Erinome: Hello everyone, welcome back to our daily news chat! I'm Erinome.
Enceladus: And I'm Enceladus. Let's see what's happening around the world today.
Erinome: Wow, let's start with some big economic numbers from China. Guangdong province's GDP reached 14.58 trillion yuan in 2025. That's huge! And it has been the number one in China for 37 years in a row.
Enceladus: That's amazing! You know that? They also expect their GDP to grow by 4.5% to 5% in 2026. Very strong economy.
Erinome: There's more good news. In 2025, China's total retail sales of consumer goods went over 50 trillion yuan for the first time ever.
Enceladus: Oh, and its contribution to economic growth was 52%. That means people are spending more, which is good for the economy.
Erinome: People are also traveling a lot. In 2025, Chinese people made 65.22 billion trips for travel. That's a 16.2% increase from the year before.
Enceladus: And they spent 6.3 trillion yuan on these trips, up 9.5%. Haha, people really love to travel and see new places.
Erinome: The Ministry of Commerce says more foreigners are coming to China without needing a visa. The number grew by nearly 30%.
Enceladus: Yes, "traveling in China" and "shopping in China" are very popular now. That's good for tourism.
Erinome: Now about cars. The latest numbers show China had 469 million motor vehicles in 2025. And there are 559 million drivers.
Enceladus: Um, that means for every 100 families, about 52.9 families have a car. More and more families own cars now.
Erinome: Let's talk about Hangzhou's Lingyin Temple. After they started a free ticket booking system, 380,000 people did not show up for their booked time.
Enceladus: Oh no, that's a lot of people! So the temple changed the rules. If you don't show up for the first time, you cannot book again for 30 days.
Erinome: There was a 5.5-magnitude earthquake in Diebu County, Gansu province on the 26th. Good news is, no reports of people hurt or killed yet.
Enceladus: That's a relief. Two government departments have started a level four national emergency response for the earthquake.
Erinome: The Supreme People's Court said the number of people fixing their bad credit record has been higher than the number of new people with bad credit for seven quarters in a row.
Enceladus: That's a positive trend. It means more people are working to improve their credit score.
Erinome: The price of gold is going up. Spot gold price went above 5,100 US dollars for the first time. It has risen more than 17% this year.
Enceladus: In China, the price for gold jewelry is nearly 1,580 yuan per gram. Wow, gold is getting very expensive.
Erinome: Data shows that in February, 49 flight routes between China and Japan canceled all their flights.
Enceladus: The Foreign Ministry reminds people to avoid going to Japan during the Spring Festival holiday. You know that?
Erinome: Japanese media report a train and a truck crashed in Hokkaido, Japan. One person died and eight were hurt.
Enceladus: Sad. Among the hurt, four are Chinese citizens.
Erinome: Foreign media say the Nipah virus in India has infected 5 people. Nearly 100 people are in quarantine. Nearby countries are checking people at their borders more carefully.
Enceladus: China has already put this virus on its list for checking people entering and leaving the country.
Erinome: In the US, a very big winter storm has caused 13 deaths. Nearly 1 million users have no electricity.
Enceladus: Oh no, over 200 million people are affected. And supermarkets have been emptied by people buying a lot of things.
Erinome: Philippine media report a ferry sank in the Philippines. 18 people died, 317 were saved, but 24 people are still missing.
Enceladus: The Chinese embassy says they cannot confirm the nationality of the people involved yet. That's a terrible accident.
Erinome: Foreign media also report the US has sent many soldiers around Iran. Iran warns it will respond in the strongest way to any US attack.
Enceladus: And there is news that Iran's leader Khamenei has gone into a bunker. His son is now handling daily work. This situation sounds very tense.
Erinome: Okay, that's it for today's news. Some good economic news, but also some sad events and natural disasters around the world.
Enceladus: Yes, let's hope for peace and safety for everyone. We'll talk again next time. Goodbye!
