Nanchang City has issued detailed rules for the management of online car-hailing: it is not allowed to pick up passengers at airports and other places

  CCTV News:Our reporter learned from relevant departments that three reform policy documents, including the "Nanchang Municipal People’s Government’s Implementation Opinions on Deepening Reform and Promoting the Healthy Development of the Taxi Industry", "Nanchang City’s Implementation Detailed Rules for the Management of Online Booking Taxi Business Services" and "Nanchang City’s Implementation Opinions on Regulating Private Passenger Car Co-hailing Travel", will be officially implemented from June 1, 2017. This means that Nanchang City will set corresponding business boundaries for the new and old business formats of the taxi industry, promote taxi, online car-hailing, and shared car dislocation services, and differentiated operations, and achieve integrated development.

  Online car-hailing must be a vehicle within 3 years of initial registration

  "Nanchang city network booking taxi business service management implementation rules" clearly, Nanchang city network about car platform company should have the status of enterprise legal person, in Nanchang city registration authority, with online and offline service capabilities, operating license validity period of 4 years.

  Nanchang City makes it clear that online car-hailing operators should establish enterprises with corporate legal personality or branches with business licenses in Nanchang City, and have office space and management personnel in Nanchang City that are commensurate with the scale of operation. They have service capabilities such as safety management, personnel training, and complaint acceptance. They have a sound operation management system, safety production management system, and service quality assurance system. At the same time, the network service platform database should be connected to the supervision platform of Nanchang City’s transportation administrative department.

  The "Nanchang City Online Booking Taxi Business Service Management Implementation Rules" pointed out that the online car must be registered as a car in the city, with 7 seats and less; the fuel vehicle grade should be higher than the existing mainstream taxis in the city, and the vehicle wheelbase should not be less than 2650mm, and meet the Nanchang City Motor Vehicle Emission Standards; new online car-hailing encourages the use of new energy vehicles, with a wheelbase of not less than 2400mm and a cruising range of not less than 150km; vehicles need to be installed with emergency alarm devices and on-board satellite positioning devices with driving record functions, and the on-board satellite positioning devices should comply with relevant national regulations; vehicle technical performance should meet the requirements of relevant national and industry operating safety standards, and relevant operating insurance should be insured according to regulations; vehicle owners agree to register the nature of vehicle use as "booking taxi passenger transportation"; vehicle initial registration date to application date should not exceed 3 years If the vehicle belongs to an individual, other taxis and online taxis that should not be registered under the name of the vehicle owner, I shall obtain the "Online Booking Taxi Driver’s License", register as required, and directly engage in operational activities.

  Online car-hailing is not allowed to pick up passengers at airports, railway stations, etc

  Nanchang City clearly stipulates that online car-hailing drivers are registered in the city or have obtained a residence permit in the city, and their age has not exceeded the national legal retirement age; they have obtained the corresponding type of motor vehicle driver’s license and have more than 3 years of driving experience; no traffic crime, dangerous driving crime record, no drug use record, no driving record after drinking, and no 12-point record in the last 3 consecutive scoring periods; no violent criminal record; no record of being revoked as a taxi driver in the last 5 years.

  According to the principle of misplaced development of online car-hailing and taxis, Nanchang City has clarified the scope of operation of online car-hailing. Online car-hailing cannot pick up customers by parade, nor can it pick up customers at taxi dispatch service stations such as Nanchang Airport, railway station, and bus terminal or places that implement queuing.

  It is understood that three reform policy documents for the taxi industry in Nanchang will be implemented on June 1, 2017. For online car-hailing platform companies that have already started online car-hailing business in Nanchang City, Nanchang City will give a 12-month transition period. During the transition period, platform companies must go through the procedures for online car-hailing business licenses according to regulations. For vehicles and personnel that do not meet relevant regulations, Nanchang City will clean up.

  The "Nanchang Municipal People’s Government’s Implementation Opinions on Deepening Reform and Promoting the Healthy Development of the Taxi Industry" states that Nanchang City encourages taxis to provide operating services through telecommunications, the Internet, and other means, promotes the use of non-cash payment methods that comply with regulations, and supports taxi operators to transform and provide online ride-hailing services.

  Eligible private cars and used cars can carry out online car-hailing operations

  The relevant person in charge of the Nanchang Transportation Bureau told reporters that online car-hailing is a type of taxi, and the vehicles providing services should be operating vehicles. Private cars in the traditional sense refer to non-operating passenger cars owned by individuals. Our country strictly distinguishes between operating and non-operating vehicles, and the two are different in many aspects such as vehicle technical performance, safety testing, scrap life, and insurance rates. Therefore, private cars cannot engage in online car-hailing services, but eligible private cars can engage in online car-hailing services after applying for approval and registration as reserved taxis according to procedures. Although they are still owned by individuals, they have been transformed into operational ones.

  Nanchang City requires that the ride-hailing vehicle must be a vehicle with an initial registration of less than three years. This regulation is to prevent a large number of second-hand cars from entering the online ride-hailing market, reduce the vehicle grade in disguise, bring certain safety hazards to passengers, and cause unfair competition to traditional taxis. However, second-hand cars that meet the requirements can also apply for online ride-hailing operations.

