China Chronicles July 25, 2012
- Wang Anshun appointed acting mayor of Beijing
WANG Anshun was appointed vice mayor and acting mayor of Beijing today.
The appointment was announced this morning at the 34th session of the Standing Committee of the 13th Beijing Municipal People's Congress, the local legislative body.
The meeting also accepted the resignation of Guo Jinlong as mayor of Beijing.
Previously, Guo was elected secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China on July 3.Wang, born in December 1957, is a native of Huixian County in central China's Henan Province. He had worked in petroleum geology authorities, the Ministry of Land and Resources, northwest China's Gansu Province, Shanghai and Beijing, holding a series of important positions.
He has served as vice Party chief of Beijing since March 2007.
- Beijing Drainage Group blames planners for flooding
THE Beijing Drainage Group Co Ltd yesterday blamed the planners of the capital's drainage systems after questions were raised about the city's ability to cope with flooding after the torrential rainstorm claimed 37 lives over the weekend.
The company said the pump stations serving 90 overpasses citywide that were built last century were based on the experience of the former Soviet Union, where more than half the country received less than 400 millimeters of rainfall each year.
The then professionals involved didn't anticipate such a downpour as happened at the weekend -- the heaviest the city has seen in 60 years. The pump stations couldn't cope and that was what had caused the severe flooding, the company said.
Chen Ming, the company's manager, said 74 of the pump stations would be renovated within three years with each able to handle up to 50mm of rainfall per hour, according to Xinhua news agency.
But he admitted that the future pump stations would still not be capable of dealing with such fierce rainstorms. "It needs overall urban planning to fix the root cause and to have a perfect drainage system," he added.
Professionals have suggested the authorities learn from Japan and Britain and build reservoirs underground to collect the rain or set up greenbelts a little below ground level naturally soak up the water and, at the same time, irrigate the plants.
Urban flooding has been a chronic problem in China. This summer, rainstorms and flooding have wreaked havoc in many cities, including Guangzhou, Chongqing and Shenzhen.
However, Xinhua said it was embarrassing that many ancient drainage systems still worked and that cities had to rely on these "antiques" to resist the floods.
In a royal palace near the capital's Beihai Park, the roads were never submerged under waist-deep water thanks to drainage systems built in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.
Nine wells inside the palace collect the rain and link to an underground river which surrounds the p! alace an d flows to the then city moat. In addition, the paving was laid in such a way that rainfall could easily find its way into the soil beneath, Xinhua said.
Many other historic places, including Tian'anmen Square and the Temple of Heaven, have the similar system and weren't submerged.
Besides the outdated drainage network, experts also believe the floods are largely the result of urbanization, with vast networks of roads and the elimination of greenbelts decreasing some cities' ability to cope with heavy rain.
Sheng Minzhi, an engineer at the Hangzhou Planning Bureau, said the mass construction of tall buildings and underground parking lots in some cities had slowed the rate at which the ground could absorb rainwater, Xinhua said. - Wang Anshun appointed acting mayor of Beijing
WANG Anshun was appointed vice mayor and acting mayor of Beijing today.
The appointment was announced this morning at the 34th session of the Standing Committee of the 13th Beijing Municipal People's Congress, the local legislative body.
The meeting also accepted the resignation of Guo Jinlong as mayor of Beijing.
Previously, Guo was elected secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China on July 3.Wang, born in December 1957, is a native of Huixian County in central China's Henan Province. He had worked in petroleum geology authorities, the Ministry of Land and Resources, northwest China's Gansu Province, Shanghai and Beijing, holding a series of important positions.
He has served as vice Party chief of Beijing since March 2007.
- Beijing mayor, vice mayor resign
THE Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress today accepted the resignation of Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong and the Vice Mayor Ji Lin.
Wang Anshun and Li Shixiang were elected vice mayors at the meeting. Wang was appointed acting mayor of China's capital.
- Protecting the peace
A Z-9WZ attack helicopter, designed and manufactured in China, takes flight during a demonstration for the press at the base of a helicopter regiment of the Chinese People's Liberation Army outside Beijing yesterday. China was showing its elite helicopter unit to foreign media. "Our military's aim is to protect peace. The training exercises we carry out are normal and in line with what we always do," Zhang Zhilin, commander of the Army Aviation 4th Helicopter Regiment, told reporters.
