Education crackdown

Shares in private education firms slumped following new rules designed to protect parents and children. A ban on teaching during weekends and holidays was accompanied by rules preventing companies from making profit from teaching school curriculums. 

Artist in the Arctic

Painter-turned-sailor Zhai Mo has set out on a voyage to circumnavigate the Arctic non-stop for the first time.

Starting from Shanghai, he and his crew must aim for a tight window to pass through the iceberg-strewn Northwest passage before the sea freezes over.

Bright rain

Summer rains have brought color to the eastern Jiangsu province, with an explosion in growth of trumpet creepers. Commonly found on hillsides and next to roads, the plants respond rapidly to changing conditions.

Music monopoly

China's market watchdog ruled Tencent Holdings had been stifling competition in the music streaming market by exploiting exclusive deals with rights holders.

The State Administration of Market Regulation used its anti-trust powers to order the tech giant to unwind its agreements. Tencent had owned 80 percent of exclusive music streaming rights in China.

Weaving in the 21st century

Tourism has helped revive an ancient tradition in Leizhou city in south China's Guangdong province. Cattail weaving has taken place in the area for millennia but a new cultural heritage designation and an increase in tourism has given it new life.

Many museums

More than 1,000 museums have opened in China in the past five years. The country now has a museum for every 250,000 people and they attracted 1.2 billion visits between 2016 and 2020.

Flood toll mounts

The devastating flooding in central Henan province has claimed 73 lives in the past fortnight and caused $13.6 billion in economic losses. More than 750,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.

Profits jump

State-owned enterprises were among those benefiting from China's economic recovery. Combined profits from the entities rose 110 percent to $368.94 billion in the first half of the year.

Baby boom

The Altun Mountain National Nature Reserve in Xinjiang is expecting 8,000 new arrivals in the coming months. Around a quarter of 35,000 female Tibetan antelopes in the reserve are pregnant, a survey has shown.

Panda pigs

Colored pigs, or panda pigs as they are also known, nearly disappeared completely at the end of the last century. The climatic conditions in Ningxiang county, Changsha, central China's Hunan province, make it the only place where the animals can thrive. Thanks to gaining geographical indication status, and owing to the determination of farmers such Li Shuchu, the breed has made a dramatic recovery.

Tibet travel

More than 100,000 people traveled on Tibet's first bullet train in the month after it began operating. China State Railway Group said 3,500 people per day made the journey between Lhasa and Nyingchi, which now takes around 3.5 hours, compared with 5 hours previously.