BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Amid regular COVID-19 control, China is powering ahead in bringing business and life back on track. The following are the latest facts and figures of the week:
-- A beer festival was held on Saturday in the city of Wuhan, once hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic in China.
The ongoing beer festival, scheduled to last for one week, is the first large-scale entertainment and consumption event since the city's lockdown was lifted on April 8, with the aim to stimulate the nighttime economy of the city.
-- Uniqlo, a clothing brand under the Japan-based Fast Retailing Group, opened 19 chain stores in China on Friday, marking a further step into the Chinese market.
"We opened eight new stores in June, and 19 this time in August. We're entering six new cities, including Zhejiang's Tongxiang and Jiangsu's Danyang, which signals our confidence in the Chinese market and Chinese economy despite COVID-19," said Jalin Wu, Chief Marketing Officer of Uniqlo Greater China.
-- The Universal Studios Beijing theme park will open its doors for trial operations in the spring of 2021.
The announcement confirms that the park is still on course for its scheduled 2021 opening date, as revealed by the Universal Beijing Resort in October 2019.
-- Shake Shack, a New York burger brand, opened its first restaurant in Beijing Wednesday.
The restaurant, located in TaiKoo Li Sanlitun, a shopping area popular among young people, is the 12th restaurant that Shake Shack has opened in China.
-- An air route linking the city of Yanji in northeast China's Jilin Province and Daegu in the Republic of Korea (ROK) will resume operations on Aug. 20, according to the government of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture.
The air route will be flown by a Boeing 737-800 airplane every Thursday, from Aug. 20 to Oct. 24, with up to 140 seats on each flight.
-- An all-cargo air route linking Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, and Spain's Madrid was launched Thursday.
The route, operated three times a week by Air China Cargo, is expected to more than half the shipping time of foreign trade commodities to about 10 days.
-- A total of 12 overseas enterprises, including tourism giant TUI Group from Germany, signed cooperation agreements on major projects within the free trade port in south China's Hainan Province on Thursday.
A total of 59 major projects, including 12 foreign-funded and 47 domestic ones, were agreed, covering tourism, the modern service industry and high-tech industries, with an estimated total investment of 14.2 billion yuan (about 2 billion U.S. dollars).
-- Air China has resumed flying on the route linking Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, and Germany's Frankfurt that was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is the first direct route between western China and Europe that has resumed since a reward and suspension mechanism was announced by the Civil Aviation Administration of China. The route is flown by an Airbus A330-200 every Thursday. Enditem
