Western China - news and development

[JSCh]

Tibet slashes maternity, infant mortality rates
Source: Xinhua 2016-01-18 16:36:19

LHASA, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region saw record low maternity and infant death rates in 2015 thanks to improved healthcare conditions, according to the regional health and family planning commission.

The mortality rate of Tibetan women during pregnancy, at or after delivery was halved from about 23 per 10,000 people in 2009 to 10 per 10,000 last year, statistics released by the commission showed.

In addition, the mortality rate of infants in Tibet was reduced to 16 per thousand in 2015 from 21 per thousand in 2009.

During the period, the proportion of Tibetan women who gave birth in the hospital increased from about 51 percent to 90 percent.

When the plateau region was liberated in 1951, its maternal and infant death rates stood at 5,000 per 100,000 people and 430 per thousand respectively.

"Twenty years ago, expecting mothers in remote areas had their children die on the long journey to the hospital. Even if some made it to the hospital, the mother had a small chance of survival due to inadequate medical conditions," said Tsetha, a retired doctor in Gerze County.

Currently, the government covers hospital delivery costs for mothers from farming and pastoral areas. Since 2009, it has invested 1.8 billion yuan (274 million U.S. dollars) in prevention of birth defects and training of professionals.

Tibet will start building its first region-level hospital specialized in obstetrics, gynecology and paediatrics this year.

 

[ahojunk]

This is good news for China's western regions.

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Report: More graduates choose to work in western China
By Liang Jun (People's Daily Online) 15:48, January 19, 2016

The latest reports on 2015 employment show that the number of students who choose to work in China's western regions is gradually increasing.

In 2015, the number of new graduates reached some 7.49 million, hitting a record high.

Among them, 7,677 are from Fudan University, where the employment rate of recent graduates was 98.06 percent. Of those graduates, a total of 158 chose to work in western China, including in Sichuan province, Chongqing municipality, Guizhou province, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Yunnan province.

For Peking University, there were 9,317 new graduates in 2015. About 23 percent of Ph.D. students went to regions in the middle, west and northwest of China to seek opportunities.They were mainly working in education, scientific research and technology services. For undergraduates and graduates, only 45.8 percent choose to stay in Beijing – the first time this percentage included less than half of the class.

Reports also show that manufacturing, financial services and the IT sector are the top three industries favored by students, followed by public service and education.

Financial services is the most favorable sector, according to graduates from China's top three universities; 26.5 percent of graduates from Peking University, 19.1 percent of graduates from Tsinghua University and 20.92 percent of graduates from Fudan University signed contracts within the financial sector. The first choice of 27.08 percent of graduates from Shanghai’s Jiaotong University was manufacturing.

The report also shows that graduates are paying more attention to private enterprises.Nearly one quarter chose to work at private companies.

 

[ahojunk]

Pictures of "left behind" children in some remote areas of China's western regions.

Some of these remote areas are dirt poor. As China is now rich, she should look at how these kids could be helped. Their parents (migrant workers) have made a great contribution to the progress and advancement of China. Lest not forget that!

 

[TaiShang]

National Winter Games opens in Urumqi in China's Xinjiang Province

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The photo taken on January 20, 2016 shows the mascots, named "Snow Lotus Babies," of the 13th National Winter Games in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang. [Photo/CRI]

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Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong declares the opening of the 13th Chinese National Winter Games in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang, Jan. 20, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

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A young spectator cheers for the opening ceremony of the 13th Chinese National Winter Games in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang, Jan. 20, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

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Adli (top), Chinese famous wire-walking artist, carries the torch and walks on a wire during the opening ceremony of the 13th Chinese National Winter Games in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang, Jan. 20, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

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Spectators cheer for the opening ceremony of the 13th Chinese National Winter Games in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang, Jan. 20, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

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Chinese Kazakh ethnic girls watch the opening ceremony of the 13th Chinese National Winter Games in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang, Jan. 20, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

