Welcome to this half-hour version of the Beijing Hour, live from the Chinese capital.

Coming up on the program this morning...

The Chinese president has wrapped up his five-day state visit in the UK...

the leader's trip included stops in London and Manchester, where football fan Xi Jinping got a tour of the Man City clubhouse...

The Chinese central bank has again made cuts to the banks' reserve requirement ratio, and to benchmark interest rates...

a US military operation in Iraq has freed 70 hostages who had been held captive by Islamic State militants... one US soldier was killed...

And a powerful hurricane continues on its path towards Mexico...

We will hear an edition of On The Record in the second half of the hour.

Top NewsChinese President Wraps up British VisitPresident Xi Jinping has concluded his five-day state visit to Britain - the first one by a Chinese head-of-state in a decade.

Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan stayed at Buckingham Palace in London as the guests of Queen Elizabeth II, who hosted a grand ceremonial welcome for the couple, a private lunch, and a formal state banquet with other senior members of the royal family.

During the visit, the two countries lifted bilateral ties to "a global comprehensive strategic partnership for the 21st century" and agreed that "this visit opens a golden era in China-UK relations featuring enduring, inclusive and win-win cooperation."The trip also took the President to the old industrial city of Manchester in northern England.

Football fan Xi calls for more sports cooperation between China, BritainAnchor:

Before concluding his visit to the United Kingdom, Chinese President Xi Jinping enjoyed a day out at the English Premier League powerhouse Manchester City Football Club.

We get more details from CRI's Qi Zhi.

Reporter:

President Xi Jinping was welcomed at the Man City Football Club by Prime Minister David Cameron and club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

They toured the Manchester City Football Academy and enjoyed an exhibition at the National Football Museum, which houses artifacts including a ball used in the final of the inaugural 1930 World Cup.

Xi Jinping and Cameron have also posed for a "selfie" picture with Sergio Aguero, Man City's Argentinian star striker.

A highlight of the visit was the inclusion into the National Football Museum's Hall of Fame of former Man City player Sun Jihai, the first Chinese player to score in the Premier League.

President Xi is a well-known football fan.

In 2011, he outlined his three wishes for China's football program -- to qualify for another World Cup, to host a World Cup, and to win a World Cup championship.

While China has yet to achieve those goals, a profound reform program is underway in the country.

The President says China has much more to learn from Britain, which he describes as the headwater of modern football.

Interim mayor of Greater Manchester Tony Lloyd says he believes football cooperation between the two countries will be a win-win.

"Given the development of China football strategy which President Xi particularly oversaw and his personal ambition of for the Chinese National Team and the development of China as a strong football nation with enthusiasms from the grass roots to the professional level, it is a very exciting time. And what better partner could you choose than the UK? The English Premier League is the most successful league in the country and there's a lot we can learn from each other. So I think it's a win-win. "Chinese overseas student Liu Yang, who has came to welcome the Chinese President as part of Manchester's local Chinese community, says that building a football-loving culture is a crucial part of the sports' development.

"The UK has much experience and skills that we could learn from. I know President Xi is a football fan himself, I hope he can share his enthusiasm about football with the general public. If the leader of a nation can be a football fan, why can't the people be football fans too? I believe that as long as there is aspiration, there will be progress, no matter if it's in professional football or just a love of the sport."Xi Jinping left Britain on Friday, concluding his five-day state visit to the UK, the first in a decade by a Chinese head of state.

For CRI, I'm Qi Zhi.

China, Britain Witness Booming Education CooperationAnchor:

Observers are suggesting the growing economic and political links between China and the UK are going to lead to more students studying in each other's countryCRI's Luo Wen reports.

Reporter:

There are currently around 6-thousand British nationals studying in China.

Earlier this month, Lang Lang began learning Mandarin at Beijing-based Tsinghua University, one of China's top schools, in an attempt to become more rounded when looking for a job.

