A seminar was held in Beijing on July 18 to share the successful experience of an online short video program named “China Mosaic.” Jiang Jianguo, vice minister of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and minister of the State Council Information Office (SCIO), attended and addressed the seminar. Guo Weimin, vice minister of the SCIO, hosted the seminar.

The serial program “China Mosaic” is an English-language commentary on global news, often offering Chinese perspective. It is produced by China.org.cn, a Beijing-based website offering news and information service in 10 languages.

In his speech, Jiang spoke highly of the program, saying that China.org.cn has shouldered the responsibility towards the nation and the people and produced an influential program. He summarized the reasons for the success of the program, saying that China.org.cn has not only equipped itself with innovative capabilities through proactive agenda-setting and condensing the content into three-minute programs, but also cultivated talent to lead and promote the related work. Jiang encouraged China.org.cn to keep improving the program and explore the regular patterns of online international communication.

Concerning how to promote international communication, Jiang emphasized proactive agenda-setting, the use of the internet and mobile internet as well as the production of signature programs.

Zhang Fuhai, president of China International Publishing Group (CIPG), which is the parent company of China.org.cn, stressed the importance of international communication and CIPG’s support of the program. He said that international communication is the blood of CIPG, and while continuing to support the program, CIPG will increase its capability of international communication.

Wang Xiaohui, editor-in-chief of China.org.cn and host of the program, introduced the practice and experience in producing the program. Wang said that the achievements of the program can be attributed to the use of English (modern day lingua franca), the effect-oriented principle, the emphasis on facts and opinions, the story-telling pattern, and the serial structure. He pledged that China.org.cn will continue to promote international communication.

The program “China Mosaic” was launched by China.org.cn in May 2015, and 116 videos have been produced during the past two years. By far, the program has been watched for 227 million times, the videos have been played for over 16.95 million times, and the interaction among the audience has reached 1.27 million times.

Technology has changed the way people live their lives, and now it has started to change the way government works in China.

To illustrate this, a vice environment minister used Wechat to communicate with lower-level officials in a group talk seeking solutions to environmental problems.

According to The Beijing News, the mayors of 12 cities in Sichuan Province were invited to join a Wechat group chat chaired by China’s Vice Environment Minister Zhai Qing and Sichuan Vice Governor Yang Hongbo. The 12 mayors have to report their progress in dealing with certain local environmental issues every week.

On July 7, the Ministry of Environmental Protection held a teleconference. It was revealed there are still 107 environmental violation issues concerning the Yangtze River Economic Zone’s drinking water reserve area that are yet to be resolved. Among them, Sichuan Province has 30 cases, topping the list.

So, Zhai went to Sichuan to resolve the problems and formed a Wechat group to “communicate, investigate and supervise,” hoping that, together, they could work out problems one by one.

The city governments involved obviously speeded up their efforts to deal with environmental problems after the meeting and Wechat group chat.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on the country’s major military research and educational institutions to cultivate more talent for the armed forces, and to build world-class military research and educational institutions.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), made the remarks while addressing heads of major military research and educational institutions Wednesday.

After presenting the heads of the three institutions with the military flag at a ceremony that marked the reshuffling of the institutions, Xi called the reshuffling a vital decision made by the CPC Central Committee and the CMC to realize the Chinese Dream and build a stronger army.

In order to build a world-leading first-class military research institution, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Academy of Military Science, as the leading force of scientific research in the military, should meet the new demands of military research and further combine military theories and technologies, he continued.

Xi further stressed that the National Defense University of the PLA is a significant base to cultivate talent for joint operations as well as PLA officers, and should push forward innovation in its education, research and management to become a top comprehensive college on unified command.

As for the National University of Defense Technology, it must follow the worldwide trends of the development of military science, and work harder to make key technological breakthroughs, in order to build a world-class institution of higher education, according to Xi.

Also on Wednesday, Xi attended a symposium with the current chief officers of military education, research and training institutions.

“It takes first-class military talent, theory, and science and technology to build the PLA into a world-leading military,” Xi said.

“Science and technology is the core fighting capacity in modern warfare,” he noted.

China must make greater efforts to build stronger armed forces and boost fighting capability through science and technology innovations to gain a competitive initiative, Xi said, stressing military education, research and training institutions must assume this responsibility.

