Western China - news and development

[JSCh]

Decades of forestation efforts see rich results in Xinjiang
By Global Times - Agencies Source:Global Times Published: 2019/4/22 17:28:40

• The artificial oasis area in Xinjiang has expanded to five times the size of in the 1950s after consistent efforts over a long period
• In recent years, Xinjiang has worked on enhancing agricultural technology while improving water management
• Xinjiang's environment has improved, which has also benefited local residents' lives

An aerial view of artificial forests in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Photo: Courtesy of Wang Zhiqing from Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps

It is easy to see when spring arrives in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, thanks in large part to a prolonged campaign to turn this mostly desert area into lush swathes of green.

"After consistent efforts over a long period, the artificial oasis area in Xinjiang has expanded to five times the size of in the 1950s. The region is much greener," said Yang Jianming, deputy director of Xinjiang's forestation office.

Becoming reality

The Taklimakan Desert and the Gurbantunggut Desert cover large areas of land on the north and south sides of Tianshan Mountain respectively, making the color of sand the region's primary hue.

Pei Yu, deputy director of a non-commercial forest station in Shanshan county, Turpan, stood on the top of a sand dune on March 3, and watched the lush forest that covers more than 10,000 mu (about 6.7 million square meters) along the edge of the Kumtag Desert.

"We planted all the trees, vowing to make the place green. It has become a reality. The place where I'm standing is another forest that we planned to plant this year. It will also become green," Pei said.

The development of Xinjiang is closely related to forestation. According to Yang Jianming, the area of the Three-North Shelter forest program in the Xinjiang region has reached more than 66 million mu, and the artificial oasis area is 62,000 square meters. The forestation area for this year is expected to increase by 2 million mu.

Carrying out forestation programs in Xinjiang is no easy task, as deserts cover most of the area and it has a temperate continental climate with low rainfall throughout the year. Forestation projects in the region can only be accomplished with a great deal of perseverance.

Liu Zhen, an official from Aksu Prefecture, planted his first tree in March 27 this year. More than 1 million mu of forest surround his seedling.

Over the past 30 years, the leaders of Aksu have changed and the people who first planted trees here have grown old, but forestation work has never stopped. The prefecture has accomplished more than 4 million mu of forestation.

Residents in Bortala Mongolia Autonomous prefecture in Xinjiang prepare to plant trees along the road. Photo: CFP

"We people who work for the forestation projects are very proud of ourselves," Yang Jianming said.

He used a poem to describe the sharp contrast in the climate of the southern part of China and where they live. "Horses gallop in the west wind while apricot blossoms get wet in the spring rain… if there are no green areas, there will be no place for humans to survive. We are engaged in a great career," Yang said.

According to data from the Xinjiang Daily, the total forest coverage rate of Xinjiang has risen from 1.03 percent four decades ago to 4.87 percent today.

Led by science

The development of technology and scientific guidance have helped greatly with the forestation projects in Xinjiang. Ecological forests have been planted on the periphery of the desert and commercial forests in the inner circle, based on market demands. Poultry breeding and tourism will also be introduced to fit with local social development.

Making the place greener relies not only on forestation projects, but also water resource management.

When a sluice gate of a water conservancy project over the Kongque River in Koral, in Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, slowly opens, clean water flows out toward a populous forest several hundred kilometers away.

"What is the priority in ecology? We consider water consumption for humans and nature in the same way and we do not neglect the survival of other lives to meet human needs," said Ma Ming, a director of the management department of the Tarim River region.

In recent years, Xinjiang has worked on enhancing agricultural technology while improving water management. This allows more water to flow from farmland to the desert to revive plants, which also helps to fasten drifting sand.

Zhumahali Hardbayi, a herdsman from the Dabancheng district in Urumqi, said that "Turpan city and our district have implemented a project of returning grazing land to grassland. With more grass, we will have more sheep, and snow leopards have also appeared in the area."

This year marks the 21st year of the start of Xinjiang's natural forest protection work, with a total of 49.18 million mu of natural forest now covered.

