An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 jolted Drake Passage at 1309 GMT on Friday, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said.

The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be at 57.34 degrees south latitude and 67.57 degrees west longitude.

China welcomes and supports Pakistan and India in properly handling their differences through dialogue, achieve a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire and seek fundamental solutions, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Tuesday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks when holding talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan Mohammad Ishaq Dar, saying that this is in line with the fundamental and long-term interests of both sides, conducive to regional peace and stability, and also the common expectation of the international community.

China and Pakistan have maintained close strategic communication on consolidating traditional friendship, strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation and jointly addressing challenges, which reflects the high level of bilateral relations, Wang said.

He added that as ironclad friends, China will, as always, firmly support Pakistan in safeguarding its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, in pursuing a development path suited to its national conditions, in resolutely combating terrorism, and in playing a greater role in international and regional affairs. Wang also emphasized China's commitment to continuously deepening the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership with Pakistan.

He called on both sides to join hands to create an upgraded version of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and promote cooperation on industry, agriculture, energy and minerals, human resources development, counter-terrorism and security.

Dar said Pakistan cherishes the brotherly friendship with China, firmly adheres to the one-China principle, and supports China in safeguarding its national interests and dignity.

He added that Pakistan admires China's new development achievements, especially in innovation and sci-tech progress, looks forward to strengthening all-round cooperation with China, and hopes to continue to receive strong support from China in overcoming current difficulties and promoting national development, security and stability.

Pakistan will do its best to ensure the safety of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in Pakistan, he said.

Dar briefed on the latest situation following the ceasefire understanding between Pakistan and India, as well as Pakistan's considerations. He thanked China for upholding justice and making unremitting efforts and significant contributions to the ceasefire and promoting peace, noting that Pakistan will resolutely safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and is willing to maintain dialogue with India and ease the situation.

The two sides also exchanged views on strengthening regional cooperation and deepening coordination in multilateral mechanisms.

During holidays, some Chinese people who work in big cities and return to their hometowns in small counties have found that short video platforms, such as Douyin or Kuaishou, begin to feed content into their algorithms that bring both familiar and the unfamiliar feelings.

The unfamiliarity comes from the fact that they had never encountered these content creators while living in big cities, while the familiarity lies in the use of local dialects to introduce traditional foods and specialties from their hometown counties.

Across China's vast county-level regions, a trend led by "local influencers" is quietly taking shape.

Rooted deeply in local culture, these influencers leverage their profound understanding of regional traditions and products to boost the county economy through short videos and livestreaming on social media platforms.

Unlike their urban counterparts, often seemingly glamorous, county influencers speak in local dialects, creating content against backdrops featuring simple county streets, farmland, or rural courtyards. They showcase local specialties such as cured meats, sweet potato noodles, and farm-fresh eggs, unexpectedly attracting large followings and generating commercial returns.

The 2025 No.1 Central Document, China's annual rural policy blueprint, emphasized efforts to strengthen county-level industries that enrich the lives of local residents by developing rural specialty industries and expanding income channels for farmers. It also proposed to "promote high-quality development of rural e-commerce," providing policy support for county influencers to promote local agricultural products through livestreaming and short video marketing.

By creating authentic and relatable content, these county influencers are boosting the sales of agricultural products, stimulating catering consumption, and tourism. Such efforts have become one of the engines driving rural revitalization.

Authenticity is the true secret

As the rising sun bathes the streets of Juye county in East China's Shandong Province, the aroma of breakfast drifts from roadside stalls, blending with vendors' calls in the local dialect.

Wang Miwen sets up his smartphone. Flashing a broad smile at the camera, he shouts in a thick Juye accent; "A sip of Juye's pot soup warms both the heart and the stomach!" The camera pans to a steaming pot of soup with mutton offal bubbling in a rich milky broth, promising a wave of warmth and remarkable flavor to viewers.

Soon, the video garners thousands of likes on Douyin, with the comment section flooded by local users: "Send me the address, I want to try it!" "I go to this place often too!"

