CMG releases top 10 China news stories of 2024

China Media Group (CMG) on Sunday released a list of the top 10 China-related news stories of 2024.

Below are the bulletins for these events.

1. The 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held its third plenary session, creating a strategic roadmap for further deepening reform comprehensively and advancing Chinese modernization

The 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held its third plenary session from July 15 to 18 and adopted the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization.

The resolution puts forward over 300 important reform measures. Some of these measures are designed to improve and enhance past reform practices, while others are new initiatives driven by practical needs and based on pilot efforts and explorations.

As a milestone in China's reform and opening-up process, the plenum demonstrated to the international community the CPC's strong determination to further deepen reforms comprehensively and open up broad prospects for Chinese modernization.

2. Chinese people celebrated the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech during the grand reception.

A grand reception celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was held at the Great Hall of the People on the evening of September 30. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese president, and chairman of the Central Military Commission, attended the reception and delivered an important speech.

He noted that for the past 75 years since the founding of the PRC, the Party has united people of all ethnic groups and led them to struggle relentlessly, creating the twin miracles of rapid economic growth and long-term social stability. China has undergone tremendous changes, and its national rejuvenation is now on an irreversible historical course.

Xi presented medals to recipients of national medals and honorary titles at a ceremony held ahead of the 75th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China, which falls on October 1.

September 30 is China's Martyrs' Day. Xi and other Party and state leaders attended a ceremony on the day to present flower baskets to fallen heroes at Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

3. The CPC launched a Party discipline education campaign from April to July in which CPC members studied the newly revised Party regulations on disciplinary action.

The General Office of the CPC Central Committee on March 30 issued a circular to launch a Party-wide campaign on CPC discipline education.

During the campaign, running from April to July, CPC members studied the newly revised Party regulations on disciplinary action, to strengthen their discipline awareness and always remain loyal, clean and responsible.

Xi has praised the Party discipline education campaign, noting that it has produced significant results, as Party members and officials saw their awareness of discipline, rules, integrity and self-discipline enhanced and sense of responsibility strengthened.

4. China implemented a package of incremental policies focusing on promoting economic stability and structural improvement. The tasks and goals set for economic and social development in 2024 have been accomplished.

In the face of a more complex international and domestic environment, the Chinese government rolled out a series of incremental measures, including increasing local government debt quotas to replace hidden debt, easing real-estate regulations, directing long-term capital into the market and increasing support for struggling businesses.

This year, one trillion yuan (about $139 billion) in ultra-long special treasury bonds was allocated to support specific projects and programs. Among the total, 700 billion yuan was allocated to implement major national strategies and build up security capacity in key areas. Meanwhile, 300 billion yuan was channeled to fund equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins. Also, China announced a 10 trillion yuan debt package to ease the financial burden on local governments.

These measures have shown continuous effects, with the financial market responding rapidly and positively in both the stock and bond markets. They have also provided strong support for the accelerated formation of new quality productive forces and the rapid transformation and upgrading of China's economic structure.

5. China's 2024 grain output hit a record high of 706.5 million tonnes, marking the first time the country registered a grain harvest of over 700 million tonnes.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data, China's 2024 grain output hit a record high of 706.5 million tonnes, an increase of 1.6 percent from the output last year.

2024 was also the first year the country registered a grain harvest of over 700 million tonnes. Previously, the country's annual grain output had been above 650 million tonnes for nine consecutive years.

The bumper grain harvest has further boosted national food security and laid a solid foundation for promoting all-round rural revitalization and building the nation into an agricultural powerhouse.

6. Macao celebrates the 25th anniversary of its return to the motherland, writing a new chapter in the steady implementation of "One Country, Two Systems."

A meeting to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Macao's return to China and the inaugural ceremony of the sixth-term government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) was held at the Macao East Asian Games Dome on December 20. President Xi attended the meeting and delivered an important speech.

Over the past 25 years since Macao's return to the motherland, enormous success has been achieved in advancing the cause of "One Country, Two Systems" with distinctive Macao features, Xi noted, stressing that Macao has undergone an earthshaking transformation, and its international standing has increased significantly.

Macao's great achievements since its return to China have proven to the world that the cause of "One Country, Two Systems," with its distinctive institutional strengths and strong vitality, is a good system that sustains the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao, he said, adding it is a good system that facilitates endeavors to build China into a great country and achieve national rejuvenation, as well as a good system for ensuring peaceful coexistence and mutual benefit between different social systems.

7. The successful holding of the FOCAC Beijing Summit set the Global South as a stellar example in jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind.

The 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was held in Beijing from September 4 to 6. During the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Summit in September, China established or upgraded strategic partnerships with 30 African countries, thus becoming a strategic partner of all the 53 African countries it has diplomatic relations with.

A declaration about jointly building an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era and an action plan for the next three years of FOCAC were adopted at the summit.

The summit sends a strong message of China and Africa seeking common development, demonstrates the firm determination of the Global South to work together in solidarity, and sets the Global South as a stellar example in jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind.

8. China has removed all market access restrictions for foreign investors in the manufacturing sector, exploring new horizons of high-standard opening up.

Opening up is a defining feature of Chinese modernization. This year, China has kept advancing high-level opening up and steadily expanded institutional opening up, bringing new impetus and new opportunities to world development.

China has removed all market access restrictions for foreign investors in the manufacturing sector and is expanding its opening-up endeavors to the service sectors.

In December, China announced a significant relaxation of its visa-free transit policy, extending the permitted stay for eligible foreign travelers from the initial 72 hours and a subsequent 144 hours to 240 hours, or 10 days. China also offers zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines to all the least developed countries with which it holds diplomatic relations.

9. China achieved inspiring results in sci-tech innovation and constantly made important original sci-tech achievements, including the Chang'e-6 probe, the deep-ocean drilling vessel Meng Xiang, the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, and Qinling Station in Antarctica.

Empowered by hard-core science and technology innovation, China's high-quality development achievements are seen in diverse fields.

On June 25, the Chang'e-6 lunar probe returned to Earth with 1,935.3 grams of lunar samples collected from the previously unexplored far side of the moon, marking a milestone in the history of human lunar exploration. The Meng Xiang, China's first domestically designed and built deep-ocean drilling vessel, has a maximum drilling depth of 11 kilometers and was officially commissioned in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou on November 17, representing a significant step forward in the country's deep-sea exploration efforts. On June 30, China opened the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, a mega cross-sea passage in south China's Guangdong Province that features two bridges, two artificial islands, and an underwater tunnel. In February, China's Qinling Station in Antarctica, the country's fifth research station on the continent, started operation. Also, this year, China's annual production of new energy vehicles surpassed the 10 million milestone for the first time.

10. China's Spring Festival was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, bringing the number of such items in China to 44, the most of its kind worldwide.

The 19th session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage on December 4 made a decision to inscribe Spring Festival, social practices of the Chinese people in celebration of the traditional new year, on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Spring Festival is China's most important traditional holiday, symbolizing the Chinese people's hopes for a better life, strong ties to family and country, and the values of harmony between humans and nature. Currently, nearly 20 countries have designated the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar as a public holiday, with about one-fifth of the world's population participating in various forms of celebration.

With this addition, China now has 44 cultural elements or practices recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity – ranking first in the world.