News

President Xi Visits Latin America， Attends APEC Summit

November 20， Lima， Peru： Chinese President Xi Jinping （5th left， front） poses with other participants of the 24th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation （APEC） Economic Leaders’ Meeting. President Xi Jinping arrived in Quito on November 17， kicking off a state visit to Ecuador and his third visit to Latin America since he took office in 2013. Along with Ecuador， the week-long tour also took Xi to Peru and Chile. In Peru， Xi attended the 24th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in the capital city of Lima.

In a speech at the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting， Xi highlighted APEC’s role as a pioneer， leader and trailblazer of economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large， and called on APEC members to leverage Asia-Pacific’s role as a growth engine and work for an innovative， invigorated， interconnected and inclusive world economy.

J-20 Stealth Fighter Debuts

November 1， Zhuhai City： A J-20 stealth fighter at the 11th China International Aviation Aerospace Exhibition （CIAAE）. The 11th biennial CIAAE， also known as Airshow China， was held in Zhuhai， Guangdong Province， from November 1 to 6. In arguably the most eye-catching episode of the event， two of China’s domestically-built J-20 stealth fighters made a stunning public flight debut.

It was the first time for the aircraft to be unveiled to the public， and they haven’t even begun service yet. Alongside the J-20 stealth fighters， a total of 151 aircraft attended the air show， attracting more than 700 exhibitors from 42 countries and regions and 400，000 professional and civilian spectators.

China’s Longest Manned Space Mission

November 18， Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region： Staff prepare to check the reentry module of the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft after its safe landing. Chinese astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong returned to Earth safely on November 18， completing the overwhelmingly successful Tiangong-2 and Shenzhou-11 manned space mission， which lasted over a month， making it the country’s longest-ever manned space mission.

At 1：11 p.m. Beijing Time that afternoon， Shenzhou-11’s reentry module separated from the spacecraft’s orbiting capsule before separating from the propelling capsule， ending the 33-day mission with a return to the planet. The reentry module landed safely at the expected site in central Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 1：59 p.m.

This mission is a key step forward for China’s plan to build a permanent manned space station. The core module of China’s space station is expected to be launched around 2018， and the space station will enter full service around 2022， with capacity to continually operate for more than 10 years straight.

Singles’ Day Shopping Craze

November 11， Handan， Hebei Province： Workers sort piles of parcels at a distribution center. China’s domestic online shopping platforms have turned November 11 （“Singles’ Day”） into a shopping holiday in China， a trend that seems to grow stronger every year， even abroad. Singles’Day was inspired by the numerical appearance of the day： 11/11.

This year， sales volume on Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s marketplaces Tmall and Taobao alone reached 120.7 billion yuan （US$17.73 billion） in just 24 hours. For Chinese consumers， apparel and accessories， skin care and cosmetics， food and beverage， mobile phones， and digital products have been the biggest buys over the past two years.