https://demo.cmsys.cn/en The Journal en UJCMS https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478387480459266-chasing-the-light-five-skies-from-coast-to-ridge https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478387480459266-chasing-the-light-five-skies-from-coast-to-ridge 13 Oct 2026 16:48:59 +0800 Photos Photo Desk Photographers call the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset the golden hour. The sun sits close to the horizon, its light has more air to cross, the colour warms and the shadows stretch, and whatever it falls on looks better than it does at noon. This set brings together the dawns and dusks we photographed in five places over the past year: four of them on the coast, one in the hills. No two skies are the same colour. Some are orange and pink, some purple and gold, and when the cloud is thick the https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478381845411841-one-night-400-000-parcels https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478381845411841-one-night-400-000-parcels 13 Oct 2026 16:48:56 +0800 Business Business Desk At ten at night every lamp is burning in the parcel hub behind the port. It is the third day of the autumn shopping festival, and the sorting hall, the size of two football pitches, is starting its busiest night shift of the year: between 8 pm and 6 am about 400,000 parcels will be scanned, sorted and loaded, more than twice the usual number. At the feed station of line 3, a sorter in an orange reflective vest squares each carton with her left hand and scans it with her right before it slides on to the be https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478396259137537-raise-the-ground-regrow-the-reef https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478396259137537-raise-the-ground-regrow-the-reef 12 Oct 2026 16:49:03 +0800 World World Desk On an afternoon in the rainy season the storm clouds stand like a high wall behind the island, yet the sun is still on the reef flat. A short jetty and one small boat are all the harbour there is: this is the only landing for the few dozen households who live here. In this low archipelago in the tropics most islands rise less than three metres above the sea. Last week the island nation's ocean department published a thirty-year adaptation plan with a single question to answer: as the tide creeps higher ye https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478395032303618-one-last-jump-8-02-m-and-a-first-gold https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478395032303618-one-last-jump-8-02-m-and-a-first-gold 12 Oct 2026 16:49:03 +0800 Sport Sports Desk The city's leg of the athletics open finished its first day yesterday evening at the city sports centre. In the sixth round of the men's long jump final a 22-year-old from the home team, jumping last, reached 8.02 m to overtake by six centimetres a visiting jumper who had led all the way. It is his first senior gold medal, and the first time he has cleared eight metres. After five rounds the young jumper, in a red vest, lay third with a best of 7.89 m, seven centimetres behind the leader. The low sun lay https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478390844291074-the-24-70-mm-f2-8-one-zoom-for-the-whole-room https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478390844291074-the-24-70-mm-f2-8-one-zoom-for-the-whole-room 12 Oct 2026 16:49:01 +0800 Gear Gear Desk Every lens range has one zoom that does most of the work, and in this mirrorless line it is the 24-70 mm F2.8. At 24 mm it takes in a whole meeting room; at 70 mm it frames a half-length portrait; and a constant f/2.8 means there is no hurry to raise the sensitivity at an indoor event or at dusk. If a system is to have only one zoom, this is the one most photographers buy first. The barrel is black, with two broad rubber rings, one for zoom and one for focus, and between them a thin copper-coloured band t https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478393964853250-ninety-six-qubits-thirty-quiet-days https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478393964853250-ninety-six-qubits-thirty-quiet-days 11 Oct 2026 16:49:02 +0800 Science Science Desk A quantum computing laboratory in the city's new coastal district announced this week that the 96-qubit superconducting processor it developed has run steadily for 30 days in a row, with no need to cool it down again and no calibration by hand. The team says the advance lies not in the number of qubits but in the steadiness: keeping a quantum computer switched on and free of errors for long stretches, as an ordinary server is, is a test it must pass before it can leave the laboratory. The processor itself https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478384588486658-lace-in-the-pines-two-friends-one-evening https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478384588486658-lace-in-the-pines-two-friends-one-evening 10 Oct 2026 16:48:58 +0800 Life Life Desk The two women in this story are not professional models but friends who have known each other for ten years, and the brief we gave them was two words: at ease. The place is a clearing in a pine wood in the northern hills; the time is the hour before sunset, when the light comes slanting between the trunks and fine dust hangs in the air. The clothes are white lace blouses and ankle-length skirts, one brown and one grey-green, of a cut that belongs to no decade in particular. Vintage dressing, our stylist s https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478396496115713-the-first-egrets-of-autumn-six-days-early https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478396496115713-the-first-egrets-of-autumn-six-days-early 09 Oct 2026 16:49:03 +0800 World World Desk At