  The relevant person in charge also said that those who have obtained the qualification of a taxi driver and meet the conditions stipulated by the city’s detailed rules for the implementation of online car-hailing can directly obtain the "Online Booking Taxi Driver Permit" after applying by themselves or the entrusted platform company, so as to convert to online car-hailing driver. (CCTV reporter, Manshuai)

Recommend Meitu’s Pinterest, how to rely on machine learning to attract attention?

Recommend Meitu's Pinterest, how to rely on machine learning to attract attention?

Freestocks/flickr

Pinterest, which has 100 million monthly active users, is increasingly relying on machine learning to help uncover new internet insights.

Users around the world visit Pinterest to explore, save, and share photos and articles. Help users find content they love, and users will naturally be retained: 30% of interactions on Pinterest and 25% of Pinterest internal purchases come from Pinterest-recommended content. To recommend the right content, Pinterest uses state-of-the-art, data-driven technology and conducts a lot of experimentation.

So how does Pinterest use machine learning?

Mohammad Shahangian, lead discovery science engineer at Pinterest, said: "My main job is to find a way to solve the content discovery problem. We experiment with very small changes to the algorithm, and every attempt has an improvement or a downside."

Exclusive advantage: based on interest

Recommend Meitu's Pinterest, how to rely on machine learning to attract attention?

TheStreet

In fact, this is not unrelated to the characteristics of Pinterset: one of its strengths is that Pinterset is a community built around users’ interests, and users will sort the products, articles, and images they find on the Internet by interest.This means that instead of guessing a user’s interests by clicking patterns or time spent on a page, as other social networking sites do, Pinterest can directly use algorithms to measure the relationship between 75 billion entries in its database that are likely to be grouped under the same interest.

"Many companies try to derive user interest from inputs or signals," says Mr. Shahangian. "But on Pinterest, users clearly signal what they are interested in."

Users who visit Pinterest continue to add to the social landscape of users, collected items, and favorite boards. This data allows Pinterest to provide more accurate content for user homepage feeds, search results, and related content recommendations. Recommendations based solely on what users care about are not ideal, and recommendations for similar content are easy to repeat.

For Mohammad Shahangian, "If you collect one kitchen sink, should we recommend more sinks or something that will make your kitchen look new?"

Constantly testing in practice

To make these decisions, Pinterest engineers experimented with a variety of machine learning algorithms. They studied how well these algorithms worked on related and unrelated items, and how they affected the active levels of real users.

Mohammad Shahangian said: "We do experiment directly on Pinterest, but a lot of times we do a lot of preparation before experimenting."

Of course, there is no way to know whether a user will like the new recommendation without conducting actual testing. "I can’t pay someone to tell me whether a user will like the new recommendation," says Mohammad Shahangian. But by studying whether the content recommended by the algorithm will be classified as an interest by real users, it is relatively reliable.

Previously, Pinterest changed the message flow on the user’s homepage from purely chronological attention to the user’s message, to an algorithm-generated message flow, which increased the user’s active level by one-fifth to one-tenth. Subsequent algorithm improvements will bring additional improvements.

"Pinterest has come a long way throughout the improvement process," says Mr. Shahangian. "Personalisation has greatly increased user engagement rates."

Improved image search function

Pinterest has also been improving image search to help users better find similar images. Pinterest engineers worked with researchers at the Vision and Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, to develop the technology. It now uses deep learning algorithms to automatically identify objects in images. This way, users can click on those objects to find relevant items in Pinterest.

Dmitry Kislyuk, a visual search engineer at Pinterest, said: "This is not a classification algorithm to distinguish between cats and dogs. We want to find similarities between images in real time."

He says the visual search tool works well for finding home decorations and fashion items in Pinterest, and in the future Pinterest hopes to improve its auto-sorting function to better serve other search needs, such as helping users find new recipes that are similar.

Speaking about using deep learning to classify images more efficiently, Pinterest visual search engineer Andrew Zhai said: "I think our model will become more semantic and better."

While Pinterest engineers focus on perfecting object recognition and search, they also plan to develop an app that will allow smartphone users to photograph real-world objects and then get recommendations for related items on Pinterest.

"The field of deep learning, computer vision is very exciting right now," says Mr. Kislyuk. "The world is changing so fast that top technologies change every two months."

Via fastcompany

Recommended reading:

Pinterest completes Series G financing, the total amount of 553 million US dollars does not meet expectations

The designer who created the classic look of Apple Mac will join Pinterest to be responsible for product design

Leifeng.com’s original articles are prohibited from being reproduced without authorization. For details, please refer to the instructions for reprinting.

Overview of Volvo Car Company

  "The car is driven by people. Therefore, the guiding principle of everything we do must be-safety. "

  -Arthur Gabrielson and Gustav Larsen

  Overview of Volvo Car Company

  Volvo logo

  The name Volvo is Latin, which means "rolling forward". It was the brand name of a ball bearing before it was used in the first Volvo V4 on April 14th, 1927. The nameplate of Volvo car is a symbol of steel-a circle (iron mark) with an oblique arrow. The design idea of this logo originated from the Swedish steel industry which is famous for its durability. Since then, this steel symbol has become the representative of Volvo all over the world. For Volvo, this modern corporate brand logo also represents Volvo’s commitment to safety, quality and environmental protection.

