Culture Insider: Ghost Festival in China By Target Language Translation Services | Updated: 2021-8-21 18:00 The Zhongyuan Festival which is also known as Ullambana Festival among Buddhists, falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, on Aug 22 this year. Since ancient times, the Chinese have believed that the gates of hell open on that day and so people hold all kinds of activities to honor the ghosts, so the festival is also called the Ghost Festival. There are two other festivals in China to honor departed spirits of ancestors: Qingming Festival (in spring) and the Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn). In both, living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors. Zhongyuan Festival is different from these, as the deceased are believed to visit the living. According to Buddhist doctrine, offering articles on the festival day can save deceased parents and relatives from bad situations in the after life. The Ullambana Festival of Buddhism has two meanings. One is to persuade people to provide for Buddhist monks. The other is to convince people to do more charitable deeds to release departed souls from sin and advocate family devotion. The legend of Mulian Saves His Mother The Ullambana Festival is related to the legend of Mulian Saves His Mother. It is said that after going through countless trials and hardships in the nether world, Mulian eventually saw his mother, only to find her being tortured by a group of hungry ghosts. Mulian wanted to send his mother rice and dishes with an earthen bowl, but the food was snatched by the hungry ghosts. Mulian had no choice but to ask Buddha for help. Moved by his filial piety, Buddha presented Mulian with the Ullambana Sutra and told him to participate in an Ullambana Fast on July 15 of the lunar calendar. On that day, food of different kinds as well as five fruits -- peaches, plums, apricots, chestnuts and dates -- should be provided to all Buddhist monks. Following the instruction of the Ullambana Sutra, Mulian filled the Ullambana vessel with fruits and vegetarian food to offer a sacrifice to his mother on July 15. His starving mother finally got the food. To express his gratitude to the Buddha, Mulian held an almsgiving activity every year to release the hungry ghosts from the disaster of being hanged by their feet. The day has become a festival to honor departed ancestors, relatives and friends. Floating water lantern Among the various folk customs of the Zhongyuan Festival, the floating water lantern is the grandest. The water lantern, also called lotus lantern, is usually made by pasting paper into a lotus shape. Then a lamp or candle is placed inside. On the night of the Zhongyuan Festival, lanterns are released into rivers or lakes. People think that they should hang out lanterns to celebrate the ghosts. As human beings and land belong to yang, which means positive, so ghosts and water belong to yin, which means negative. The dark and mysterious underworld usually reminds peo...

Britain's foreign minister faces demands to resign By Target Language Translation Services | Updated: 2021-8-20 15:00 Britain's foreign minister, Dominic Raab, is facing calls to resign following reports he declined to phone his counterpart in Afghanistan last week to get assistance with the evacuation of interpreters from Kabul who had worked for the British military. Opposition parties in the United Kingdom have called for Raab to quit and expressed fury after The Daily Mail reported he was urged by senior aides on Friday to make a crucial call to Afghan foreign minister Hanif Atmar, but chose to delegate it to a junior minister. A call from junior minister Zac Goldsmith was initially rejected by Atmar, because he was not his direct counterpart, according to the report. It said critical time was lost before the Taliban movement seized control of Kabul on Sunday. News agencies are reporting that many Afghan translators who worked for British troops are trapped in the capital, unable to safely reach the airport while the Taliban is now in control of the city. The airport is the only route out of the country and the chaotic situation seems to be worsening daily. Labour Party leader Keir Starmer tweeted: "Who wouldn't make a phone call if they were told it could save somebody's life?" Labour's shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds described Raab's behavior as "utterly shameful" and a "dereliction of duty", while Liberal Democrat Layla Moran said Raab had "shamed Britain". In a statement, Moran, the party's foreign affairs spokesperson, said Raab's lack of action made him "one of the worst" foreign secretaries ever. "Right now, there are interpreters across Afghanistan who are surrounded by the Taliban and fearing the worst," she said. "All the foreign secretary had to do was leave the beach and pick up the phone. He did not," Moran added: "He has shamed Britain and is no longer fit to represent our country." However, Defense Minister Ben Wallace defended his Cabinet colleague's actions. He told BBC Radio 4's Today program the Afghan government was "melting away quicker than ice "late last week. "A phone call to an Afghan minister at that moment in time would have not made a blind bit of difference," he claimed. Wallace said "the only thing that mattered" was whether Kabul airport would continue to allow people to get out. The row erupted as the United Kingdom government announced a new resettlement program that commits to receive up to 20,000 Afghan refugees during the next few years, including 5,000 this year. The European Union's foreign policy chief labeled developments in Afghanistan as "a catastrophe and a nightmare" on Thursday. Josep Borrell told the European Parliament that there had been a failure of intelligence to anticipate the Taliban's return to power there, Reuters reported. This article is reprinted from China Daily. If there is a copyright, please inform us in time, we will delete it right the first time.

