This Week in WND (2025/01/06-2025/01/10)

Landmark updates from WND! Wuxi Symphony Hall unveiled its innovation and commerce center as Taihu Melody Town on Jan 5. Set amid stunning landscapes, this trendy landmark offers an immersive and relaxing music park for various activities including shopping, dining, culture, music, and exhibitions, creating a unique urban art scene.

From Jan 5 to 9, WND convened its "two sessions", gathering NPC deputies from all sectors of society and members of the CPPCC Xinwu District Committee. They listened to and deliberated on various annual reports and conducted voting and elections, sharing their wisdom to push forward the high-quality development of the district.

The government work report of WND was officially released on Jan 7. In 2024, the district placed a strong emphasis on developing new quality productive forces and striving to establish itself as a world-class high-tech zone. Thoroughly implementing the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, WND conducted innovative practices in implementing various reform tasks, resulting in many inspiring achievements for the ongoing journey toward Chinese modernization.

Breaking news! A record 10 projects from WND were featured on the 2025 Jiangsu provincial major project list. Highlights include Huahong Group's integrated circuit wafer manufacturing, AstraZeneca's small molecule drug factory and Unicomp Technology's industrial X-ray intelligent inspection equipment. The total investment in these projects amounted to 71.91 billion yuan ($9.82 billion), a year-on-year increase of 122 percent, and the annual planned investment was 10.4 billion yuan, up 21 percent year-on-year. All metrics lead Wuxi's sectors!

The Wangyu River Bridge section of the No 312 National Highway, which connects Suzhou and Wuxi, was recently completed and opened to traffic. Work on the section entailed lowering the Wuxi section of the highway, demolishing the bridge's older portion, and then elevating the corresponding Suzhou section. These adjustments enhanced connectivity between the two cities, slashing the driving time from Suzhou's Central Ring Road to WND's Wuxi Shuofang Airport to a mere 15 minutes.

A 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Dingri county in Southwest China's Xizang autonomous region on Jan 7, causing significant casualties. In response to the disaster, WND took swift action to open donation channels.

As of 8 pm on Jan 8, WND had received 16 donations totaling over 400,000 yuan ($54,550), 55 cots, 240 tents, and 348 boxes of relief supplies, including bottled mineral water, bread and toast from caring individuals and organizations from all walks of life.

Eight categories of 20 livelihood projects in WND were completed on schedule in 2024, fulfilling its livelihood commitment through tangible achievements. During the district's "two sessions" in 2025, the livelihood projects for the new year were selected through balloting and involved things such as elderly care, education, healthcare, transportation, and more. These projects are expected to enhance people's quality of life in WND.

The news that Wuxi, Jiangsu province, was selected as one of the four sub-venues for the 2025 CCTV Spring Festival Gala sparked much excitement among Wuxi locals. For instance, netizens in WND said they hoped their local intangible cultural heritage treasures, such as the Meicun erhu and Taibo Temple Fair, would appear on the gala stage. Posters related to Wuxi's role as a sub-venue for the gala can be seen all along the streets and alleys of WND, sparking a strong feeling of anticipation.