"From 1998 to 2004, Xinjiang reduced the yearly timber yield from 280,000 cubic meters to 80,000 cubic meters. In January 2005, Xinjiang took the first step nationwide to stop felling natural forest for commercial use. All the lumberjacks became forest rangers," said Xiao Zhongqi, a senior engineer from the bureau of forestry and grassland in Xinjiang.

Benefiting from nature

With its efforts to protect the natural forest and increase in forestation area, Xinjiang's environment has improved, which has also benefited local residents' lives.

Ning Tao, manager of a Xinjiang-based ecological technology company, is planning to organize people to plant Chinese wild rye this month.

He is confident of making a success of the ecological program in Duzishan village, Hutubi county in Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture. "The desert grassland is hardly covered by plants, but we will change the situation by planting Chinese wild rye with the assistance of the Chinese Academy of Sciences," Ning said.

Chinese wild rye is a high-quality forage that can resist cold weather and drought. Once planted, it can be harvested for up to 30 years. It can also help with desertification control and water conservation.

"We will try to plant 50,000 mu of Chinese wild rye within three years, making it the largest base for the pratacultural industry in Xinjiang, producing the seed, processing and selling Chinese wild rye," Ning said.

The forestry and fruit industries have become the main sources of income for local farmers.

Aniwar Abulaizi, a farmer from Gulubashi village of Jiashi county, Kashi Prefecture has planted prunes for four years. "I can earn more than 20,000 yuan from one mu of prune," he said.

By the end of 2018, Xinjiang had more than 22 million mu of forest and fruit trees, with an annual yield of 10 million tons.

Even the deserts have become a source of income.

Wumer Memeti resigned from a station selling agricultural machinery in Shanshan county in 2016. He took all his money to plant saxaul in deserts. His agricultural cooperative now owns 2,700 mu of saxaul.

The forestation projects in Xinjiang also help with transportation. Yelibao Sailiguai, a truck driver, said that he no longer worries about strong winds from the desert blowing his truck over.

Many deserts in Xinjiang have been transformed into parks. Xinjiang now has 36 desert parks, the largest number in China.

"By building these desert parks, we can improve our desertification control work," Tursun Tuhuti, a director of the desertification control department of the bureau of forestry and grassland in Xinjiang, was quoted by the Xinjiang Daily as saying.

 

[Adam WANG SHANGHAI MEGA]

Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture will surprise you if you consider xinjiang all deserts and gobi waste lands.

 

[JSCh]

World's highest highway tunnel open to traffic in Tibet
Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-26 14:40:07|Editor: Li Xia

LHASA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The world's highest highway tunnel was open to traffic on Friday at an altitude of over 4,750 meters above sea level in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

The two-way tunnel is over 5.7 km long, which is a part of the 400-km highway linking the regional capital of Lhasa with Nyingchi in the southeast of Tibet.

Construction of the tunnel started in 2015 on the 5,018-meter-high Mila Mountain, and it was completed on Monday, helping shorten the 18-km distance over the mountain to 5.7 km.

Gong Bin, project manager of Mila Mountain Tunnel of the China Railway No. 2 Bureau, said that more than 10 technological breakthroughs have been made in the course of the construction, such as improving the survey accuracy of mountain tunnels in extremely cold weather and at high altitudes.

He said in addition to coldness and lack of oxygen, over 2,000 construction workers faced the challenges of the inconvenience of transporting living and construction materials to the site.

"We have worked here for more than four years and lived in makeshift houses at the entrance to the tunnel," said Xu Yong, Party chief of the construction project.

He said the highway is an important channel to the eastern part of Tibet, which can help boost tourism, industrial development and bring traffic convenience to local people.

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[Adam WANG SHANGHAI MEGA]

World's highest highway tunnel open to traffic in Tibet
Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-26 14:40:07|Editor: Li Xia

LHASA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The world's highest highway tunnel was open to traffic on Friday at an altitude of over 4,750 meters above sea level in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

The two-way tunnel is over 5.7 km long, which is a part of the 400-km highway linking the regional capital of Lhasa with Nyingchi in the southeast of Tibet.