Wang, a "local influencer" from Juye county in Heze city, has connected the taste buds and hometown sentiments of Juye's 900,000 residents with short videos, amassing 66,000 followers on Douyin.

From roadside roast chicken stalls to peony flower exhibitions, from freshly harvested sweet potatoes to newly opened restaurants in the county center, Wang's videos capture not just the daily lives of neighbors but also the new development of the county economy.

In 2020, the COVID-19 epidemic led to the temporary closing of Wang's stir-fried chicken restaurant business. Out of boredom, he posted a video of steaming stir-fried chicken from his restaurant on Douyin, accompanied by a caption in his hometown dialect. To his surprise, the video went viral and drew a wave of local customers.

"I realized this was pretty fun as I kept filming," Wang recalled.

He began filming videos for his friends' restaurants, initially in exchange for simple tokens like a meal or a pack of cigarettes. Gradually, more small businesses in Juye sought him out to promote their new shops or specialty dishes.

"The county is small, and there are few ways to promote businesses," Wang said. "With physical stores struggling these days, helping them with publicity is a good thing."

One of Wang's most memorable experiences was helping an elderly woman promote her "invincible grilled chicken necks" in 2021. Her daughter, who was working away from home, asked a friend to approach Wang: "Miwen, could you make a video for my mom?"

Wang agreed without hesitation, capturing the elderly woman's skilled hands grilling chicken necks, her cheerful chatter, and the story of her "secret family recipe." After the video was posted, long lines formed at her stall the very next day, and business became so brisk that the woman could barely keep up.

Today, when Wang walks down the street, people often call out, "Brother Miwen!" Fans recognize him, chat about the restaurants featured in his videos, and laugh as they say, "I tried the place you recommended!"

"Authenticity is my key element," he said. "No matter how good a video looks, if the food is bad or the environment poor, it'll only backfire when customers visit."

Unintentionally, Wang has also become a "tutor." Many stay-at-home mothers and young people in the county seek him out to learn video editing and filming, hoping to follow in his footsteps.

"I didn't have any connections and just figured things out on my own," Wang said. "But if anyone wants to learn, I'll teach them." He hopes more people will tell Juye's stories through short videos, spreading the county's vibrant local life even further.

Chasing youthful dreams in ancient town

With the rise of local influencers in county regions, their value has been recognized by government departments.

In Lufeng county, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, Yanzi, a 24-year-old woman who calls herself a "post-millennial tea farmer girl," has attached appealing labels on social media. Though young, she owns a 2,000-hectare ancient Pu'er tea tree garden farm in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, leisurely brewing tea and painting in an ancient town, leading an enviable "retirement-like life," and having found the life direction that her heart has always yearned for.

However, behind the screen, she is striving hard for her dreams, and her story is far more wonderful than what is shown in the videos.
At the beginning of 2024, during a trip, Yanzi accidentally came across the Heijing Ancient Town in Lufeng county. This town, known as a "living fossil of Ming and Qing dynasty architecture" and one of the four major ancient towns in Yunnan, boasts a quaint beauty that even many people in Yunnan are unaware of. The antique buildings and the serene and distant scenery instantly captured her heart.

While most of her peers chose to return to the county seat in pursuit of a stable and comfortable life, Yanzi made a bold decision. In April 2024, she resolutely brought the tea from her home and traveled hundreds of kilometers to Heijing Ancient Town to start her entrepreneurial journey.

In this unfamiliar town, she is both the owner of a Pu'er tea shop and an online "tour guide" through the ancient town.

Every day, she busily juggles tasks, from shooting videos, editing materials, and live-streaming, to taking netizens on tours of the ancient town.

To make her live-streams and commentaries more profound, during her leisure time, Yanzi is always immersed in studying the history and culture of the ancient town. She often reads relevant books, delves into unique local cultures such as ancient local music, strolls through the streets and alleys of the town, and explores unknown corners.

She also frequently chats with the local senior citizens, listens to the cultural stories passed down from generation to generation, and tries hard to dig out unique perspectives, all just to bring something different and wonderful to netizens compared to other bloggers.

