijing Mayor Chen Jining received the Olympic flag from his Pyeongchang counterpart Shim Jaeguk. Following the flag handover, an eight-minute show directed by renowned film producer Zhang Yimou welcomes the world to Beijing in a high-tech visual feast, facilitated by transparent projection screens playing images of modern China powered by robots skating with human artists disguised as pandas. President Xi Jinping invited the world to Beijing in a video message during the show. Together with all the Chinese people, I welcome friends from all over the world. See you in Beijing in 2022, he said. Zhang, who impressed the world for promoting China's rich history and culture by directing the grand opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, said he expects the show on Sunday to help present his country's more diversified image in the new era. We made every second count during the eight short minutes to showcase a confident China not only for its profound 5,000-year-old history, but also the remarkable achievements the country has made today, said Zhang. With electronic music and colorful lights illuminating the night sky in Pyeongchang, the host also put on a dynamic finale show by fusing traditional Korean culture with contemporary dancing, singing and visual art presentation. Visiting Vice-Premier Liu Yandong attended the closing ceremony as a special envoy sent by Xi after earlier meetings with Thomas Bach, the president of International Olympic Committee, and representatives of China's sports delegation competing in Pyeongchang. China attaches importance to further contributing to the Olympic Movement and the country will offer full support to Beijing to prepare for and host the 2022 Winter Olympics on a green, sharing, open and clean basis, Liu said during her meeting with Bach. She encouraged China's winter sports Olympians to train harder and more scientifically to achieve better results in the 2022 Winter Olympics at home. The Chinese delegation finished 16th overall in the medal tally in Pyeongchang, with one gold, six silver and two bronze medals in five different events. Wu Dajing, who won China's only gold at the Games in the men's 500m short-track speed skating, said the experience gained in Pyeongchang coupled with the government support has boosted his fellow athletes' confidence for great achievements in 2020. A total of 2,920 athletes from 92 countries and regions competed in Pyeongchang for 102 gold medals, the most in history. A record 30 delegations won medals at the Pyeongchang Games, breaking a previous record of 26 in 2006, 2010 and 2014. Over 1.39 million spectators had visited the venues in Pyeongchang by Sunday afternoon. wristbands canadacustom silicone bracelets canadarubber bracelets canadasilicone bracelets canadasilicone wristbands canadacustom wristbands canadacanadian wristbandswristbands canada
A Chinese monal. [File Photo] CHENGDU -- Researchers in Southwest China's Sichuan province have hatched five Chinese monal chicks, a rare species of pheasant, increasing the number of artificially-bred Chinese monals to a global total of 16. With highly iridescent plumage, the Chinese monal is one of the largest pheasants in the world. The species is listed as 'vulnerable' on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and is under China's highest national-level protection. There are less than 3,000 wild Chinese monals in the world, which mainly live in mountainous areas, at an altitude of 3,000 meters above sea level in the northwest parts of Sichuan, and Qinghai and Gansu provinces and Tibet Autonomous Region. The Chinese monal is one of the most difficult species to breed in captivity, said Zhou Caiquan, deputy director of the Sichuan (Baoxing) Protection and Research Center of Chinese Monal. Wild Chinese monals are hard to tame. Some birds still avoid people even after decades in captivity. Furthermore, mating and hatching eggs in cages also prove challenging, Zhou added. Five artificially-bred female Chinese monals in the center laid 16 eggs during the breeding season between April and June, and five of them have been successfully hatched. The sexes of the newborns have not yet been identified as they are still fluffy chicks. Their sexes can be discerned after one year. The center, located in a national nature reserve, is now working with Chinese universities and international institutions, expecting to increase the number of artificially-bred Chinese monals to 50 and release them into the wild in five years.
