By He Yin, People’s Daily

China recently unveiled its economic performance for the first quarter of 2026. Its GDP reached 33.4193 trillion yuan ($4.9 trillion), up 5 percent year on year in real terms, accelerating by 0.5 percentage points from the fourth quarter of last year. 

The figures have drawn close attention from the international community, which generally believes that amid rising global uncertainty, China’s economy has demonstrated resilience and vitality, injecting much-needed stability and positive momentum into the world.

At present, global instability is intensifying. The spillover effects of geopolitical conflicts are expanding, and international organizations such as the UN and the Asian Development Bank have warned of growing downside risks. The global economy is moving forward under pressure. 

In the face of mounting external uncertainties, China’s economy continues to display strong resilience, robust internal momentum, and proactive, effective macroeconomic policies. Phrases such as “better than expected” and “growth against the headwinds” have frequently appeared in international media coverage. 

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, noted that China’s economy has shown resilience, possesses immense potential, and will have a positive impact on the world.

Driven by innovation, high-quality development surges forward. In the first quarter, China’s equipment manufacturing sector contributed nearly 50 percent to the growth of value added in industrial enterprises above designated size. In the first two months of the year, high-tech manufacturing accounted for more than half of the increase in total industrial profits, underscoring the growing role of new growth drivers. 

China’s industries are advancing rapidly toward high-end, intelligent, green and upgraded development, delivering continuous breakthroughs in fostering new quality productive forces. 

Exports of green products such as electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and wind turbines and their components rose by 77.5 percent, 50.4 percent, and 45.2 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, investment in frontier fields including AI and humanoid robotics increased by 45.5 percent year on year, and the business vitality index of technology-driven enterprises rose by 8.1 percent. 

Global media outlets have observed promising signs: China’s thriving clean energy technologies are creating huge economic value, and robust demand for AI devices is driving steady growth of China’s foreign trade. These positive trends vividly demonstrate China’s progress in developing new quality productive forces.

Domestic demand has also shown overall improvement, creating favorable conditions for sustained economic expansion. 

Promoting a development model driven more by domestic demand, consumption, and endogenous growth reflects China’s strategic response to changes in its development stage and the evolving international environment. 

In the first quarter, retail sales of consumer goods grew by 2.4 percent year on year, while fixed-asset investment returned to positive growth, indicating that the domestic market continues to deepen and expand. 

At the sixth China International Consumer Products Expo held in Hainan province, a wide range of global debuts, Asia-Pacific premieres, and China launches were showcased, further strengthening China’s reputation as a premier global destination for quality consumption. 

The country’s vast market continues to empower economic development. Some U.S. media outlets observed that China is transitioning toward a more diversified growth model, one that benefits not only China itself but also offers valuable lessons for the global economy.

Amid profound adjustments in the global economic landscape, China remains committed to high-level opening up, creating broad opportunities for the world through its own development. 

A series of opening-up measures have been rolled out, including the launch of island-wide independent customs operations at the Hainan Free Trade Port, revisions to the Foreign Trade Law to better align with international rules, and an expanded version of the Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment. These steps are improving both the quality and scale of trade cooperation. 

In the first quarter, China’s total goods trade exceeded 11 trillion yuan for the first time in the same period, maintaining double-digit growth and reaching the highest quarterly growth rate in five years. 

Its trade with Belt and Road partner countries accounted for 51.2 percent of the total, while trade with Africa grew by 23.7 percent. Trade with ASEAN, Latin America, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and other APEC economies also recorded double-digit growth. China’s role as a “world market” continues to generate positive spillover effects globally. A more open China will remain a steady anchor for the world economy as it navigates challenges.

The year 2026 marks the opening of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030). Stable economic growth provides a solid foundation for a strong start to this new phase, while also serving as a stabilizer for the global economy amid turbulent conditions. China will continue to inject sustained confidence and strong momentum into global development.

By Yao Xueqing, People’s Daily

Along the coast of Yancheng, Jiangsu province in east China lies what many call a “paradise for migratory birds.” Each year, millions of birds from around the world stop here to rest, molt, and overwinter, drawing roughly one million visitors who follow in their wake.