Taliban pledges to establish an inclusive government for Afghanistan By Target Language Translation Services | Updated: 2021-8-19 15:00 The Taliban has pledged to establish an inclusive government for Afghanistan and has promised amnesty, peace and women's rights, as its leaders are trying to display a different image. The Taliban does not seek any internal or external enemies, and it wants to have good relations with everybody to develop the nation's economy and achieve prosperity, the group's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Tuesday at its first news conference since the Taliban's takeover of the capital of Afghanistan on Sunday. "We don't want to repeat any conflict, any war again," he said. "Animosities have come to an end, and we would like to live peacefully. We don't want any internal and external enemies." All Afghans would have representation in the future setup in Afghanistan, Mujahid said, as talks and consultations are continuing with politicians on the formation of the new government. Women could also work and study in various fields and would be offered all rights within Islamic principles, as women are an important part of society, he added. The Taliban have encouraged women to return to work and have allowed girls to return to school, handing out Islamic headscarves. A female news anchor interviewed a Taliban official on Monday in a TV studio. "We have pardoned everybody for the benefit of stability or peace in Afghanistan," Mujahid said. He also called on Afghans not to leave the country. Mujahid reiterated that the Taliban has offered a full amnesty to Afghans who worked for the United States and the Western-backed government, saying that "nobody will go to their doors to ask why they helped". "We would like to assure the international community that there will be no discrimination." China hopes that the various factions in Afghanistan will resolve their differences through dialogue and consultation, avoid new wars and humanitarian disasters, and promote a smooth transition in Afghanistan, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. As the situation in Afghanistan has undergone major changes, China respects the wishes and choices of the Afghan people, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular news briefing in Beijing. The top priority is to restore peace, stability and order as soon as possible, and to avoid unnecessary casualties and a large number of refugees, Zhao added. The Taliban spokesman added that Afghanistan wanted to have very good relations with foreign countries to revive its economy and ensure prosperity, and the Taliban would utilize the country's natural resources for national reconstruction. As a close neighbor and friend of Afghanistan, Zhao said China will continue to support the peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan and offer assistance within its capabilities. He added that China expects the Taliban to resolutely crack down on all kinds of terrorist forces, and earnestly fulfill its commitmen...

Track laying for railway bridge connecting China and Russia By Target Language Translation Services | Updated: 2021-8-18 15:00 According to China Railway Harbin Group, as the last two steel rails were connected, the track-laying work for the first cross-river railway bridge connecting China and Russia was completed in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province on Tuesday, August 17. The bridge across the Heilong River, which is known as the Amur River in Russia, will connect the city of Tongjiang in Heilongjiang with Nizhneleninskoye in Russia. The main bridge spans 2,215 meters, with 1,886 meters of that in China. Construction of the bridge, which has a designed annual throughput capacity of 21 million metric tons, began in February 2014. During its construction, builders handles with numerous difficulties, such as the bitter winter cold. "The lowest temperature can drop to-40 C with strong wind over the frozen Heilong River," said Li Huachao, chief engineer of the Tongjiang railway bridge project for China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group. "However, the concrete doesn't work at-5 C. "To finish the project on time, we built a 10,000-square-meter greenhouse and installed boilers in it to keep the temperature around 15 C. The boilers also offered the warm water needed to mix concrete inside the greenhouse. "Although it was only several kilometers from the greenhouse to the farthest construction site of the bridge, we wrapped the tanks with thick quilts during transportation of the concrete to maintain the temperature." In March 2019, the main body of the bridge was connected from both sides in China and Russia, and the track-laying started soon after. Another challenge is the different gauge standards. Engineers from both countries chose a design with two sets of rails, allowing Chinese standard-gauge (1,435 millimeter) and Russian broad-gauge (1,520 mm) trains to cross one at a time. During the work, translation also played a vital role to facilitate communication. "During the construction, we experienced great temperature differences in different seasons and at different times of the day, which may cause the rail lines to expand or contract," engineer Wu Chao said. "To keep the gap between two rails within 5 mm, we set up a monitoring system to record the accurate position of each rail." After the bridge opens, the distance by rail from Heilongjiang to Moscow via Tongjiang will be shortened by 809 kilometers and at least 10 hours will be saved for a one-way trip, China Railway Harbin Group said. It will also help alleviate pressure on Manzhouli and Suifenhe, two major land ports on the China-Russia border, it said. This article is reprinted from China Daily. If there is a copyright, please inform us in time, we will delete it right the first time.