Yanzi has also faced some skepticism and concern from her relatives and friends. They doubt whether a lesser-known small town can offer her the broader sales channels and opportunities needed to achieve her dreams, especially in the current situation in which there is intense competition for attracting attention through cultural tourism.

However, Yanzi remains optimistic, believing in the town's potential. She has observed the local government's enthusiasm in promoting cultural tourism through live streaming on the Internet. With this momentum, she is confident that the town will attract greater attention in the future, and she sees more opportunities for growth in this small town than in the already saturated tourist hotspots.

Yanzi's efforts have not been in vain. Amid the rise of county celebrities and the tourism industry, she soon caught the attention of the local cultural and tourism department.

The department encouraged her to continue doing a good job in live-streaming and provided promotion support for her high-quality videos, hoping to quickly enhance the popularity of Heijing Ancient Town through this novel approach. They also look forward to exploring more cooperation spaces and methods with her.

Nowadays, Yanzi's small tea shop has become a unique fixture in the ancient town. It is like a warm rest stop, providing a place for tired tourists to take a break. It is also like a miniature Pu'er tea museum, with the fragrance of tea filling the air, attracting people to stop and stay, and feel that rare tranquility.

Here, Yanzi is not only a disseminator of Pu'er tea culture but also a narrator of the history of Heijing Ancient Town. In her own way, she makes more people understand the charm of this ancient town and chases her own youthful dreams.

Small towns, huge power

In China, county-level economies have demonstrated robust strength, along with rapid economic growth, steadily rising income levels, and increasingly improved infrastructure in third- and fourth-tier cities and counties.

According to the Xinhua News Agency, popular beverage brands such as Heytea, Starbucks, and M Stand, which traditionally expanded mainly in first- and second-tier cities, have been making quiet inroads into third- and fourth-tier cities and counties in recent years. Beyond coffee and bubble tea shops, counties are seeing an increasingly diverse array of brands in sectors such as catering, apparel, and hotels.

As of the end of 2022, China's urban population exceeded 920 million, with nearly 30 percent living across more than 1,800 counties and county-level cities nationwide. In other words, China's county-level consumer market now covers around 250 million people.

The strength of county economies continues to grow, with an increasing number of counties surpassing a GDP of 100 billion yuan ($13.8 billion). In 2024, the number of such "100-billion-yuan counties" reached 62 nationwide, an increase of 3 percent compared with the previous year, according to a report by China Newsweek, quoting CCID Consulting.
These counties contributed a total GDP of 10.5 trillion yuan ($1.45 trillion) in 2024, accounting for 7.8 percent of the national GDP while occupying only 1.3 percent of China's land area. Notably, more than 70 percent of these counties (45 in total) recorded a nominal growth rate exceeding the national average in the same period, according to the CCID statistics.

Industry experts believe that as the basic unit of China's national economy, county-level economies have been continuously expanding in recent years. The growing lineup of 100-billion-yuan counties has not only driven regional economic development, but also strengthened the role of the economy's "ballast" and "stabilizer."

For rural influencers like Wang and Yanzi, recording videos on a phone was once a simple gesture to share glimpses of their daily lives, yet unknowingly, they have become a vital force in the rising tide of rural revitalization.

China's Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship separated from the space station combination at 4 a.m. (Beijing Time) on Wednesday, and the astronauts aboard -- Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze -- started to return to Earth, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

The spaceship is scheduled to return to the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Wednesday.

The CMSA said that prior to the separation, the Shenzhou-19 crew, with the assistance of the ground staff, completed various tasks such as setting the status of the space station combination, processing and transmitting the experimental data, and transferring remaining supplies. The Shenzhou-19 crew also carried out handover work and exchanged in-orbit work experience with the Shenzhou-20 crew.

The return of the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship, originally scheduled for Tuesday, had been postponed due to unfavorable windy weather at the Dongfeng landing site, according to the CMSA.

