Category: Society

(Global Times)16:13, June 20, 2019

On June 15, 2019, the first phase of the New Beluga train of Beijing New Airport Line was air-tested. The new line of the new airport line runs at a highest speed of 160 kilometers per hour, and has a speed of 117 kilometers per hour. (Photo by Liu Xianguo from People’s Daily Online)

The first phase of Beijing rail transit’s new airport line, as one of the support facilities for the Beijing Daxing International Airport, launched trial operation on Saturday, June 16. It’s scheduled to start official operations at the end of September, according to media reports.

With a top speed of 160 kilometers per hour, it only takes 19 minutes to make the entire 41.4-kilometer trip, the Xinhua News Agency reported on June 16.

Hailed as a “new milestone in Beijing’s rail transit program, the new airport line adopts the worlds highest standards of autonomous driving … including the whole process of automatic starting, self-inspection, operations and dormancy,” according to Xinhua.

The line, which is also an important factor in driving the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the new airport line will accelerate economic integration of the area, according to Xinhua, citing comments of Yang Guangwu, chief engineer at the Beijing Major Projects Construction Headquarters Office.

Located in the center of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei triangle area, the Beijing Daxing International Airport aims to boost economic vitality of areas surrounding Beijing and cultivate a world-class airport cluster together with other airports in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province, according to People’s Daily in May.

The airport’s terminal complex has a total area of 1.42 million square meters. The airport aims to handle 72 million passenger trips and 2 million tons of cargo and mail by 2025, with 620,000 aircraft movements by 2025, reported CCTV.com in February.

(Global Times)16:14, June 20, 2019

On March 10, 2019, on the outskirts of Pujiang County, Sichuan, the China Railway High-speed (CRH) drove past the village full of flowers. Chengya Railway, a section of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, has been running through the whole line. (Photo by Zhu Chunjian from People鈥檚 Daily Online)

Construction work on the final section of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway will start shortly, said Southwest China鈥檚 Sichuan Province Party chief during a press conference at the State Council Information Office (SCIO) on Monday, June 17. Analysts said the railway will serve as a major transportation artery linking China and South Asia.

The Chengdu-Ya鈥檃n section of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway has started operations, said Peng Qinghua, Party chief of Sichuan Province.

鈥淭he completion of the railway will not only drive the regional economy and strengthen the link between Tibet with the inland areas, but it also can serve as a major transportation artery linking China and South Asia,鈥?Zhao Jian, an expert on railway economics at the Beijing Jiaotong University, told the Global Times on June 17.

鈥淭he Sichuan-Tibet railway will make it possible to build a railway connecting China, Nepal, India and other countries, which will boost the regional economy with convenient transportation,鈥?Zhao said.

鈥淪ichuan was the starting point of the southern silk road in history. Now it is the pivot of the Belt and Road Initiative economy belt, linking land and sea,鈥?said Peng.

The Sichuan-Tibet Railway will be the second line linking Southwest China鈥檚 Tibet Autonomous Region to other parts of China after the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

The line is designed to start from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, passing through Ya鈥檃n and entering Tibet via Qamdo. It will then go through Nyingchi prefecture and end at Lhasa, capital of Tibet.

鈥淚t is far more difficult to build the Sichuan-Tibet Railway than the Qinghai-Tibet Railway since geological conditions are complex along the Sichuan-Tibet line, with severe geological conditions and disasters such as permafrost, alpine hypoxia, landslides, earthquake zones, and geothermal and rock bursts,鈥?Zhao added.

The planned route will go through the Sichuan basin, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, climbing from several hundred meters above sea level to the 鈥淩oof of the World,鈥?at an altitude of more than 4,400 meters.

The railway will cut the travel time from Chengdu to Lhasa from 48 hours to 13 hours.

By ChiJingyi (Global Times)16:16, June 20, 2019

June 18 or 618, another online shopping gala like the double 11, ended on Tuesday for 2019, June 18. Analysts say massive orders show great potential in China’s consumption market.

The accumulated order amount of JD.com, an online shopping platform, had reached 179.5 billion yuan ($25.9 billion) by 2 pm Beijing time Tuesday. In the first hour of Tuesday, the transaction amount increased by 65 percent year-on-year, according to data released on JD’s official account on Sina Weibo.

Its rival Tmall, online B2C platform of the giant Alibaba Group, said trading volumes of hundreds of brands had surpassed that of double 11 last year, with the highest increase being more than 40 times, according to news released by Alibaba Group.

“The huge number of online orders shows that China has great potential as a consumption market,” an industry insider who asked to remain anonymous told Global Times. “A lot of international brands participated in the shopping feast this year. They are optimistic about Chinese market.”

The 618 mid-year campaign is another big online shopping festival initiated by JD since its competitor Alibaba founded the Double 11, or Singles’ Day, which is the largest online shopping festival in China.

Retailers are doing everything to compete in the campaign. JD offers discount and Tmall offers payment by installments with zero interest. Pinduoduo, a newcomer gives subsidies worth billions of yuan.

It’s worth noting that Apple flagship store on Tmall joined the 618 e-commerce festival for the first time.

