Day: August 4, 2019

(Xinhua)13:23, July 08, 2019

BEIJING, July 8 (Xinhua) — A local hospital in Haikou, capital city of south Chinas island province of Hainan, has launched the countrys first tropical diseases branch, according to Mondays China Daily.

The branch with Haikou-based Second Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University is expected to develop into a medical base for exchanges and cooperation with countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, the newspaper quoted the hospitals president Wang Yi as saying.

With about 40 percent of the worlds population living in tropical and subtropical regions, integrated scientific research and treatment of tropical diseases are crucial, Wang said.

(Peoples Daily Online)14:39, July 08, 2019

(Photo/Xinhua)

Waste sorting is triggering dramatic nationwide changes in China. It has not only boosted certain existing businesses, but also created new industries and opportunities.

Shanghai is the first Chinese city to promote waste sorting. Starting from July 1, the city enforced the 鈥渟trictest rules鈥?on waste sorting. Those who make mistakes in classifying waste may face a fine of up to 200 yuan ($29).

Following the steps of Shanghai as a pioneer, 46 more Chinese cities will also join the initiative to sort their waste.

In this trend, dealers and manufacturers of trash cans are no doubt one of the largest beneficiaries.

Statistics indicated that in this June, the search volume for 鈥渨aste sorting trash can鈥?surged over 3,000 percent on Tmall, an online shopping platform of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, and the sales volume of such products on the platform increased fivefold this month from a year ago.

250 million yuan has been spent by individual consumers on waste sorting trash cans on Tmall as well as Taobao, another of Alibaba鈥檚 platforms.

According to an individual online seller of imported trash cans, over 25,000 orders were completed in the past month. Because of the huge demand, he had to place a purchase restriction for his customers of one item per buyer.

Taizhou, east China鈥檚 Zhejiang province, which owns an industrial belt that produces plastics including waste sorting trash cans, has seen a booming performance in the past month. About 3,000 enterprises in the city are benefiting from the sorting of waste, and the number of their customers on Alibaba wholesale platform 鈥?688鈥?almost doubled, with their sales increasing by over 45 percent.

Chen Dongsheng, general manager of a Taizhou-based trash can manufacturer, said that the company鈥檚 orders mainly came from Shanghai. The company鈥檚 factory is running 24 hours each day, producing 30,000 to 40,000 trash cans, he added.

In addition to trash can enterprises, waste sorting is also facilitating new industries, and the garbage pick-up service is one of the hottest sectors that the national campaign has created.

Thanks to the service, customers can place an order online, and their garbage will later be collected by the service providers.

Both full-time and part-time jobs are offered by the garbage pick-up service providers. Wang Yifei, a city manager of Alipay, Alibaba鈥檚 mobile payment platform, said that there have been over 50 such providers having registered on Alipay鈥檚 recycling platform, with some hiring dozens of employees. Some of the employees can earn over 10,000 yuan per month.

鈥淚t seems like we deal with dirty stuff, but nevertheless are in a rising industry,鈥?said Luo Qi, a full-time garbage collector in Shanghai.

According to statistics, the average monthly income of jobs related to waste sorting on job-hunting site Liepin.com stood at 16,000 yuan per capita in the first half of 2019.

Moreover, waste sorting mobile applications that help citizens recognize waste is also becoming a new business opportunity. By July 3, mini applications on Alipay related to waste sorting have attracted over 1 million new users.

Wang noted that some of the developers of such apps are garbage collecting companies that hope to acquire customers from the internet, while some are individuals who wish to gain traffic and make profits from advertising.

(Xinhua)14:41, July 08, 2019

SHIJIAZHUANG, July 8 (Xinhua) — The coastal city of Qinhuangdao in north Chinas Hebei Province unveiled a regulation banning smoking in all indoor venues from Aug. 1, according to local authorities.

The regulation prohibits smoking in 11 kinds of outdoor places including tourist destinations and beaches. Electronic cigarettes are also prohibited at the same venues under the regulation.

Smokers who do not adhere to the regulation will be fined up to 200 yuan (29.02 U.S. dollars), and venue owners may be fined up to 1,000 yuan.

China has set a target to reduce the smoking rate among people aged 15 and above to 20 percent by 2030, according to the Healthy China 2030 blueprint issued in 2016.

(Xinhua)15:42, July 08, 2019

BEIJING, July 8 (Xinhua) — A training program started in 2015 to provide calligraphy courses for primary and secondary school teachers has so far trained 5,500 teachers.

The information was announced at the opening ceremony of the programs fifth session held in Beijing.

The program, jointly launched by the Ministry of Education and the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, plans to take five years to train about 7,000 calligraphy teachers at primary and secondary schools nationwide and aims to promote both the accessibility and quality of calligraphy education at the schools to better carry forward traditional Chinese culture.

Su Shishu, president of the China Calligraphers Association, said the training will give special focus on basic exercises, skills and culture of Chinese calligraphy as well as the effect of the courses.

(Xinhua)17:06, July 08, 2019

CHENGDU, July 8 (Xinhua) — Weighing over 200 grams each, a pair of male-female panda twins were born in Chengdu, capital of southwest Chinas Sichuan Province, local authorities said Monday.

They are believed to be the heaviest captive-bred panda twins born in the world, according to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

The male giant panda cub weighs 211.6 grams and the female 209 grams. They were born at the base on Saturday morning and are in stable condition.

The average birth weight of panda cubs is around 150 grams. It is rare to see both twin cubs weigh over 200 grams each at birth, experts said.

Their mother Po was born at the Zoo Atlanta in November 2010 and was named after the hit Hollywood animated blockbuster Kung Fu Panda.

Pos water broke at 4:47 a.m. Saturday. This was her first delivery, but she held and licked her cubs soon after, which showed her strong sense of maternity.

As of Monday, a total of 298 giant panda cubs have been born at the Chengdu research base.

The giant panda was scientifically discovered 150 years ago and named in the city of Yaan, Sichuan. It remains one of the worlds most endangered species.

The number of captive pandas was 548 globally as of last November. Fewer than 2,000 pandas live in the wild, mostly in the provinces of Sichuan and Shaanxi.