Erinome: Hello everyone! Welcome to today's "Daily News Chat"! I'm Erinome, and sitting next to me is my partner Enceladus. Let's dive into the latest updates together, okay?
Enceladus: Hi everyone! Great to be here. Let's start with the first news—something about university rankings!
Erinome: Right! The 2025 Soft Science World First-Class Disciplines Ranking was released. Chinese mainland universities ranked first in 21 disciplines globally, and overall ranked second in the world. Wow, that's a big achievement, isn't it?
Enceladus: Oh, that's awesome! 21 disciplines first—so our universities are getting stronger in many areas. I'm proud!
Erinome: Next, let's talk about population changes. New features in China's population development: the number of primary school students peaked in 2023. Then junior high school students are expected to peak in 2026, high school in 2029, and college-age population in 2032. Um, so each school level will peak step by step, right?
Enceladus: Yeah, that makes sense. Maybe schools need to prepare for these changes, like adjusting class sizes. Interesting data!
Erinome: Now some not-so-good news. A university professor in Jiangsu was taken away for investigation. He's suspected of academic fraud and embezzling research funds. His resume has at least 5 parts that don't match the facts. The school said he already left. Oh no, that's really bad for academic honesty.
Enceladus: Oh no, academic fraud is so serious. Hope they check this strictly.
Erinome: Moving on to good news for people looking for housing! Guangzhou has a new rule for public rental housing. The waiting time was cut from 5 years to 3 years—so after 3 years of waiting, you can get rental subsidies. That should help more families, right?
Enceladus: That's great! Shorter waiting time means people can get help faster. I know some friends were waiting for public housing—they'll be happy to hear this!
Erinome: Let's talk about delivery services. Data shows, in the first 10 months of this year, China's express delivery business volume reached 1.6268 billion pieces. That's a year-on-year increase of over 16%! Wow, that's a huge number—we really love online shopping, haha!
Enceladus: Haha, totally! I order something online almost every week. No wonder the delivery numbers are so high. The couriers must be super busy!
Erinome: Next, a "hot topic" in tech—memory chips! They're being called "electronic Moutai" because prices rose 70% in a month. Traders say the price changes every day. And this might make phones and other electronics more expensive soon. Oh no, I was planning to buy a new laptop... Maybe I should buy it now?
Enceladus: Oh no, that's bad news for shoppers! Memory chips are important for phones and computers. If they get more expensive, the whole device will cost more. Hmm, maybe wait or hurry—tough choice!
Erinome: Let's switch to crypto. Bitcoin fell below the $90,000 mark for the first time in seven months. In just one and a half months, it dropped nearly 30%. That's a big drop, right? Crypto is always so unstable!
Enceladus: Yeah, Bitcoin prices go up and down a lot. I remember it was much higher before. If someone invested then, they might be sad now.
Erinome: Now some news from Hong Kong. A report says, in 2025, the number of Hong Kong millionaires (with assets over 10 million HKD) reached 395,000 people. That's 5,000 more than last year. Wow, that's a lot of millionaires!
Enceladus: Wow, Hong Kong has so many wealthy people. Maybe the economy there is recovering well?
Erinome: Next, about tourism. Chinese tourists canceled about 500,000 flights to Japan, which is about 32% of the total bookings. It's said this might cause Japan to lose 1.7 trillion yen. Sad for the tourism industry, but that's a huge number of cancellations.
Enceladus: Yeah, 500,000 flights is a lot. I hope the tourism can get better soon, but it's interesting to see how travel plans change.
Erinome: Good news for travelers to Russia! Putin said the visa-free policy for Chinese citizens to Russia will take effect soon. And last year, Chinese tourists to Russia increased more than twice compared to the year before. Oh, that's exciting! No visa needed—maybe I can plan a trip to Russia next year?
Enceladus: That sounds fun! Visa-free makes traveling so much easier. With more tourists, Russia's tourism might grow too. Cool!
Erinome: Last news today—from Germany. About 20 schools in Berlin received attack threats, and the police are investigating. Oh no, that's scary. Hope the police find out who did this and keep the students safe.
Enceladus: Yeah, schools should be safe places. I hope everything is okay there.
Erinome: Alright, that's all the news we have for today! Thanks for joining us, everyone.
Enceladus: Yep! We'll be back with more updates next time. Bye for now!
Erinome: Bye!
