China Chronicles November 25, 2012
- Cold fronts to chill China, bring rain to south
TWO strong cold fronts will sweep China during the next two days, bringing temperature drops across the country and rains in south China, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) forecast today.
A cold front moving eastward will hit most regions of China from today to tomorrow, bringing down temperatures by 4 to 6 degrees Celsius, the center said.
Affected by the cold front, regions south of the Yangtze River will see persistent rains in the next two days, the NMC said.
Tomorrow, another cold front will hit northern regions of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and cause another round of strong winds and dropping temperatures in north China. - Foot-and-mouth disease reported in Liaoning
FOOT-AND-MOUTH disease infections have been confirmed in livestock in northeast China's Liaoning Province, the Ministry of Agriculture announced yesterday.
A total of 43 pigs at a farm in Erdao Village in Dalian City of Liaoning, showed symptoms associated with foot-and-mouth disease on Nov. 19, the ministry said.
The National Foot-and-Mouth Disease Reference Laboratory yesterday confirmed that the pigs were infected with type O foot-and-mouth disease after testing samples collected at the farm, the statement said.
Local authorities have sealed off and sterilized the infected area to prevent the disease from spreading, the statement said.
Foot-and-mouth disease is a contagious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild bovid. - China conducts first flight landing on aircraft carrier
China has successfully conducted flight landing on its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, naval sources said.
A new J-15 fighter jet was used as part of the landing exercise.
After its delivery to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy on Sept. 25, the aircraft carrier has undergone a series of sailing and technological tests, including the flight of the carrier-borne J-15.
Capabilities of the carrier platform and the J-15 have been tested, meeting all requirements and achieving good compatibility, the PLA Navy said.
Since the carrier entered service, the crew have completed more than 100 training and test programs.
The successful flight landing also marked the debut of the J-15 as China's first generation multi-purpose carrier-borne fighter jet, the PLA Navy said.
Designed by and made in China, the J-15 is able to carry multi-type anti-ship, air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, as well as precision-guided bombs.
The J-15 has comprehensive capabilities comparable to those of the Russian Su-33 jet and the U.S. F-18, military experts estimated. - 18 killed and 5 trapped in coal mine explosion
A coal mine accident in China's southwest killed 18 workers and trapped five more yesterday, Xinhua News Agency reported.
There were 28 workers working in the state-owned Xiangshui coal mine in Guizhou Province when the explosion happened about 11am, and five of those were rescued, Xinhua said.
In response, China's workplace safety authorities yesterday said they will impose tougher standards on reopening coal mines in production suspension.
China has one of the world's deadliest coal mine industries, with 1,146 miners killed in accidents as of mid-October this year. Safety improvements have reduced deaths in recent years, but regulations are often ignored and accidents are still common.
Some coal mines were ordered to suspend production due to safety problems, but they illegally resumed production without tackling problems.
The coal mines which have failed to meet the safety standards should not be reopened and those who abuse their power to lower overhaul standards would be punished, the notice from the workplace safety authorities said.
Authorities intended to shut down 625 small mines this year to boost mining safety.
In August, a mine blast in southwestern China's Sichuan Province killed 44 people, the highest single accident toll for the industry in three years.
In September, 20 miners died after a steel cable broke in a coal mine in northwestern China's Gansu Province.
- Galloping away with top awards
Taiwanese actress Gwei Lun-Mei and Hong Kong actor Lau Ching-Wan show off their Best Actress and Best Actor awards at the 49th Golden Horse Awards at the Luodong Cultural Working House in Yilan County, Taiwan, yesterday. Gwei received her award for her performance in "GF * BF," while Lau was awarded his for his role in "Life Without Principle." Golden Horse awards are the Chinese-language film industry's biggest annual event.
- Hot pot restaurant blast death toll 14
The death toll from an explosion at a hot pot restaurant in north China's Shanxi Province on Friday evening has risen to 14, with another 47 people injured, local investigators announced yesterday.
