20th CPC National Congress delegates witness big changes in past decade

BEIJING -- The past decade has seen notable changes in various fields across the country, according to delegates to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), who spoke to the media on Sunday.

"I was sent into space twice in 2013 and 2021. China's manned space program has made new achievements over the past decade, offering us a broader flight platform and longer flight time," said astronaut Wang Yaping.

Short-track skater and Winter Olympic medalist Wu Dajing still remembered the days when they had to queue up into late night for on-ice training due to the lack of skating rinks 10 years ago. "It no longer bothers today's athletes as the indoor skating rinks top 1,400 now."

Kunshan City in east China's Jiangsu Province has seen its industrial scale become larger and its industrial structure more optimized in the past 10 years, according to Zhou Wei, the city's Party chief, adding that the city's proportion of strategic emerging industries has exceeded 50 percent.

Yang Ning, Party chief of Jiangmen Village in Rongshui Miao Autonomous County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, has seen the mountainous village shake off poverty with its per capita net income soaring since she returned to her hometown in 2010 as a college graduate.

"I will stay in the village to make it more beautiful and affluent," Yang said.

The spectrum of the more than 2,000 delegates attending the ongoing congress is broadly representative. The delegates come from various sectors, administrative levels, and institutions.

The congress will run from Oct. 16 to 22.