China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has a shortage of more than 34,000 teachers proficient in both Mandarin and one local language, according to the regional education authority on Feb. 24. Bilingual schools and kindergartens currently enroll 70,000 teachers with bilingual proficiency.

A cargo train with 64 containers completed its maiden journey from Madrid, Spain, to China’s eastern city of Yiwu, on Feb. 22. The train traveled for 24 days along the Yixin’ou cargo line, the longest of all the China-European cargo railway. The train was carrying famous Spanish products including wine and olive oil.

The English version of a Chinese sci-fi novel has been nominated in the 2014 Nebula Awards, the publishers announced on Feb. 21. “The Three-Body Problem” by Liu Cixin is among six novels nominated by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. The other five nominees are works by English-speaking writers.

China on Feb. 20 lodged strong representation with India to express diametrical opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to a disputed zone along the China-India borders. Modi attended activities marking the founding of “Arunachal Pradesh”, a state that India illegally and unilaterally declared in 1987.

A Silk Road Fund designed to finance the China-proposed “Belt and Road” initiatives is now active, the central bank said in a statement on February 16. Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the creation of the 40 billion U.S. dollar fund in November, and it was established on December 29, 2014.

China plans to abolish its controversial temporary residence permit and push forward reform of the household registration system, according to a public security reform plan released on Feb. 15. Permanent residence permits will be adopted to replace the much-criticized temporary residence permit.

The number of newly established firms continued to surge on the back of government efforts to streamline the process for starting a business. About 348,200 new companies were registered in January, up 37.74 percent year on year, statistics from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce showed.

Members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have been reminded to stay in shape or else lose out on promotions. The PLA has set a compulsive standard for soldiers’ weight and vowed to pay more attention to military physical training, according to a new military guideline published on Feb.13.

Beijing’s Palace Museum, otherwise known as the Forbidden City, launched its iPhone app on Feb. 12. The calendar-styled app will choose from over 1.8 million items in the museums collections. English users can browse “The Palace Museum” in iPhone App Store. An Android version will soon be available.