This is the Tiaozini wetland, situated in the Dongtai Coastal Economic Zone of Yancheng, Jiangsu province. As an important part of the Yellow Sea Wetland, one of the world’s largest intertidal wetland systems, the Tiaozini wetland covers an area of 86,000 hectares and serves as a key node along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

In recent years, local authorities have implemented measures such as shoreline restoration, ecological governance, and the creation of high-tide roosting sites for migratory birds, steadily expanding the “circle of feathered friends.”  

This commitment to harmonious coexistence between humans and nature has spurred the growth of bird-watching tourism. The region is now pursuing a high-quality development path that successfully links ecological protection with tourism growth and increased local prosperity.

Each April, the wetland comes alive as spring migration begins. At a monitoring center, wetland manager Zhang Hailong tracks bird movements and breeding patterns. “In recent years, we’ve introduced smart monitoring systems,” he explained. “At what we call the ‘720 Highland,’ we’ve installed 13 panoramic cameras equipped with AI-powered bird recognition, allowing us to monitor bird activities around the clock.”

What exactly is the “720 Highland?” “During the twice-daily high tides, the mudflats are submerged, and birds that feed there need a place to rest,” said Du Hua, head of the administrative committee of Dongtai Coastal Economic Zone.

Starting in 2020, the area transformed a 720-mu (about 48 hectares) former fishpond into an elevated roosting site by reshaping the terrain and restoring wetland ecology, following the principle of prioritizing natural recovery with moderate human intervention. The site effectively serves as a “tarmac” for migratory birds, a fixed high-tide refuge. In the autumn of that year, it hosted as many as 58,000 waterbirds in a single day.

In 2022, restoration efforts expanded to Chuanshui Bay in the northern part of Tiaozini, where aquaculture ponds were converted back into wetlands, creating a larger version of the original habitat. The improved ecosystem has attracted not only large numbers of waterbirds but also wildlife such as milu deer and hares. By December 2025, the Tiaozini area had recorded 420 bird species, including 23 under first-class state-level protection and 74 under second-class state-level protection.

A sightseeing bus service operates regularly along a coastal tourism highway, traveling into the depths of the Tiaozini wetland and stopping beside a lake-like expanse. Amidst interweaving bird calls of varying pitches, large flocks of waterbirds are seen foraging and pacing. 

“That one with the spoon-shaped bill and black face is the black-faced spoonbill. And the elegant black-and-white bird with the upturned bill is the pied avocet,” said bird guide Ding Jianming, effortlessly identifying species for 20 families participating in a bird-watching study tour.

Nearby, a science exhibition hall offers visitors a deeper understanding of coastal evolution through videos and specimen displays.

Stepping outside at low tide, visitors were treated to a spectacular scene: flocks of birds taking off from the “720 Highland” and flying toward the exposed mudflats to feed. 

“It’s breathtaking,” said Pan Jing, a tourist from Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province. “I discovered this hidden gem last autumn and brought my whole family here this spring.”

“The Yellow Sea mudflats have become a ‘goldmine’ for eco-tourism,” said Chang Wei, deputy director of the administrative committee of the Dongtai Coastal Economic Zone. 

Leveraging its ecological assets, the region is diversifying its offerings. It has established a professional bird-watching system, including curated routes, high-powered binoculars, trained interpreters, and expert bird guides, as well as immersive virtual reality and 3D experiences. Concurrently, it is expanding eco-tourism formats by introducing bird-watching competitions, photography tours, and sporting events such as wetland cycling races, triathlons and half marathons. . This blend of nature, culture, and sport shifts the focus from simple sightseeing to multi-dimensional experiences.

The result is a year-round tourism calendar: bird-watching in spring, coastal foraging in summer, photography camps in autumn, and flamingo spotting in winter. Today, Tiaozini attracts around 1 million visitors annually.

As bird-watching tourism takes off, local communities are also reaping the benefits.

Badou village in Jianggang township, just north of Tiaozini, is now a lush and picturesque destination. 64-year-old Kong Xiangjin comes from a long line of fishermen. In 2021, he renovated an unused house and opened a guesthouse called “Old Fisherman’s Inn,” which has since seen steadily growing business.

A few years ago, the village has also set up a tourism company. In addition to livestream e-commerce, it has introduced souvenir gift boxes featuring local delicacies such as marinated shrimp and raw pickled crab. 