- Death and devastation as typhoon makes landfall
Three people were killed and six were reported missing as Typhoon Vicente made landfall early yesterday morning in Guangdong Province just minutes after it hit neighboring Hong Kong, leaving dozens injured and bringing the financial hub's businesses to a standstill.
Vicente hit Hong Kong at 4am with wind speeds that reached around 140 kilometers per hour, moderating to 59kph.
The government said 118 people had been injured during the night, with 52 admitted to hospital. Flying debris struck several people in the central business district and subway stations were converted into temporary shelters to accommodate stranded passengers.
At daybreak, the normally bustling central district resembled a ghost town, with the stock market and major banks closed, and businesses shut.
Dozens of flights at Hong Kong airport were cancelled or delayed, and ferry services linking Hong Kong island with Kowloon, the New Territories and outlying islands suspended.
After smashing through Hong Kong, Vicente headed to Guangdong.
It made landfall in coastal areas in Guangdong's Taishan City at around 4:15am, with wind speeds of up to 144kph near its center, spawning torrential rain, the provincial meteorological station said. As of 5pm yesterday, Vicente had caused 305 million yuan (US$47.7 million) in direct economic losses in Taishan alone, according to the municipal flood control headquarters.
The typhoon is expected to move northwest but is weakening. Gales and downpours are expected to hit western Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta today and tomorrow.
High-speed train services between Guangzhou and Shenzhen have been temporarily halted, the Guangzhou Railway Group Corp said, and speeds on the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed line reduced.
All shipping lines across the Qiongzhou Strait, between Leizhou Peninsula in Guangdong and Hainan Island, have been closed since Sunday night.
More than 10 flights were delayed by four to six hours on average at Nanning Wuxu In! ternatio nal Airport in Guangdong's neighboring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region yesterday.
In Guangdong, more than 710,000 households had power blackouts. However, electricity was back on in 470,000 households by 6pm after 5,760 workers were sent to repair the facilities, China Southern Power Grid said.
The meteorological station in Haikou, Hainan's capital, issued a red storm alert yesterday, the highest level in China's four-tier warning system.
Thirty-two flights were canceled at the Phoenix International Airport in Hainan's Sanya as of yesterday morning.
Seas off the coast of Guangdong, Fujian and Hainan provinces are expected to experience waves of 3 to 5 meters in height, according to the National Maritime Forecast Station, which warned local authorities and the public to take precautionary measures.
- Death and devastation as typhoon makes landfall
Three people were killed and six were reported missing as Typhoon Vicente made landfall early yesterday morning in Guangdong Province just minutes after it hit neighboring Hong Kong, leaving dozens injured and bringing the financial hub's businesses to a standstill.
Vicente hit Hong Kong at 4am with wind speeds that reached around 140 kilometers per hour, moderating to 59kph.
The government said 118 people had been injured during the night, with 52 admitted to hospital. Flying debris struck several people in the central business district and subway stations were converted into temporary shelters to accommodate stranded passengers.
At daybreak, the normally bustling central district resembled a ghost town, with the stock market and major banks closed, and businesses shut.
Dozens of flights at Hong Kong airport were cancelled or delayed, and ferry services linking Hong Kong island with Kowloon, the New Territories and outlying islands suspended.
After smashing through Hong Kong, Vicente headed to Guangdong.
It made landfall in coastal areas in Guangdong's Taishan City at around 4:15am, with wind speeds of up to 144kph near its center, spawning torrential rain, the provincial meteorological station said. As of 5pm yesterday, Vicente had caused 305 million yuan (US$47.7 million) in direct economic losses in Taishan alone, according to the municipal flood control headquarters.
The typhoon is expected to move northwest but is weakening. Gales and downpours are expected to hit western Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta today and tomorrow.
High-speed train services between Guangzhou and Shenzhen have been temporarily halted, the Guangzhou Railway Group Corp said, and speeds on the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed line reduced.
All shipping lines across the Qiongzhou Strait, between Leizhou Peninsula in Guangdong and Hainan Island, have been closed since Sunday night.
More than 10 flights were delayed by four to six hours on average at Nanning Wuxu In! ternatio nal Airport in Guangdong's neighboring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region yesterday.
In Guangdong, more than 710,000 households had power blackouts. However, electricity was back on in 470,000 households by 6pm after 5,760 workers were sent to repair the facilities, China Southern Power Grid said.
