Retail sales growth slows

China's retail sales growth slowed in November despite the big Double 11 online shopping festival. 

Retail sales, a gauge of consumer spending in the world's most populous country, grew by 3.9 percent last month from a year earlier. 

Role models honored

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday commended role models involved in implementing the country's Peaceful China initiative at a meeting in Beijing.

Xi encouraged the representatives to make even greater contributions to building a high-level and peaceful China.

Nanjing massacre remembered

China held a memorial ceremony on Monday at a memorial hall in Nanjing City, east China's Jiangsu Province, to mourn the 300,000 victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

In 2014, China's top legislature designated December 13 as the national memorial day for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, which took place after Japanese troops captured the city on December 13, 1937. 

China leads global box office

China's 2021 box office revenue has so far exceeded 45 billion yuan (about $7.07 billion) as of December 11, continuing to lead the global box-office market. 

With less than three weeks to go until the end of 2021, this year is highly likely to see China retain its position as the world's largest box office market for the second year in a row. 

Eight of this year's top 10 earners at China's box office are domestic productions, according to box office tracker Maoyan. 

New orchid found

Chinese researchers have confirmed an orchid found in southwest China's Sichuan Province is a new species.

 Ponerorchis wolongensis has white flowers and was named after the Wolong National Nature Reserve, where it was first found in July 2020.

Oldest buddha statue 

Two golden copper Buddha statues have been discovered in northwestern Shaanxi Province, the earliest of their kind unearthed in China.

The statues were unearthed from a six-tomb family cemetery from the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). 

Military AI regulation

China submitted its position paper on regulating the military applications of artificial intelligence (AI) to the sixth review conference of the United Nations (UN) Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which opened in Geneva on Monday.

The position paper is China's first proposal to regulate the military application of AI and the first of its kind under the framework of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.

Tree campaign reaches 78 billion

Chinese people have planted 78 billion trees since the country launched its nationwide voluntary tree planting campaign 40 years ago. So far over 17.5 billion participations have registered in the campaign across the country.

Forests covered around 12 percent of China in the early 1980s but now spread over 23 percent of the country.

"The campaign has made China the country with the largest increase in forest resources and the largest area of ​​planted forests," said Zhang Wei, a senior official of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Couples get more baby time

Many cities and provinces in China have revised their regulations to provide additional holidays and maternity leave to encourage parents for more childbirths.

The new regulations also allow parents in some provinces and cities to spend more time with their toddlers until they reach the age of three years. Depending on their location, women are now eligible for 128 to 190 days of maternity leave, while new fathers can avail of paternity leave ranging from seven to 30 days.

New mothers have now had their paid maternity leave extended from 128 days to 158 days in Shanghai. And parents are also entitled to five days of paid parental leave every year until their child turns three years old.

400th Long March launch

China's Long March carrier rocket series completed its 400th launch, ferrying a new group of satellites into space.

The satellites will be used for space exploration and new technology tests. 

Over the past 51 years, since the first flight of Long March-1 in 1970, Long March carrier rockets have been used in 92.1 percent of China's space launches.