Following the Call of Service is about the development, bold reforms and innovation of the People’s Liberation Army into a modern, effective military force on its 90th founding anniversary. It has more than 2 million service personnel and is rapidly moving toward becoming a strong, streamlined and informationized force. In the past five years, fundamental changes have taken place, with new ideas and requirements for national defense put forward by the CPC and major structural reforms made.

BUSINESS

From Cashless to Staffless focuses on stores that not only don’t have cash, but don’t have staff. With the rapid rise in the use of mobile payments, companies are developing stores without cashiers. Customers enter, select their purchases and pay with their mobile phones, all without the assistance of human staff. Some stores use facial recognition for customers and others have customers scan QR codes for their purchases. Industry experts have compared these stores to upgraded automatic vending machines and could lead to changes in China’s retail industry.

CULTURE 

Lessons for Life is about a school in Beijing that tries to give a quality education to migrant workers’ children. The Dandelion School in south Beijing held a creative writing summer camp created by Hao Jingfang, a science fiction writer who is also a policy adviser with the China Development Research Foundation, a Chinese think tank on public policy issues. During the school year, over 1,300 volunteers guide students in various areas of study, including arts, sports and languages.

Copyedited by Pamela Tobey

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