Innovative Entrepreneur

(XINHUA)

Liu Qingfeng, CEO and President of iFlytek, a speech-recognition technology developer, received the title of Economic Figure of 2013 at a gala hosted by China Central Television (CCTV) on December 12 alongside nine other people. This annual award has been given to the most influential figures in various industries in China since it was launched in 2000.

Liu, 40, started his company in 1999, which became listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2008. Their offline speech-recognition software has achieved an accuracy rate of nearly 90 percent for Chinese.

Economic Visionary

(XINHUA)

Li Yining, a renowned economist and the Honorary Dean of Guanghua School of Management of Peking University, was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at a CCTV gala honoring the Economic Figures of 2013 on December 12.

Few economists have steered China's development path in the same way as Li, since his idea of joint-stock reforms guided China to transform itself from a planned to a socialist market economy.

Li, 83, has been teaching in Peking University since 1955.

"The National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) will continue to produce quality programs in the future. Through our Going Out strategy, we'll do a better job at telling China's story and conveying Chinese messages to the rest of the world."

NCPA Vice President Wang Zhengming, during the center's public open day on December 22, when the center hosted free shows, lectures, exhibitions and performances

"The most fantastic thing about the landing of China's first moon rover is seeing images captured and relayed to Earth by the Yutu rover."

Liu Cixin, one of China's most celebrated science fiction writers, after watching the live broadcast of the Yutu rover's disembarking on TV

"The total production costs for the event were 13 million HK dollars this year. A total of 400,000 people are expected to watch the show on both sides of the harbor, and share the cheerfulness of the New Year."

Peter Lam, Chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, on Hong Kong's plan to launch the largest ever countdown extravaganza in Victoria Harbor on December 31, with an unprecedented fireworks display

"It is the first time we detected the H10N8 virus in human pneumonia samples. Studies in our laboratories show the chances of human infection from contact with live poultry is rare."

Feng Zijian, Director of the Emergency Office of the Chinese Center for Disease Control, following the death of a woman in central China's Jiangxi Province in mid-December, who was believed to be the first recorded human case of the H10N8 strain of bird flu