Mutual Recognition of Driver's Licenses between China and France By Target Language Translation Services | Updated: 2021-8-17 16:00 China and France will allow holders of valid driver's licenses issued by either country to drive directly or obtain driving permits without having to take additional tests. To facilitate driving in each other's countries, and to further promote economic and trade cooperation and personnel exchanges, the two countries signed an agreement allowing mutual recognition of driver's licenses in February 2017. The deal will come into effect on Tuesday, August 17, 2021. According to a statement issued by the transportation management bureau of the Ministry of Public Security on Monday, the two sides will mutually recognize driver's licenses for medium-sized passenger cars, trucks, small private cars and motorcycles if citizens from one country enter and stay in the other country for less than one year. Chinese citizens who stay in France less than one year can drive directly with their Chinese driver's licenses and translated copies, and French citizens who temporarily live in China can present their licenses for temporary Chinese driving permits by providing their French licenses and interpreted copies. Further, Chinese and French citizens who are staying in each other's countries for more than a year must present their original driver's licenses and translated copies, along with their passports, visas or residence certificates. In this case, the licenses that will be mutually recognized are for small cars and motorcycles. For international students, both countries will give equal preferential policies. Chinese students can directly drive with their Chinese licenses and their translated copies when working and studying in France. French students in China need to present their licenses to obtain permits before driving. The mutual recognition of driver's licenses will directly benefit people who are traveling, studying, working and visiting relatives in the two countries, the statement said. The measures would also promote bilateral cooperation in the sectors of police affairs, economy and trade, culture and personnel exchanges, it said. The bureau has urged local transportation management departments to optimize service in the registration centers, examine relevant materials, standardize law enforcement and make sure the work is carried out in a law-based, convenient and efficient manner. According to the bureau, the ministry would work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to further expand the scope of the mutual recognition of driver's licenses between China and other countries and regions. China already has mutual driver's license recognition arrangements with the United Arab Emirates and Belgium and signed a similar agreement with Serbia in May.     This article is reprinted from China Daily. If there is a copyright, please inform us in time, we will delete it right the first time.

European countries evacuate diplomats, citizens from Afghanistan when Taliban enter capital Kabul By Target Language Translation Services | Updated: 2021-8-16 15:00 Several European countries have made a decision to evacuate diplomats, citizens from Afghanistan and close embassies there as Taliban members have entered the capital Kabul on Sunday, 15 August. The French embassy in Kabul has moved to the capital's airport to assist the evacuation of French nationals in the country, the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs announced on Sunday. "The Ministry of the Armed Forces will deploy military reinforcements and air assets to the United Arab Emirates in the coming hours, so that the first evacuations to Abu Dhabi can begin," added the ministry in a statement. Earlier in the afternoon, in a video posted on his Twitter account, French ambassador to Afghanistan David Martinon filmed himself in a helicopter "leaving the former green zone" of Kabul. "The immediate and absolute priority in the coming hours is the security of the French, who have been called to leave Afghanistan, as well as the personnel there, French and Afghan," said the French presidential office in a statement. German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass said evacuations of German citizens out of Kabul have started on Sunday. Part of the German citizens there have already flown out of the country and military planes will land in Kabul on Sunday night to help the evacuations, he said. Britain has deployed 600 troops to Afghanistan to help evacuate British nationals and local interpreters. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that the US decision to pull out of Afghanistan has "accelerated things", noting "no one wants Afghanistan to become a breeding ground for terror". The situation in the war-torn country has been worsening since the speedy withdrawal of US-led troops beginning on May 1. US President Joe Biden has ordered the US military to end its mission in Afghanistan by the end of this month. The British parliament will be recalled on Wednesday from their summer recess to debate the government's response to the rapidly evolving situation in Afghanistan. Sweden will close its embassy in Afghanistan's capital Kabul with immediate effect and no later than Monday, Foreign Minister Ann Linde announced on Sunday. The evacuation of embassy personnel and local staff would commence immediately, Linde told a press conference. "What is happening now is ... happening at a speed that no one could have predicted," said Linde, who had said on Friday that an evacuation was not imminent. Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said Sunday that Finland is temporarily closing the embassy in Kabul, and there will be "no service available from Monday". He said Finnish diplomats were awaiting flights out of the country and were in safety. Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani left the country on Sunday night, while the Taliban forces entered the capital of Kabul and took control of the pre...

