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.

By Bao Han, People’s Daily

According to rankings released by OpenRouter, a global aggregation platform for large-language models, Chinese large-language models have outperformed their overseas counterparts in usage for a full month. 

In the most recent week (March 30 to April 4), Chinese models took the top six spots among the global top 10, with total token calls reaching 12.27 trillion. This is no fleeting spike, but a sustained trend.

Before going further, it is worth unpacking a technical term that has recently entered the public conversation: the token. A token is the smallest unit of information processed by large models. It can be measured, priced, and traded. Every Chinese character input, every line of generated code, and every image recognized, all consume tokens.

If the industrial era was defined by petroleum, and the internet age by traffic, then the AI era is defined by token usage. It serves as a key barometer of the development of the AI industry.

In March this year, China’s daily token usage exceeded 140 trillion, equivalent to processing the entire holdings of roughly 250 National Libraries of China in a single day. Even more striking is the growth rate: since early 2024, when token usage stood at 100 billion, China has achieved a thousand-fold increase in just over two years. China has undoubtedly become one of the most active countries in the world for AI applications.

What fuels this extraordinary growth? Three fundamental pillars stand out.

The first is a solid foundation of power supply. AI development fundamentally depends on electricity. China possesses the world’s largest and most advanced power supply system, with total installed capacity reaching 3.95 billion kilowatts and a continuously expanding share of clean energy. Converting watts efficiently into tokens is essential. Without power, AI simply cannot function.

The second is China’s strength in computing power. Superior computing infrastructure accelerates token processing and reduces unit costs, while advanced algorithms enhance output quality and increase token utilization frequency. 

National initiatives such as “Eastern Data, Western Computing” and coordinated computing-power systems have built a robust computing network. Continued breakthroughs by technology companies in inference chips and model architectures mean that Chinese large models are not only capable, but also more efficient and cost-effective.

The third is a sound application ecosystem. Tokens serve as the bridge between technological supply and real-world demand. From financial risk control and cross-border e-commerce operations to short-video generation, tokens are being transformed into tangible productivity. 

Behind a daily token call volume in the hundreds of trillions lies a vast array of high-frequency, large-scale and sustainable commercial applications, forming a virtuous cycle of data supply and value realization.

Some analysts have noted that China is building a competitive advantage in what can be called the “token economy,” laying out the entire value chain from energy and computing power to models and applications.

When assessing China’s AI competitiveness through the lens of the token economy, it is clear that the country’s strength lies not in fleeting competition over scale, but in persistent long-termism.

China has laid out clear targets: by 2027, it aims to promote the in-depth application of 3 to 5 general large models in manufacturing and roll out 1,000 high-level industrial intelligent agents.

The outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) has explicitly called for the full implementation of the “AI Plus” initiative to empower all industries across the board.

Furthermore, the government work report has underscored goals to forge new forms of smart economy and advance the large-scale commercial application of AI in key sectors.

Taken together, these form a cohesive strategic blueprint with sustained policy momentum, painting a broad and promising picture for China’s AI development.

Another emerging consensus is that China’s approach to open source is becoming an important force in shaping the global AI technology stack. Large models such as DeepSeek have been made open to the world, helping support digital infrastructure development in Africa and providing solutions such as industrial visual inspection for factories in Southeast Asia. 

From open-source models to shared capabilities, this collaborative approach not only accelerates the evolution of China’s AI industry, but also empowers the global innovation ecosystem and promotes more inclusive access to technology.

In this long run toward the future, China is not developing itself behind closed doors, but is committed to a people-centered, AI-for-good vision featuring fairness, inclusiveness and collaborative governance. China’s response to the intelligent era is inscribed in every dynamic, pulsing token.

By Wu Qiqiang, Cheng Yuanzhou, People’s Daily

A persistent bird call at a middle school in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, recently sparked a widely discussed life lesson, transforming a student’s frustration into an opportunity for learning about nature and coexistence.

The situation began when students at Shenzhen Bao’an Middle School preparing for exams were disturbed by the loud, frequent calls of an Asian koel, a native bird perched outside their classroom window. One student, Le Zongyan, anonymously left a handwritten letter on principal Yuan Weixing’s desk. The letter candidly explained the disruption to their studies and suggested removing the bird’s nest.

Yuan, whose open-door policy encourages students to share their thoughts directly or leave notes, was impressed by the letter’s sincerity and rational tone. Recognizing the students’ understandable desire for a quiet study environment, he chose not to give a simple answer. Instead, he penned a thoughtful public response shared via his social media channel.

In his letter, Yuan acknowledged the pressures students face. He gently explained that the birds sing at dusk instinctively — for mating, marking territory, and communication — and cannot adjust their natural rhythms for human schedules. He encouraged students to reframe the sound: perhaps as natural “white noise” or even a “twilight serenade” offered by the birds.

“The world does not exist for any one individual alone,” Yuan wrote. “Learning to coexist with all living things is a required lesson in growing up. The ultimate goal of education is not to make the world adapt to us, but to help us learn how to live with the world.”

The principal’s warm and insightful reply quickly gained widespread online praise, hailed by many as “exemplary education.” Le Zongyan later responded, stating that the principal’s words had become “a valuable lesson in life education,” emphasizing the importance of harmony with others and nature.

Recognizing this as a broader educational opportunity, Yuan noted, “Simply driving the bird away wouldn’t be appropriate, but doing nothing wasn’t an option either.” The school subsequently invited ecological experts to conduct science sessions on campus and organized student representatives to collaboratively discuss practical solutions, turning an isolated complaint into an ongoing journey of learning about respect and coexistence.

Experts clarified that the bird, colloquially termed the “noisy cuckoo” by students but scientifically known as the Asian koel, becomes especially vocal during its March and April breeding season. Male birds call persistently to attract mates. While their calls can reach 60 to 80 decibels at close proximity, the birds’ activity is sporadic, and their locations shift.

To reduce disruption, the school provided earplugs to students in dormitories near wooded areas. At the same time, artificial nests were installed to guide the birds toward a designated “life garden” recreational zone, away from classrooms and dorm buildings.

In fact, such life education has long been part of the school’s routine practice. When ducks in the campus pond began eating lotus plants, students formed a “campus duck management committee” to address the issue. During typhoons, the principal writes letters encouraging students to respect nature and appreciate resilience. A student-run “campus cat club” also cares for stray cats on school grounds.

According to Liu Yang, a professor at the School of Ecology of Sun Yat-sen University, true civilization is not about conquering nature, but about balancing development with ecological protection. This lesson at the Bao’an middle school planted seeds of ecological awareness in students’ minds, making harmony between humans and nature a living reality on campus, Liu said.

The story also reflects Shenzhen’s broader efforts to promote ecological conservation. 

To protect more than 100,000 migratory birds wintering in the city each year, Shenzhen Bay Park has chosen not to install high-intensity lighting, preserving natural darkness. Futian Mangrove Ecological Park has introduced specially designed “bird-friendly streetlights” to provide safe nesting spaces. Some high-rise buildings have added dotted patterns to glass facades to prevent bird collisions.

Survey data show that Shenzhen is home to over 450 species of wild birds, accounting for about 1/3 of China’s total. From 2021 to 2025, monthly counts of migratory birds on the Shenzhen side have remained at around 40,000, reflecting the city’s ongoing commitment to ecological protection.