Following / after (继…之后)

Structure 继 + event + 之后，clause

继…之后 (jì… zhī hòu) links one event to a later one, marking a formal succession of happenings: "following…", "after…". It is typical of journalism and administrative prose, where it chains milestones: 继签约之后，双方展开合作 = "following the signing of the agreement, the two sides launched their cooperation". Unlike plain 以后 (HSK 1), which simply places something "afterwards" in everyday time, 继…之后 presupposes that the prior event was a notable milestone and usually introduces a second milestone of the same rank. What sits between 继 and 之后 is normally a noun phrase or a condensed action, not a long clause.

Examples

继jì签qiān约yuē之zhī后hòu，双shuāng方fāng展zhǎn开kāi了le全quán面miàn合hé作zuò。
Following the signing of the agreement, the two sides launched full cooperation.
继jì上shàng海hǎi之zhī后hòu，该gāi公gōng司sī又yòu在zài深shēn圳zhèn设shè立lì了le分fēn部bù。
After Shanghai, the company also set up a branch in Shenzhen.
继jì发fā表biǎo声shēng明míng之zhī后hòu，政zhèng府fǔ宣xuān布bù了le具jù体tǐ措cuò施shī。
Following the issuing of the statement, the government announced specific measures.
继jì去qù年nián丰fēng收shōu之zhī后hòu，今jīn年nián产chǎn量liàng再zài创chuàng新xīn高gāo。
Following last year's bumper harvest, this year's output set a new record again.

Levels are indicative: they follow the standard Chinese Grammar Wiki (AllSet Learning) progression, not an official HSK 3.0 mapping. We never assign levels by eye.

This point and the other 370, with audio on every example, inside Wanyu.