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Athletes from Hong Kong, China, who participate in the Winter Games for the first time, enter the stadium during the opening ceremony of the 13th Chinese National Winter Games in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Region, Jan. 20, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

 

[TaiShang]

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The Xinjiang Uygur delegation comes to the stage during the opening ceremony of the 13th National Winter Games in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang on January 20, 2016. [Photo/CRI]

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Uygur trapeze artists give a performance during the opening ceremony of the 13th National Winter Games in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang. [Photo/CRI]

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The photo taken on January 20, 2016 shows the conclusion part of the opening ceremony of the 13th National Winter Games in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang. [Photo/CRI]

 

[JSCh]

Water supplies in Tibet set to increase in the future
News: Jan 15, 2016

The Tibetan Plateau has long been seen as a “hotspot” for international environmental research, and there have been fears that water supplies in the major Asian rivers would drastically decline in the near future. However, new research now shows that water supplies will be stable and may even increase in the coming decades.

A report by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 2007 suggests that the glaciers in the Himalayas will be gone by 2035. This statement was questioned and caused a great stir.

“This mistaken claim and the subsequent debate pointed to a need for a better understanding of the dynamics of climate, glaciers and future water supplies in the region,” says Deliang Chen, Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Gothenburg.

River flows stable or increasing
Since the statement by IPCC in 2007, the Tibetan Plateau has been a focus of international environmental research.

A research group led by Professor Deliang Chen at the University of Gothenburg, in close collaboration with researchers from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, headed by Professor Fengge Su, has studied future climate change and its effect on the water balance in the region. The great Asian rivers have their source on the Plateau or in the neighbouring mountains.

The researchers recently published a study in Global and Planetary Change which modelled the water flows upstream in the Yellow River, the Yangtze, the Mekong, the Salween, the Brahmaputra and the Indus. The studies include both data from past decades and simulations for future decades.

The results show that water flows in the rivers in the coming decades would either be stable or would increase compared to the period from 1971-2000.

Affects a third of the world’s population
The Tibetan Plateau is the highest and most extensive area of high land in the world, and what happens there affects water resources for almost a third of the world’s population.

Dr. Tinghai Ou, who was responsible for the climate projections in the study, has commented that increased precipitation and meltwater from glaciers and snowfall are contributing to increased water flows in the region.

“This is good news because social and economic development in the surrounding areas, including China, India, Nepal and other countries in Southeast Asia, are closely tied to climate change and access to water. But the fact that the glaciers are shrinking in the region could be a concern in the longer term, and we must keep a close eye on what is happening with global warming,” says Professor Deliang Chen.

More about the study here:
Su, F., L. Zhang, T. Ou, D. Chen, T. Yao, and K. Tong, Y. Qi, 2016: Hydrological response to future climate changes for the major upstream river basins in the Tibetan Plateau, Global and Planetary Change, 136, 82-95, doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2015.10.012.
Link to the published study:

Water supplies in Tibet set to increase in the future - University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences's report on the same paper: GPC：青藏高原主要河源区径流未来可能呈增加趋势----中国科学院青藏高原研究所

 

[ahojunk]

Yunnan Normal University to set up Potato Research Institute
2016-01-14 13:08 | Ecns.cn | Editor: Mo Hong'e

(ECNS) -- Yunnan Normal University's plan to set up a Potato Research Institute to strengthen talent development and promote scientific research has sparked a humorous uproar on the Internet.

Throughout the past several generations, experts at Yunnan Normal University have made great progress in potato research, authorities said.

The establishment of the Potato Research Institute is in line with the national development strategies of positioning the potato as a staple food, and is also in accordance with Yunnan's development plan for a green economy, food safety, and plateau agriculture.

The university has promised to promote the project and set up a leading group and committee of experts as soon as possible.