The ranking list of sales of the 618 shows that mobile phones, digital and 3C products are in the lead with mobile phone at the top.

A middle-aged engineer told Global Times that his wife bought televisions, intelligent speakers and other intelligent home appliances during the shopping spree.

“Pinduoduo offers group purchases and I can make orders with friends at a very low price,” a 64-year-old retired woman surnamed Li told Global Times Tuesday. “I like dancing after retirement. I often buy dance dresses on Pinduoduo with other ladies in the dance group. And then the group buying expands to daily consumption like fruits, oil, etc.”

“I want to see if I’m lucky enough to snag Tmall’s offer on the iPhone XR at 618 yuan, 90 percent off,” 27-year-old office lady Cai who works for private equity told the Global Times.

“China is seeing an increase in the consumption market and people’s purchasing power,” said the industry insider.

Retail sales of consumer goods reached 3.3 trillion yuan in May, up 8.6 percent year-on-year, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

China’s consumer market still has huge potential, said an official from the Department of Market Operation of MOC on June 17. “With the implementation of policies for 5G commercial license issuances and the promotion of automobile purchases, consumption growth will continue and the consumer market will maintain steady and healthy development.”

Sales of retail enterprises in May increased by 2.8 percent year-on-year, up 0.6 percent from the previous month, according to MOC. The retail sales of cars reached 322.3 billion yuan, up 2.1 percent year-on-year and 4.2 percent from April.

“Middle class consumption is increasing. Online retailers see rising demand on intelligent products and automobiles,” said the analyst.

(Xinhua)10:14, June 21, 2019

CHENGDU, June 20 (Xinhua) — More than 80,000 people have been evacuated to safety after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit southwest Chinas Sichuan Province Monday, killing 13 people and leaving 220 injured.

The earthquake hit Changning County of Yibin at 10:55 p.m. Monday. The epicenter was monitored at 28.34 degrees north latitude and 104.90 degrees east longitude, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. The quake struck at a depth of 16 km.

A total of 27 temporary shelters have been set up to accommodate those affected, according to local authorities at a press conference.

As of 4 p.m. Thursday, the earthquake had severely damaged 46,000 houses and slightly damaged more than 110,000 houses.

Li Tinggen, secretary-general of the municipal government of Yibin, said that authorities are evaluating the conditions of local houses to determine which are livable and which need to be restored.

As of 3 p.m., more than 190 million yuan (27.7 million U.S. dollars) of relief funds had been received by the Yibin government.

(Xinhua)10:16, June 21, 2019

CHANGSHA, June 20 (Xinhua) — China will push for the construction of child welfare infrastructure, according to a national work conference on child welfare held in Changsha, capital of central Chinas Hunan Province, on Thursday.

At least one institution for raising orphans and foundlings should be built in every city, in which orphans and foundlings can get medical and health care and education, said Huang Shuxian, minister of civil affairs, at the conference.

The construction of relief centers for minors should be advanced, Huang said.

Civil affairs departments at district or county level must have institutions responsible for the work of child welfare, including visiting and taking care of rural children left behind by parents working in cities and children in need of help.

County-level child welfare institutions that are underpopulated and poor in infrastructure can transfer their children to city-level institutions, according to Huang.

The country has 13.814 million people registered as living below the poverty line, among them 3.34 million are children, taking up nearly a quarter of the population.

Central authorities have invested nearly 2 billion yuan (292 million U.S. dollars) in building minor relief and child welfare institutions since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012.

(Xinhua)10:18, June 21, 2019

This photo taken on May 23, 2019 shows a baby Przewalskis horse born a day before with adult Przewalskis horses in Xinjiang. [Photo: Xinhua]

URUMQI, June 20 (Xinhua) — Twenty-one foals of the rare Przewalskis horses have been born in the wild in northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region since this spring, conservationists have said, pointing to a steady recovery of the species that once went extinct in China.

The Przewalskis horse, named after its Russian discoverer, is an endangered species native to the desert grassland of Central Asia. It is considered the only wild horse in existence today.

The 21 foals were born in the Kalamaili Nature Reserve, the main habitat of the wild horses in northern Xinjiangs Junggar Basin, bringing up its wild population in the autonomous region to 217, according to the Qiaomuxibai wild release station in the reserve.

Three and four more foals are expected to be born this year, said Bulan, director of the station.

The latest data from the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding and Research Center said the horse population in Xinjiang and neighboring Gansu Province, its only two habitats in China, has exceeded 500.

Once extinct in China due to hunting and a deteriorating environment, the horses were reintroduced to the country in the 1980s from Europe and raised in Xinjiang and Gansu. There are around 2,000 Przewalskis horses in total worldwide.

The Xinjiang breeding center is the largest wild horse breeding base in Asia.

(Xinhua)10:18, June 21, 2019

BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) — The employment rate of Chinese vocational graduates reached 92 percent in 2018, according to an annual report on the quality of vocational education Thursday.

The report, released by the Shanghai Academy of Educational Sciences and MyCOS, an educational research company, found that the monthly salary of vocational graduates increased by 76.2 percent three years after their graduation.