  Metal logo of Volvo car

  The most competitive luxury car manufacturer-Volvo Cars

  Founded in 1927, Volvo Car Company is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden and has more than 19,000 employees all over the world. At present, there are about 6 million Volvo car owners in the world. Volvo Cars has set up production plants and assembly lines in Sweden, Belgium, China and Malaysia, with a total output of 311,413 vehicles in 2009.

  Volvo Car Global Headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden

  Volvo Car Company sold 334,808 cars in 2009. The model with the largest sales volume is XC60, with 61,667 vehicles sold. The top five markets are: USA, Sweden, China, UK and German.

  Global sales and after-sales service network

  Volvo Cars has established a sales and service network in more than 100 countries and regions around the world, with more than 2,400 sales outlets. We are committed to making our customers feel their own value and uniqueness. They will get intimate service experience in the whole process of sales and vehicle use. We want to make every customer who chooses Volvo feel welcome, respected and considerate. The company has established a survey system of "giving customers lifelong attention" to track the information of all customers after buying a car, so as to understand the satisfaction of each customer.

  Volvo On Call is a distinguished and caring customer service. Whether it is a vehicle failure or a traffic accident, customers will be provided with emergency rescue service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

  Volvo’s rich product range

  Volvo Cars is divided into four series: luxury car (S series), luxury business station wagon (V series), luxury SUV(XC series) and luxury convertible/coupe (C series). The company’s product strategy is to make many models of cars by using leading technology to meet the needs of different customer groups. While continuing to maintain its leading position in safety and environmental protection, Volvo Cars pays more attention to bringing passionate driving pleasure to customers. The launch of Volvo XC60 proves this point. This sport utility vehicle combines the performance of off-road vehicle with the personality of sports car, and combines dynamic and passionate driving pleasure with high comfort. The surging power of T6 twin-vortex turbocharged engine and AWD all-wheel drive system enable drivers to enjoy the feeling of pushing back while firmly grasping the stability of the vehicle.

  In 2010, the new Volvo S60 was released, which surpassed any previous Volvo model in design and dynamic performance. The new Volvo S60 is also the first vehicle equipped with an innovative safety invention-pedestrian collision protection system. The new S60 will also be the most passionate Volvo car.

  New Volvo S60

  The Core Values of Volvo Cars: Safety, Quality and Environmental Protection

  Safety legend, leading the future technology

  All luxury brands have some leading edge-our advantage is safety, which is also one of the core values of Volvo cars. In Volvo Car Company, safety is always a comprehensive and complete solution. This overall view is the cornerstone of Volvo’s safety concept.

  We have the most powerful equipment and personnel to ensure our commitment to automobile safety. Volvo Car Safety Center is one of the most advanced car crash test centers in the world, and has conducted more than 2,500 crash tests since its establishment in 2000. Its crash test laboratory is equipped with two lanes, one is an adjustable movable lane and the other is a permanent fixed lane. In order to adapt to various test conditions, the adjustment angle of this movable lane can be up to 90 degrees at most, which can create conditions for frontal collision or side collision of vehicles at different angles and speeds.

  Panorama of Volvo Car Safety Center

  We believe that knowledge can save lives. The traffic accident investigation team of Volvo Car Company has been investigating more than 40,000 accidents for 40 years, transforming the first-hand investigation data into new research results and applying them to the development and improvement of vehicle models. Since 1970, the accident casualty rate of Volvo’s new cars has been reduced by 50%.

 

  The safety goal of Volvo cars is that by 2020, no one will be killed or injured by driving Volvo cars. In order to achieve this goal, Volvo Car Company is committed to the development of innovative preventive safety technology, because we believe that the safest way is to avoid traffic accidents as much as possible. From the brake assist system to the City Safety system, and then to the collision warning system with full automatic braking and pedestrian detection functions, the above technologies have been applied to Volvo representative vehicles, such as S80L extended version, XC60 and the new S60 which will be unveiled soon. Volvo Cars has continuously introduced breakthrough innovative safety technologies to lead the progress of automobile safety.

  Volvo Car Company’s latest breakthrough safety technology-collision warning system with full automatic braking and pedestrian detection function-will be listed at the same time as the new Volvo S60 in 2010. The system can detect pedestrians in front of the car, and the car will automatically brake to avoid accidents. This new technology aims to help drivers avoid hitting pedestrians when the speed does not exceed 25 kilometers per hour. If the vehicle speed is higher than this value, the system will reduce the vehicle speed during the collision as much as possible to reduce the damage caused by the collision.

  Pedestrian detection system

  Volvo Car Safety Center is currently developing safety systems for electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles. Through the advanced automatic monitoring of battery status and the effective protection of batteries in the event of a crash with the help of battery packaging technology, electric vehicles can achieve the highest level of comprehensive safety protection. Regardless of the model, fuel or power type, Volvo Cars requires all its cars to meet the same high safety standards.