It has set up a virus-free potato seed repository, with more than 1,200 germ plasma cultivated in China and abroad. It's one of the largest in China in terms of potato genetic diversity.

 

[ahojunk]

This is good news for migrant workers who now no longer have to leave their kids behind.

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Modern agriculture lifts Guizhou farmers out of poverty
By Yang Jie (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2016-01-21 09:55

President Xi visits Jiufeng's greenhouse in Huamao village, Zunyi county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, on June 16, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

Farmers in a remote southwestern Chinese village who left their hometown to work their way out of poverty in big cities are coming back home to build an even better life and also stay with their family thanks to the development of modern agriculture.

More than 95 percent of the picturesque province of Guizhou is covered by mountains and hills, which lack the natural conditions for the development of traditional agriculture, and the ensuing poverty drove many farmers out of their villagers to work in big cities for a better life.

Shu Changying, a 46-year-old farmer in Huamao village, Zunyi county, worked in big cities for 20 years and returned home in 2014 after she found a job with decent pay at Jiufeng Agriculture Technology Corp, which was visited by President Xi Jinping on his trip to the village in June.

"I earn a monthly base salary of 1,780 yuan ($270.56) and the company covers my board and lodging," said Shu. "It's not as much as a I was earning – 3,000 yuan – working as a waitress in the city, but the company has just started and it takes time to grow the customer base and staying at home also means I don't have to pay the rent."

President Xi visits Jiufeng's greenhouse in Huamao village, Zunyi county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, on June 16, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

In order to support their two children in school, Shu and her husband were forced to leave the children behind to work in the more developed Guangdong province after trying hard and failing to earn enough money by farming their more than 666.67-square-meter land.

"I'm very happy now that I’m staying with my family," said Shu, whose daughter got married in 2014. "I left home to work in big cities in 1994 and only returned home for new year celebrations for three years."

Shu feels that most of her fellow villagers who left home to work for a better life in big cities have returned recently because they can now find a job at home which can feed the whole family.

Jiufeng corp, which is based in East China's Shandong province, was established to Guizhou in 2012 and Huamao village in 2014 for their advanced practices in growing vegetables in greenhouses. After efforts to plough and improve the land, Jiufeng finally managed to grow vegetables on the land that was deemed by agricultural experts as not fit for growing greenhouse vegetables.

Plectranthus hadiensis var. tomentosus on display at Jiufeng's greenhouse in Huamao village, Zunyi county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, on January 13, 2016. [Photo by Yang Jie/chinadaily.com.cn]

"President Xi told us that he chose to visit Jiufeng mainly because we can help farmers improve their life," said Suqing, Jiufeng's public relationship manager, recalling Xi's visit in June, "President Xi was supposed to stay for eight minutes but he actually stayed for more than 20 minutes."

With its current 150,000-square-meter greenhouse, Jiufeng provides 71 jobs and is expected to provide 2,000 jobs and improve the lives of 20,000 farmers in the near future.

On his visit to Huamao village, President Xi told villagers that "a good life is created with one's own hands" and nothing will stand in their way if they are confident and determined.

"The sales revenue for vegetables at our base in Huamao in 2015 reached 37 million yuan ($5.62 million), one third of which is profit, and the tourism revenue in the latter half of last year reached 1.7 million yuan," said Su in full gratitude to President Xi whose visit made the base famous nationwide.

Farmer-turned-workers work at Jiufeng's greenhouse in Huamao village, Zunyi county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, on January 13, 2016. [Photo by Yang Jie/chinadaily.com.cn]

It will take Jiufeng eight to 10 years to recoup their investment in improving the quality of local land, but they are confident because "agriculture is pollution free and sustainable", said Su.

Plectranthus hadiensis var. tomentosus bred by Jiufeng is a special plant that caught President Xi's attention when the President visited Jiufeng's greenhouses.

"We joked with President Xi that maybe even he has never heard about Plectranthus hadiensis var. tomentosus," said Su. "It's an interesting plant because once touched it will radiate a natural scent."

