China Chronicles June 25, 2012
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- 6 killed in floods
DOWNPOURS have left at least six people dead in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region over the past three days, local authorities said yesterday.
Floods that had been triggered by the rainstorms have affected the lives of more than 450,000 people, destroyed some 1,000 houses and inundated almost 17,000 hectares of land used for crops, a spokesman said.
- Fishing collision
THE Philippines said yesterday that a Chinese vessel accidentally rammed a Philippine fishing boat north of the Huangyan Island in the South China Sea, killing one person and leaving four others missing.
The fishing boat had set out from the northern Philippine coastal town of Bolinao last Monday and was reported to have sunk two days later, Office of Civil Defense chief Benito Ramos said. "Of the eight fishermen aboard, four were plucked out of sea only yesterday, but one of them died in a hospital," Ramos said. "Four more are still missing."
- 2 dead, 100 hurt in 5.7-mag quake
AT least two people died and 100 others were injured when a 5.7-magnitude earthquake jolted southwest China yesterday, local authorities said. The casualties were reported in the county of Ninglang in Yunnan Province and neighboring Yanyuan County in Sichuan Province.
Local authorities have sent 300 tents, 500 quilts and 500 cotton-padded clothes to Ninglang, said Bai Yong, director of Yunnan Provincial Civil Affairs Department's disaster relief section. Telecommunication networks in the county's Yongning township were cut. The Yunnan Provincial Seismological Bureau has sent a team to the area. The quake struck the border of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces at 3:59pm, and was followed by a 3.3-magnitude aftershock two minutes later. The epicenter was in an area where the Yi ethnic group live. A spokesman with the Yanyuan County government said many houses in the countryside had collapsed.
- Manual docking success for China's space trio
Three Chinese astronauts successfully carried out a manual docking of the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft with the orbiting Tiangong-1 lab module yesterday.
Astronaut Liu Wang, assisted by colleagues Jing Haipeng and Liu Yang, began to maneuver the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft to dock with the Tiangong-1 space lab module at 12:48pm and the connection was made some seven minutes later.
About one and a half hours earlier, Shenzhou-9 parted from Tiangong-1 to a berth point 400 meters away from the module.
A highly sophisticated space maneuver, manual docking requires the astronauts to connect together two orbiters traveling at 7.8 kilometers a second in space without a hitch.
Shortly after the docking, the smiling and waving astronauts greeted the ground crew via video link.
"The manual docking was beautifully conducted. It was very accurate and swift, " said Liu Weibo, who is responsible for China's astronaut system.
The manual docking was completed in just 7 minutes, 3 minutes faster than automatic docking, said Liu.
Liu Weibo said the success was due to three factors. Liu Wang had fully grasped the sophisticated manual docking technologies and his psychological status was sound, the three astronauts had worked in close cooperation, and the domestically made docking system was reliable.
The astronauts, 343 kilometers away from Earth, were greeted by Chinese oceanauts from the Mariana Trench, 7,020 meters beneath the Pacific Ocean.
They sent a message saying: "We hope the manual docking is a great success and wish for brilliant achievements in China's manned space and manned deep-sea dive causes."
Wu Ping, a spokeswoman for China's manned space program, told a press conference in Beijing that the three Chinese astronauts had already re-entered the space lab module to continue their scientific experiments.
The spacecraft and the space lab were previously joined together in an automated docking last Monday.
"The automated docking and manual doc! king are both essential and they serve as a backup for each other," said Zhou Jianping, designer-in-chief of China's manned space program.
The manual docking was a significant step for China's manned space program as China had now fully grasped the space travel, space walk and space rendezvous and docking technologies that are essential to building a space station, Zhou said.
The Shenzhou-9 is due to part from the Tiangong-1 in four days and take the three astronauts back to Earth on Friday, setting a record for China's longest space travel.
- 19 billion yuan budget for space program
CHINA has planned a 19 billion yuan (US$3 billion) budget for its space rendezvous and docking missions, a spokeswoman for China's manned space program said yesterday.
Wu Ping told a press conference that the budget covers the ongoing Shenzhou-9 spacecraft manned space docking mission, previous missions conducted by the Shenzhou-7 and Shenzhou-8 spaceships, as well as a mission to be carried out by Shenzhou-10 next year.
- Chinese oceanauts break another deep-dive record
CHINESE oceanauts again broke the country's dive record in a manned submersible by going deeper than 7,000 meters beneath the sea yesterday.
The Jiaolong, China's manned submersible named after a mythical sea dragon, reached 7,020 meters below sea level at about 11am local time during its fourth dive into the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean.
The submersible began to dive four hours before and was back on mother ship Xiangyanghong 09 some 11 hours later.
The oceanauts, Ye Cong, Liu Kaizhou and Yang Bo, worked for almost three hours on the sea floor, collecting water samples and sediment and placing markers on the bottom.
Since arriving at the area earlier this month, the Jiaolong has succeeded in reaching depths of 6,671, 6,965 and 6,963 meters in its previous three dives from June 15 to 22, far surpassing the national record of 5,188 meters it set last July.
"It has been proved during the four times of dive that the submersible is stable in function and the capabilities of the team performing the test dives are improving gradually," said Liu Feng, commander at the scene.
"The breakthrough of diving deeper than 7,000 meters will enable China to conduct scientific surveys in over 99.8 percent of the world's seabed areas," said Liu Cigui, director of the State Oceanic Administration.
The submersible will attempt two more dives into the Mariana Trench, the world's deepest place, and is expected to return to China in mid-July.
- the_egg_and_qianmen-5
- Tourists swept to their deaths in swollen river
TWO tourists, one from Shanghai and the other from east China's Shandong Province, died in rain-triggered mountain torrents in neighboring Zhejiang Province on Saturday.
A group of 10 adventurers who knew each other via the instant message service QQ, arrived in Wencheng County in Wenzhou from Shanghai on Saturday. They encountered torrential rain in a mountain valley near the Dongsandian Reservoir on Saturday afternoon.
The group had divided themselves into two teams. The tragedy happened when the team leader in a group of six was swimming to the other bank of a river but was swept away by swift torrents near a waterfall, a team member surnamed Fan said. Another member jumped into the swollen river to try to rescue him, but was swept away as well.
The group's only cell phone was broken and it was several hours before they could alert police.
The bodies were recovered at 2am yesterday.
A lack of experience and preparation combined with the bad weather was to blame for the incident, Wencheng police said.
Only two members of the six-member team had previous experience, and no one in the group had walked the route before. They had planned their trip through online maps.
All the surviving eight group members were safe and were staying in Wencheng, said a police spokeswoman surnamed Zhou.
Four members of the group were Shanghainese and most of them were over 30 years old, Zhou said. The Shanghainese victim lived in the Pudong New Area.
There have been calls for the government to regulate such activities to ensure that anyone taking part has the necessary training and proper equipment.
Shanghai authorities are researching rules and regulations on outdoor sports clubs and potentially dangerous activities such as rock climbing, bungee jumping and outdoor exploration and they are expected to be announced sometime this year.
- 纹身，脱痣
elvisinchina has added a photo to the pool:
Tattoos and mole removal, Gaoyao, Guangdong, China. Street food I like, but street tattoos make me nervous. Shot with an iPhone 4 and post processed with PhotoForge2.
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