  Environmental protection concept, care for the green world

  As a responsible corporate citizen, Volvo Cars is also in a leading position in the field of energy conservation and environmental protection. The overall environmental protection concept of Volvo Cars is summarized as "DRIVe noble environmental protection concept", which is the summary of Volvo Cars’ environmental protection blueprint and strategy. At the same time, it is also a model logo, which is used to indicate Volvo’s most environmentally friendly model. The lowercase letter e stands for environment. DRIVe environmental protection concept is Volvo Car’s commitment to sustainable transportation development.

  Volvo’s long-term environmental protection goal is "DRIVe Towards Zero". To achieve this goal, Volvo has launched a number of environmental protection technologies. By the end of 2009, Volvo Car Company has launched seven fuel-efficient DRIVe ultra-low emission models, all of which have the best carbon dioxide emission level in their class. At present, all DRIVe models are equipped with optimized ordinary diesel engines and manual gearboxes, which have ultra-low fuel consumption. These models have also been specially improved to reduce rolling resistance and wind resistance. Among them, C30 DRIVe 1.6-liter diesel vehicle represents the latest environmental protection achievements: carbon dioxide emission per kilometer is only 99 grams, and fuel consumption per 100 kilometers is only 3.8 liters, which is the lowest among its peers.

  Volvo Car Company and energy supplier Vattenfall jointly develop plug-in hybrid vehicles and energy infrastructure. The project will study drivers’ wishes and requirements, determine their driving habits and how they want to charge their cars. Volvo will first launch a mass-produced plug-in hybrid vehicle in 2012. This vehicle combines the pure electric power of the battery with a high-efficiency diesel engine, and can be charged by a household power supply. The total cruising range can reach 1,200 kilometers, the average carbon dioxide emission is 49 grams per kilometer, and the fuel consumption per 100 kilometers is 1.9 liters.

  In September 2009, the prototype of Volvo C30 electric vehicle made its first public appearance. Volvo electric C30 has the same safety, comfort and space as a standard car. But only driven by electricity, the cruising range can reach 150 kilometers. At present, a small number of C30 BEV prototypes have been produced and tested by Volvo Cars.

  Volvo C30 BEV pure electric vehicle

  In addition to external environmental protection, all the fabrics inside Volvo Cars have passed the Oeko-Tex 100 hypoallergenic standard certification of the International Environmental Protection Textile Association, and it is the only automobile manufacturer in the industry that has passed this certification, which reflects the care of Volvo Cars as a luxury brand in environmental protection and health.

  Volvo Car’s unique "nose team" is composed of eight specially selected people with "standard noses", who provide designers with guidance on selecting materials and production technology, especially for automobile interior materials, and finally ensure a healthy and environmentally friendly first-class interior environment for the owners through strict inspection. In addition, cars equipped with New interior materials will be placed under a solar simulator for several hours until the temperature in the compartment reaches 65℃. Then the TVOC level (total volatile organic compounds) and aldehyde content in the car were measured by analytical equipment.

  Luxury quality makes Volvo cars go further.

  Volvo cars have always been known for their durability, which is not only reflected in the manufacture and appearance of products, but also in our choice of materials and the way of manufacturing cars. At the same time, our leading position in safety has directly improved our quality level. In order to let customers enjoy the high quality of luxury cars during the whole period of owning Volvo cars, Volvo Car Company has adopted a set of quality assurance plans. The plan covers the whole value chain from manufacturing, sales to after-sales service.

  In 2007, a Volvo P1800 model produced in 1966 set a new mileage record, exceeding 4.18 million kilometers (2.6 million miles), which can circle the equator about 104 times!

 

  The new modified C30, XC60 and S60, which came out in 2009, all indicate the future design trend of Volvo cars, which are younger, more sporty and bolder. Moreover, the change is not only reflected in the design language, but also in the product characteristics and technological innovation of Volvo cars. In recent years, Volvo has continuously introduced T6 twin-vortex turbocharged engine, GTDi high-efficiency engine, Powershift powershift, 4C active chassis control, AWD all-wheel drive system with Instant Traction and other new technologies, which have effectively improved driving pleasure and maneuverability from the aspects of power, transmission and chassis. Therefore, after personal experience, you will unexpectedly find the driving pleasure and handling beyond the past on the brand-new Volvo car.

  Innovative and enterprising

  In the 82-year history, Volvo Cars has adhered to its own road of innovation, making our life better. Through continuous innovation in design, power, safety and environmental protection, Volvo Cars not only promoted the development and progress of the entire automobile industry, but also realized the promise of providing high-quality life for high-end automobile users.

  Humanities accomplishment

  For the social elites who are innovative and enterprising, Volvo Car’s conspicuous and tasteful image is deeply in line with their humble and pragmatic attitude towards life. As owners of Volvo, they understand the true meaning of life and pay attention to the internal quality of products. Choosing Volvo is not a symbol of showing off wealth, but a pursuit of quality of life. This has also become the connotation that distinguishes Volvo from other luxury brands.

  Volvo Cars Sailing China’s Growth is Irresistible.

  Volvo Car Company formally established an office in Beijing on January 24th, 1994, and China Sales Company in Shanghai in 2008, focusing on strengthening dealer network construction and providing customers with more timely, high-quality and professional services. Up to now, Volvo Car has reached 97 sales outlets in China, covering 78 cities across the country, greatly enhancing its competitiveness in various regional markets.

