Vaccination drive More than 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in China by Saturday, as the country is pushing ahead with the largest vaccination drive in the history of New China. It took the country just five days to hit its most recent 100-million dose increase, according to daily updates by the National Health Commission (NHC). According to CNN’s report on Sunday, those doses are almost 40 percent of the 2.5 billion shots administered globally. China accelerated its pace of free COVID-19 vaccinations for the whole nation since late March. It took China 25 days to climb from 100 million doses to 200 million doses, 16 days to increase from 200 million to 300 million, and six days from 800 million to 900 million. A total of 21 COVID-19 vaccines have entered clinical trials in China since last year. Shenzhou-12 astronauts The three Chinese astronauts on board the Shenzhou-12 spaceship entered the country’s space station core module Tianhe on Thursday, according to the China Manned Space Agency. After Shenzhou-12 successfully completed a fast automated rendezvous and docking with Tianhe, the crew entered the orbital capsule from the return capsule of the spaceship. The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China’s Gobi Desert at 9:22 a.m. on Thursday. It is China’s seventh crewed mission to space and the first during the construction of China’s space station. It is also the first in nearly five years after the country’s last manned mission. Renowned translator Xu Yuanchong, China’s most renowned master translator, died in Beijing at the age of 100 on Thursday, according to Peking University. A winner of the highest honor in the field of translation, Xu was best known for his translations of ancient Chinese poems into English and French that have gained worldwide recognition. Xu devoted himself to translation for more than 60 years. For him, translated literature is “a beautiful art for the whole world.”His academic career began during his college years when he studied at the National Southwest Associated University in Kunming, Southwest China’s Yunnan Province. After-school training The Ministry of Education announced last week the establishment of a special department for supervising after-school education and training programs. The new department will take charge of the management of after-school education and training for pre-school kids, as well as primary- and junior-school students. It will set out the standards for the content and duration of both online and offline training, the qualifications of tutors as well as the charges, and will oversee their implementation jointly with relevant authorities, according to the ministry. (SD-Agencies) | 