"I think the main difference in the education systems in China and Britain is that in Britain ... ... I will consider it."Tighter ties between China and the UK in recent years has led to a sharp rise in the number of British students travelling to China to study.

To maintain this trend, British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has pleged his government will recruit an additional 5-thousand UK students to learn Mandarin before 2020.

China is also the largest source of foreign students in Britain.

150-thousand Chinese nationals are currently studying in the country.

Yu Jianyi majored in public policy at the University of London.

She says Chinese students attending British schools need to learn in a different way from what they were accustomed to in China.

"You have to spend quite some time in libraries after classes or you will fall back. My classmates came from around the world. Our in-class discussions were quite different from the process at Chinese schools. Most foreign students are outspoken. The questions we discussed usually had more than one answer."Du Li works for a Beijing-based consultancy which recruits Chinese students to study abroad.

She says there are good reasons why British schools are attractive to Chinese students.

"British schools are becoming more popular with Chinese students largely due to their flexible teaching methods and the reasonable curriculum designs. On top of this, the quality of education in the UK is widely recognized."The Chinese and British governments have already signed an ambitious framework to expand collaboration across higher, vocational and grade-school education, on top of closer collaboration in sports education.

Chinese Education Minister Yuan Guiren says its steps like these which will help increase ties between the two countries.

"Improved education partnerships will benefit the two country's education sectors and their students. It will also ensure a promising future, as bilateral relationships are going to be handled by the young in the years to come."As part of time in the UK, Chinese President Xi Jinping has taken time out to tour Imperial College in London.

Observers are suggesting the tour could be a sign the Chinese government may be preparing to make education a higher priority in China-UK ties in the future.

For CRI, I'm Luo Wen.

China cuts RRR, interest rates to boost real economyChina's central bank has cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) of banks, and benchmark interest rates.

From Saturday, the reserve requirement ratio for financial institutions will be slashed by 0.5 percentage points, to further reduce the cost of financing.

Benchmark interest rates will be cut to ensure reasonably adequate liquidity in the banking system.

Interest rates for one-year loans and deposits will be cut by 0.25 percentage points to 4.35 percent and 1.5 percent respectively.

China pledges continuous participation in UN peacekeepingThe Chinese government has pledged to continue participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations, as the latest data from the UN shows China is now the second largest contributor to the UN's 2016 peacekeeping budget.

China's share of the budget will rank second following the United States.

Its previous ranking was sixth among all UN member states.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying says China will sustain its contribution to world peace and security.

"When attending the series of summits celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the UN, President Xi Jinping announced a series of major moves aimed at supporting peacekeeping missions. This has once again reflected the responsibility China's has taken to safeguard world peace."Xi Jinping has announced that China will take the lead to set up a permanent peacekeeping unit and will build a peacekeeping standby force of 8,000 troops.

China is also to actively consider the UN's request of sending more engineering, transportation and medical personnel to join peacekeeping missions.

The country will train 2,000 foreign peacekeepers and carry out 10 mine-sweeping assistance programs in the next five years.

Women in China and in the WorldAnchor:

During President Xi Jinping's recent visit to the US and his speech at the UN General Assembly, he announced that China will offer more money to the UN.

China has pledged to contribute 10 million to UN Women to support its work around the world.

For more, CRI's Wuyou has talked with Ms Lakshmi Puri, Assistant Secretary General at the United Nations, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, ahead of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations on October 24th.

…Back anchor: that is CRI's Wu You talking with Lakshmi Puri, Assistant Secretary General at the United Nations.

Premier highlights reform, innovation to promote growthChinese Premier Li Keqiang says more targeted and flexible macro-control measures should be rolled out to keep the economy running on a stable track.

Speaking at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, the premier says China faces the tough task of stabilizing growth.

He says it is necessary to continue opening up and implementing measures that focus on finance, taxation, banking, and state-owned enterprises.

