China's Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng at a news conference at the two sessions in Beijing, March 7, 2015. [Wang Jing/ chinadaily.com.cn]

Commerce minister meets press

Chinese consumers' overseas consumption surpassed 1 trillion yuan ($159.62 billion) last year, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said Saturday.

Gao added that China is open to all free trade arrangements (FTAs) as long as they are open and transparent, and is keeping tab on TPP and TTIP.

Gao stressed that China has the confidence to sign FTAs with the world.

According to Gao, 2015 will be a critical year for China's "Belt and Road" initiatives and the plans will see a good head start.

Trade remedy measures should only come as a last resort after the failure of dialogues in resolving disputes, added Gao.

Chen Daoming, an actor and a CPPCC member, sits on the floor with a reporter during a CPPCC workshop on Friday. [Photo/youth.cn]

Actor whose feet are on the ground

A reporter has written a story after she interviewed Chen Daoming, a well-known actor and also a CPPCC member during a CPPCC workshop on Friday.

Before filing the story, she emailed the story back to him and waited to confirm that everything she had written was correct. As there were no seats she sat down on the floor at the workshop discussion.

Little later, Chen Daoming directly went to the reporter instead of just replying to the email and sat beside her on the floor to discuss the content.