Jiufeng imported the seeds of Plectranthus hadiensis var. tomentosus from the Netherlands and managed to grow them locally, which may serve as natural air refresher or refreshing seasoning to salad. Jiufeng sells it at 80 yuan per pot and the cost is about 20 to 30 yuan.

"Despite all the harsh conditions for the agricultural industry, Guizhou has clean air, water and soil, which guarantees the quality of agricultural products," said Su.

 

[kuge]

i pray the last frontier of western china remain unexploited by greedy humanity

 

[ahojunk]

Tibet builds digital safe-deposit for intangible heritage
2016-01-21 15:53 | Xinhua | Editor: Gu Liping

Researchers in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region are racing against the clock to digitalize intangible cultural heritage as the region's Tibetan folk masters reach old age.

Since 2005, the autonomous region has collected more than 100,000 stories, 1,500 videos and 40,000 photos of intangible cultural heritage for a digital database, said Ngawang Dainzin, head of the Tibet's Protection Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage.

So far, the database includes multimedia for 114 Tibetan operas, information on 89 intangible cultural heritage programs and details on 68 state-level successors, as well as information on more than half of the regional-level programs and successors, he said.

"The masters are a 'living dictionary' of intangible cultural heritage. The digitization work will better preserve the classic cultural heritage of the Tibetan ethnic group," he said.

The digital protection covers ten categories such as folk literature, traditional music, dance, arts, handicrafts and medicine.

In recent years, folk masters have passed away without passing on their special knowledge or were too ill to train the next generation.

 

[ahojunk]

The big mad rush to get back to their home village for the Spring Festival in whatever way they can.

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Motorcyclists warm to free journeys home
2016-01-25 09:01 | China Daily | Editor: Qian Ruisha

A procession of bikers hits the road on Sunday in Foshan, Guangdong province, to travel home in time for Spring Festival. (Photo: China Daily/Qiu Quanlin)

In freezing weather on Sunday morning, Wei Guojian began his journey home for a Spring Festival family reunion.

It will take him nearly 24 hours to travel from Foshan in Guangdong province, where he has worked as a truck driver for eight years, to his hometown in Guizhou province.

"It was really difficult to buy a train ticket," Wei said.

The journey by motorcycle would normally cost Wei, who is traveling with his wife, about 300 yuan ($45) in fuel and road tolls for a one-way trip.

In contrast, it would cost double this amount to travel by high-speed train.

To provide motorcyclists with safe and warm homeward journeys, Sinopec Guangdong Oil Products has teamed up with the Guangdong Youth Volunteers Committee to offer free gas and other packages to the first 10,000 riders.

A total of 218 gas stations in Guangdong and Hunan provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region will provide the service for riders, the company said.

It is the fourth year that Sinopec has operated the free service. This year, it has been extended to include 1,000 minivan drivers, according to Chen Chengmin, general manager of Sinopec's Guangdong branch.

Wei is well used to motorcycle travel. In previous years, he has made the trip home with most of his friends from Guizhou.

"You not only need to beat the cold weather, but also the waiting time if you want to buy train tickets," he said.

Several high-speed rail lines have been opened to connect most interior areas with Guangdong, which has attracted millions of migrant workers over the years to its manufacturing industry.

"But there is still a shortage of train tickets. Many of my friends would rather ride home than line up to buy tickets," Wei said.

He was among thousands of people — most of them migrant workers — who opted for motorcycle travel during the national Spring Festival travel rush, which began on Sunday.

According to the transportation authority in Guangdong, more than 500,000 migrant workers travel home by motorcycle to neighboring provinces and regions during the annual festival rush.

Thousands of migrant workers and students in the Pearl River Delta, a major economic hub in South China, began their homeward journeys by rail on Sunday.

Guangzhou Railway Group said about 134,000 people traveled by train, with most heading for their hometowns in Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Sichuan provinces.