Li Keqiang has again highlighted the innovation-driven development strategy, saying that innovation and mass entrepreneurship will facilitate upgrading in traditional industries and growth in emerging ones.

China's GDP expanded 6.9 percent in the third quarter of 2015, the first time the quarterly growth rate has dropped below 7 percent since the second quarter of 2009.

On Friday, the People's Bank of China announced the sixth round of interest rate cuts in nearly 11 months amid efforts to further reduce the cost of financing and ensure reasonably adequate liquidity in the banking system.

China to target financial sector in new anti-graft inspectionChina's anti-graft authority is set to expand its inspections into more state entities this year, with its sight set on major financial institutions including the central bank, securities regulators and state-owned banks.

A statement from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection says the latest round will cover the People's Bank of China, China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Insurance Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission and China Investment Corp.

Others include CITIC Group Corporation, a major financial conglomerate; state-owned banks Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and Bank of China; as well as China Life and the People's Insurance Company of China, two large insurers.

China's two stock exchanges - Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange - are also on the list. 31 organizations will be inspected in this round.

Kulishian Rxat: Rural teacher takes care of herdsmen's children in China's far westAnchor:

Being a teacher in China's under-developed areas is widely seen as noble and respectful, and more so if one chooses to spend their whole life in such a setting.

CRI's Liu Xiangwei has the story of a teacher who spent her career in the far west --- Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

ReporterKalamagai is a mountainous region in Altay, northwest Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and home to Kazakhs. Dingshan school is the only elementary school in the remote pastoral area located 80 kilometers away from the nearest town.

Forty-three-year-old Kulishian Rxat has been teaching at the school since graduating from the local teacher's college at the age of 18. Now more than 20 years have passed.

"I was born into a herdsman family and grew up on the grassland. Every time I see these children, I think of the younger me. I think these children need me and I am more than willing to show them what I got, hoping it could influence their life choices and do some good for my hometown. This is why I settled down here."For years, Herdsmen live a nomadic lifestyle so their children often take their class in a small temporary camp with a blackboard and a shabby table inside.

Kulishian says things were much more difficult when she was still a new teacher.

"It was difficult back then. The floor was bumpy. Most tables and windows were broken. We did not have charcoals, so students had to fetch some woods outside to make fire during class breaks. Usually three or four children shared a table."It was common for children in this remote and underdeveloped place to drop out of school.For Kulishian, it is her primary job to persuade more children to stay.

"Most of the children live 40 or 50 kilometers away, sometimes it took me seven or eights hours riding a bicycle through muddy roads to meet their parents. When it rained or snowed, we had to ride horses for hours. I told the parents it was not right - the children had to go to school. Some of them listened while others refused to take my advice."In a Herdsmen's camp, Kulishian is helping their children with homework. After running around and making continuous efforts to explain the importance of schooling, dozens of students have been kept in school by Kulishian and her colleagues.

Kulishian also uses a lot of creative elements in teaching. She promotes Mandarin education in the school and made traditional folk dancing part of the PE class.

Alashi uli tobi dancing, also called "Hei Zou Ma" in Chinese, is an intangible cultural heritage for Kazakhs. In 2008, Kulishian added it to the exercises between classes in her school. After a year, almost all primary and middle schools in the Altay region did so.

"The education authorities found that it was a creative outdoor activity. It is a combination of traditional and new choreography. So now every school in the Altay Region does this. It is not just a new way of making students do more exercise - it is also a way of preserving traditional culture."Principal Kulishian keeps a close personal relations with students just like the old times when she taught small classes.

"I am always in school to see whether they have enough to eat and at night check their dorms and tuck them in. Sometime I show young students how to make bed. I think I make a better teacher than a mom."The rural teacher chokes up when talking about her students.

This is Kulishian's favorite local tune called Song of Mother. 25 winters and summers have witnessed the contributions and sacrifices of this rural teacher.