Book studying 'Great Demographic Reversal' published in China By Target Language Translation Services | Updated: 2021-8-13 17:00 The Great Demographic Reversal:Ageing Societies, Waning Inequality, and an Inflation Revival, a book by British economist Charles Goodhart and Manoj Pradhan, founder of the independent macroeconomic research firm Talking Heads Macro, was recently published in China by Beijing-based publisher CITIC Press Group. With the seventh population census in China, birth rates and ageing have become popular topics, and people have increasingly realized the impact of demographic structure. According to the authors, deflationary headwinds over the last three decades have been primarily due to an enormous surge in the world's available labor supply, resulting from very favorable demographic trends and the entry of China and Eastern Europe into the world's trade system. This book demonstrates how these demographic trends are on the cusp of a sharp reversal, coinciding with a retreat from globalization. Covering numerous social and political factors, as well as those that are more purely macroeconomic, the authors address topics including ageing, dementia, inequality, populism, retirement and debt finance. This article is reprinted from China Daily. If there is a copyright, please inform us in time, we will delete it right the first time.

California, the first state in US to stipulate COVID-19 vaccine or testing for teachers, school staff By Target Language Translation Services | Updated: 2021-8-12 16:00 On Wednesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the most populous state in the United States will implement first-in-the-nation measure to require all teachers and school staff to get vaccinated as schools return from summer break amid COVID-19 delta variant spread. In a news conference at a Northern California school Newsom noted that "this is the right thing to do." "We think this is a sustainable way to keeping our schools open, and to address the number one anxiety that parents like myself have for young children," said the governor, adding that "schools are doing everything in their power to keep our kids safe, to keep our kids healthy." Newsom said an impressive $124 billion is being invested in California's public education system this year to implement different school initiatives, including supports for physical and mental health as well as the social-emotional and academic needs of students. According to the new public health order issued by the California Department of Public Health, all school staff are required to either show proof of full vaccination or be tested at least once per week. The new policy will take effect Thursday and schools must be in full compliance by Oct 15. "There's no substitute for in-person instruction, and California will continue to lead the nation in keeping students and staff safe while ensuring fully open classrooms," said Tomas J. Aragon, director of the California Department of Public Health and the State Public Health Office in a news release. "Today's order will help the state's continued efforts to increase vaccinations, similar to the orders encouraging state and health care workers and businesses to get vaccinated," he added. The state's two major teachers unions - the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers - applauded Newsom's decision. "Educators want to be in classrooms with their students, and the best way to make sure that happens is for everyone who is medically eligible to be vaccinated, with robust testing and multi-tiered safety measures," said California Teachers Association President E. Toby Boyd, adding that Newsom's announcement is "an appropriate next step to ensure the safety of our school communities and to protect our youngest learners under 12 who are not yet vaccine eligible from this highly contagious Delta variant." California Federation of Teachers President Jeff Freitas also noted the policy with mitigation measures like masking, hand washing, and good ventilation "will ensure we are doing everything possible to keep schools safe for in-person learning." California State Parent Teacher Association (PTA) President Carol Green agreed with their opinions, "We want to do everything possible to protect our most vulnerable children and ensure that all children can return to...