Construction of the tunnel started in 2015 on the 5,018-meter-high Mila Mountain, and it was completed on Monday, helping shorten the 18-km distance over the mountain to 5.7 km.

Gong Bin, project manager of Mila Mountain Tunnel of the China Railway No. 2 Bureau, said that more than 10 technological breakthroughs have been made in the course of the construction, such as improving the survey accuracy of mountain tunnels in extremely cold weather and at high altitudes.

He said in addition to coldness and lack of oxygen, over 2,000 construction workers faced the challenges of the inconvenience of transporting living and construction materials to the site.

"We have worked here for more than four years and lived in makeshift houses at the entrance to the tunnel," said Xu Yong, Party chief of the construction project.

He said the highway is an important channel to the eastern part of Tibet, which can help boost tourism, industrial development and bring traffic convenience to local people.

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China and Chinese people should thank Tibet and Tibetain chinese people again coz Tibet and its natural conditions force China and Chinese companies to master and innovate the most advanced constructiontechs in the world!

World's highest highway tunnel open to traffic in Tibet
Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-26 14:40:07|Editor: Li Xia

LHASA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The world's highest highway tunnel was open to traffic on Friday at an altitude of over 4,750 meters above sea level in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

The two-way tunnel is over 5.7 km long, which is a part of the 400-km highway linking the regional capital of Lhasa with Nyingchi in the southeast of Tibet.

Construction of the tunnel started in 2015 on the 5,018-meter-high Mila Mountain, and it was completed on Monday, helping shorten the 18-km distance over the mountain to 5.7 km.

Gong Bin, project manager of Mila Mountain Tunnel of the China Railway No. 2 Bureau, said that more than 10 technological breakthroughs have been made in the course of the construction, such as improving the survey accuracy of mountain tunnels in extremely cold weather and at high altitudes.

He said in addition to coldness and lack of oxygen, over 2,000 construction workers faced the challenges of the inconvenience of transporting living and construction materials to the site.

"We have worked here for more than four years and lived in makeshift houses at the entrance to the tunnel," said Xu Yong, Party chief of the construction project.

He said the highway is an important channel to the eastern part of Tibet, which can help boost tourism, industrial development and bring traffic convenience to local people.

​

Do we need to bring Oxygen bottle with us when travel through this road?

 

[JSCh]

Tibet's 1st electrified railway under construction
New China TV
Published on May 2, 2019

Workers are laying tracks on the 435-km Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway, the first electrified railway in Tibet.

 

[JSCh]

Monks, nuns have shared basic benefits
By Li Ruohan in Lhasa and Xigaze Source:Global Times Published: 2019/5/5 23:13:39

Enhanced legal awareness helps monks better exercise civil rights

Tibetan Buddhist believers pray outside the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region on March 7. Photo: Li Qian/GT

As China mulls all-out efforts to ensure that the country's achievements during the past six decades are shared by each and every citizen, there's no reason that monks and nuns from monasteries in Tibet are excluded. Such an idea was strongly felt by Global Times reporters during their visits to the monasteries in the region in early March.

China's national flag was frequently seen at monasteries in Lhasa, capital city of the autonomous region in Southwest China, as well as posters introducing the country's policies to protect religious freedom.

Articles written by monks and nuns expressing gratitude for the change in their lives brought about by Party and government policies are posted in the monasteries' offices, including some handwritten ones from elder monks.

Since 2011, Tibet has invested nearly 7 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) on a campaign to ensure that all monasteries or temples in the region are connected to roads and have access to electricity, water and telecommunications services.

Temples are also building public bathrooms, canteens and reading rooms and movies for the monks and nuns. The films, mostly featuring patriotic and religious themes, are provided with subtitles in the Tibetan language.

Phurbu Tsering, a monk at the Sera Monastery, who is also the head of Lhasa's Buddhist Association, said that the most impressive film for him was the 90-minute documentary Amazing China. The film highlights a series of major developments the country has made since 2012, including the world's largest radio telescope FAST, the world's largest maritime drilling rig Blue Whale 2, and the development of 5G mobile technology.

