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The entrance to Zhaigong, or the Palace of Abstinence, in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, is seen in this undated photo. /CGTN

The entrance to Zhaigong, or the Palace of Abstinence, in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, is seen in this undated photo. /CGTN

A view of the Beamless Hall at Zhaigong in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, is seen in this undated photo. /CGTN

A view of the Beamless Hall at Zhaigong in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, is seen in this undated photo. /CGTN

A replica of a water bottle used by ancient Chinese emperors is on display at Zhaigong in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing in this undated photo. /CGTN

A replica of a water bottle used by ancient Chinese emperors is on display at Zhaigong in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing in this undated photo. /CGTN

Two layers of walls in the Zhaigong in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, are seen in this undated photo. /CGTN

Two layers of walls in the Zhaigong in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, are seen in this undated photo. /CGTN

A view of the Beamless Hall at Zhaigong in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, is seen in this undated photo. /CGTN

A view of the Beamless Hall at Zhaigong in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, is seen in this undated photo. /CGTN

The bell tower of Zhaiong in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, is seen in this undated photo. /CGTN

The bell tower of Zhaiong in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, is seen in this undated photo. /CGTN

Zhaigong, or the Palace of Abstinence, is a small palace within the 604-year-old Temple of Heaven complex, a place where the emperors of China’s Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties prayed for bountiful harvests. Ancient Chinese emperors would spend several days at Zhaigong in total abstinence from earthly pleasures before a grand ceremony of worship at the Temple of Heaven. 

China is ramping up efforts to improve the livability of urban areas subject to severe weather.

A report showed that to improve the livability of cities that experience extreme weather, China awarded 26 more cities the title of “National Forest City” in 2022 and built 3,520 “small parks” across the country.

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“For example, heat waves, rainstorms, droughts, floods and other disasters have an impact on people’s lives, as well as the livability of places. (Climate change) also has a significant impact on water engineering, transportation engineering, energy engineering, and so on,” said Yan Denghua, deputy director of the Department of Water Resources under the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research.

Lishui City of east China’s Zhejiang Province has built forest belts on both sides of a river that runs through the city, with a width of 300 to 400 meters. It effectively reduces the outdoor temperature in summer.

Oujiang River in Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, east China, June 18, 2022. /CFP

Oujiang River in Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, east China, June 18, 2022. /CFP

“When I was a child, I felt that it was very hot here, and at that time, I had to eat ice pops or cold watermelons. Now I don’t have that stuffy feeling, I feel the air is very good and comfortable,” said Huang Jingjing, a resident.

Disasters caused by extreme weather are also important factors affecting the living environment of residents.

In 2016, due to a typhoon, a major natural disaster occurred in Sucun Village, Lishui City. After the disaster, in order to improve the living environment, the local residents were relocated down the mountains, completely away from the danger. The natural ecology of the mountains has also been restored.

(Cover: Oujiang River in Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, east China, July 10, 2022. /CFP)

An aerial drone photo taken on May 13, 2024 shows the vessel “China Coast Guard (CCG) 3502” carrying out replenishment for other vessels in the South China Sea. [Photo/Xinhua]

SOUTH CHINA SEA — The China Coast Guard conducted a regular training during operations of rights protection and law enforcement in the waters of Huangyan Island.

Kai-Fu Lee, CEO of AI startup 01.AI and chairman of Sinovation Ventures, during the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, November 9, 2023. /CFP

Kai-Fu Lee, CEO of AI startup 01.AI and chairman of Sinovation Ventures, during the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, November 9, 2023. /CFP

Artificial intelligence (AI) expert Kai-Fu Lee, the CEO of AI startup 01.AI and chairman of Sinovation Ventures, introduced the company’s closed-source billion-parameter large model Yi-Large on Monday. Lee said the model’s evaluation has surpassed OpenAI’s GPT-4.

In the ranking of models certified by Stanford evaluation agency AlpacaEval 2.0, the main indicators of English ability LC Win Rate of Yi-Large ranked the third in the world as of May 14 after OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4 Omni and turbo.

/AlpacaEval Leaderboard

/AlpacaEval Leaderboard

The model surpassed ChatGPT-4, Google Gemini 1.5 and other similar models in capability evaluation and demonstration in terms of general capability, code generation, mathematical reasoning, instruction compliance and other aspects, according to the expert.

Besides the release of Yi-Large, Lee also announced that small and medium-sized open source models such as Yi-34B and Yi-9B, which were released earlier by the company, can be upgraded to the Yi-1.5 series.

01.AI, founded in 2023, entered the AI industry with an open source model. In November 2023, the company released its Yi series of open source models.

Lee said the company eyes a “globalized” large model company and disclosed that the company’s large model products have attracted nearly 10 million users within nine months, and one of them has generated a revenue of 100 million yuan ($13.8 million).

A combination of file photos shows Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (L) and incoming Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (R). /CFP

A combination of file photos shows Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (L) and incoming Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (R). /CFP

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday submitted his resignation to President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, saying that he and his government will resign on May 15 and hand over power to his successor Lawrence Wong.

Analysts say Wong is a technocrat with a lot of experience in politics. He has held positions in defense, communications and information, culture, community and youth, national development and education ministries, and has served as the country’s financial minister since 2021.

Continuity of domestic policies

“Wong is arguably Lee’s hand-picked successor, which to a large extent ensures the continuity of Singapore’s domestic policy,” said Zha Wen, a researcher on Singaporean and Southeast Asian politics.

In the future, Lee will also continue Singapore’s political tradition of serving as senior minister in the new cabinet after stepping down. This will ensure that the new government follows a stable approach, so things can’t go too wrong, and the important issues are collectively decided, Zha, also an associate professor of the Institute of International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University, told CGTN.

Although there will not be much change in the policy, the incoming leader’s style of governance may be different. In this regard, his grassroots background is the biggest advantage, experts noted.

Wong grew up in what he described as an “ordinary family” in a flat built by the country’s public housing authority. He went to neighborhood schools instead of the “elite” schools that many other government scholars went to.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, his reputation and popularity soared as he led the fight against the disease in Singapore. Many believe that he was more sympathetic to the people’s hardship, Zha said.

Wong’s rise to power has helped bring the People’s Action Party (PAP) closer to the ordinary Singaporeans, she noted.

The incoming prime minister launched a national exercise in June 2022 called Forward Singapore, meant to chart the country’s “social compact” between the government and the people on how to deal with issues ranging from sustainability to inequality and employment.

“Since the founding of Singapore, the leaders of the PAP have always advocated the concepts of elitism and meritocracy. Despite that under the leadership of the PAP, Singapore has achieved remarkable development, some people still think that the grassroots have not had enough attention,” Zha said.

“Compared to political elites, Wong is not only low-key and introverted, but also more down to earth. As a post-70s man, he is good at playing the guitar and singing, which made him popular among the general public, especially the younger generation,” she added.

However, Wong is still unable to match Lee in terms of international influence, she said. 

Looking at his past political career, Wong is relatively inexperienced in diplomacy. It is likely that Wong will stick with Singapore’s current “balance of powers” strategy, Zha said.

With the intensification of strategic competition among the major powers, Singapore’s leader will also be faced with more difficult choices, and exactly how to balance the relationships with the major powers is a huge challenge for the new government, she analyzed.