  In 2009, the sales volume of Volvo Cars in China was 22,405 units, an increase of nearly 80%; From January to August 2010, sales increased by 65% year-on-year, which was higher than the average growth rate of luxury car market.

  At present, Volvo’s entire range of products in China covers six major models, with more than 20 models, and the price range ranges from 248,000 to 1.48 million, including S40, S80L Extended Edition, C30, C70, XC60 and XC90. S40 was made in China in 2006. With its fashionable interior and exterior design and leading safety, it has become a strong competitor in the entry-level luxury car market and won the love of young elites in China. On the basis of the success of domestic S40, Volvo Cars realized the domestic S80 in 2009, named S80L Extended Edition. S80L Extended Edition is a luxury commercial vehicle specially built for China consumers. The wheelbase is lengthened by 140mm, making it the most competitive vehicle in the rear row of its class. In 2009, the sales volume of S80/S80L cars increased by 240%, which proved the great success of Volvo’s localization strategy.

  Volvo Cars is the leader of the quality life of the elite in China. In order to strengthen emotional communication with customers, Volvo Car Company has sponsored the professional competition of Volvo China Open for 16 consecutive years, and held the amateur golf competition of Volvo Masters Cup in China, which is the 12th this year. This tournament has become the most extensive, largest and influential amateur golf competition in China. In 2009, Volvo Cars brought the Volvo Ocean Race, the world’s top sailing race, to China for the first time. A passionate, innovative and challenging Volvo Car Show appeared in front of consumers.

  China is one of the automobile markets with the greatest development potential in the world. Adhering to the glorious history of 2008 and through proactive business strategy, Volvo Cars will surely win a bright future of sustainable development in the fierce market competition.

  The Latest Achievements of Volvo Car Company

  Volvo XC60 has won many international awards and become the best-selling model of Volvo cars.

  The new Volvo S60 was unveiled and launched globally at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show.

  Volvo’s environmentally-friendly DRIVe has increased to seven ultra-low emission models, with a minimum CO2 emission of 99g/km;

  The plug-in hybrid production car in cooperation with Vattenfall, Sweden’s largest power company, will be launched in 2012;   

  The C30 BEV pure electric vehicle project was launched, and the prototype entered the road test stage;      

  Launched the world’s first brand-new safety technology-pedestrian detection system with automatic braking;    

  In March 2009, the new Volvo S80L extended version was officially listed in China market, which promoted the sales growth of all models.      

  In 2009, Volvo Cars in China increased by nearly 80% year-on-year, ranking fifth in the world.  

  From January to August 2010, the sales of Volvo Cars in China increased by 65% year-on-year, making it the third largest market in the world.   

  Volvo car brand has become more passionate, innovative and humanistic.

Why alpine skiing?

  Why do delegations with few people prefer alpine skiing? Is the threshold of this project low?

  Haiti, Philippines, Ghana, Ecuador … … At the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics on the evening of the 4th, people found that some countries or regions with hot impressions also sent delegations to participate. Most of these delegations have only one or two athletes, and almost all of them participate in alpine skiing. Some netizens laughed and said: Alpine skiing is the biggest "winner" of the opening ceremony.

On the evening of February 4th, the opening ceremony of the 24th Winter Olympic Games was held in Beijing National Stadium. Sarah Escobar (middle), the flag bearer of the Ecuadorian delegation and alpine skier, is the first female athlete in the history of Ecuador. Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Zongzhi photo

  The question is: Why do delegations with few people prefer alpine skiing? Does this project that sounds very imposing have a low threshold?

  Snow sports with the largest number of registered people in Winter Olympics.

  If we give an imprecise definition, alpine skiing is faster than the one who slides down the mountain. Without somersaults and obstacles, we just need to turn, and whoever gets to the end of the mountain first wins.

  Kang Hua, the international referee of the International Skiing and Mountaineering Federation, said that skiing started as a mode of travel in snowy areas such as Northern Europe, China and Xinjiang, which was highly practical but hardly entertaining. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the center of skiing shifted from Northern Europe to the Alps, and modern alpine skiing technology was developed in the cross-country skiing prevailing in Northern Europe. Later, all the patterns and variants of snowboarding can be said to be branches of alpine skiing. The snowboarding that beginners learn in the snow field is also the basic skill of alpine skiing.

  Therefore, in skiing, this project and cross-country skiing are well-deserved basic projects, but they are more interesting than cross-country skiing, and the mass base is easier to develop and consolidate.

  In this Winter Olympics, there are 307 athletes registered successfully in alpine skiing, which is the largest number in snow sports and second only to ice hockey in 15 disciplines. Athletes cover more than 80 countries and regions.

On February 3rd, the first training of men’s downhill skiing in Beijing Winter Olympics was held at Yanqing National Alpine Ski Center in Beijing. The picture shows Italian player matteo Marsaglia in training. Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Yizhen photo

  This is largely due to the IOC’s intention to improve the participation and coverage of winter sports through this project, and its quota allocation rules are relatively loose. All delegations have two basic places, one man and one woman. As long as someone meets the requirements for Olympic points, delegations can get these two places. After the allocation of basic places, the rest will be produced from the world’s high-level athletes according to a series of rules.

