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Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a statement in the early morning of April 14 local time, announcing that dozens of missiles and drones had been fired at Israeli targets. The attacks were against Israel for numerous "crimes", including a missile attack on the consular building of the Iranian embassy in Syria on April 1, which resulted in the deaths of several Iranian commanders and military advisers in Syria.
On April 13, 2024, the city of Tel Aviv, Israel, after the security warning came into effect. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Junqing
Israeli media, citing a senior Israeli official, reported that 99% of Iran's missiles and drones were intercepted. The official said that this is the first time that Iran has launched an attack on Israel from its territory, and "Israel needs to respond decisively." That reaction will come soon."
After Iran launched a massive airstrike on Israel, US President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During the period, Biden said that the United States would not support Israel's counterattack against Iran, the sources said. Biden believes that the joint defense of Israel, the United States and other countries in the region made the Iranian attack a failure.
Yu Guoqing, a researcher at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with reporters that Iran's counterattack against Israel was actually expected, and judging from the timing and results of the air strikes, Iran's target selection was still relatively carefully considered, "The nature of this Iranian air attack is of course very serious, and this is an attack by one country directly targeting the territory of another country." It also shows that the spillover effects of the Pakistan-Israel conflict are now in a vicious and spiraling situation, a trend that is very dangerous for the entire Middle East region. ”
Iran has dispatched drones and missiles, but in terms of consequences, Israel has not suffered much loss in terms of personnel, at least in terms of personnel, and in this regard, Iran's target selection has been relatively carefully considered. Iran launched attacks in the middle of the night, when the base was at its least manned, and even if it hit the target, the casualties were relatively small. In addition, Iran's missiles and drones launched into Israel inevitably pass through Iraq, Syria, Jordan and other countries, Iran understands that Israel and the United States have strong air interception capabilities, and in fact, most of the drones and missiles are intercepted halfway. From this point of view, Iran's air strikes on Israel are also aimed at easing public opinion in Iran, and it is necessary to take retaliatory actions against Israel.
Both Iran's actions after the assassination of senior Iranian general Qassem Soleimani last time and the choice of Iranian targets this time show that Iran is trying to avoid American casualties. Iran's retaliation against Israel also takes into account the issue of human damage, suggesting that Iran is concerned about triggering a direct U.S. strike on Iranian soil.
The UN Secretary-General's strong condemnation and disapproval of Iran's actions also shows that the spillover effects of the Pakistan-Israel conflict are now in a vicious and spiraling state. In addition, this makes the international situation very dangerous, and some major powers may be unconsciously or forced to get involved. At present, the international community, including the United Nations and other countries, need to remain calm and restrain and warn both sides. Read the full >>>
Iran's president says any reckless Israeli behavior will be met with a strong response
When it comes to Wei County, Hebei, nine times out of ten people will mispronounce Wei (pronounced yù) as wèi. It is not as hot as Cao County, Shandong, and it is not a popular Internet celebrity check-in place at the moment, but it is a "national treasure and cultural relics county", with 22 national key cultural relics protection units. Among the many ancient buildings, the ancient village fort of Wei County is a must. More than 350 ancient village forts are relatively well preserved, scattered on the land of Wei County like pearls, and are known as "Hebei Ancient Architecture and Art Museum". Therefore, Wei County is known as "Eight Hundred Zhuang Fort".
Hebei Wei County West Joint Venture Sijiawa Fort Gate. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Shang Heng, deputy research librarian of the Beijing Institute of Archaeology, Cheng Changjin and Guan Qi of the Beijing Cultural Relics Protection Association, the authors of the series of books "Investigation and Research of Zhuangbao Temples in Weixian County since the Ming and Qing Dynasties", Cheng Changjin and Guan Qi of the Beijing Cultural Relics Protection Association, have delivered to the academic community 8 volumes composed of more than one million words of text records, more than 700 line drawings and rubbings, and more than 1,000 color photos.
From 2007 to 2019, the three of them measured more than 3,000 square kilometers of land in Wei County with their feet, visited 796 villages and 22 towns in Wei County, inspected 425 forts, 822 temples, and 295 murals, and left more than 1.5 million written records. What's even more surprising is that among the three, only Shang Heng is an archaeology major.