sunrise a thin mist still lies over the shallows of the northern wetland park. At the end of the boardwalk three great egrets stand in ankle-deep water, dipping now and then to peck at the surface. The park office confirmed this week that they are the first great egrets to arrive this autumn, six days earlier than last year; by last weekend more than 200 herons and egrets were roosting in the park. Six years ago these 420 hectares of water were reclaimed low ground, with a concrete embankment along the https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478391267915778-the-50-mm-f1-2-where-the-money-goes https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478391267915778-the-50-mm-f1-2-where-the-money-goes 09 Oct 2026 16:49:01 +0800 Gear Gear Desk The 50 mm F1.2 is the lens by which the rest of the range is judged. Wide open, the plane of focus is thin enough to hold one eye and no more, and the background melts into broad, soft patches of colour; at f/2 it is a standard lens that is solid from the centre to the edges. It is not cheap and it is not light, but the pictures make it plain where the money went. The front element fills almost the whole face of the lens. The barrel is stout and black all over, with a broad focus ring round the middle who https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478388606629890-photo-of-the-week-the-shallows https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478388606629890-photo-of-the-week-the-shallows 08 Oct 2026 16:49:00 +0800 Photos Photo Desk There is no trick to this frame beyond patience. The photographer waited for the small boat to draw its wake into the gap between the jetty and the edge of the frame, and pressed the shutter once. Shot straight into the light, which the textbooks say to avoid. Sometimes the textbooks are wrong. https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478382640232449-the-quiet-boom-in-fibre https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478382640232449-the-quiet-boom-in-fibre 08 Oct 2026 16:48:57 +0800 Business Business Desk Behind the headlines about data centres and artificial intelligence sits an unglamorous supply chain. Every rack of accelerators needs to be connected to every other one, and the connection is glass. The plant we visited draws fibre from preforms the size of a rolling pin, coats it, colours it and bundles it into ribbon cable. Output has doubled in two years, and the order book stretches into next year. The constraint is no longer demand but skilled labour. Splicing and testing are precise, repetitive job https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478395321710593-the-100-m-final-in-three-moments https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478395321710593-the-100-m-final-in-three-moments 07 Oct 2026 16:49:03 +0800 Sport Sports Desk The first moment is the start. Reaction times were within hundredths of a second across the field, and the two men who would fight for the line were level at thirty metres. The second is the drive phase, where the eventual winner's longer stride began to tell. By sixty metres he had a hand's width of daylight; by eighty it was a shoulder. The third moment is the one in the photograph: the handshake past the line. Rivals for a decade, they had just run the closest final of their careers, and both knew it. https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478394247968770-found-by-ear-three-years-to-a-new-tree-frog https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478394247968770-found-by-ear-three-years-to-a-new-tree-frog 06 Oct 2026 16:49:02 +0800 Science Science Desk The office of the city nature reserve reported this week that a survey team has found a tree frog never before described, in a stream valley 900 metres up in the northern hills. It is less than three centimetres long and golden brown on the back, and on a mossy stone it all but melts into the fallen leaves. The paper describing the new species has been published in a journal of animal taxonomy, and the frog now has a formal scientific name. The discovery began with a recording that matched nothing. In the https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478391706220546-the-50-mm-f1-8-the-first-lens-to-buy https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478391706220546-the-50-mm-f1-8-the-first-lens-to-buy 06 Oct 2026 16:49:01 +0800 Gear Gear Desk The 50 mm F1.8 is the lightest lens in the range and the easiest to afford. It weighs about 145 g and stands little more than three centimetres proud of the camera, so the whole outfit goes into a coat pocket. For someone with a first camera it is the best-value way to get to know a fixed focal length and to practise composition: to change the framing, you walk two steps forward or two steps back. It is a flat, black pancake of a lens with a narrow focus ring at the front and a metal mount that will stand https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478396825368577-eight-thousand-readers-a-day-at-the-new-library https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478396825368577-eight-thousand-readers-a-day-at-the-new-library 05 Oct 2026 16:49:04 +0800 World World Desk At half past eight in the morning the low sun comes through the whole east wall of glass and falls across the long oak tables of the reading hall on level two of the new city library. The rows of green-shaded lamps are not yet needed, and the seats nearest the glass are already taken. The new building, in the city's new coastal district, began its trial opening last Saturday. In seven days it has counted 56,000 visits, an average of 8,000 a day, and weekend slots were all booked by the evening before. At https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478388967340034-still-water