The powerful explosion occurred just before 8pm at the Xiyangyang - Happy Sheep - Hot Pot Restaurant in Shouyang County, Jinzhong City.
Preliminary investigations said that the blast was caused by a gas leak.
The explosion shattered all the windows of the two-story building, damaged neighboring shops and even cars parked more than 50 meters away. The blaze that followed engulfed the building.
An investigation team established by the local government said six people were killed on the scene and eight died in hospital.
Among the 47 hurt in the blast, 17 were severely injured. They are being treated in a local hospital, with some being transferred to major hospitals in Taiyuan City, capital of Shanxi Province, investigators said.
Their identities have not been announced.
Filled with black smoke
Yuan Heping, who was slightly injured in the accident, said he saw nothing amiss before the explosion as he dined with his wife and a friend on the second floor of the restaurant.
He said he heard a loud bang as he started drinking beer, and then a hot wave struck them and the entire room was filled with black smoke.
"I quickly took off my sweater, used it to cover my mouth and jumped out of the window," Yuan told Xinhua News Agency. His wife was also slightly injured in the accident.
Sun Caizhen, a resident living meters from the restaurant, said she was watching TV with her 12-year-old daughter when they heard the explosion.
"There was a big bang and all the windows in the room shattered. My daughter thought that it was an earthquake, and immediately hid under the table," said Sun.
"Fire quickly spread through the restaurant, with heavy smoke blown into our community.
"We were scared to see people jumping from restaurant w! indows on the second floor," said Sun. "Some were trapped inside and trying with all their strength to smash the windows," she recalled.
Another resident, Zhao Chunrong, 66, was left shocked by the incident.
"I heard many people screaming for help after the explosion. I've never seen such an accident before, and now I can't sleep at night," said Zhao.
Hot pot is made by cooking ingredients in a pot heated by charcoal, electricity or gas. It is a very popular dish among Chinese people, especially in winter.
The explosion is still under investigation, said officials.
- Toxic milk powder whistleblower 'was killed in domestic dispute'
THE man who exposed China's toxic milk product scandal was killed in a domestic dispute, not a revenge attack, police have said.
Jiang Weisuo, 44, was stabbed on November 2 during a dispute with his wife over his drinking habits, said Tang Jianping, head of the Yanta branch of the Xi'an Municipal Public Security Bureau in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
He died in hospital, police said.
Jiang, founder of a Shaanxi agricultural sciences company, blew the whistle on illegal practices in China's dairy industry in 2006, two years before media exposure of a major milk powder contamination scandal. Dairy competitors branded him a "black sheep," though the public later hailed him a hero.
There was speculation that he died in a revenge attack.
Police said six of the nine suspects in Jiang's death, including his wife Yang Ping, her younger sister Yang Caiying and her husband Lin Fan have been detained.
Yang Ping confessed to the crime, according to Huang Lin, vice head of the Yanta branch of the Xi'an Municipal Public Security Bureau.
Jiang, who had been accused of beating his wife after drinking, was involved in a dispute with Yang Ping in the early hours of November 1, police said.
She turned to Yang Caiying and others for help, Huang said.
Police said they were waiting for the results of an autopsy.
In 2008, melamine-tainted milk power led to the deaths of at least six babies and left 300,000 ill.
- Fabricated evidence case ex-lawyer in complaint
LI Zhuang, a former lawyer who was jailed for encouraging a client to fabricate evidence, has lodged a complaint with the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), the agency said yesterday.
Li, 51, submitted a written petition on Friday along with lawyer Wang Shihua and Gong Ganghua, the elder brother of Li's former client Gong Gangmo, according to a statement obtained by Xinhua news agency.
The statement offered no details about the complaint but said the SPP will handle Li's petition "in accordance with due procedures."
Li, then a lawyer with a Beijing law firm, was arrested in 2009. He was charged with encouraging Gong Gangmo, then a high-profile defendant in Chongqing's battle against underworld gangs, to lie about being mistreated in custody.
