Here are six stories you may have missed from China this week – click each headline to find out more. 

China's railways carry 102m passengers during Spring Festival rush

China's railway system transported more than 102m passengers over the 10 days of the Spring Festival from January 22 to February 1 – an increase of almost 50 percent on 2022.

The China State Railway Group revealed that during the post holiday period, a daily average of 9.31 million passengers have boarded a train, with more than 10 million trips on seven consecutive days from January 26 to February 1.

The total of 102 million passengers over the period represents a year-on-year increase of 48.7 percent, although still 10 percent below the passenger numbers in the same period of the 2019 Spring Festival holiday, the last before the COVID-19 pandemic.

2,500 km of high-speed railways to be built in 2023

China plans to build more than 3,000 kilometers of railways in 2023, including 2,500 kilometers of high-speed lines, to upgrade the transport system into an advanced network.

China Railway will enhance the links among different levels of railways and fill gaps along railway routes. Key projects to be constructed include the Sichuan-Tibet Railway in the country's southwest region. 

In 2022, China Railway built 4,100 kilometers of new railways including 2,082 km of high-speed lines.  

AG600 amphibious aircraft to start airworthiness test flights

China's domestically-developed AG600 large amphibious aircraft has entered the airworthiness flight-test phase, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China revealed.

Two AG600M airplanes – the firefighting model belonging to the AG600 aircraft family – have arrived at the flight test center in Yanliang District in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. It marks the special-mission aircraft's official entry into the flight-test phase, which is a necessary step in obtaining the type certificate.

Codenamed Kunlong, or "water dragon" in Chinese, the AG600 aircraft family is being developed to serve in emergency rescue missions. It can be used to fight forest fires, in maritime search and rescue and in other critical emergency rescue missions.

Shenzhou-15 taikonauts exercise in space

The Shenzhou-15 astronauts aboard China's space station are making time for physical exercises, as seen on recordings released by the China Manned Space Agency.

One of the video clips taken from the Wentian lab module shows Deng Qingming using a customized space bike, fixed on one side of a cabinet, to build up his limb strength.

Astronauts also use resistance devices installed in the Mengtian lab module to do basic physical exercises such as rowing, squatting, and pulling, which can help them strengthen muscles and bones in the microgravity environment of space. 

More than 100 endangered blossom-headed parakeets flourishing in Ruili

A video of more than 100 blossom-headed parakeets perching on tree branches in Ruili City shows the endangered species is flourishing in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The blossom-headed parakeet is an endangered bird under China's second-class state protection. Over the past 20 years, fewer than 10 at a time had been seen sporadically.

Liu Yang, an ornithologist and professor at Sun Yat-sen University School of Life Science in Guangdong, says the footage shows the species is recovering. Liu said that China is home to nine species of parakeets and over half of them have been recorded in Riuli.

Fire dragon dance among activities staged to celebrate Lantern Festival

People across China are holding various activities and preparing delicacies for the upcoming Lantern Festival. It falls on the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar – this year, February 5 – and signals the end of Spring Festival celebrations. 

Dragon dances were performed at a square in Dafang County in southwest China's Guizhou Province. Similar activities were held in Zunyi, another city in Guizhou, with residents celebrating the festival with dragon dances and fireworks.

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