https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478388967340034-still-water 05 Oct 2026 16:49:00 +0800 Photos Photo Desk The exposure here is a compromise. Bright enough to keep the birds white rather than grey, dark enough to hold the faint colour in the sky and its reflection on the water. The soft look is the real light, not a filter: the mist lifts within half an hour of sunrise, and the picture goes with it. https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478385593022465-one-white-dress-three-frames https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478385593022465-one-white-dress-three-frames 04 Oct 2026 16:48:58 +0800 Life Life Desk On the second weekend of April the blossom walk in the old-town park was at its fullest. Our photographer and the model had arranged to meet at half past four in the afternoon. By that hour the sun has dropped below the treetops and the light comes slanting from behind, so that hair and hem each carry a bright edge. The styling comes down to a single white cotton dress: long sleeves, a row of small pearl buttons down the front and a skirt wide enough to swing gently with every step. There is no jewellery https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478392098387970-the-35-mm-f1-8-the-one-lens-to-take https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478392098387970-the-35-mm-f1-8-the-one-lens-to-take 03 Oct 2026 16:49:01 +0800 Gear Gear Desk The 35 mm F1.8 is a small lens for the days when you take only one. The 35 mm view is close to what the eye naturally attends to, and it is at home in the street, indoors and at the dinner table. It also focuses about 18 centimetres from its subject, for a magnification of 0.45 times, so the stamens of a flower, the dial of a watch or the detail of a piece of handwork can be photographed without changing to a macro lens. The barrel is about 58 mm long and weighs about 290 g. It is black, with one ribbed f https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478383063857154-online-pharmacies-grow-up https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478383063857154-online-pharmacies-grow-up 03 Oct 2026 16:48:57 +0800 Business Business Desk Buying medicine online used to mean a leap of faith. New licensing rules now require a registered pharmacist to review every prescription order, a traceable cold chain for temperature-sensitive drugs, and a visible licence number on every storefront. The big platforms welcome the change, and not only for public-relations reasons. Compliance is expensive, and the cost falls hardest on the small operators that competed on price. For patients the visible difference is small: a short delay while a pharmacist https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478395531425793-the-arena-is-ready-now-for-the-crowds https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478395531425793-the-arena-is-ready-now-for-the-crowds 02 Oct 2026 16:49:03 +0800 Sport Sports Desk Photographed empty, the bowl looks enormous. Eighteen thousand seats climb from the court to the rafters, and a new video cube hangs where the old scoreboard used to be. The renovation was as much about the concourses as the seating: wider corridors, more concessions and a roof that no longer leaks. The team that calls the arena home has spent two seasons playing across town and is keen to get back. The opening fixture sold out in an afternoon, which suggests the fans are too. https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478396984752129-the-night-shift-that-keeps-a-city-moving https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478396984752129-the-night-shift-that-keeps-a-city-moving 01 Oct 2026 16:49:04 +0800 World World Desk The baton glows red, the reflective vest catches the headlights, and for eight hours this junction belongs to one person. Night-shift traffic duty is not glamorous work, but on a city ring road it is what keeps deliveries, ambulances and the last buses flowing. The rhythm is unpredictable. Long stretches of nothing are broken by a convoy of lorries or a breakdown in the outside lane, and the response has to be instant. The warden we followed had cleared two stalled vehicles before two in the morning. The https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478389407741953-morning-in-the-reading-hall https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478389407741953-morning-in-the-reading-hall 01 Oct 2026 16:49:00 +0800 Photos Photo Desk Photographing people who are reading is mostly a matter of not disturbing them. The solution here was to sit at the far end of the same table, wait until the reader had forgotten the camera, and let the green-shaded lamps and the shelves fill the frame behind her. The window light did the rest. https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478394633844738-from-swab-to-sequence https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478394633844738-from-swab-to-sequence 30 Sep 2026 16:49:02 +0800 Science Science Desk Every sample that enters the lab arrives in a sealed, labelled bag with a barcode that will follow it for the rest of its life. Scan, log, refrigerate: the routine is deliberately dull, because dullness is what prevents mistakes. The chain matters most when the result matters most. A mislabelled sample in a public-health investigation can send a whole team in the wrong direction, so every hand-off is double-checked and every freezer is alarmed. Automation has taken over the pipetting, but the human steps https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478392519915521-the-70-200-mm-f2-8-the-long-lens-that-shares-a-bag https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478392519915521-the-70-200-mm-f2-8-the-long-lens-that-shares-a-bag 