Morning tea culture boosts development in NW China's Wuzhong

STORY: Morning tea culture boosts development in NW China's Wuzhong DATELINE: April 30, 2023 LENGTH: 0:01:29 LOCATION: YINCHUAN, China CATEGORY: SOCIETY SHOTLIST: 1. various of morning tea 2. STANDUP (English): MA SIJIA, Xinhua correspondent 3. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): Local citizen 4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): ZHOU JING, Official with local business bureau STORYLINE: STANDUP (English): MA SIJIA, Xinhua correspondent "Hey, guys, I am here in a huge restaurant with the area of more than 2,000 square meters. In peak times, there are 500 people enjoying the hand-pulled noodles here at the same time. Actually, this is a restaurant serving morning tea." Over the past decades, having morning tea has become an important part of daily life among locals in Wuzhong City, China's Ningxia. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): Local citizen "Morning tea is popular in Wuzhong. People all like it, so I like it too. Usually, we come here with relatives, friends, or friends from other cities. We will choose pastries, side dishes and beef,

Orevo, a convenience store, has introduced an AI-based automatic checkout system for side dishes.

Orevo, a convenience store, has introduced an AI-based automatic checkout system for side dishes.

In the convenience store industry, where intensifying competition has been combined with a shortage of labor, the three major companies are workingto demonstrate unmanned cash registers and review 24-hour operations. In such a situation, Ishida (Sakyo Ward, Kyoto City), a long-established weighing scale manufacturer, has teamed up with Orebo, a regional convenience store in Fukui Prefecture, to develop a new system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to save labor at the cash register. The price of the system, excluding consumption tax, is about 3 million yen. Although it is more expensive than Ishida's regular scales, it is expected to save labor in processing and cooking areas of supermarkets in addition to stores that handle side dishes, and inquiries are strong. Photo taken on November 13, 2019, credit: Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun / Kyodo News Images

A scene of a meal

A scene of a meal

The woman, apparently a maid, sitting beside the container of cooked rice is offering second helpings by extending the tray. The woman in the center is eating rice and side dishes with chopsticks. The shoji screen, three-stringed shamisen and chrysanthemums make this a classic Japanese scene.==Date:unknown, Place:unknown, Photo:unknown, (Credit:Nagasaki University Library/Kyodo News Images) [Cabinet Number92‐49‐0]

Girls having a meal

Girls having a meal

Five women are having a meal. Each is involved in a different activity such as eating cooked rice, sipping miso soup, eating side dishes and pouring tea from a porcelain teapot. The woman on the left seems to be a maid. ==Date:unknown, Place:unknown, Photo:unknown, (Credit:Nagasaki University Library/Kyodo News Images) [Cabinet Number91‐49‐0]

Girls having a meal

Girls having a meal

Two young women are having a meal with a container for cooked rice on the side. They are wearing aprons to protect their kimono from food stains. A three-layer meal box and side dishes are placed on the low meal table. A teapot and a cup are placed on a tray beside the table.==Date:Middle Meiji (1883-1897), Place:unknown, Photo:unknown, (Credit:Nagasaki University Library/Kyodo News Images) [Cabinet Number69‐46‐0]