More recently, it has developed creative cultural products inspired by the wetland, such as canvas bags themed on local clams, power banks modeled after mud snails, and T-shirts featuring the endangered spoon-billed sandpiper.

“Eco-tourism has opened up a new path for boosting rural incomes,” says Liu Jun, Party head of Jianggang township. With homestays as a key driver, the township has expanded related industries including local dining, cultural merchandise, and specialty agricultural products. 

Today, more than 1,500 people in the township are engaged in tourism, and in 2025, the township welcomed over 100,000 visitors, generating more than 5 million yuan ($733,327) in additional income for local residents.

By Fang Min, Jiang Xuehong, People’s Daily

China has taken a major step forward in mobile healthcare by launching a domestically developed “flying eye hospital,” bringing high-quality ophthalmic services directly to patients in need. The initiative represents a new model of integrated air-ground medical support, designed to extend advanced care to remote and underserved areas.

On the morning of Dec. 18, 2025, at Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport in Zhengzhou, central China’s Henan province, a homegrown C909 aircraft emblazoned with the words Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center Flying Eye Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University was parked quietly on the tarmac. Inside, instead of rows of passenger seats, the cabin had been transformed into a fully functional ophthalmic surgical suite.

Maintained at a constant temperature of 22 degrees Celsius, the cabin was divided into a waiting area, a buffer zone, and an operating room. It was equipped with surgical microscopes, sterile workstations, patient monitors, and remote consultation terminals, forming a standard ophthalmic operating environment adapted for aviation conditions.

“We spent three years refining the system to meet the standards of a ground-based operating room,” said Lin Haotian, director of the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and president of the flying eye hospital. “Not only is the equipment comprehensive, but the standards are rigorous. Before any procedure, the cabin undergoes multiple rounds of surface and air sterilization, followed by at least two rounds of testing over 48 hours to ensure compliance.”

That morning, a patient surnamed Huang, who had developed a cataract due to eye trauma and was experiencing impaired vision and difficulty walking independently, was assisted into the operating room. The surgical team reassured him throughout the procedure, which lasted just 15 minutes.

When the bandage was removed, Huang cautiously opened his eye and quickly realized he could see again. The success of the operation marked the first cataract surgery performed aboard a domestically produced aircraft, underscoring China’s progress in building a flexible, mobile healthcare infrastructure.

“I never imagined I would have surgery on a plane,” Huang said, standing on his own and taking in the cabin around him. “It was fast and effective. I can see again. Thank you!”

According to Lin, ophthalmic procedures are particularly well suited to mobile medical platforms due to their relatively short duration and the high level of equipment integration required. 

In some of the remote regions in China, geographic constraints and limited access to advanced medical facilities have long prevented patients from receiving timely eye care, sometimes resulting in avoidable vision loss. The airborne hospital offers a solution by rapidly delivering specialized services to where they are most needed.

The concept of an airborne hospital is not unfamiliar in China. In 1982, an aircraft operated by the international nonprofit organization Orbis International visited China, introducing advanced medical equipment and expertise that profoundly influenced Chinese ophthalmologists. This experience planted a seed of aspiration: China would one day develop its own flying eye hospital.

Realizing this vision required coordinated efforts, from equipping the aircraft with a 5G-enabled mobile eye clinic system and assembling trained flight crews, to ensuring ground support and building a professional operations team. Today, that vision has entered clinical application.

Following the successful operation in Zhengzhou, the flying eye hospital quickly moved into broader use. 

On March 19, 2026, specialists from the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center performed eight sight-restoring surgeries aboard the aircraft for residents of Qionghai in south China’s Hainan province. Prior to the surgeries, a 5G-enabled mobile screening vehicle was dispatched to local townships, conducting preliminary examinations for more than 600 people. Patients requiring surgery completed pre-operative checks at local hospitals before boarding the aircraft.

Among the first beneficiaries were elderly patients with limited mobility. For them, the flying hospital brought specialized care directly to their communities, demonstrating the tangible impact of AI-integrated mobile healthcare.

Looking ahead, the domestically developed C909 flying eye hospital will continue serving remote regions across China. Plans include extending operations overseas to deliver vision care to underserved populations while collaborating with local institutions to enhance ophthalmic capabilities through training and technology transfer.