Over 60 percent of vocational graduates worked for primary-level employers such as small, medium and micro enterprises, said the report, adding that a quarter of the graduates found jobs in the western and northeastern regions of China.

The report also showed 65 vocational colleges has established a coalition to promote the rural vitalization and poverty reduction.

Vocational education in China is playing an increasingly important role in expanding employment and promoting students development, according to the report.

Moreover, the report showed that Chinese vocational colleges attracted 17,000 overseas students in 2018, with countries along the Belt and Road being the major sources for international students. These countries are also important destinations for Chinese vocational colleges to establish branches.

(Peoples Daily Online)13:39, June 21, 2019

He Xingwu and his wife pick vegetables with their students. (Photo provided by Peng Haihui)

Sanlian Special Education School has survived for 25 years in Nanchang, the capital city of east China鈥檚 Jiangxi province, China Youth Daily reported on June 19.

After being relocated six times, the school now resides in a three-floor house of a periurban community, with bustling trucks, carriages and ox carts outside and a vast expanse of wasteland behind.

Too noisy for a school? No way! Most teachers and students here are deaf. They live and study in the school, and sign language is the only language they need in a world without a voice.

He Xingwu listens to a young teachers class.(China Youth Daily/Ma Yuping)

The special education school was set up in 1994. Since its establishment, more than 300 deaf children from surrounding rural areas have studied here.

There is no admission threshold for applicants. The youngest is a four-year-old mentally disabled girl. Some of the enrolled students arrived after their 18th birthday to start grade one education.

Furthermore, those from extremely low-income families are exempt from tuition fees. Some students attend school with bare feet. They cannot afford a pair of shoes, let alone tuition fees.

He Xingwu, nearly 80 years old, is the principal of the school. He and his wife also suffer from hearing difficulties. They know the pain of those living in a silent world, so they often take money out of their own pockets to support the school鈥檚 operation.

Students communicate with each other during break. (China Youth Daily/Ma Yuping)

Besides these two, the school is joined by another three teachers who chose to work without asking for wages.

74-year-old Yu Xijian came to teach Chinese and math after retirement. He is much older than Li Shangjin, who was born in 1995, the youngest teacher here, with a mission of changing education for deaf people.

Wu Kaixuan studied IT at a technical school after graduating from the Sanlian Special Education School. After gaining some work experience, she came back to her old school and became a math teacher for seniors.

Later in 2006, He Biao, the principal鈥檚 son, joined this school to help with the school鈥檚 management and ease the pressure on his parents.

He Biao, principal He Xingwu鈥檚 son, teaches basic sign language to visitors from public service organizations.(China Youth Daily/Ma Yuping)

Nine years ago, the school was noticed by Peng Haihui, director of Nanchang Ahimsa Philanthropy Center, a non-government organization.

鈥淲hat are the difficulties?鈥?鈥淲hat do we need?鈥?Peng wrote the two questions on the blackboard during a plenary meeting, and later he brought the answers back to find organizations and companies that could match their demands.

He even started a blog to publicize the school.

2010 marked a turning point for all teachers and students at this school. Media arrived, so did the philanthropic organizations. More than 20 students went to visit the Shanghai Expo by train. They had never been to such a metropolis and saw high-rise buildings for the first time, one student recalled.

Now, He Biao and Peng Haihui are preparing to upgrade the school into a vocational and technical training school to provide knowledge as well as improve the working capabilities of deaf students.

(Xinhua)11:57, June 22, 2019

TIANJIN, June 21 (Xinhua) — Beijing Daxing International Airport will generate about 600,000 new jobs in the future, an official said Friday.

Zhang Rui, with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), said that by 2025, the airport will see 72 million passengers with an economic profit of 130 billion yuan (19 billion U.S. dollars). The airport will contribute 900 billion yuan to the regional economy, Zhang said.

The airport project drew an investment of about 120 billion yuan, with the auxiliary projects in its vicinity costing about 330 billion yuan, Zhang added.

Beijing Daxing International Airport will start operation in September. It was built to meet the countrys surging air service demand and relieve the tight flight pressure on Beijing Capital International Airport, whose annual passenger throughput exceeded 100 million in 2018.

Chinas civil aviation authorities have been continuously enhancing the support capacity to sustain industry growth. The CAAC is focused on creating safe, green, smart and human-oriented airports.

(Xinhua)11:59, June 22, 2019

BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) — Chinas official railway ticket-booking website, 12306.cn, and its mobile app sold more than 3.1 billion tickets in a year, according to the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd.

The website has become the largest real-time ticket transaction system in the world.

According to statistics, 15 million tickets were sold by the website each day while 700 tickets were purchased every second at peak time.

The average daily pageviews of the website were more than 150 billion. Tickets sold on the internet accounted for 82.8 percent of all the tickets sold in China.

An online standby system was launched last month on the website, enabling passengers who have failed to get desired tickets to be waitlisted and subsequently receive the tickets when other people change or cancel their tickets.

Since the standby system went online on May 22, about 2 million tickets were reprocessed by June 21.

The 12306 ticket-booking website was launched in 2011 to firstly serve the Beijing-Tianjin intercity train, and has been constantly improved with new technologies such as facial recognition.