30 Sep 2026 16:49:01 +0800 Gear Gear Desk The 70-200 mm F2.8 is a telephoto zoom made for the edge of the court, the foot of the stage and the birdwatchers' boardwalk. It keeps a constant f/2.8 while holding its weight to about 1,150 g without the tripod collar, and with the hood off it stands upright in an ordinary rucksack and travels with a camera and a standard zoom. The pale grey finish reflects the sun, so the barrel warms more slowly through a long day outdoors. Two black rubber rings, one behind the other, look after zoom and focus. Near https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478389992847361-dawn-on-the-coast https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478389992847361-dawn-on-the-coast 29 Sep 2026 16:49:00 +0800 Photos Photo Desk A single frame from a morning that produced forty. The tide was out, the wind had dropped overnight, and the only movement was a fishing boat far off to the left of the picture. Shot on a tripod at a slow shutter to smooth the water. https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478383510550530-twelve-gigabytes-is-the-new-starting-line https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478383510550530-twelve-gigabytes-is-the-new-starting-line 29 Sep 2026 16:48:57 +0800 Business Business Desk Of the eighty-odd phones launched at home and overseas in the past quarter, six in ten start at 12GB of working memory. A year ago fewer than two in ten did. A report published this week by a market-research firm puts the shift down to one thing: more and more assistants no longer lean on the cloud but run on the phone itself. "If the assistant is to answer the moment it is called, the model has to stay in memory," says the analyst who wrote the report. "It cannot slip into the background like an ordinary https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478395866970113-three-days-chasing-the-wind-aboard-the-bay-regatta https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478395866970113-three-days-chasing-the-wind-aboard-the-bay-regatta 28 Sep 2026 16:49:03 +0800 Sport Photo Desk A sailing race rarely has a grandstand. The course lies a few kilometres off the coast, and from the shore all you see is a row of small white sails. Last weekend the city's open regatta was sailed in the bay, and our photographer went out with the committee boat for three days to bring the racing back to land. Nine races were sailed over the three days, with twenty-six boats of one design on the same course. The boats are the same and the sails are the same, so the result comes down to how a crew reads t https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478397158815745-trade-talks-go-hybrid https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478397158815745-trade-talks-go-hybrid 27 Sep 2026 16:49:04 +0800 World World Desk The conference room had been rebuilt for the occasion. A video wall replaced the far end of the table, the seating was thinned out, and the flags of the absent delegations were placed where their representatives would otherwise have sat. Hybrid diplomacy was born of necessity, but it has stuck. Travel budgets are smaller, agendas are longer, and a working group that meets weekly by video can resolve technical points that used to wait for a summit. The disadvantages are familiar to anyone who has sat throu https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478392767379457-the-carbon-road-bike-a-racer-for-all-weathers https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478392767379457-the-carbon-road-bike-a-racer-for-all-weathers 27 Sep 2026 16:49:02 +0800 Gear Gear Desk This carbon road bike is the all-round racer of its range. The frame is light enough to give nothing away on a climb, the tubes have been shaped to save effort at cruising speed on the flat, and hydraulic disc brakes at both ends make it as dependable in the rain as on a long descent. The whole bike is matt charcoal grey, with no decoration to speak of, and looks modest wherever it is parked. Frame and fork are moulded from high-modulus carbon fibre, and a medium frame weighs about 860 g. The down tube, s https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478386211682305-the-case-for-a-slower-morning https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478386211682305-the-case-for-a-slower-morning 26 Sep 2026 16:48:58 +0800 Life Life Desk For years my mornings began with a screen: news, messages, the first of the day's small emergencies. The change was not a resolution but an accident — a phone left charging in another room — and the difference was immediate. Twenty minutes is enough for a coffee made properly, a window opened, and a page of something that is not work. It is not enough for meditation, exercise or any of the things morning routines are supposed to contain, and that is fine. The trick is not discipline but distance. The ph https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478394810005506-five-places-to-watch-saturday-s-supermoon https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478394810005506-five-places-to-watch-saturday-s-supermoon 25 Sep 2026 16:49:03 +0800 Science Science Desk On Saturday evening the largest full moon of the year will rise from the sea to the east of the city. The city's amateur astronomers' association and the city weather office have published a viewing map that marks five places with an open view and easy transport, with what to look for at each and when to arrive. A supermoon is a full moon that falls close to perigee, the nearest point of the moon's orbit. A tutor with the association explains that on Saturday evening the moon will be about 357,000 km from https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478396162668545-a-16-week-marathon-plan-for-busy-people