The meteorological station in Haikou, Hainan's capital, issued a red storm alert yesterday, the highest level in China's four-tier warning system.
Thirty-two flights were canceled at the Phoenix International Airport in Hainan's Sanya as of yesterday morning.
Seas off the coast of Guangdong, Fujian and Hainan provinces are expected to experience waves of 3 to 5 meters in height, according to the National Maritime Forecast Station, which warned local authorities and the public to take precautionary measures.
- Rains' toll of devastation
TORRENTIAL rains have ravaged 22 provincial-level regions in China since July 20, leaving 111 dead and another 47 missing, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said yesterday.
As of 2pm yesterday, the downpours had affected nearly 9.2 million people in 353 counties and forced the evacuation of nearly 1.18 million people, it said.
The rainstorms also destroyed 54,000 houses and damaged another 144,000.
Heavy rains are forecast to sweep north China over the next three days.
- Internet users map out Beijing hazards
CHINA'S Internet users are sharing self-made maps marking Beijing's flood-prone areas following the weekend's deadly downpour.
The maps, identifying potentially waterlogged streets during rainstorms, appeared after torrential rains inundated Beijing on Saturday, leaving 37 people dead.
An official statement said 25 people drowned when the rain, said to be the worst in six decades, submerged many sections of the city's streets.
In one map created by "goldengrape," 40 places in Beijing are labeled as "dangerous" based on experiences during Saturday's rainstorm. Descriptions were also added, such as "intersection of Xi'erqi North Road, low-lying, many manhole covers washed away."
Netizens said the map would help them cope with future cloudbursts, as they said the city's road conditions couldn't be improved in a short time.
Other posts and videos included survival tips such as how to break open car windows. Earlier reports said a Beijing man drowned in his car on Saturday night after driving into a pool 4 meters deep formed by rainwater. He is said to have knocked his head against the window in a failed attempt to break free.
According to a map published by Beijing's flood control office, 80 spots in the city were still covered in water as of 9am yesterday. The office will soon publish its version of a "flood map" pointing out flood-prone areas in Beijing, said spokesman Liu Hongwei.
- City's government pledges toll truth
THE Beijing city government says it has been and will continue to be truthful in reporting the death toll from the weekend's flooding amid online skepticism.
Spokeswoman Wang Hui told reporters yesterday that 37 people died in the city. She said flood-hit areas were still being inspected and any updates would be disclosed promptly.
"I want to say I hope everyone will not speculate that the Beijing government is hiding the death toll," said Wang, who at moments during the briefing became tearful as she described the force of the downpour.
"Doing the inspection work is not easy. Do believe us that we will speak the truth," she said. "If there are new figures we will immediately tell you."
Rumors had been circulating online about higher casualties.
- Traffic resumes on flooded highway
TRAFFIC on the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau expressway resumed at noon yesterday after 84 vehicles stranded on the expressway following Saturday's massive downpour in Beijing were removed.
One section of the road was submerged in up to 6 meters of floodwater on Saturday.
Ten divers and hundreds of rescuers spent two days pulling submerged cars out of deep water on the expressway, rescuers said. They found the bodies of three drowned victims in the cars. Each diver worked a 40-minute shift.
Another 900-meter section of the expressway was submerged in water four meters deep, the municipal government said.
- Betel Palm Village
- Fun in the Sun 1/5
- Fun in the Sun 2/5
- Fun in the Sun 5/5
- The Bund
Christopher_JM has added a photo to the pool:
- montblanc-black
/the DON/ has added a photo to the pool:
Shot in Monochrome, handheld
Lighting: LED on the upper right
Lens: 50mm1.8D + 12mm extension tube
Aperture: f5
Exposure: 1/80
Compensation: - 0.3
ISO: 400
Adjusted the curves in PS as the original came out too dark!
___________________________________________
Photos on GETTY IMAGES
__________________________________________ - Kingfisher / Alcedo atthis
André Vogelaere - 李安杰 has added a photo to the pool:
Huizhou District, Huangshan / Anhui Province / PR China
© André Vogelaere. All my images are protected under international authors copyright laws and may not be downloaded, not be used on websites, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written explicit permission.
© André Vogelaere。我所有的图像都根据国际作家版权法律保护，不得下载，不能在网站上使用，复制，没有我的书面明确许可，复制，传播或操纵。
View Awards Count - DSC_0110 Guilin (China) Li River
tango- has added a photo to the pool:
Comments