"It broadens my eyes and I had a strong feeling of those great achievements our home country has made," said Phurbu Tsering.

As of March, 98 percent of Tibet's temples had achieved the goal of the campaign. The intention is simple: Monks and nuns are also citizens, and they have the same rights to enjoy modern facilities as other citizens do, said Luobu Dunzhu, deputy head of Tibet's religious affairs bureau.

A Chinese national flag is raised at the Potala Palace in Tibet in March. Photo: Li Ruohan/GT

Rights respected

"About 10 years ago, not many monks and nuns had citizen awareness. But now, being a good citizen and being patriotic has been acknowledged by many as an important quality of being a good monk," Phuntsok Gyaltsen from the Jokhang Temple told the Global Times.

The result comes from enhanced efforts to introduce laws and regulations at monasteries. In 2018, over 3,200 lectures to promote the legal awareness of monks and nuns were held in 1,787 monasteries across the autonomous region.

Officials from judicial departments, lawyers, scholars and police were invited to monasteries to explain and answer frequently asked questions from the monks and nuns.

Activities such as group study and seminars on China's law and national policies, such as the Constitution, National Flag Law and Religious Affairs Regulation, are held regularly in monasteries.

WeChat and other platforms are also used to introduce China's law and religious policies.

In the eyes of monks and nuns, such activities are necessary and helpful to know how to exercise their civil rights and protect the rights from being violated.

"I am a monk. I am also a Chinese citizen, and knowing the laws and regulations could better help protect myself," said Phurbu Tsering from the Sera Monastery.

Monks and nuns should be punished if they violate laws, but many of them are not aware when and whether they violate laws, and that makes such activities more necessary, he said.

In some monasteries, monks and nuns also took examinations on laws and regulations, according to autonomous region's religious officials.

"I experienced the unrest times and I know the reasons behind such turbulence. As a citizen I have the obligation to fight separatism and safeguard stability," said Sonam Phuntsok from Gaden Monastery.

"Stability in Tibet and in the whole country is the most important guarantee of the development of Tibetan Buddhism," he said, noting that separatist activities bring no good to the development of the religion.

"Dalai Lama's using Tibetan Buddhism as a political tool to serve his own separatist agenda has hurt the future and credibility of the religion. Monks and nuns should realize that the religion could thrive only when it separates itself from the negative impact of separatists and plays a positive role in society," said Zhu Weiqun, former head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's top political advisory body.

Transparent operation

Since 2011, monasteries in Tibet have gradually established committees to manage religious and civil affairs. The management committees normally consist of senior monks and non-religious people who are mostly former or current government officials.

The committees also include members who are responsible for the conservation of culture relics and ensure that the monasteries are free from fire or other hazards.

Such a work approach was not welcomed by all when first introduced to monasteries, as some monks and nuns did not understand the logic behind the change and feared that they might lose control of religious affairs in the temples, said local officials.

However, those committees are an inseparable part of the monasteries' daily activities and the lives of monks and nuns as they realize that the officials are not here to be a boss, but a server, said Anu Tsering, head of united front work department of Lhasa, the government body that oversees religious affairs.

Monks in the committees are still in charge of religious affairs, such as how a ritual should be held, while officials in the committees are helping with paperwork and formalities to organize those activities and ensure that those events are held in accordance with law and administrative requirements.

"The officials are like bridges to facilitate the interaction between monasteries and government agencies," said Phurbu Tsering from the Sera Monastery.

"For instance, the officials are very helpful in applying for more government funds for monks and nuns and ensuring that they have access to all social welfare benefits," he said.

All the monks and nuns in the Tibet autonomous region are provided with medical, social and accident insurance. They can also have a free physical examination once a year, officials said.

Over 290,000 rooms for monks and nuns have been renovated with government funding of 146 million yuan as of March. The region also has an annual budget of 15 million yuan to maintain small and medium-sized monasteries and the cultural relics stored there.

