XM student wins hip-hop competition in Japan

Liu Zixuan, an 11-year-old student from the Xiamen Datong primary school, last week won first place in her age group at the Battle After School hip-hop competition in Osaka, Japan. Liu Zixuan is the first teenager from China to earn a title at the event.

The ITG Holding Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Siemens last week. According to the agreement, ITG Education (a part of the ITG Holding Group) will partner with Siemens to cultivate 100 managers with the ability to transform enterprises digitally. The partnership will also produce 100 lecturers capable of teaching digital technology in China and overseas.

The Xiamen sub-park of the Fujian AI Industry Park officially opened during this year's China Congress on Artificial Intelligence, becoming one of three provincial-level AI industry parks.

The one-square-kilometer park is located in the third phase of the Xiamen Software Park. The park features 953,000 square meters of R&D floor area. Officials said that the park will focus on expanding application scenarios and building industry clusters in autonomous driving, security, transportation and healthcare.

Technical support for the park will be provided by entities such as the Huawei Kunpeng Supercomputing Center, Huaqiao University, Jimei University, the Xiamen AI Supercomputing Platform, the Xiamen Institute of Data Intelligence and Xiamen University.

Regional tourism authorities recently announced that Shapowei tourism  --Above The Clouds·Xiamen revenue jumped in July by 170 percent relative to June. Authorities attributed the surge to the end of China's spring school semester.

Shapowei is one of Xiamen's oldest fishing ports. The one-square-kilometer business district is now home to more than 300 shops catering to tourism and sightseeing.

Garden Expo Park announced recently that local lotus flowers are approaching an end to their annual blooming period.

Landscape engineers said that a sustained increase in air temperature can lead to an accelerated metabolic rate in lotus flowers, translating to a faster blooming and withering process.

The duration of an area's blooming phase is also influenced by the quantity of lotus roots planted. A smaller number of newly-planted lotus roots corresponds to a lower abundance of lotus flowers and a shorter blooming period.

Local officials last week announced that an additional 17 restaurants now participate in Xiamen's Meals of Love program, bringing the total to 66 participants. The newly-added restaurants include six in Siming, four in Huli, one in Jimei and two each in Haicang, Tongan and Xiangan.

Local transit officials announced recently the debut of courtesy rest areas at five Xiamen subway stations. The rest areas include features such as chairs, drinking water dispensers and mobile phone charging outlets. Fans and books can be borrowed free of charge.

Courtesy rest areas are currently open at the Zhongshan Park and Gaoqi stations on Line One, the Hecuo and Xinan stations on Line Two and at the Hubin East Road transfer station for Line One and Line Three.

Transit authorities noted that the selected stations have high ridership, a notable number of senior citizen commuters and locations adjacent to local parks and hospitals.

The city of Xiamen recently established a friendly exchange relationship with the city of Metapan, El Salvador. The largest Salvadoran city, Metapan officials noted that the city is a key participant in Plan Trifinio, a regional development strategy for the area where the countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras meet.

The Cross-Strait (Xiamen) Cultural Industries Fair kicks off this Friday. Event sponsors include the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the National Radio and Television Administration and the Fujian Provincial People's Government.

The four-day fair will feature an exhibition area of 100,000 square meters and 3,400 booths spread across five main theme pavilions. Exhibitors cover a wide range of fields including cultural tourism, arts and crafts, digital media and creative design. Fair representatives said that the event will highlight cross-Strait interactions, digital innovation, industrial development and culture and tourism.

The city's Bureau of Construction and its Development and Reform Commission recently released a performance report covering key municipal and provincial projects through June. A total of 461 projects had a half-year planned investment of 59.8 billion yuan. Actual investment reached 89.3 billion yuan, representing 149.3 percent of the planned total and 63.5 percent of the annual plan.

Xiamen University's Siming campus is now open to visitors with advance reservations. Appointments can be made one to three days in advance via the school's official WeChat account. On-site reservations are not accepted. Each visitor can add up to four companions and the entire group must enter together.

On weekdays, visitors can enter the campus between 12:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. During winter and summer vacations, statutory holidays and weekends, visiting hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

City officials last week announced the expansion of its free toilet paper program to seven locations in four public toilets in Zhongshan park. The public bathrooms featuring free paper include facilities at the park's eastern and southern gates as well as it's Children's Island and zoo area. The program now covers more than 20 public toilets in local parks.