Western China - news and development

[ahojunk]

13th National Winter Games Boost Xinjiang's Economy
2016-01-23 07:29:31 CRIENGLISH.com Web Editor: Li Shaotong

Nanshan ski resort near Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang.

This year's National Winter Games are expected to bring more opportunities for Xinjiang's development, particularly when it comes to tourism.

CRI's Li Jianhua has more from the Games in Urumqi.

The 13th edition of China's National Winter Games have been dubbed China's largest winter sports event.

It runs through to the end of this month.

Officials are promoting the Games as an opportunity to promote winter sports, such as skiing and ice skating, across China.

This year's event comes on the heels of Beijing being awarded the Winter Olympics in 2022.

As Xinjiang gets a significant amount of snow every winter, and has a long cultural tradition of sports, the region has long been considered as a potential host of a national-scale sporting event.

This year has brought that to bare.

Liu Yaying, from Tianjin, is in Xinjiang for the first time.

"The ski resort in Xinjiang is much bigger than the one we have in Tianjin. The surroundings here are more beautiful as well. Snow is everywhere in Xinjiang, unlike Tianjin, where you can only see snow around the ski resort. It feels good. What's more, the temperature here is just right."

The alpine events at this year's National Winter Games in Xinjiang are held at two different ski resorts.

One of them is the Tianshan Tianchi International ski resort.

General Manager Li Xinping says they've been planning for years to take full advantage of the opportunity.

"The programme was first approved in 2007. Planning for the Winter Games began the next year. Tianshan Tianchi International ski resort is located in a beautiful environment. The local government focuses a lot of its attention to environmental protection and nationwide fitness. The programme also includes the promotion of eco-tourism."

Li Jianhong is the General Manager of the Silk Road ski resort, which is the other one hosting alpine events.

He predicts the National Winter Games are going to increase their visitor numbers to around a million people a year.

"The 13th National Winter Games have helped us upgrade our facilities, and also lets more people know Xinjiang. In the long run, we think more visitors will come and spend some time here. Over the past ten years, our tourist numbers haven't increased by more than 20 percent. But I firmly believe our visitor growth rate will increase by at least 100 percent after the National Winter Games."

Over the past ten years, the number of people traveling to Xinjiang during the winter has increased from 800-thousand to around 20 million.

Regional officials expect tourist numbers to begin increasing significantly this year thanks to the National Winter Games.

For CRI, this is Li Jianhua reporting from Urumqi.

 

[Jlaw]

13th National Winter Games Boost Xinjiang's Economy
2016-01-23 07:29:31 CRIENGLISH.com Web Editor: Li Shaotong

View attachment 290048
Nanshan ski resort near Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang.

This year's National Winter Games are expected to bring more opportunities for Xinjiang's development, particularly when it comes to tourism.

CRI's Li Jianhua has more from the Games in Urumqi.

The 13th edition of China's National Winter Games have been dubbed China's largest winter sports event.

It runs through to the end of this month.

Officials are promoting the Games as an opportunity to promote winter sports, such as skiing and ice skating, across China.

This year's event comes on the heels of Beijing being awarded the Winter Olympics in 2022.

As Xinjiang gets a significant amount of snow every winter, and has a long cultural tradition of sports, the region has long been considered as a potential host of a national-scale sporting event.

This year has brought that to bare.

Liu Yaying, from Tianjin, is in Xinjiang for the first time.

"The ski resort in Xinjiang is much bigger than the one we have in Tianjin. The surroundings here are more beautiful as well. Snow is everywhere in Xinjiang, unlike Tianjin, where you can only see snow around the ski resort. It feels good. What's more, the temperature here is just right."

The alpine events at this year's National Winter Games in Xinjiang are held at two different ski resorts.

One of them is the Tianshan Tianchi International ski resort.

General Manager Li Xinping says they've been planning for years to take full advantage of the opportunity.

"The programme was first approved in 2007. Planning for the Winter Games began the next year. Tianshan Tianchi International ski resort is located in a beautiful environment. The local government focuses a lot of its attention to environmental protection and nationwide fitness. The programme also includes the promotion of eco-tourism."

Li Jianhong is the General Manager of the Silk Road ski resort, which is the other one hosting alpine events.

He predicts the National Winter Games are going to increase their visitor numbers to around a million people a year.

"The 13th National Winter Games have helped us upgrade our facilities, and also lets more people know Xinjiang. In the long run, we think more visitors will come and spend some time here. Over the past ten years, our tourist numbers haven't increased by more than 20 percent. But I firmly believe our visitor growth rate will increase by at least 100 percent after the National Winter Games."

Over the past ten years, the number of people traveling to Xinjiang during the winter has increased from 800-thousand to around 20 million.

Regional officials expect tourist numbers to begin increasing significantly this year thanks to the National Winter Games.

For CRI, this is Li Jianhua reporting from Urumqi.

Are Australians aware that they can go skiing in Xinjiang?

 

[ahojunk]

Are Australians aware that they can go skiing in Xinjiang?

.
I don't think so.

We have our local ski resorts in the states of Victoria and NSW.

When it comes to overseas ski resorts, we tend to think of Europe, US or Japan.

 

[ahojunk]

This HSR will connect Tibet to Sichuan. Goods news for the people in these two provinces.

