[unable to retrieve full-text content]The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) concluded Tuesday, enshrining Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era into the Party Constitution and installing a new Central Committee and a new Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

Xi Jinping said Tuesday that China’s socialist system demonstrates great strength and vitality, and the Chinese people and the Chinese nation embrace brilliant prospects.

“Our Party shows strong, firm and vibrant leadership,” Xi said at the closing session of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

“Living in such a great era, we are all the more confident and proud, and also feel the heavy weight of responsibility upon us,” Xi told more than 2,300 delegates and specially invited delegates to the congress which opened on Oct. 18.

It has been 96 years since the CPC was founded, 68 years since the People’s Republic of China was established, and 39 years since reform and opening up began.

The CPC has united and led the Chinese people and the Chinese nation in ending “once and for all” the miserable plight of old China, which had been bullied by foreign aggressors following the Opium War of 1840, and in walking completely out of poverty and weakness, Xi said.

He described the congress as one of “remaining true to our original aspiration and our mission, holding high our banner, and forging ahead in solidarity.”

The congress approved a report of the 18th CPC Central Committee and a work report of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

The congress adopted the revised Party Constitution which made Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as a new component of the Party’s guide for action.

The congress also elected a new Central Committee and a new Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Xi called on delegates to the congress to study, observe, apply and uphold the Party Constitution, and closely follow the CPC Central Committee in thinking, political orientation and actions.

“In our Party, each and every one of us must always breathe the same breath as the people, share the same future, and stay truly connected to them,” he said. “The aspirations of the people to live a better life must always be the focus of our efforts.”

“We must keep on striving with endless energy toward the great goal of national rejuvenation,” he said.

For the first time, a dozen universities based in Shanghai have decided to launch a joint recruitment drive for professors in the United States, reports thepaper.cn.

Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai University and other 9 post-secondary institutions in the city are running the recruitment drive from October 21 to 23. The 12-university delegation has been recruiting at Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.

Fudan University has reportedly received nearly a hundred resumes since the recruitment drive began.

Zhao Luwei, the deputy dean of the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences at Fudan University is in the US on behalf of his institution.

“Chinese students studying overseas have a strong will to return to China for development,” said Zhao.

“We are not limited to recruiting only Chinese students, but also foreign experts with higher academic levels who fall within our recruitment requirements,” said Lu Qi, the deputy director of Human Resources at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. “When young people choose their future career development, the first consideration is not necessarily money, but how their career might develop,” added Lu Qi.

Chinese express delivery companies have taken a new measure to protect the privacy of customers, by using new parcel waybills that show partial information about the sender and the receiver.

On the parcel waybills, names, phone numbers and addresses are shown only partially, with signs such as “(^_^)” or “*” being used to take the place of some of the details. For example, only the last four digits of a phone number are shown.

However, a user of the Twitter-like Sina Weibo said the move had caused some trouble when identifying parcels. “How do I know which one is mine?”

Some couriers said there had been no cases of incorrect deliveries due to the new measure. “After all, only part of the phone number is hidden, and chances are slim that they happen to be the same.”

Moreover, couriers were able to see the full information of customers by scanning the waybill number, so it was not a time hassle, either.

Since a real-name rule was enforced in the express delivery sector in late 2015, discussions about privacy protection have been ongoing.

Liu Junhai, a business law professor at Renmin University of China, said full implementation of the real-name system required the sender’s information to be traceable and consumers’ privacy to be fully protected. The new parcel waybill was “a key technical means to balance the real-name system and personal privacy,” he said.

So far, China has not made such waybills compulsory, nor has it published any uniformed standard in this regard.

Shao Zhonglin, the former general-secretary of the China Express Association, said major express delivery companies had volunteered to take the measure to enhance the protection of consumers’ privacy.

According to Chinese law, those who leak citizens’ personal information could be sentenced to up to seven years in jail.

Zhao Xiaomin, an expert in the express delivery sector, said mass data leaks were not caused by couriers but attributable to loopholes in company security management. Express delivery companies were advised to work with security tech companies to better protect customers’ data.

China aims to cut the concentration of PM2.5 hazardous fine particle matter to 35 micrograms per cubic meter by 2035 from 47 micrograms per cubic meter in 2016, an official said Monday.

“It will be very difficult to reach the goal, and we need to make greater efforts to achieve it,” said Minister of Environmental Protection Li Ganjie at a press conference on the sidelines of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

PM2.5 density measures the concentration of small, breathable particles in the air and is often used as a gauge for smog.

Li praised the achievements in air pollution control since the country rolled out a major policy on air pollution in 2013.

From 2013 to 2016, the density of PM10 in the 338 cities nationwide monitored by the ministry dropped 15.5 percent, with the density of PM2.5 falling 33 percent, 31.3 percent and 31.9 percent in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas, respectively, he said.

By 2020, the percentage of good air quality days must reach 80 percent across the 338 cities, the minister said.