Chinese President Xi Jinping and other top Chinese leaders visit a major exhibition marking the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution in Beijing, capital of China, July 21, 2017. Senior leaders Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli, also visited the exhibition. [Xinhua]

Top Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping, on Friday visited a major exhibition marking the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, called for unremitting efforts to build the army into a world-class military.

Senior leaders Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli, also visited the exhibition at the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution.

Xi hailed outstanding feats made by the army under the leadership of the CPC in the past 90 years for national independence, people’s liberation, national prosperity and people’s happiness.

“We should remember the glorious history, inherit the red gene, and advance the great cause initiated by the older generations of revolutionaries from a new starting point,” he said.

The president encouraged people to strengthen their confidence in the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and strive for the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the exhibition Friday morning, Liu Yunshan said the exhibition aimed to make good use of history as a textbook, while calling on people to rally closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core.

The exhibition features major PLA battles, historical events, decision-making processes and achievements throughout its 90-year history.

Models of the PLA’s major military equipment in active service are exhibited, while interactive subjects that simulate the drills are also available.

More than 1,000 photos and 1,300 relics, as well as paintings, military gear and other items are on display.

The items include photos of China’s first aircraft carrier Liaoning in training in the South China Sea, models of China’s first hydrogen bomb and first air-drop atomic bomb.

Aug. 1 marks the PLA’s 90th anniversary.

China is looking to recruit more college students for its armed forces in 2017, officials said at a teleconference on this year’s recruitment plan Friday.

According to the officials, recruiters should supervise and guide college students in the process, including student registration, pre-recruitment requirements and preferential recruitment conditions, in order to raise both the quantity and quality of recruited students.

Armed forces on all levels should also enhance quantified assessment in their recruitment methods to ensure a high quality of students, the officials continued.

Those young people with outstanding performance in disaster relief, and those who are the children or siblings of soldiers who have died while on active duty, should be the priorities for recruiters.

This year’s recruitment period is set to start on Aug. 1 and conclude on Sept. 30, as those with a high school education or above will make up the majority of the recruitment.

The meteorological department of east China metropolis Shanghai recorded an air temperature of 40.9 degrees Celsius (105.6 degrees Fahrenheit) at around 2 p.m. Friday, the highest on record in the city in 145 years.

A red alert for high temperatures was issued by the Shanghai Central Meteorological Observatory on Friday.

The previous record high temperature in the city of 40.8 degrees Celsius was recorded on Aug. 7, 2013. A total of 13 high temperature red alerts have been issued since the new meteorological early warning system was adopted in 2007.

China has a three-tier early warning system for high temperatures: a yellow warning is issued when high temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius are predicted for three consecutive days, orange indicates a predicted high temperature of 37 degrees Celsius in the next 24 hours, and a red alert is issued when the temperature is forecast to reach 40 degrees Celsius within 24 hours.

Heat waves have hit the city since the beginning of summer and are expected to linger until the end of July.

Parking lot sharing, a solution to ease shortages in Chinese cities, is expected to boom just as online taxi bookings and bike sharing have attracted public attention.

The shared parking business model enables different vehicle owners to share the same parking lot at different times arranged by relevant APPs.

He Yuefeng, general manager of the Shanghai Xiaoma Zhiting Internet of Things Co. Ltd., said: “By unblocking the information obstacles, the parking space-sharing app can help users find parking lots easier, especially at peak times.”

A privately-owned parking lot can be rented to others who may otherwise fail to find an appropriate space, while, property management firms can work out a timetable for different cars parked in the same lot at different times, he explained.

In addition to share parking lots, the app will also enable drivers to pay through mobile and locate the cars by remote control.

However, some private parking lot owners are afraid of having their space occupied by drivers who could refuse to leave in due time.

In this regard, He devised a system of extra charges growing with passage of time to compel the occupants to leave.

To realize above mentioned functions, the app requires complicated technological support, He said.

There have been other attempts adopted to alleviate the strain engendered by limited parking resources in big cities.

Cities like Beijing and Wuhan, launched the Sky Parking Garages several years ago in hope of relieving the tension caused by insufficient land resources. However, their efforts were made in vain as the concept has been largely abandoned due to the complex parking procedures and high maintenance costs.

According to National Development and Reform Commission, the ratio of vehicle owners to parking spaces in China’s big cities is 0.8, while, in second- and third- tier cities, it’s only 0.5. However, in the developed world, the rate is as high as 1.3. The quotients of the parking lots in the Chinese cities imply a shortage of at least 50 million parking berths, falling ever-further behind the growing number of vehicle owners.

Two people have been confirmed dead and 55 others were injured after a blast occurred in a shop near West Lake in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province, on Friday morning, according to sources with local authorities.

Among the injured, 12 people sustained severe injuries.` The blast happened at around 8:40 a.m. Billowing flames and strong heat shattered the glass of passing vehicles, including a bus, causing most of the injuries.

The fire has been put out, and all the injured have been sent for treatment in hospitals, according to the city’s fire department.

The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.

The shop is located in the West Lake District, a well-known scenic area. The lake was used as the backdrop of a performance directed by Zhang Yimou as part of the G20 summit last year.