Here are six stories from China this week that you may have missed...

China's first hybrid power plant to use solar and tidal energy

China's first hybrid energy power station utilizing both solar and tidal power to generate electricity became fully operational on Monday in Wenling City of east China's Zhejiang Province.

The project marks the country's latest approach toward harnessing two green energy sources in a complementary manner for power generation.

With an installed capacity of 100 megawatts, the power plant ensures more stability for the utilization of renewable energy. Since solar energy supply is intermittent and unavailable when the sun goes down, tidal waves could replace it by supplying power during the night. Moon's gravity causes tides in the oceans.

New direct flight route links Beijing to London

China Southern Airlines has inaugurated a new direct flight service linking London and Beijing.

The newly opened route operates one flight daily, departing from Heathrow Airport at 10:30 p.m. local time and landing at the Beijing Daxing International Airport after approximately 10 hours of flying.

The airline said the new air service, expected to transport more than 600 passengers each day between the two cities, will hopefully bring fresh cultural exchanges between Britain and China.

Surging demand in AI creates new jobs for Chinese graduates

New job offers related to the Artificial Intelligence industry have surged for fresh graduates in China this year, growing by more than 170 percent compared last year, according to new data.

Amid the rapid rise of machine-learning models such as ChatGPT, the first quarter of 2023 alone saw more than a 300 percent increase in demand for new AI product managers, content operators, and natural language processing engineers.

Average annual salaries for job positions related to the burgeoning field are the highest among freshly graduated recruitments. New intelligent manufacturing jobs, for example, pay on average 330,200 yuan ($46,379) a year, while there are also a host of new jobs opening up related to AI-Generated Content, considered a new form of content production which includes AI painting, AI writing, and AI programming.

Elon Musk completes his China visit

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has finished his whirlwind trip of China, where he's been discussing the development of the country's car industry with some of China's most senior officials and business representatives. 

His tour included a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who used the opportunity to stress the importance of a healthy relationship between China and the U.S. He said its development was like driving a car: you need to keep the steering wheel in the right direction, step on the brake when necessary to avoid danger, and press the throttle at times to accelerate.

The billionaire CEO, in turn, told the diplomat he considered the Chinese people to be diligent and intelligent, adding that China's "development achievements are well deserved." Musk also stressed Tesla's stance against a new Western plan for "decoupling and breaking the chain," saying his company would continue to expand business in China.

Better than the World Cup? China social media falls in love with village soccer

First it was basketball, now it's football. Yes, another countryside sports match has swept Chinese social media, with millions of posters turning their eye to the Rongjiang county village super league - or in Chinese, "Cun Chao". 

In the league, the teams come from different villages in southwest China's Guizhou province and are picked from local village residents – meaning the players are often carpenters, fishermen, vendors and farmers.

Thousands come to watch the games, which are completely free to the public. In fact, the down-to-earth nature of the league has even attracted the attention of football legend Michael Owen, who recorded a video showing his support for the league. 
 

China's largest ever 'gaokao' exams kick off - with nearly 13m candidates

China's national college entrance examination, known as the gaokao, kicked off on Wednesday with 12.91 million registered examinees. That's up nearly 1 million from last year - making it the largest gaokao in Chinese history.

The national entrance exam, first introduced in 1952, is under reform in as many as 29 provincial-level regions in China, with examination content, format and enrolment methods all being changed up. One of the most significant parts of the reforms concerns allowing students to choose from over a dozen subject combinations instead of just liberal arts and science subjects. 

In terms of the most competitive degrees, data for 2023 shows that clinical medicine is the most popular major in China. Applications for engineering degrees remain high, but management majors appear to be gradually losing their charm for college entrants.

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