The People’s Liberation Army Navy aircraft carrier CNS Liaoning and its battle group will make their first visit to Hong Kong amid celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the special administrative region’s return to the motherland, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Senior Colonel Wu Qian said at a news conference in Beijing on Thursday that Saturday will mark not only the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return but also the 20th year of the PLA’s presence there.

A detailed schedule for the visit will be released later.

The carrier battle group, which consists of the Liaoning, the guided-missile destroyers CNS Jinan and CNS Yinchuan, the guided-missile frigate CNS Yantai and several J-15 carrier-borne fighter jets and helicopters, embarked from its home port in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Sunday. It is conducting routine training listed in the Navy’s annual plan, Navy officials said.

During the training, ships drill in formation and perform combat maneuvers and aircraft hone aerial tactics, the Navy said. The operation is aimed at improving coordination among ships in the battle group and boosting the capabilities of pilots and sailors.

Li Jie, a senior expert at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said ships in the group including the Liaoning are likely to hold open houses for Hong Kong residents, and their commanders and sailors are likely to participate in parties with local communities.

A performance by shipborne helicopters also is possible to display the Navy’s operational capability, he said.

The Liaoning, a refitted Soviet-era vessel, was commissioned by the Navy in 2012. Its battle group carried out a live-fire exercise in the South China Sea and western Pacific Ocean in December and January.

China launched its first domestically developed aircraft carrier in April in Dalian, Liaoning province. Like the Liaoning, the new ship has a displacement of around 50,000 metric tons and a conventional propulsion system, and will also carry J-15 fighter jets.

China recognized 30 new national masters of traditional Chinese medicine during a ceremony in Beijing on Thursday.

Of the new masters, 25 are men and five are women, and all have practiced TCM for at least 50 years, according to the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

They range in age from 66 to 96.

The award ceremony was held by the administration, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, and Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

“The masters should serve as role models for the country’s TCM practitioners to wholeheartedly serve their patients, promote TCM, and help pass down the oriental medical science via education and training,” Wang Guoqiang, head of the administration, said while addressing the ceremony.

According to Wang, it is the third time the Chinese government has recognized national TCM masters, bringing the total to 90.

Together with the 30 masters, another 99 TCM practitioners from across the country were awarded the title of “famous veteran TCM doctor”.

Qi Xuan, a division director of human resources at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, said that such high-level recognition encourages young TCM doctors.

Xu Runsan, 91, a TCM doctor at the hospital who specializes in gynecology, is one of the newly recognized masters.

“He’s in good health and still sees patients every week,” Qi said.

TCM is a medical science largely based on clinical experience and it requires lifelong dedication to become a good TCM doctor, she added.

Nationwide, Western medicine has become the mainstream and shoulders the lion’s share of the overall supply of medical care services.

But the government has introduced a slew of measures and policies to facilitate TCM development.

China’s top legislature late last year adopted a law on TCM, allowing it a bigger role in the country’s medical system.

Rainstorm have battered east China’s Jiangxi Province from June 20 to 29.

As of 4 p.m. on Thursday, floods had left seven people dead and two others missing, according to the provincial flood control headquarters.

Nearly 440,000 people in the province were forced to relocate to safe places.

Rivers and lakes across the province have swollen as a result of the rainstorm.

The provincial meteorological station forecast that some northern areas in Jiangxi will see more storms over the weekend.

Rainstorm have battered east China’s Jiangxi Province from June 20 to 29.

As of 4 p.m. on Thursday, floods had left seven people dead and two others missing, according to the provincial flood control headquarters.

Nearly 440,000 people in the province were forced to relocate to safe places.

Rivers and lakes across the province have swollen as a result of the rainstorm.

The provincial meteorological station forecast that some northern areas in Jiangxi will see more storms over the weekend.

A one-and-half-day workshop was held in late June to evaluate the enforcement of programs to end domestic violence in China, after the launch of the country’s first anti-domestic violence law ratified on March 1, 2016.

Jointly hosted by the All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF), UN Women and UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the forum attracted a number of representatives from China’s judiciary, police, civil affairs and health departments at both central and grassroots levels.

The discussions focused mostly on the practice, experience and problems during the enforcement of the new law to eliminate violence, especially that generated by the old concept of gender inequality. According to a survey issued by ACWF, in 2010, 24.7 percent of married women in China had been subjected to spouse violence.

“Traditional thinking that domestic violence is a household affair has made it difficult for the victims to stand up for themselves,” said Asa Torkelsson, policy advisor from the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific of UN Women. “The anti-domestic violence law is a big step towards elimination of [such] violence.”

Chen Xianming, deputy director of the Jingyuan Health and Family Planning Administration in the landlocked Gansu Province of western China, told the story of a local woman who had suffered maltreatment in family for not being able to conceive a boy.

The victim surnamed Zhang was found with bruises and injuries to her back and the inner parts of her thighs when she visited the local hospital, making the doctor suspect she was a victim of domestic violence. However, in trepidation, the woman was unwilling to disclose the cause of her injuries.

After reassurance and a bit of conversation, especially after explanation of the protection and the rights guaranteed to women offered by the law, Zhang started to reveal her misery. Due to having twice borne baby girls, her husband became dissatisfied and sought every opportunity to bully her.

By helping her to reveal her trauma, the local civil-affair professionals started to work on her husband, persuading him to change his stereotyped view of masculine superiority.

Her husband gradually accepted this view. In 2015, the family was recognized as the impoverished household receiving support and compensation in efforts to improve their livelihood. This year, they eventually shook off their poverty.

“Protecting women and girls from violence is not only a moral and human rights imperative, it is also critical to the economic and social progress of nations,” said Dr. Babatunde Ahonsi, UNFPA China Representative. “As long as the dignity and well-being of half of humanity is at risk, then peace, security and sustainable development will remain out of reach.”

The yearlong implementation of the anti-domestic violence law has seen the issuance of some 680 protection orders based on concerns for the safety of victims, a preventive measure for sufferers to avoid reprisal attacks or continuous abuse.

“Our country, which is against domestic violence in any forms, is always calling for the equal, harmonious and polite relations among family members,” said Han Mei, the initiator of the protection order approach and judge of the Supreme People’s Court of China.

However, according to Han, as the evidence of domestic violence is hard to spot, some judges are reluctant to issue such an order, which should be handed out no later than 72 hours after the victims are subjected to violence. To better protect victims by means of the orders, Han advised people not to question the judgments unscrupulously, thus allowing judges to make a judgment with rational and independent thinking.

Huang Lei, the head of ACWF’s branch in Ningxiang, Hunan Province, said that domestic violence used to be prevalent in her town, which is home to around 34,000 people. “Even some officials in the teamwork for anti-domestic violence campaigns were found to be engaging in violence at home,” she said.

That is why training is being provided for professionals and the law explained to common people, especially the children, through mini-movies and social media, such as WeChat and QQ, to inculcate a sense of gender equality.

The unfair difference in status between men and women is often considered a root cause for domestic violence.