The company will arrange for more temporary services to operate during the travel rush.

More than 2.26 million trips by train will be made from stations in Guangzhou before Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 8, the company said.

The Ministry of Transport expects about 2.91 billion trips to be made during the 40-day Spring Festival travel period that will end on March 3.

 

[JSCh]

Tibet's industrial output more than doubles 2010-2015
Source: Xinhua 2016-01-26 16:21:20

LHASA, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Tibet's gross industrial output in 2015 reached 18 billion yuan (about 2.7 billion U.S. dollars), 2.4 times the figure in 2010, said local authorities on Tuesday.

Year-on-year growth in industrial output exceeded 18 percent, said Xu Fei, head of the regional industry and information technology department.

Tibet's 2015 value-added industrial output was 8.2 billion yuan, up 14 percent from the previous year, Xu said. The growth rate was 8 percentage points higher than the national average.

Tibet was the only one of China's provinces, regions and municipalities that didn't lower its target for economic growth last year.

By the end of 2015, the number of industrial enterprises in the southwestern Chinese region had passed 1,000, providing jobs for 21,000 people.

The combined revenues of makers of traditional local medicine in Tibet also topped 1.45 billion yuan in 2015.

 

[AndrewJin]

The big mad rush to get back to their home village for the Spring Festival in whatever way they can.

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Motorcyclists warm to free journeys home
2016-01-25 09:01 | China Daily | Editor: Qian Ruisha

View attachment 289612
A procession of bikers hits the road on Sunday in Foshan, Guangdong province, to travel home in time for Spring Festival. (Photo: China Daily/Qiu Quanlin)

In freezing weather on Sunday morning, Wei Guojian began his journey home for a Spring Festival family reunion.

It will take him nearly 24 hours to travel from Foshan in Guangdong province, where he has worked as a truck driver for eight years, to his hometown in Guizhou province.

"It was really difficult to buy a train ticket," Wei said.

The journey by motorcycle would normally cost Wei, who is traveling with his wife, about 300 yuan ($45) in fuel and road tolls for a one-way trip.

In contrast, it would cost double this amount to travel by high-speed train.

To provide motorcyclists with safe and warm homeward journeys, Sinopec Guangdong Oil Products has teamed up with the Guangdong Youth Volunteers Committee to offer free gas and other packages to the first 10,000 riders.

A total of 218 gas stations in Guangdong and Hunan provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region will provide the service for riders, the company said.

It is the fourth year that Sinopec has operated the free service. This year, it has been extended to include 1,000 minivan drivers, according to Chen Chengmin, general manager of Sinopec's Guangdong branch.

Wei is well used to motorcycle travel. In previous years, he has made the trip home with most of his friends from Guizhou.

"You not only need to beat the cold weather, but also the waiting time if you want to buy train tickets," he said.

Several high-speed rail lines have been opened to connect most interior areas with Guangdong, which has attracted millions of migrant workers over the years to its manufacturing industry.

"But there is still a shortage of train tickets. Many of my friends would rather ride home than line up to buy tickets," Wei said.

He was among thousands of people — most of them migrant workers — who opted for motorcycle travel during the national Spring Festival travel rush, which began on Sunday.

According to the transportation authority in Guangdong, more than 500,000 migrant workers travel home by motorcycle to neighboring provinces and regions during the annual festival rush.

Thousands of migrant workers and students in the Pearl River Delta, a major economic hub in South China, began their homeward journeys by rail on Sunday.

Guangzhou Railway Group said about 134,000 people traveled by train, with most heading for their hometowns in Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Sichuan provinces.

The company will arrange for more temporary services to operate during the travel rush.

More than 2.26 million trips by train will be made from stations in Guangzhou before Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 8, the company said.

The Ministry of Transport expects about 2.91 billion trips to be made during the 40-day Spring Festival travel period that will end on March 3.