The agency added that the meteorological conditions at the Dongfeng landing site meet the mission requirements at present, and all preparations have been made to welcome the crew's return.

China launched the Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceship on April 24, sending three astronauts Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie to the space station for another six-month mission.

Chinese entrepreneur Liang Wenfeng, founder of AI startup DeepSeek, was named to the Time magazine"100 Most Influential People of 2025" list on Wednesday for shaking up US tech dominance around the world.

"It took a while for Silicon Valley to comprehend exactly what Liang Wenfeng had achieved. But soon markets were reeling, US tech dominance was being openly questioned, and Liang had been propelled to global renown," Time Magazine commended.

On March 27, the Hurun Research Institute released its 2025 Global Rich List, featuring the 40-year-old Liang, who made his debut with a fortune of 33 billion yuan ($44.9 billion).

Officially known as DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Fundamental Technology Research Co Ltd, the firm was founded in July 2023. As an innovative technology startup, DeepSeek is dedicated to developing cutting-edge large language models (LLMs) and related technologies, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

The startup released DeepSeek-R1, a new open-source model on January 20, which quickly soared to the top of Apple's app store's free charts, surpassing OpenAI's ChatGPT, Xinhua reported.

CCTV News reported on February 13 that DeepSeek's usage surged rapidly, becoming the fastest app to surpass 30 million daily active users.

DeepSeek ranked first with 194 million monthly active users in March, according to a report from QuestMobile, a Chinese mobile internet business intelligence service provider on Tuesday.

The Chinese Embassy in Japan on Thursday evening urged Chinese nationals to increase their personal safety and hygiene precautions, following local media reports of a surge in violent incidents, including indiscriminate killings since December 2024, and multiple mass food safety cases across Japan.

Japanese media reports noted a recent spike in violent crimes across the country. Since December 2024, indiscriminate killings have occurred in Kitakyushu of Fukuoka Prefecture, Nagano of Nagano Prefecture, and Gifu of Gifu Prefecture, resulting in multiple casualties among innocent civilians. In the past two weeks, targeted murders of young women have taken place in Ichinomiya of Aichi Prefecture, Shinjuku of Tokyo, and Saitama of Saitama Prefecture, the embassy said.  

The embassy also reported frequent incidents of theft, robbery, stalking, and telecom fraud, with Chinese nationals among the victims.

According to media reports, mass food safety incidents have recently occurred in several locations, including Tochigi (Tochigi Prefecture), Morioka (Iwate Prefecture), Saitama  (Saitama Prefecture), Shobara (Hiroshima Prefecture), Seki (Gifu Prefecture), and Fukutsu (Fukuoka Prefecture), the embassy said.  

The embassy said customers were infected norovirus after dining, showing symptoms such as diarrhea, fever, and vomiting; in some severe cases, infections led to death. Japanese research institutions have noted that the number of infectious gastroenteritis cases caused by norovirus and similar pathogens has reached the highest level for the same period in the past decade. 

The Chinese Embassy in Japan advised Chinese nationals in Japan—especially tourists visiting Japan—to strengthen their personal safety awareness and take precautions related to personal security and food hygiene. Citizens are urged to remain vigilant, avoid going out alone at night, and stay away from remote or high-crime areas. The embassy also recommended Chinese nationals to make proper preparations before traveling, such as registering with the "Chinese Consular Affairs" app or its WeChat mini-program before departure.

At the invitation of Premier Li Qiang, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will visit China from April 10 to 11, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday.

In response to a media inquiry about how China views the frequent high-level exchanges between the two countries—this being Prime Minister Sánchez's second visit to China in less than a year—Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian noted that it will actually be Sánchez's third visit to China in three years.

During the visit, President Xi Jinping will meet with Prime Minister Sánchez, and Premier Li Qiang will hold talks with him, Lin said.