"I wanted to be a teacher since I was a child. I lived close to my school when I grew up. My teachers always came to my house to see me. I was the class monitor so sometimes I shared some teaching duties. I like teaching. I like answering questions."Back Anchor: that's CRI's Liu Xiangwei reportingLong way to go for China's island tourist spots: industry insidersAnchorChina has the world's largest number of outbound tourists, and many of them are choosing island destinations.

However, when it comes to China's own island tourism, industry insiders say there is still a long way to go before domestic locations can compete with the traditional vacation spots around the world.

Xu Fei has more.

Reporter:

Island tourism is getting popular in China, particularly among the country's middle class, reshaping the landscape of the country's tourism industry.

Jing Wang-Schmitt is a tourism consultant with the congress of France's Union Island.

"Before, Chinese tourists they would go to a maximum places or cities during one trip, do some shopping, visit some monuments. Recent years more and more Chinese tourist they want to take their time just to relax with sunshine, the beaches, having some water activities."China's outbound tourists made nearly 24 million trips to islands in 2014, and the number is expected to exceed 30 million this year.

A recent study suggests the Maldives tops a list of Chinese tourists' 20 favorite island destinations. Among the 20 most popular choices, five were in China.

This is part of the reason the country's tourism authorities invited more than a hundred tourism officials from over 50 major island tourism destinations to Zhejiang Province for an island tourism conference earlier this month.

Wu Bihu is a tourism expert with Peking University. He says it is a priority for Chinese island hotspots to improve their service.

"As a matter of fact, China has many island tourism destinations, like Sanya, Xiamen, Qingdao and Zhoushan. But there are two obvious disadvantages. The water and beach quality of China's island spots are not that good comparatively speaking and the service is still lagging far behind."Xu Fan, consultant on Tourism Marketing with the UN World Tourism Organization, echoes this view.

"An island spot will lose its attraction if it is full of people. We always talk about capacity. I think when it comes to island tourism, capacity is not about the maximum number a place can take - it should be defined as a threshold when consumers stop feeling comfortable."Industry insiders also suggest Chinese island resorts to further explore their own cultural features, instead of solely following existing patterns.

One critical concern, experts say, is environment.

Hussain Lirar is the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Tourism in the Republic of Maldives.

"The first thing is to protect the nature for us, because our islands are very unique. So we have the obligation to protect our nature and our environment. Every investor, every dealer has to honor these regulations."Experts believe with the island tourist market expanding rapidly, China's domestic island spots are capable of attracting more visitors from home and abroad.

Back Anchor:

That is CRI's Xu Fei reporting.

WeatherBeijing is cloudy to sunny today with a high of 18 degrees Celsius, clear tonight with a low of 7.

Shanghai is cloudy with a high of 25, cloudy tonight with a low of 19.

In Chongqing, it is overcast today with a high of 25, light rain tonight with a low of 19.

Elsewhere in Asia,Islamabad, mostly sunny with a high of 23.

Kabul, rain with a high of 14.

In North America,New York will be mostly sunny with a high of 14 degrees.

Washington, partly cloudy with a high of 19 degrees.

Honolulu, partly cloudy, 28.

Toronto, rain with a high of 14 degrees.

In South America,Buenos Aires will be windy with a high of 16.

And Rio de Janeiro will be partly cloudy with a high of 26 degrees Celsius.

That's it for this abbreviated version of the Beijing Hour.

Recapping our headlines...

The Chinese president has wrapped up his five-day state visit in the UK...

the leader's trip included stops in London and Manchester, where football fan Xi Jinping got a tour of the Man City clubhouse...

The Chinese central bank has again made cuts to the banks' reserve requirement ratio, and to benchmark interest rates...

Stay tuned for an edition of On The Record in the second half of the hour.

On behalf of the Beijing Hour staffers: I'm Shane Bigham in Beijing hoping you'll join us for our next edition of the Beijing Hour, to open a window to the world together.