President Xi Jinping, on behalf of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council, extended Spring Festival greetings to all Chinese Thursday at a reception in Beijing.

Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered a speech at the gathering at the Great Hall of the People, greeting all Chinese in the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and at abroad.

Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli were also present.

This year’s Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, falls on Jan. 28.

A report released on Wednesday shows that the number of Chinese think tanks has grown rapidly in the world during the past year.

Wang Huiyao, president of CCG, delivers a speech at the release of 2016 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report in Beijing, on Jan 25, 2016. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Nine Chinese think tanks were included among the world’s top think tanks in the 2016 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, published by the think tank and civil societies program at the Lauder Institute of University of Pennsylvania (TTCSP).

Selected from a list of 175 top think tanks in the world, these nine think tanks are China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations; Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; China Institute of International Studies; Development Research Center of the State Council; Shanghai Institute for International Studies; Institute of International and Strategic Studies Peking University; Unirule Institute of Economics; Center for China and Globalization; and Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, with China Institute of Contemporary International Relations ranking the highest at 33.

The report shows the United States at the top with the largest number of think tanks, at 1,835, while China holds the second place with 435, followed by UK, 288, and India, 280.

The 2016 study was subdivided into 52 lists based on such categories as region, area of research and special achievement, in which 41 Chinese think tanks were selected with 18 of them also outstanding in the Top Think Tanks in China, India, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

“It’s very meaningful that a number of Chinese think tanks are influencing the world,” said Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization. “More think tanks are needed to help our government in making decisions accurately and scientifically. Meanwhile, think tanks serve more like a ‘soft power’, which can also help enhance our country’s international stature,” he said.

According to the report, three Chinese thinks tanks have made their mark Think Tanks to Watch. They are Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, Unirule Institute of Economics, and Center for China and Globalization.

Another four are among the Best New Think Tanks, including Alibaba think tank, 21st Silk Road Collaborative Center, Qianhai Institute for Innovative Research, and Center for Eco-Financial Studies, with Alibaba think tank ranking the highest at 23.

Referred to as “think tanks’ think tank”, TTCSP manages and supports a global network of close to 7,000 think tanks and trains future think tank scholars and executives.

“Since 2006, our ranking process has been refined and streamlined, and the number and scope of the institutions and individuals involved has steadily grown.” said James McGann, director of the TTCSP.

The 2016 report shows continued expansion of think tanks in Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Besides, there is increasing diversity among think tanks in these regions with independent, political party affiliated, and corporate and business sector think tanks that are being created with greater frequency.

A Chinese woman who ran a small recreational shooting gallery in north China’s Tianjin Municipality has received a suspended three-year prison sentence for illegal gun possession.

The sentence was handed down by Tianjin No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court.

Zhao Chunhua, 51, opened a roadside shooting gallery to help support her family but was arrested in October. Among the model guns seized from her stall, six were identified as real guns.

She was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for illegal gun possession by a district court in Tianjin in December last year, triggering a public outcry, with many calling the verdict harsh. It caused widespread debate about the criteria for legally defining guns.

The Intermediate People’s Court took over the case after Zhao appealed against the initial verdict.

According to the court, Zhao knew that the model guns could cause injuries and could not be purchased through legal channels, therefore, she had the subjective intention to possess them.

Given that Zhao showed remorse and the guns she owned were for recreational shooting, posing little threat to society, Zhao was given a three-year probation.

Zhao pleaded guilty and was immediately released.

5-year-old Zhang Wang trains to walk on wires in a series of ‘Spartan’ workout plans designed by his father. The plans include one-arm push-ups, rock climbing and Chinese Kung Fu cudgel.

The boy from southwest China’s Sichuan Province has become an internet celebrity in China.

His father, previously a migrant worker, has his son’s best interests in mind, despite the training seeming quite arduous for such a young child. The father hopes that training his son like this will build his confidence and extend his range of interests.

His father sees safety as a top priority and always accompanies his son when training.

More and more Chinese people have followed the fashion of giving out digital “red envelopes,” cash gifts exchanged through a smartphone app, to friends and relatives while celebrating the Spring Festival, also known as Chinese lunar New Year.

A survey conducted by United Overseas Bank (UOB) showed that three quarters of Chinese people plan to give out their “red envelopes” through their smartphones during the Spring Festival holidays, China Youth Daily reported.

And the reason for the increasing popularity of the digital “red envelope” over the traditional ones is because of the freshness, fun and convenience it brings, the survey shows.

Lately, updates to Tencent’s QQ and Alipay, two popular apps in China, have added to the fun people can experience while giving out and grabbing the digital “red envelope.” With the introduction of Augmented Reality (AR) technology, grabbing the digital “red envelope” through these two apps will be similar to playing the game Pokemon Go.

In the meantime, another survey by Rong360, an online financing platform, has shown some worrying results. It said nearly 21 percent of the people surveyed said they used to be at odds with their friends or relatives because of digital “red envelopes.” Nearly 20 percent of the people surveyed said that the atmosphere of New Year celebrations was affected with family members busily grabbing “red envelopes” through the phones.

The Rong360 survey also showed that 46 percent of those surveyed said they had given out “red envelopes” just to get people to praise or forward their postings on social media like WeChat or Weibo. But over 29 percent of people said that they will just ignore these digital “red envelopes”.

The giving of red envelopes on occasions like Chinese New Year is a tradition among the Chinese people. Typically, older members of the family give the red envelopes to the children in the family to celebrate lunar New Year.