Such a mechanism actually makes the monasteries' management and operations more transparent and efficient, monks and nuns said.

Before such a committee is launched in the Sera Monastery, major religious positions, such as Guige, who oversees monks' behavior and religious study, are normally appointed or decided by senior monks.

After the establishment of the committee, those positions are elected every three years and in a democratic manner, said Phurbu Tsering, who is also deputy head of the monastery's management committee.

The committee will make public the list of candidates first, and if any monks think the nominees are not qualified, they could suggest a new candidate. A vote will be held and announced to ensure the transparency of the process, Phurbu Tsering said.

 

[JSCh]

China launches healthcare campaign for elderly citizens in western regions
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-18 12:32:25|Editor: Xiang Bo

BEIJING, May 18 (Xinhua) -- China has launched a campaign on healthcare knowledge and medical services for elderly citizens in provincial-level regions in the west of the country.

The campaign consists of a series of events, including healthcare lectures at local elderly care facilities, promotion of healthcare knowledge at local communities and free on-site clinics for local elderly people, Health News reported.

The campaign is organized by the China Population Welfare Foundation and overseen by the Department on Ageing and Health of China's National Health Commission.

According to the schedule, the campaign will tour 12 provincial-level regions including Tibet Autonomous Region, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Sichuan Province.

In a rapidly aging society, the demand for elderly healthcare services is always rising, said Wang Jianjun, deputy head of the Office of the National Working Commission on Aging at the campaign's launching ceremony, saying that establishing an elderly healthcare system accessible to both urban and rural citizens is a priority.

 

[JSCh]

Free iodized salt program benefits 34 mln farmers, herdsmen in Xinjiang
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-19 15:04:15|Editor: Li Xia

URUMQI, May 19 (Xinhua) -- More than 34 million people have benefited from a program in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, where authorities have offered free iodized salt for local farmers and herdsmen.

Since 2007, Xinjiang authorities have pumped more than 300 million yuan (44 million U.S. dollars) in funds to subsidize about 160,000 tonnes of iodized salt, according to the regional health authorities.

Xinjiang has long faced a severe lack of iodized salt. Since the 1960s, the locals have used iodized salt to prevent iodine deficiency, in addition to other ways to take in more iodine, said Zhang Ling, with the regional center for disease control and prevention.

In recent years, local authorities have stepped up efforts to monitor iodine deficiency and spread knowledge about the importance of iodine intake. No cretinism cases have been reported for nine consecutive years in Xinjiang.

Before the campaign against iodine deficiency began in the 1950s and 1960s, Xinjiang reported severe cases of hypertrophied thyroid glands.

Iodine deficiency was once a seriously prevalent local disease in China, but it has been controlled or eradicated in most areas. According to the national center for disease control and prevention, 94.2 percent of counties in China have no iodine deficiency.

 

[JSCh]

Mobile medical teams to tour impoverished regions in Tibet
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-23 16:11:06|Editor: Li Xia

BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Mobile medical teams will tour through 96 impoverished townships in Tibet this year, a regional health official said here Thursday.

By the end of next year, the teams will cover all townships in the region, Wang Yunting, a senior official with the health department of Tibet Autonomous Region, said at a press conference.

Due to a small population scattered across the vast lands in Tibet, many farmers and herdsmen living in high altitude and remote areas only receive medical services through such mobile teams.

Medical teams will be made up of staff from village clinics, county and township hospitals and be provided with special medical vehicles and mobile equipment, Wang said.

In the tour, besides treating diseases, they will spend more efforts in offering health counseling and raising awareness, he said.

 

[JSCh]

Tibet makes major strides in treatment, prevention of hydatid disease
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-25 12:30:06|Editor: Yamei

BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Major strides have been made in the treatment and prevention of hydatid disease in Tibet Autonomous Region, which had the highest prevalence rate of the disease among China's provincial-level regions, according to a National Health Commission report.

With an average prevalence rate of 1.66 percent among the residents in Tibet, hydatid disease is known to have caused health hazards and heavy economic burdens to the patients and their families, as well as huge losses to local agriculture and animal husbandry.