The spokesperson emphasized that Spain is an important partner for China within the European Union. The two countries have consistently upheld the principles of mutual respect, mutual trust, and win-win cooperation, with bilateral relations remaining at the forefront of China-Europe ties.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Spain comprehensive strategic partnership. China looks forward to working with Prime Minister Sánchez to deepen strategic mutual trust, expand cooperation on global challenges, and elevate the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership to new heights, Lin added.

Question: It’s reported that President Xi Jinping and the Indian President have exchanged congratulatory messages, and agreed to advance a sound and steady growth of bilateral ties. How will the Chinese side grow its military relationship with India?

Zhang Xiaogang：To celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and India, President Xi Jinping has exchanged congratulatory messages with the Indian President, which set the course of the bilateral relationship. As two ancient civilizations, major developing countries and important members of the Global South, China and India are both in a crucial stage of modernization. Being partners of mutual success serves the fundamental interests of the two countries and the two peoples. The Chinese military stands ready to work with the Indian side to implement the important consensus reached between the two state leaders, strengthen communication and strategic mutual trust, safeguard peace and tranquility in the border areas, promote a sound and stable mil-mil relationship, and maintain peace in the region and beyond.

"This is what China looks like! This is China right here!" popular U.S. influencer IShowSpeed marveled as he live-streamed at Shanghai's Bund area, with a skyline featuring the landmark Oriental Pearl Tower and modern skyscrapers right in front of him.

From there, the 20-year-old content creator, whose real name is Darren Jason Watkins Jr. and whose zesty and contagious shows have won over 38 million subscribers on the social media platform YouTube, embarked on his first tour in China since the end of last month.

Despite a language barrier and fast-paced schedule, IShowSpeed treated his fans worldwide with a feast of uninterrupted live-streaming sessions while traveling along China's streets and alleys, experiencing China's history and culture, savoring China's cuisine and snacks, and interacting with China's enthusiastic fans and local people from various walks of life.

Unlike the bleak and even grim pictures often painted by some Western media, IShowSpeed's unedited and unscripted shows reveal a China that is perky, diverse, hospitable and prosperous.

In east China's metropolitan city of Shanghai, he joined in the colorful park activities of local residents, watched traditional lion-dancing and kung fu, and witnessed first-hand China's burgeoning electric car scene.

In China's capital city of Beijing, he visited the Great Wall and the Palace Museum and performed his signature back-flip stunt, which drew cheers from a welcoming crowd at the two iconic spots of China.

In particular, he experienced the country's high-speed bullet train. During the ride, he hailed the ubiquitous 5G signal and internet access, as he live-streamed smoothly despite being in a tunnel section of the railway line.

Millions of fans flocked to his channel and watched his shows from China. "I admire China's technology and internet, and Chinese fans were very respectful," said a YouTube comment -- which garnered more than 900 likes.

In central China's Henan Province, he traveled to the Shaolin Temple to pursue his kung fu dream. There, a kung fu mentor Master Liang warmly received him, taught him martial arts, and also shared with him a life philosophy inspired by years of painstaking training -- "It's pain, but it's life. It's pain, but it's Shaolin. It's pain, but it's Kung Fu. It's pain, but it's you." -- which struck a chord with many viewers.

In Chengdu, the capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, IShowSpeed immersed himself in a variety of unique cultural elements that this city has to offer, including the likes of Sichuan Opera, Sichuan-style hotpot, traditional acupuncture and tea-house performances.

"China has a beautiful culture! I would very much like to visit!" said a netizen from the United States in the comment section.

During his live-stream show in Chongqing, also located in southwest China, IShowSpeed presented a panoramic view of the megacity known for its futuristic vibes. He watched the magic sight of light rail trains passing through a building in Chongqing's iconic station, viewed the jaw-dropping architecture of this mountainous city, and captured its spectacular nightlife.

Against the backdrop of Chongqing's cyberpunk canvas featuring beautifully lit skyscrapers and bridges at night, IShowSpeed said: "I've never been to a country where they have stuff like this. Chongqing is beautiful."

"China is an underrated tour spot. I don't know why people overlooked China," he stated, with this remark echoed by many members of his audience who have lived in the bubble of Western anti-China propaganda.