  Speed events are still high threshold.

  Then the question comes again: If I come from a tropical country, the Winter Olympics is coming, I urgently find a ski resort to train hard, get points for participating in the global competition, and finally get the basic quota allocated by the International Olympic Committee, then can I participate in all the events?

  Can’t. There is a high probability that you are only qualified for slalom and giant slalom. Gliding and super slalom are almost impossible.

  In this Winter Olympics, there are 10 events for individual alpine skiing. Men and women are divided into downhill, super giant slalom, giant slalom, slalom and all-around. The all-around ratio is still downhill and slewing, so the four events, such as downhill, are the basis of the alpine skiing Winter Olympics.

  Among them, downhill and super slalom are called "speed events", and slalom and slewing are called "technical events". The International Snow Federation has higher requirements for the venue of speed events, with long track and large drop. In the men’s downhill, which can be called the "Flying Man Wars" in the snow, the track gap should reach at least 800 meters and the length should be at least three kilometers. The top speed of athletes can even reach more than 140 kilometers per hour.

  This leads to: first, it is difficult to find such a standard snow trail. The speed track of the National Alpine Ski Center in Yanqing Division is the first track in China that meets the standards of the Winter Olympics. In some areas where mountain resources are not abundant, even if it is cold enough, if the mountain is not high enough and the mountain is not big enough, there is no way. Second, people who are engaged in the project are difficult and dangerous, and have no training conditions, and they can’t meet the winter Olympic competition standards for speed projects in a short time.

On February 1st, the National Alpine Ski Center in Yanqing District of Beijing Winter Olympics held an all-factor drill. The picture shows a skater trying to skate on the track. Xinhua News Agency reporter Lian Zhenshe

  "The International Snow Federation requires higher points for the speed events of the Winter Olympics than the technical events, just for safety." Didier Defogo, the designer of the men’s downhill track in this Winter Olympics and the champion of men’s downhill in 2010 Winter Olympics, said. Jamaican alpine skier Benjamin Alexander also said: "Even if there is an indoor ski resort, it is impossible to build a ski trail that can support downhill training."

  In this Winter Olympics, there is only one athlete, and 15 delegations of this athlete participated in alpine skiing events. Without exception, they all participated in slalom and giant slalom. In addition, the experience of British player Dave Reading seems to prove that the flexibility of training in technical projects can be higher. He has been training in the indoor snow field, but at the age of 35, he still won his first men’s slalom World Cup sub-championship, and he is a strong contender for the medal in this Winter Olympics.

Lu Yu’s tea, I heard that he didn’t take fame and fortune: tea smells like the past.

  Grandpa’s tea has a taste called home.

  Lu Yu’s tea is said to be neither famous nor profitable.

  Grandpa’s tea tastes good.

  Lu Yu’s tea is like a splash-ink landscape painting.

  The sandstorm of the Tang dynasty for thousands of years is still blowing.

  — — Vincent fang and Jay Chou’s Tea Made by Grandpa (Excerpt)

  When I was young, I listened to "Grandpa’s Tea" sung in the streets and lanes, so I liked to sip the jasmine tea that Grandpa had just brewed. In the sweet tea fragrance, I guessed the appearance of Lu Yu thousands of years ago and wondered whether the landscape-like Tang tea was as elegant and free as him. Until today, I saw a seemingly unremarkable model of white porcelain tea set in the "Ancient China" exhibition hall of China National Museum, and finally understood Lu Yu’s unique, lofty and carefree elegance.

  White porcelain tea set and Lu Yu statue

  Five Dynasties (907-— 960)

  It was unearthed in Tangxian County, Hebei Province.

  Collected by China National Museum.

  At present, this set of tea sets is rich in categories, including an air-stove tea pot for boiling tea, a tea mortar for grinding tea powder, a slag bucket for holding tea residue and a tea bottle for ordering tea, and a white porcelain portrait with a long scroll in hand. If you look at it carefully and listen to it, you will find that every little thing seems to be telling the story of tea.

  Since Lu Yu was born in the world, the world has learned from each other.

  — — Song Mei Yaochen

  This set of tea sets is mostly used for decocting tea in Tang Dynasty. What is interesting is this white porcelain portrait. Who is the portrait and why is it put with the tea set? Scholars began to speculate.

  It is recorded in the Book of the New Tang Dynasty, Biography of Hermitage: "When you drink tea, you will be worshipped as a tea god when you are in the shape of Tao Yu." It turned out that because of the far-reaching influence of the Book of Tea written by Lu Yu, since the late Tang Dynasty, tea sellers have regarded Lu Yu as a sacrifice to the tea god and also offered a small statue to put in a tea stall. At that time, whenever tea ware was bought to a certain amount, the store would give away a statue of Lu Yu, which was similar to the means of sales promotion of today’s merchants. This figurine was unearthed together with this tea set model, so it is supposed to be Lu Yu, the tea god with the Tea Classic.

  ▲ Lu Yu porcelain statue.

  Although the tea culture in China has a long history, according to the literature records, early tea may have been used as a food. As a special beverage, it should be no later than the Western Han Dynasty. By the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, tea had once become a luxury drink, which was a symbol of scholar-officials boasting of simplicity.