Noting that hydatid disease was a key reason for people to become poor due to illness in the region, the report said major efforts have been made to treat and prevent the disease.

Despite difficulties, Tibet screened around 3 million people, covering all residents aged above 2, to register hydatid disease cases as of the end of 2017, a job they completed in just one year instead of the planned three years.

Extensive efforts were made to mobilize resources to confirm hydatid disease cases and ensure those willing to be treated can receive treatment in an early manner. As of 2019, more than 5,000 patients received operations and more than 9,800 others were treated with medicine.

Listing measures taken to cut the source of infection, the report said a system to vaccinate and register home-raised dogs has been put in place in Tibet.

 

[JSCh]

Hydropower station put into use in Tibet's no-electricity area
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-03 22:45:30|Editor: huaxia

Photo taken on June 26, 2017 shows an aerial view of Tangra Yumco Lake in Nagqu, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.(Xinhua)

LHASA, June 3 (Xinhua) -- An underground hydropower station has been put into operation in the former no-electricity area in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, local authorities said Monday.

The Jinqiao hydropower station, which is a key project in the region's no-electricity areas, is the first hydropower station built with a rock-fill concrete gravity dam in Tibet.

Located in Lhari County in the city of Nagqu, the hydropower station was built to solve power shortage in the county in winter.

The hydropower station will provide clean and stable power to more than 30,000 local farmers and herdsmen, ending the area's history of energy consumption dominated by firewood and cow dung.

The normal storage level of the reservoir of the station is 3,425 meters, with a total storage capacity of 381,700 cubic meters.

With an investment of 1.4 billion yuan (about 202.7 million U.S. dollars), the station boasts a total installed capacity of 66 megawatts and an annual power generation capacity of 357 million kilowatt-hours.

Sonam Gawa, deputy mayor of Nagqu, said the hydropower station is a landmark project for the city's development of green energy, clean energy and hydropower industry.

The completion of the hydropower station will promote the adjustment of the industrial structure in the main pasturing areas of Tibet, change the mode of production, and help with poverty alleviation, according to the official.

 

[JSCh]

Tibet expands air rescue services to improve emergency response
By PALDEN NYIMA | China Daily | Updated: 2019-06-05 07:57

Tibet Yunying Medical Rescue workers participate in an air rescue drill in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet autonomous region. CHINA DAILY

Big steps are being taken to enhance air rescue services in the Tibet autonomous region, officials said.

Lhasa Xueying General Aviation Co began a project in 2017 to build three rescue bases, each with a flight radius of 300 kilometers, and it is nearing completion. The company has five helicopters at its Lhasa base and plans to add two more in the second half of the year, in Shigatse and Lhokha.

"Air rescue allows a quick response in emergencies involving tourists, fire control, medical conditions and car crashes in remote areas," said Songtsen, executive vice-president of Lhasa Xueying General Aviation. "Helicopters fill a regional gap. They are part of a key attempt to link ground rescue with air rescue." Like many in Tibet, Songtsen uses one name.

The aviation company is a joint venture of the Lhasa government and Nanjing-based Ruoer General Aviation Development Group, based in Jiangsu province.

The project is part of the region's efforts to fulfill a central government plan to have a helicopter emergency rescue system in place by 2020.

The company also provides services such as charter flights, air tours, air patrols, pilot training, airborne advertising, fire prevention and aerial photography.

Xiao Jian, general manager of Tibet Yunying Medical Rescue, a company working with Lhasa Xueying, said air rescue is a major step for the region.

"With insufficient air ambulance service in the past, the death rate from automobile accidents was high because ground rescue services could not reach the sites in time," Xiao said.

Gao Daiquan, a neurologist at Lhasa People's Hospital, said it was good to have air medical rescue services in Tibet because the region's transportation network is not highly developed.

"It is crucial for transferring patients, especially people with traumatic injuries or childbirth emergencies," Gao said.

