Let's begin with a number that is among the buzz words of 2019, "nine-nine-six." It refers to a work schedule beginning at 9 a.m., ending at 9 p.m. and lasting for six days a week, a major trend among Chinese tech companies. It is controversial as it demands that employees work more than ten hours per day.

Coming up next is 31, a number that has broken the hearts of many. It represents the 31 firefighters who died battling a huge forest fire in southwestern Sichuan Province in March. The mountainous terrain made the mission extremely difficult. The youngest firefighter to die was just eighteen years old.

Next is the number 11, reflecting the Chinese women's volleyball team that took the championship title after 11 tournament wins at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup. Many Chinese consider it to be one of China's sporting highlights for the year.

Now we move on to 34. The latest launch of the Long March 5 Y3 carrier rocket marks 34 aerospace launches for China this year. The success of the flight lays the foundation for a series of future space projects for the nation which include exploring Mars, returning samples from the moon and constructing China's own space station. It also signifies that the carrying capacity of China's launch vehicles is now among the world's best.

The next number is 1,000, relevant to almost everyone in the nation and beyond because it is about what we eat. Third-generation hybrid rice developed by Yuan Longping, the "father of hybrid rice," has achieved a major breakthrough in output. The final yield exceeded 1,000 kilograms per mu, a Chinese unit which is about 0.07 hectares. Experts say the application of third-generation hybrid rice is of great strategic significance to China's food security and will bring about great changes to global rice cultivation.

Moving on to transportation, China's railway system is setting a milestone with the number 35,000. The length of high-speed railway track in operation will have reached 35,000 kilometers by the end of this year. This will help consolidate Chinese railways as the world's largest high speed rail network operator.

Let's end our 2019 numbers rundown with a huge figure: 1.4 million. This is the size of Beijing Daxing International Airport in square meters. Construction of the world-class airport finished in June, and opened for operation in September. It is hoped that the airport will ease the transportation load of Beijing, especially the current Beijing International Airport, as well as the nearby Tianjin and Hebei regions.