Sadly, there are not enough train tickets for all migrant workers.
I have just opened 12306 app for tickets on Guangzhou-Changsha(top10 busiest corridor).
It seems that all high-speed rail tickets on 1st February are sold out, one week before spring-festival.
Including standing tickets on the bullet!
Just some(less than 300) standing tickets on traditional trains are left.
(110 bullet, 57 slow trains)

 

[JSCh]

China Focus: Tibet targets double-digit growth in 2016
Source: Xinhua | 2016-01-27 20:12:01 | Editor: huaxia

LHASA, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has set the ambitious target of achieving GDP growth exceeding 10 percent in 2016, the Tibetan regional government said Wednesday.

The plateau region reported 11-percent GDP growth last year, which reached 102.6 billion yuan (15.6 billion U.S. dollars), said Losang Jamcan, chair of the Tibetan regional government, at the annual meeting of the regional legislature, which opened Wednesday.

Outlining this year's development plan, Losang said Tibet aims to achieve a 20-percent increase in its fixed asset investments and raise the incomes of its urban and rural residents by 10 percent and 13 percent.

China posted its slowest GDP growth in a quarter century of 6.9 percent in 2015, and many provinces have lowered their growth targets for 2016 to between 6 and 9 percent as they convened the "two sessions", the annual meetings of legislature and political advisory bodies, this year.

Some western provinces and regions set the most ambitious goals, including Chongqing Municipality (10 percent). Economists have attributed the Tibetan speed to its small economic amount, huge potentials and strong support from the central government.

Despite the double-digit growth over the past 22 years, Tibet still struggles with poor infrastructure, weak industry and a lack of talent, said Luorong Dradul, an economics professor at Sichuan University who specializes in the Tibetan economy.

Tibet's GDP ranks the last in China, less than half of Qinghai Province, which is second last, and it has 590,000 rural residents living under the poverty line of 2,300 yuan in annual income.

"It still faces daunting tasks of achieving the moderately prosperous society. While other parts of China are slowing down, Tibet must continue to speed up in order to catch up," he told Xinhua.

Financial support from the central government has boosted confidence in maintaining double-digit growth, Luorong Dradul said.

At a meeting on Tibet's development last year, President Xi Jinping promised continued special financial, tax, and investment policies for Tibet and Tibetan-inhabited areas in four other provinces.

China has invested heavily to enrich Tibet and improve its public services. In 2014, the per capita disposable income of urban residents in the region was 22,016 yuan, a 38-fold increase compared with 565 yuan in 1978, and that of farmers and herdsmen was 7,359 yuan, representing an average annual increase of 10.9 percent, according to a government white paper published in September.

 

[JSCh]

China's highest heating project to be implemented in Tibet
Xinhua, January 28, 2016

China's highest-altitude heating project in Tibet will be operational by October, it was announced on Thursday during the regional "two sessions," the meetings of the local legislature and political advisory body.

Yaks graze on land covered with snow in Nagqu, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Nov. 12, 2011. [Photo: Xinhua/Wen Tao]​

Heating will cover Nagqu Town, which is at an altitude of more than 4,500 meters in Nagqu Prefecture, north Tibet.

Nagqu falls within the sub-frigid zone, and has an annual mean temperature of about 2 degrees Celsius, with the lowest temperature tumbling to as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius.

Over 70 percent of the heating project has been completed, and trials across Nagqu have been successful.

The heating project will mean 200,000 residents, nearly half of the total population in Nagqu, will no longer need to burn cow dung pats for warmth.

In 2013, the local government invested 1.15 billion yuan (176 million U.S. dollars) in projects like central heating, water supply and drainage, and sewage treatment in Tibet, according to Li Hongwei, director of Nagchu Prefecture Development and Reform Commission.

Another heating project is under construction in Ngari Prefecture, about 1,500 kilometers east of Nagqu. Homes in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet, were connected to the central heating network in 2014.