  After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, tea became more popular, from the royal family down to the common people, all loved tea, and tasting and discussing tea became a fashion. However, it was not until Lu Yu wrote Tea Classic that tea culture was systematically combed and written. Lu Yu was fascinated by tea art, carefully studied the experience of predecessors in making tea, and constantly summed up the practice, creating a book "Tea Classics".

  ▲ Lu Yu’s "Tea Classic" book shadow.

  The Book of Tea is divided into three volumes and ten sections, which systematically summarizes the knowledge of the origin, production, utensils and other aspects of tea at that time, setting a precedent for Chinese tea art. With the rapid popularization of the Book of Tea, Chinese people are paying more and more attention to the taste of tea itself, which is more elegant, more exquisite and more ceremonial. The appearance of Tea Classic promoted the prevalence of tea ceremony in Tang and Song Dynasties, and influenced every aspect of politics, economy, culture and life in Tang Dynasty and later generations, becoming one of the three largest tea books in the world.

  Gong Le Tu is partially anonymous.

  The painting reflects the elegant scene of tea and drinking by the court ladies in the Tang Dynasty, and the ladies hold it as porcelain tea set of Yueyao.

  Yueyao green glazed lotus leaf with tea cup

  Tang (618— 907)

  Unearthed in Heyi Road, Ningbo City in 1975

  Collection of Ningbo Museum

  As soon as the fragrant spring is combined with milk, it is fried to make the beads boil.

  — — Don Pi Rixiu

  The way of drinking tea in Tang Dynasty was different from today. Instead of soaking, it was boiled. When drinking tea, first crush the tea cake into tea powder, boil the water from the pot and always pay attention to the boiling degree of the water. When it boils, it will be "seasoned with salt". When it boils, a bowl of water will be filled out, and the tea powder will be put into the pot for boiling. When it boils again, it will be poured back into the pot to "cultivate its beauty". When the tea soup is cooked, share it with everyone and drink it while it is hot. If you want to cook a good pot of tea, it is necessary to have an air furnace and a tea pot. The first words in The Four Instruments of Tea Classic show their importance.

  ▲ "Xiao Yi Earns Lanting Map" (partial) was passed on to Yan Liben in Tang Dynasty.

  Tea drinking in the Tang Dynasty is elegant, and the temperature of boiling water is quite particular. "The Five Boils of Tea Classics" said: "It boils like a fish’s eye, with a slight sound as one boiling, and the edge of it is like a spring and beads as two boiling, and the waves are three boiling." There are also many descriptions of boiling water in Tang poems, such as "rabbit hair is light and fragrant, and shrimp eye soup is fine and full of waves" (Lv Yan’s Dayun Temple Tea Poetry); Another example is "a fragrant spring with milk, fried and boiled." When you look at the crab’s eyes splashing, you can see the scales rising at first sight "(Pi Rixiu’s" Tea in Tea "). "Shrimp’s Eye", "Crab’s Eye", "Fishes" and "Spring and Beads" describe the appearance of bubbles rising from small to large in the water before boiling, and the water is already boiling when the waves are surging. The vivid description is not as accurate as the thermometer-type numerical expression today, but it is full of vivid poetry and meaningful aftertaste.

  Gold-plated lotus petal silver saucer

  Tang (618— 907)

  In 1957, Pingkangfang site in Tang Chang ‘an City, Xi ‘an, Shaanxi Province was unearthed.

  Collected by China National Museum.

  The words "Zuo ce makes the house tea storehouse" are engraved in the saucer foot.

  When I woke up at noon, I only felt the silence of the earth, and the sound of a cup of tea when the new tea was smashed in the bamboo grove.

  — — Tang Liu Zongyuan

  The tea mortar in the tea set is shallow and has no glaze on the inner wall, so it should be used for grinding tea powder. In the Tang Dynasty, tea cakes must be crushed into tea powder before they can be decocted in water. Therefore, grinding tools such as mortar, grinding and grinding are essential. Liu Zongyuan, who loves tea, also wrote "Shan Tong knocks on the tea mortar across the bamboo" in My Occasional Works in Summer and Day.

  ▲ Tang Dynasty Yue Kiln Celadon Teapot.

  In the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the tradition of making tea with tea powder in the Tang Dynasty was continued, and images such as tea mortar were common in poems and murals in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. After the tea-boiling method rose in Ming and Qing dynasties, tea no longer needed grinding and drinking, and the tea mortar slowly withdrew. However, today, many places still retain the tradition of tea smashing, and we can still see the figure of tea mortar in the tools of tea smashing.

  ▲ Gannan Hakka tea.

  The more common tea grinding tool is the tea mill. "The Four Instruments of Tea Classics" says that "the grinding trough is best made of orange wood, followed by pear wood, Sang Mu, tung wood and zhe wood." Recently, many ceramic tea mills have been discovered in archaeology. It can be seen that in the Tang Dynasty, tea ceremony flourished, and tea mills made of ceramics, wood and stone were more convenient to use and spread.