"Is China so advanced now? This breaks my 30-year-old understanding of China. I have been deceived by the so-called mainstream media for so many years, and I want to go to China to see," read a comment.

"After watching this video, I realized how foolish my previous views on China were. I've decided to plan my trip this year to China. I feel that if I don't go to China, I'll regret it for the rest of my life," said another.

So far, IShowSpeed's five live-stream episodes in China's Shanghai, Beijing, Henan, Chengdu and Chongqing have generated a total of 35.16 million views on YouTube, with many video clips going viral among both Chinese and global netizens.

Just a few months after the ground-breaking exchanges between Western "TikTok refugees" and Chinese netizens on the social media platform Red Note, this live-streaming tour by IShowSpeed serves as another inspiring example of people-to-people amity between China and the world.

One YouTube comment, which was liked over 2,700 times, thus wrote -- "The U.S. has spent billions on anti-China propaganda, only to be undone by Red Note and IShowSpeed stream."

IShowSpeed's tour is also a prominent example of China's inbound travel boom following the country's visa-free policies, which led to an influx of foreign tourists and businesspeople into China, making "China Travel" trendy on social media platforms.

Earlier this week, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) also responded to such exchanges. "The one-shot live-streaming by foreign influencers presents China as it is in a panoramic view -- one that has not been edited or put in any filter."

"This again spurs growing enthusiasm for China. This shows that cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and other countries enjoy profound support from the people, and such bonds cannot and will not be severed," said a MFA spokesperson.

The Shandong aircraft carrier task group of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) exercises helped play the role of cutting off “three lines” of “Taiwan independence” forces, namely their energy import life line, their external military aid support line, and their own escape line, an expert told the Global Times, after the PLA Eastern Theater Command announced the carrier group’s exercises to simulate strike on ground and maritime targets in areas to the east of Taiwan island on Wednesday.

The PLA Eastern Theater Command on Wednesday employed Shandong aircraft carrier task group, in coordination with naval and air units, in conducting military drills in areas to the east of Taiwan island, said Senior Colonel Shi Yi, a spokesperson of the PLA Eastern Theater Command in a statement.

The exercises included subjects of vessel-aircraft coordination, seizure of area air superiority and strike on ground and maritime targets so as to evaluate the troops’ capabilities of integrated operations inside and outside the island chain, multi-dimensional blockade and control, and joint operations of multiple services, Shi said.

Zhang Chi, a professor at the National Defense University, told Global Times on Wednesday that during the drills, the Shandong carrier task group quickly maneuvered to the east side of the island of Taiwan, displaying the PLA’s increasingly powerful capabilities in rapid response, precision strike and systematic coordination. The large strategic platform’s deep integration into the joint operation system fully displayed the PLA’s powerful capabilities.

Zhang noted that PLA carrier groups have routinely sailed beyond the island chain for exercises in recent years, many of them in areas to the east of Taiwan island. From the positioning of PLA aircraft carriers in these drills, they took key choke points and formed a solid maritime barrier, creating a situation to block external forces from interfering and suppress and block “Taiwan independence” secessionist forces inside.

For a long time, Taiwan authorities see the east of Taiwan island as a so-called base to preserve combat forces and a comfortable zone, for example, the island’s air force’s largest underground hangar Chiashan Air Force Base is located on the east side of the island, Zhang said, noting that the presence of the Shandong aircraft carrier task group to the east of Taiwan island helps play the role of cutting off “three lines” of “Taiwan independence” forces, namely their energy import life line, their external aid support line, and their own escape line.

“Taiwan independence” secessionist forces long have an illusion that the Chinese mainland will not really launch an attack, and that there would be external forces to help them. A series of drills, especially the military deterrence operations participated by aircraft carrier task groups, sent a clear signal to “Taiwan independence” secessionist forces, that large-scale, highly intensive and diverse operations can completely cut off their escape routes and external support routes, Zhang said. “There is only a dead end that awaits the ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionist forces, and China will be surely reunified,” he said.