Why spend so much time going to Ul County?" Wei County is a very good living fossil in North China, which basically retains the social appearance of the rural areas of North China in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Shang Heng commented.
Cheng Changjin and Shang Heng have both been to Beijing, Zhangjiakou, Shanxi along the Great Wall of ancient forts, in his opinion, these places are mainly military forts, and the damage is relatively serious, there are not so many contiguous people's forts. "Moreover, a large number of folk customs and customs in Wei County have been completely preserved, and temples and murals are also richly preserved, which is not found in other places. Cheng Changjin said.
Fort, a building used for military defense. The ancient castle of Wei County means a walled village and town, a defensive village. Why is there a large number of kasbahs left in this place?
Cheng Changjin introduced that this is related to the special geographical location of Wei County. "The eight traffic arteries connecting the Shanxi Plateau and the Hebei Plain are called 'Taihang Eight Mountains', and Wei County is located on the Flying Fox Mountain. From Zhengding to Laiyuan, through the Flying Fox Ancient Road, you can enter the grassland through Wei County, which is a north-south passage. From Beijing to the west, through Wei County, you can enter Datong in Shanxi, which is the east-west passage. Historically, Wei County has been at such a key point of cultural integration and collision. ”
Cheng Changjin said that during the Ming Dynasty, there were frequent wars in the areas along the Great Wall, and many people built ancient castles to defend their homes. "After the Qing army entered the customs, the Great Wall was no longer in the strategic frontier area, and some military forts lost their original effects and gradually turned into civilian forts. ”
After the social stability of the Qing Dynasty, Wei County gradually became an important trade route between the north and the south, and commerce flourished. At this time, there was a need for some post stations and post houses to provide resting places for merchants, and the Minbao was slowly revived. Cheng Changjin said that during the investigation, they found that the fort gate built in the Ming Dynasty was mainly made of stone, and the fort gate rebuilt or newly built in the Qing Dynasty began to be built with bricks, and brick carvings were added. Many old mansions were also built at this time.
After the development of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the ancient castle was built more and more, with the growth of population, when a fort could not accommodate so many people, the new fort was expanded, so it was called the east fort and the west fort, or the south fort and the north fort. As life became more and more stable, the villagers felt that it was not necessary to build tall fort walls and city gates, but to build thin walls and simple fort gates to resist thieves, thieves and bandits, called 'Zhuangzi', which gradually expanded to the current 'Eight Hundred Zhuang Fort'. Cheng Changjin said.
Today, the series of books "Investigation and Research of Zhuangbao Temples in Wei County since the Ming and Qing Dynasties" has been published, but the footsteps of the three of them in Wei County are still continuing. As Shang Heng said, Wei County has become a part of their lives. Read the thematic >>>
On April 13, the 2024 Beijing Think Tank Spring Summit continued. Wen Chunying, Dean of the School of Foreign Chinese Languages and Cultures and Director of the Urban Communication Research Center of Communication University of China, delivered a keynote speech. Wen Chunying said that the construction of the city's brand must be a chorus, not a solo. The city has become an "Internet celebrity", which is the result of the joint action of internal and external factors, and has its own internal logic.
Wen Chunying, Dean of the School of Foreign Chinese Languages and Cultures and Director of the Urban Communication Research Center of Communication University of China, delivered a keynote speech.
In Wen Chunying's view, China's "Internet celebrity cities" have gone through three stages. At the earliest, that is, the first level of the "Internet celebrity city", it was a traditional tourist city that mainly met the needs of natural scenery tourism. But when it comes to the second stage, it's a little different.
The second stage of the "Internet celebrity city" is an artificial landscape city that relies on its own resource endowment to tap hot spots. In Wen Chunying's view, the short video incident "Xi'an Yongxingfang Bowl Wine", which exploded on social media platforms in 2017, is a landmark event for the development of "Internet celebrity cities" to the second level.