  In 1987, the discovery of the underground palace of the Tangta in Famen Temple made the royal treasure that had been treasured for more than 1000 years reappear in the world. A complete set of Tang Dynasty court tea set was unearthed in the underground palace, which is the earliest, highest grade and most complete court tea set known today. In the underground palace, the "Monument to the Clothing Account of the Gifted Props and Gifts for the Real Person" was also unearthed, which recorded in detail the names and other information of the offerings, including a set of exquisite grinding tools: the gold-plated flower silver enamel shaft and the gold-plated Hongyan tattooed silver tea trough. The shaft and the tea trough are used in a complete set, and the usage is similar to that of grinding herbs with traditional Chinese medicine today. The shaft is covered with gold-plated flowers and the silver-plated tea trough is covered with gold-plated Hongyan, which is magnificent and represents the highest level at that time.

  Gold-plated silver ball shaft, gold-plated Hongyan tattoo silver tea trough

  In 1987, the back room of the Tangta underground palace of Famen Temple in Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province was unearthed.

  Famen Temple Museum

  The fire in the soup bottle speaks for itself, and the wine lamp is the first to make spring.

  — — Song Yang Wanli

  Tea bottles, also known as soup bottles, are used for heating or holding hot water. Tea bottles are generally short-flowing, and may be mixed with holding pots for pouring warm wine at first, and then slowly separated from wine utensils. A porcelain vase unearthed in Xi ‘an, Shaanxi Province in the third year of Taihe in the Tang Dynasty (AD 829) was similar in shape to a pot-holding one, and the ink book at the bottom was "old"

  The words "home tea club bottle" show that at the latest in the middle Tang Dynasty, this kind of holding pot has been used as the exclusive tea bottle for tea sets.

  Tea bottles were generally not needed when frying tea in the Tang Dynasty, and there was no relevant record in Tea Classic, but it was an indispensable part of tea ordering in the late Tang Dynasty. When ordering tea, first boil water in a bottle, put the tea powder in a bowl, then hold the bottle and pour water into the bowl to make tea, and then blow it properly.

  Lushan kiln snow ash glaze soup bottle

  Tang (618— 907)

  Collected by China National Museum.

  The process of tea-ordering and water injection is somewhat similar to that of hand-brewing coffee today. When water is injected, it is necessary to control both the water flow speed and the water quantity, and the amount and weight of each water injection are particular. It turned out that the flow of holding the pot was short, and the water quantity and speed were difficult to control, so it was difficult to meet the demand. So the flow began to lengthen slowly, and the volume of the tea bottle gradually decreased, making it lighter and easier to order.

  According to Mr. Sun Ji’s textual research, the white porcelain tea set and Lu Yu statue in the National Museum of China, the tea bottle and the tea pot came out together, "showing that it was in the period of alternating frying tea and ordering tea". A small tea set, not only let us appreciate the elegant demeanour of fried tea in Tang Dynasty, but also get a glimpse of the rise of tea and feel the continuous development and evolution of China tea culture.

  Poetry is not tired of pounding fragrant teas, and it is appropriate to listen to elegant plays on the spur of the moment.

  — — Japan’s Emperor Xie ‘e

  1500 years ago, with the spread of Chinese culture, tea culture gradually went to the world. In the Tang Dynasty, Japanese monks Zuichi, Konghai and others sailed across the sea, came to China to study culture, and brought China’s tea drinking methods and tea seeds back to Japan.

  Emperor Emei (Hong Ren, year 810-824) admired Chinese culture and loved tea. He not only ordered the planting of tea trees, but also left a poem "Never tire of pounding fragrant teas when reciting poems, but should listen to elegant plays on the spur of the moment". Under the vigorous promotion of Emperor Xie, Japanese aristocrats appeared the trend of imitating China people to taste tea, and later generations called it "Hong Ren Tea Style" because of its year number "Hong Ren". During the Silla period in North China, tea culture was imported in an all-round way, and tea was spread and developed from the upper class, monks and scribes to the people, and tea was planted and made. Tea culture has thus developed into a distinctive feature of East Asian culture.

  "Liu Yu bubble tea, I heard that fame and fortune don’t take, he took a thin horse in the end of the world. The sandstorm of the Tang Dynasty for thousands of years is still blowing. " In fact, it’s not only the sandstorm that has traveled through the Millennium, but also the fragrant tea that China people are attached to. China people love tea, its elegant and mellow quality, the lingering aftertaste and the lingering smell of home. As Mr. Lin Yutang once wrote, "As long as there is a teapot, China people are happy everywhere."

  About the author:

  Yang Yue, Ph.D. in history, is an associate researcher at the National Museum of China. He is mainly engaged in exhibition planning and implementation, museum policy research, etc. He has presided over or participated in many key projects of the National Social Science Fund and cultural think tank projects, and has published articles such as Archaeological Observation of the Zodiac Pattern in the Epitaph of Liao Dynasty, Comparative Analysis of the Tombs of Xianbei and Han People in Luoyang Area, and Textual Research on Wuchuan Military and Political Affairs in the Northern Dynasties.

  Producer | Xiao Jingfang Yang Xinhua

  Overall planning | Weng Huainan Liang Li

  Editor | Liang Li Yu Ling

  Production | Hu Qi