Li was convicted in January 2010 and released in June 2011.
Gong Gangmo was sentenced to life imprisonment for gang-related crimes in February 2010.
- High-speed trains ready to run in freezing north
CHINA'S first high-speed rail line in the country's freezing high-latitude regions is ready to go into service, the Ministry of Railways announced yesterday.
The line linking the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin and the port city of Dalian will go into service on December 1, becoming the world's first lengthy high-speed line running through regions with extremely low winter temperatures.
With trains traveling at speeds of up to 350 kilometer per hour, the 921-kilometer line will pass through the country's three northeastern provinces - Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning - as part of the planned Beijing-Harbin high-speed rail link.
It is one of the four north-south lines China aims to complete by 2015.
Temperatures along the new route can plunge to 40 degrees Celsius below zero.
The climate posed challenges during construction.
The ministry conducted 22 research projects to target technology obstacles, including steady monitoring of the track condition and overhead contact system, said an official. Between September and November, the line underwent 3,030 tests, he added.
- Snow for west
A cold front moving eastward will bring snow and cold winds to west China, the National Meteorological Center said yesterday. Snow was due hit the parts of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and areas of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia yesterday. The front will bring winds for Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia autonomous regions and Gansu Province.
- KMT celebrates 118th anniversary
Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party celebrated its 118th anniversary yesterday by visiting Dr Sun Yat-sen's Memorial Hall. It also held events for disadvantaged groups.
Sun founded Revive China Society, one of the predecessors of the KMT, in Honolulu, Hawaii, on November 24, 1894.
- China's high-latitude high-speed rail ready for service
A high-speed rail line linking northeastern Chinese city of Harbin and port city of Dalian will start service on December 1, according to the Ministry of Railways.
With a speed of 350 km per hour, the 921-kilometer railway is the world's first long high-speed line running through high-latitude regions with extremely low temperatures during the winter season, according to the ministry.
It is expected to cut travelling times between the two cities to about four hours from nine hours.
The line will go through the country's three northeastern provinces -- Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning. There will be 23 stops along the route, including that at the renowned industrial base Shenyang city, according to the ministry.
Due to safety concerns in relation to the climate, railway authorities have decided to adopt two different schedules. The speed during the winter season (December 1 to March 31) will be 200 km per hour, with the summer period (April 1 to November 30) being 300 km per hour.
The ministry said ticket prices will also vary depending on the schedule.
Harbin West, the line's originating station, has been designed with a combined passenger capacity of 7,000 passengers per hour at peak times.
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- Hangzhou opens first metro line to ease traffic
THE first metro line in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, officially opened today in a bid to help ease traffic congestion.
The 48-km-long Metro Line One has 31 stations and 48 trains with a departure every 10 minutes from 6:30 am to 8:30 pm each day.
Zhejiang Governor Xia Baolong inaugurated the line, which is designed with a daily passenger capacity of 287,000.
Shao Jianming, chairman of the Hangzhou Metro Group which is behind the project, said that the 24-billion-yuan (US$3.85 billion) line is expected to ease traffic woes in the city, which has a population of more than 8.7 million.
"Hangzhou's metro network, upon its full completion in 2050, will comprise 40 percent of the city's public transport," he said.
Hangzhou will build 10 metro lines by 2020 with a combined length of 375 km and by 2050, it will have a total of 13 lines.
Shao said the Metro Line One, which took five years to construct, boasts complex technology as it runs underneath the West Lake, the Qiantang River, the Grand Canal and several railways.
The line will be jointly operated by the Hangzhou Metro Group and the Hong Kong-based MTR, according to a deal signed in July on a 51-49 joint venture to manage the line for 25 years.
Huang Kunming, secretary of the Hangzhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, called today's launch "just a beginning" of Hangzhou's metro line construction boom.
Tickets, which are due to go on sale at 2:30 pm, are set to vary from 2 to 8 yuan.
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