In today’s podcast:

China on Tuesday announced a defense budget draft for 2024 worth 1.67 trillion yuan ($231.36 billion), an increase of 7.2 percent from the previous year. The moderate figure reflects China's reasonable, restrained and steady steps in national defense development.

On the same day, China set a growth target of around 5 percent for its economy in 2024, a "forward-looking and pragmatic" goal which deputies and economists said sends strong signals that the world's second-largest economy will sustain its firm recovery momentum this year despite rising headwinds, while putting more emphasis on ensuring economic stability and transforming growth models.

In an interview with Global Times, Martin Albrow, an eminent British sociologist and one of the first globalization theorists, talked about his understanding of China's whole-process people's democracy.

In the "Witness to history" series, the Global Times interviewed several Ukrainians, to unveil how ordinary Ukrainians live in the midst of the conflict.

The horse-face skirt, or mamianqun in Chinese, is receiving renewed attention on the fashion stage. The architectural structure-inspired Chinese costume is seen as a social media engagement traffic magnet.