https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478396162668545-a-16-week-marathon-plan-for-busy-people 24 Sep 2026 16:49:03 +0800 Sport Sports Desk Most marathon plans assume you have twelve hours a week to give. This one assumes you have six, and that some weeks you will have four. The structure is simple: one long run that grows by a mile or two a week, one session of faster running, and two easy runs that exist only to keep you moving. Everything else — cross-training, strength work, stretching — is optional. The long run peaks at twenty miles three weeks before race day, followed by a taper that is as much psychological as physical. Trust it: t https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478393046300674-the-carbon-hardtail-built-for-the-forest-roads https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478393046300674-the-carbon-hardtail-built-for-the-forest-roads 24 Sep 2026 16:49:02 +0800 Gear Gear Desk This is a carbon hardtail mountain bike built for forest roads and narrow trails. With no rear suspension the frame is lighter, the pedalling more direct and the upkeep simpler, while an air fork with 120 mm of travel and 29-inch wheels leave enough in hand for loose stony slopes and roots. The paint fades from deep teal at the head tube to black around the bottom bracket, and looks none the worse for a spattering of mud. A medium frame weighs about 1,150 g and all its cables run inside. The head angle is https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478397255284737-another-summer-another-record https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478397255284737-another-summer-another-record 23 Sep 2026 16:49:04 +0800 World World Desk The season's headline number arrived in late August: one of the warmest summers on record, by a margin that surprised even the forecasters who had predicted it. The practical effects were felt in power grids, in hospital admissions and in the price of vegetables. Cities that had invested in shade, water and cooling centres coped; those that had not learned an expensive lesson. Meteorologists are careful to separate a single hot summer from the long-term trend. But when the same record falls three years in https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478390426957825-last-light https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478390426957825-last-light 22 Sep 2026 16:49:00 +0800 Photos Photo Desk Most people pack up when the sun touches the horizon. The sky in this frame was photographed a quarter of an hour later, when the reds had deepened and the palms had become silhouettes. No filters, one exposure. https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478393383942146-the-16-inch-laptop-made-for-the-desk-fit-to-travel https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478393383942146-the-16-inch-laptop-made-for-the-desk-fit-to-travel 21 Sep 2026 16:49:02 +0800 Gear Gear Desk This business laptop is designed for the desk and will also stand a working trip. Its 16-inch screen takes two documents side by side, the full-size keyboard has the number pad that finance and data staff rely on, and the matt black case is plain, hard-wearing and unobtrusive on a meeting table. The screen is an anti-glare LCD of 1920×1080 in the 16:9 shape. Its matt surface subdues ceiling lights and reflections from outside, and the lid opens to 180 degrees and lies flat, which is handy for showing a p https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478386656278530-five-long-reads-for-the-weekend https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478386656278530-five-long-reads-for-the-weekend 21 Sep 2026 16:48:59 +0800 Life Life Desk Every Friday we pick five pieces that rewarded a slow read. This week: a history of the humble shipping container, a profile of the woman who runs a regional seed bank, and a piece on why nobody can agree how to measure a coastline. Also on the list: a long look at how a small city rebuilt its centre around bicycles, and a personal essay about learning to swim at forty. Steel, standard, stackable: a history of the shipping container The keeper of the seeds: a profile How long is a coastline? Longer than y https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478383906912258-patient-money-buys-into-the-chip-plant https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478383906912258-patient-money-buys-into-the-chip-plant 20 Sep 2026 16:48:57 +0800 Business Business Desk A silicon wafer 300 mm across is lifted from its carrier, and the fine circuitry on its surface breaks the light into bands of rainbow. In the visitors' corridor of a newly built chip plant overseas, this is where investors stop longest. This week the plant's second phase closed its equity financing: a pension fund, a sovereign wealth fund and an insurance asset manager have together taken 40 per cent of the shares in a phase that will cost about 12 billion in the local currency. Money of this kind tradit https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478393662863362-the-13-inch-tablet-a-drawing-board-you-can-hold https://demo.cmsys.cn/en/article/399478393662863362-the-13-inch-tablet-a-drawing-board-you-can-hold 18 Sep 2026 16:49:02 +0800 Gear Gear Desk This tablet is a 13-inch drawing board that can be held in the hands. With a stylus it is a notebook and a sketchbook to carry about; with a keyboard cover it deals with email, documents and a video meeting called at short notice. The graphite-grey metal body is only 6.8 mm thick and takes up almost no room in a briefcase. The screen is a fully laminated 13-inch LCD of 2880×1920. Held upright, its 3:2 shape is close to a sheet of manuscript paper; turned on its side and split in two, neither pane feels c