I became aware of my stutter (结巴) when I was around 9, in the fourth grade. I began to see how other people viewed me. When the teacher asked the whole class questions, I never raised my hand though I knew the answer, because I knew I would stutter. Some kids would tell me that I talked funny, ask why 1 didn't talk normally, or laugh at me. As soon as that started to happen, I became more introverted (内向的).

It wasn't until the summer of 2015, before freshman year at high school. All my friends and my parents encouraged me to join the high school football team. I owed much to them, especially Coach Lane who taught me how to play football. He took the time——and had the patience—to actually teach me what to do, how to do it and how to understand the concepts of play.    

In junior year, I started my first game for the high school team. I had a very good season and in January 2018, I signed the University of North Carolina. The older we get, the more of an understanding we have about the world and other people. So the first time my teammates in college heard me talk and heard that I stuttered, they did not say a thing. That was a big deal to me because I was so used to people making comments. My teammates actually tell me to slow down because talking faster causes me to stutter more. It's really helped me develop confidence.

Whenever I go back home to Georgia, I volunteer with children at my church, including those who have learning disabilities. I like to do that to inspire them with confidence. I had confidence issues when I was a kid because of my stater, so I just don't want them to have to go through what I did. In the future, I would like to start a foundation to give back to people who stutter and create a program where kids all across the world who have a stutter can have a safe space.

QR codes are almost 30 years old, but they're only recently enjoying a renaissance (复兴). For years, they were inconvenient and confusing, seen as a less-useful form of bar code. Now, QR code myths accompanied the rapid rise of QR codes, and these are still making a hit online. 

Payment code, business card code, health code, campus code, ride-sharing code…QR codes have entered every corner of Chinese life. During the COVID-19, about 140 billion QR codes were used on WeChat alone. That's just from one QR code payment system in one country. What about others in different parts of the globe? In the US, 59%of Statista survey respondents felt that QR codes would become a permanent element of using their mobile phones in the future. 

Some people are hesitant to scan a QR code, thinking that it could steal their private information or that it would leave bad software on their devices. But just like how the 5G rumors have come and gone, it's high time that we broke these myths, so those who are misguided will fully understand the benefits of QR codes. 

    Can hackers "hijack" a QR code so it would lead to a pirated (盗版的) site instead？While dynamic QR codes are editable, only their creators can change their landing page on the QR code generator's dashboard. Hackers would need the creator's log-in password to access the dashboard and change the QR code's destination, and they cannot easily steal that information. Also, each QR code has a unique pattern that makes it impossible for anyone to steal it and change its destination link. 

    This led to the idea that the QR codes are "80%consumed"and that by 2025, people can no longer create new ones since all the possible patterns would have been used by then. 

Will the QR codes that drive a large part of China's economy be used up? The answer is: yes. But there is always some way to solve this issue. 

Chinese auto industry hits milestones in 2023, in vivid show of high-quality development

（文章来源：Global Times）

China's vehicle industry reached milestones in 2023, with record production and sales, according to industry data released on Thursday, paving the way for the country to potentially become the world's largest car exporter. The momentous development of China's auto industry is a vivid display of not only the success of China's industrial upgrading, but also the country's vast potential for high-quality development, experts noted. It also offered a powerful rebuttal to narratives of "China economy collapsing" or "China peaking," which are prevalent in the Western world, they said. 

China's car output exceeded 30.16 million units in 2023, up 11.6 percent year-on-year, and sales exceeded 30.09 million units, up 12 percent, according to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). Both output and sales set new records, according to the CAAM. Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association, said that the record numbers were a milestone for the Chinese auto industry, but more importantly, underscored vast potential. "The total output and sales figures set new records and also represented the new space for development, which has increased our expectations for market growth and the potential for promoting consumption," Cui told the Global Times on Thursday.

Also crucially, China's auto exports hit 4.91 million, up a whopping 58 percent year-on-year, the CAAM data showed. With such robust figures, China is expected to become the world's biggest car exporter. "It took China 55 years to increase the number of automobile exports from one to 1 million. In 2021, they exceeded 2 million, and in 2023, they reached 4.91 million, approaching 5 million," Fu Bingfeng, executive vice president and secretary-general of the CAAM, was quoted by China Media Group as saying. 

Since its start in 1953, China's auto industry has achieved one milestone after another. In 1956, China's first domestically made Jiefang truck rolled off the production line, ending the long history of China being unable to make cars. In 2009, output and sales both exceeded 10 million for the first time, surpassing the US to be the world's biggest car producer and seller, a title China has held for 15 years.

Before 2023, Japan was the world's biggest auto exporter, but data during the year showed that China had overtaken Japan to become the world's top car exporter. With an impressive number of 4.91 million in car exports for the full year, many believe that China surpassed Japan in 2023. Li Yong, a senior research fellow at the China Association of International Trade, said that the record production and sales figures also represented a milestone for China's entire manufacturing industry. "The development of the auto industry is a crucial indicator of a country's manufacturing capabilities and its overall strength," Li told the Global Times on Thursday, noting that the rise of China's auto industry is a microcosm of the rise of China's advanced manufacturing industry and its overall national strength. More than just record production and sales numbers, China's auto industry is steadily rising to the top in terms of technologies, particularly in the new-energy vehicle (NEV) industry, experts noted. 

In 2023, China exported 1.203 million NEVs, up 77.6 percent year-on-year, according to the CAAM. China became the world's largest source for patents in the area of electric vehicle powertrain batteries in the second quarter of 2023, according to GlobalData, an industry data provider. In September, Chinese NEV makers dominated an auto show in Munich, Germany, drawing global headlines. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Chinese carmaker BYD Co overtook US-based Tesla Inc to become the world's biggest electric carmaker. The rise of the NEV industry is a microcosm of the achievements made in China's upgrade of its vast manufacturing industry, export sector and domestic market - all crucial to China's high-quality development, experts said.

Li said that China's robust NEV sector also propelled the country's pursuit of renewable energies and green development, and supported the upgrade of China's export industry. "NEVs became one of the top 'new three items' of China's exports, with the other two being batteries and solar panels. It also highlighted China's booming digital economy and high-quality development," Li said.