Xi ordered the chief officers to stick to the correct political direction by safeguarding the authority and the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee, conforming to the CPC Central Committee, and upholding CPC’s absolute leadership over the military.

In addition, he stressed efforts to ensure implementation of reform tasks, and improve capability and innovation in fostering military expertise and scientific research.

The president also urged the institutions to cultivate good work and fighting styles, be strict with their education and training, and promote the spirit of science and dedication.

The Chinese military authority has just reshuffled its military education institutions as part of an ongoing military reform in recent years to build a stronger military and boost real-combat capability.

As a result, there are now 43 military education institutions, including two — the National Defense University of PLA and the National University of Defense Technology — directly under the CMC, 35 specialized in specific armed services, and six of armed police forces.

Authorities in Shanghai have shut down newly opened sleeping capsules in office buildings, citing fire hazards and other reasons.

Similar to capsule hotels in Japan, the sleeping capsules showed up in three office buildings in Shanghai and in buildings in several other cities. They are designed to offer white-collar workers a space to take a break, day or night.

The clampdown in Shanghai came after suspensions of the service in Beijing and Chengdu, Sichuan province.

“Sleeping capsules are usually in a narrow space, where injuries or even death can easily result if a fire breaks out,” said Li Min, an engineer in the firefighting division of Pudong New Area who helped inspect capsules in the New Shanghai International Tower on Monday.

“Smoke and poison gases can gather faster in these spaces. Sitting or lying down on the bed in the capsule could result in a relatively slow response to an emergency,” she said. “It contributes to the difficulty of a fire evacuation.”

Shanghai police also said the service was suspended because it did not get permission from fire departments or a license to run a hotel.

The capsules, developed by Beijing tech company Xiangshui Space, are equipped with electrical accessories including a lamp, fan and power sockets. People can get disposable bedding free, including sheets, pillowcases and blankets. Earplugs are also available.

Anyone can pay for a capsule by scanning its QR code. The capsules in Shanghai offer 24-hour service at 10 yuan (US$1.50) for every half-hour during peak hours (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and 6 yuan per half-hour at other times. The upper limit is 58 yuan per day.

Xiangshui Space’s website was out of service on Wednesday, citing “system upgrading”.

CEO Dai Jiangong told Beijing News on Wednesday that the company was “recalling” its products for an upgrade at the request of authorities in different cities. He was also quoted as saying that the company was not penalized.

The capsules were introduced as the sharing economy has boomed in China through products such as bicycles, umbrellas, chargers, cars and even basketballs.

In the case of the sleeping capsules, many netizens expressed concerns about hygiene, not fire hazards.

“I don’t think it would meet health standards if no one tidied it up after it was used,” one netizen wrote.

Another wrote, “High quality management is the prerequisite for the sharing business.”

Chinese cities have reported fewer days with “good air” in the first half (H1) of 2017, with the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area suffering from higher density of key pollutants, official data showed.

The 338 cities monitored by the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) enjoyed good or excellent air quality on 74.1 percent of the days in H1, down 2.6 percentage points year on year, according to Liu Zhiquan, head of the environmental monitoring department at the MEP.

During the same period, the density of hazardous fine particle matter PM2.5 remained unchanged from a year ago while the density of PM 10 was down 2.2 percent.

Air quality in 13 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area was rated good or excellent on 50.7 percent of the days in H1, down 7.1 percentage points year on year. In June, the ratio was only 34.1 percent, 14.2 percentage points lower than a year ago.

The density of PM2.5 and PM10 in these regions also climbed 14.3 percent and 13.2 percent, respectively, indicating worsened air quality.

Of the country’s 74 major cities, Haikou in southern China’s Hainan Province had the best air quality while Handan in northern China’s Hebei Province was the most polluted, MEP data showed.

The worsened air quality came despite the government’s strengthened oversight of environmental violations.

In H1, China investigated and dealt with 17,169 violations of environmental protection laws and regulations, previous MEP data showed.

Over 610 million yuan (about 90.44 million U.S. dollars) in fines were issued in 503 cases where violators must pay daily fines until they address their wrongdoings, up 131 percent and 64 percent year on year respectively