"I hope it will work well with different hospitals and city emergency departments and play a key role in the city's overall first-aid service," Gao said.

The Tibet Red Cross Society 999 Emergency Rescue Center established the region's first aviation rescue team in 2017 and has made many lifesaving flights.

Ma Jun, the center's director, said teams have undertaken 23 mountain rescues in Tibet and helped local police in multiple operations in the Lhasa Kyichu River.

Ma said Lhasa Xueying has the helicopters, while the center can provide professional medical crews, including air rescue doctors licensed in Europe and sophisticated air rescue medical equipment.

"We will work with Lhasa Xueying to carry out professional air rescue work," Ma said.

 

[JSCh]

Xinjiang expands test of saline soil rice near desert
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-04 18:27:14|Editor: Yamei

URUMQI, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The saline soil rice R&D team of Yuan Longping, the prestigious pioneer of hybrid rice, is expanding its planting scale on the western margin of the Taklimakan desert in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The area of the test field, in the township of Bayiawati, Yopurga County under Kashgar, has been expanded to 20 hectares this year from last year's 5.3 hectares, according to Cao Zhishun who leads the Xinjiang team.

Cao said the salinity of the local soil is as high as around 1.7 percent, with a pH value of over eight, indicating a high degree of salinity.

"The saline soil rice can improve soil and lower salinity, and turns saline soil into fertile farmland in three to five years," he said.

The township has a total 1,000 hectares of saline soil that is completely unsuitable for planting, said Alimjan, the township head.

Last year, the yield from the test field exceeded the expectation of Cao's team, making them more sure about the potential of their rice.

Cao said about 1,333,333 hectares, or 30 percent of arable land in Xinjiang, has been salinized at varying degrees, and the value of the saline soil rice in improving soil could be huge.

 

[JSCh]

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Xinjiang expands testing of saline-tolerant rice
New China TV
Published on Jun 6, 2019

Testing saline-tolerant rice near the desert in Xinjiang proves successful. This could be a huge opportunity for the region as 30 percent of arable land has "salty soil"

 

[JSCh]

Dust Aerosol Observation Field Campaign Completed in Kashgar
Jun 06, 2019

Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has led an international Dust Aerosol Observation (DAO) field campaign in Kashgar this April, aiming to develop a system for monitoring, early warning and emergency response of heavy haze and dust storm episodes along the Belt and Road region.

Neighboring the Taklimakan Desert, China's largest source of dust particles, Kashgar is a region typically affected by dusts, local pollution from mankind activities, and transported pollution from surrounding arid and desert areas.

Coarse particles like dusts are important components of the atmospheric aerosol. It is difficult to characterize the proprieties of aerosols, majorly due to light scattering by non-spherical dust particles in the atmosphere.

The one-month DAO experiment has captured multiple dust processes, successfully acquiring comprehensive datasets of the optical-physical-chemical characteristics and vertical distribution characteristics of the different layers of regional dust aerosols.

The campaign, integrating in-situ and remote sensing observations based on passive and active technologies, has provided high quality dataset of physical, chemical, and optical properties and radiative effects of aerosols in this region.

Many kinds of instruments are involved in the observation such as the Directional Polarization Camera (DPC) mounted on China’s GF-5 satellite, ground-based sun-sky-moon polarized radiometers, multi-wavelength Mie-Raman polarization lidar (LILAS), high-precision solar radiation monitoring station, aerosol spectrometer, among others. Additionally, four ground-based radiometers are deployed to identify inconsistencies and quantify uncertainties.

The joint experiment was led by the National Engineering Laboratory for Satellite Remote Sensing Applications under AIR, in collaboration with other two CAS institutes, the Institute of Atmospheric Physics and the Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, as well as several international partners including the Laboratoire d'Optique Atmosphérique of University of Lille 1, the Prokhorov General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the B.I. Stepanov Institute of Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.

The research is supported by the National Key R&D Program of China under the framework of International S&T Innovative Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The experiment site (Image by AIR)
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Dust Aerosol Observation Field Campaign Completed in Kashgar---Chinese Academy of Sciences