The third stage of the "Internet celebrity city" is a non-traditional tourist city that starts from the explosion and continues to serve. The change of users' media usage habits and the change of identity of communication roles make users become creators and disseminators of network hotspots. The influence of individuals on social media has become one of the most important factors influencing public decision-making. As a result, the content that individuals post on social media can often be a potential starting point for city marketing. Cities such as Zibo and Tianshui have become well-known "Internet celebrity cities" because users post issues related to urban life on social media.
Wen Chunying introduced that if we make a portrait of the Internet celebrity city audience, we usually see portraits based on demographic characteristics such as age, class, education level, and behavioral preferences, such as young people, with high acceptance and strong action, and their interests are concentrated in food, travel, photography, etc. They have more time and energy, and like to chase hot spots at any time. They are hedonistic, enjoy life, have a positive attitude towards travel, and love to play in groups.
Taking the recently popular Tianshui in Gansu Province as an example, Wen Chunying analyzed the "new characteristics" of "Internet celebrity cities". The first is to characterize the "urban character" with food. Gansu Malatang has a unique feature, which is characterized by the wide noodles of Dingxi and the heavy spicy northwest taste. The production process is flexible and varied, and the forms of seasoning are rich and varied.
Secondly, the "leverage effect" of tourism events. In the explosion of Malatang in Tianshui, Gansu Province, the Tianshui Municipal Government and local media actively seized the opportunity to attract more tourists to come and taste it by opening a special bus line for Malatang and pulling banners at the railway station. Moreover, the "sinking consumption" is in line with the expectations of tourists. Tianshui bulk commodities are of high quality and low price, and the price is close to the people. Young people are becoming an important incremental group in tourism consumption in third- and fourth-tier cities. Read the full >>>
Today, in the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) 300 co-main event, Zhang Weili defeated compatriot Yan Xiaonan to retain the strawweight belt. After becoming China's first UFC champion in August 2019, Zhang Weili has become one of the most popular MMA (mixed martial arts) fighters with her outstanding performances, and has also become the best ambassador for the sport in China.
On April 14, Zhang Weili (right) defeated Yan Xiaonan in the title defense. Photo/IC photo
Zhang Weili is not the first Chinese to enter the UFC, and there are seniors like Zhang Tiequan in front of her. She is also not the first Chinese female fighter to sign with the UFC, Yan Xiaonan's first UFC fight came nine months before her. But when it comes to the development of the sport in China, Zhang Weili is a great contributor.
"I have seen first-hand the development of the sport in China. Zhang Weili said that there are many new gyms in China, and many young people are starting to participate in different combat sports, such as sanda, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, etc., "I really think that MMA is growing very quickly in China and has a bright future." ”
In 2016, Zhang Weili just started playing MMA, with a record of only 5 wins and 1 loss, in her words, "she is still a rookie" and does not know much about the sport. Two years later, Zhang Weili came to the UFC, and it only took two years to become the UFC strawweight champion for the first time. After that, despite two losses to Rose, Zhang Weili regained the belt for the second time.
It's been a bumpy road that has also turned Zhang into a full-fledged martial artist. Since winning her first title in 2019, Zhang Weili has won five World Championship fights. Whether facing Joanna, Rose, Lemos or Yan Xiaonan, Zhang Weili has always put herself in the position of a challenger, "When the door of the octagon is closed, I am also a challenger. In Zhang's view, both she and Yan Xiaonan are challengers, and the belt is up for grabs that any martial artist can try to get.
It is this mentality that makes Zhang Weili full of hunger all the time. Every time she prepares for a fight, she changes her battle plan based on her opponent's strengths and weaknesses. In 26 victories, Zhang's 11 knockouts and eight submissions prove that.
After staying in the octagon cage for a long time, Zhang Weili's mentality has become more and more mature. Since regaining the belt in November 2022, Zhang Weili has talked about Bruce Lee's influence on herself many times, "like water" is her requirement for her mind and body, "If water meets fire, it will turn into steam; If the water is cold, it will turn into ice; If you put water into a cup, then the water is the shape of the cup. I'm different against different opponents. Read the full >>>
Who is Zhang Weili's next opponent, and will there be a rematch with Yan Xiaonan?
Editor: Liu Zhe, Design: Liu Xiaofei, Proofreader: Zhang Yanjun