-----
Sichuan-Tibet railway work picks up speed
(China Daily) 09:56, January 30, 2016

1,629-km line perched on high mountains to be complete in early 2030s

China will accelerate the construction of a 1,629-kilometer Sichuan-Tibet railway starting this year, heads of the two regions' governments confirmed.

"The government will start a preliminary survey and research of the Kangting-Lyingchi railway project this year, and accelerate the construction of Sichuan-Tibet railway in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period," Losang Jamcan, chairman of the Tibet autonomous region government, said at the fourth session of the 10th People's Congress of Tibet in Lhasa on Wednesday.

Yin Li, acting governor of Sichuan, sent out similar message in the fourth session of the 12th People's Congress of Sichuan in Chengdu earlier.

The railway connecting Lhasa and Chengdu will be divided into three sections from west to east: Lhasa-Lyingchi, Lyingchi-Kangting, and Kangting-Chengdu.

Nearly 1,000 km of it will be in Tibet. Construction of the west and the east sections began last year. The whole project is expected to be completed in the early 2030s.

Perched at over 3,000 meters above sea level, and with more than 74 percent of its length running on bridges or in tunnels, the railway will meander through the mountains, the highest of which is over 7,000 meters.

It will cross the major rivers Minjiang, Jinshajiang and Yarlung Zangbo, said Lin Shijin, a senior civil engineer at China Railway Corp.

"The accumulated height it will climb reaches more than 14,000 meters, and it will cross many fault zones," he added. "It's like the largest roller-coaster in the world. With a designed service life of 100 years, it is believed to be one of the most difficult railway projects to build on Earth."

"It will cost at least 100 million yuan ($15.87 million) per kilometer, similar to the cost of high-speed railways on plains," said Zhao Jinxue, a rail construction risk appraiser with an insurance company in Chengdu.

The Sichuan-Tibet railway presents its builders multiple difficulties to overcome, such as avalanches, landslides, earthquakes, terrestrial heat, karst caves and underground streams, Lin said. "Yet, it is still a worthwhile project."

To travel from Chengdu to Lhasa currently takes 42 hours by train and three days by road.The rail line will shorten the travel time to less than 15 hours.

"I hope the railway can be finished as quickly as possible. Then, I'll take the train back home. It is more economical, safer and comfortable than airplanes," said Qiao Liang, a Chengdu businessman in Lhasa, who regularly commutes between the two places.

The southeast is the most populous region in Tibet, and the west of Sichuan is the least developed region of the province. The two regions are filled with breath taking natural views and fascinating ethnic cultures.

"The railway will effectively boost tourism, and bring a new Shangri-La to the world and tangible revenue to local people," said He Ping, a tourism agency manager in Chengdu.

 

[ahojunk]

Interesting! In 2015, Guizhou more than double its export volume in 2014.

------------
Guizhou tea export doubles in 2015
Updated: 2016-01-07 16:47

GUIYANG - The southwestern province of Guizhou, which has the most tea plantations in the country, exported almost 600 tons of tea in 2015, more than double the export volume in 2014.

In 2015, Guizhou exported 598.7 tons of tea, with a total value of $36.47 million, according to the Guizhou Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau.

This is 307.8 tons more than the volume in 2014. About 58 percent of the exported tea was black tea and Wulong tea, or Oolong tea. Guizhou tea is exported to 11 countries and regions including the United States, Canada, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

The export growth has been partly attributed to investment by foreign companies such as British John Swire & Sons Ltd and Starbucks, industry sources said.

Guizhou is mountainous and one of the least developed provinces in China. Its tea is known for having less pesticides.

Tea plantations occupy over 459,000 hectares in Guizhou. Total production value was 224,000 tons in 2015, up 23.7 percent year on year.

 

[JSCh]

NW China province boasts largest organic grassland
Source: Xinhua 2016-01-31 16:03:42

XINING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Qinghai has become China's biggest producer of organic livestock products after years of grassland restoration and herding control, local authorities said.

The northwestern province has about 4 million hectares of grassland, the largest area in China, approved for organic animal husbandry, with 3.8 million heads of livestock, according to the Qinghai Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry.

Wang Huilin, an official in charge of animal husbandry with the department, said Qinghai has 961 rural cooperatives working on organic animal husbandry and a number of factories and warehouses for such products.

The province has been promoting organic herding while enforcing grassland protection in recent years. Organic farming puts less strain on pasture with a relatively low output.

Expanding human settlements and over-gracing used to bring severe degradation on Qinghai's 36 million hectares of grasslands until the government started to resettle herders and reduce herding in 2005.

The province has banned herding on 16 million hectares of degraded grasslands and limited cattle numbers on 15 million hectares, according to Wang.

 

[JSCh]

China Southern Power Gird kicks off west-to-east power transmission project
Xinhua Finance 2016-02-04 11:27 NANNING

China Southern Power Gird on Wednesday kicked off construction of Yunnan northwest to Guangdong 800KV ultra-high direct current (DC) power transmission project.

With a total investment of 22.2 billion yuan, this west-to-east power transmission project is one of the twelve power transmission channels for implementing the State Council's air pollution control action plan and is scheduled to be ready for power transmission by 2017.

The project channels from Yunnan province's Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, via Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Guangdong and would end at Guangdong Shenzhen Baoan district.

With a total length of 1,959 kilometers, this is so far the longest power transmission project of China Southern Power Grid. When completed, the project is expected to transmit approximately 20 billion kwh of electricity to Guangdong annually, about one fourth of Shenzhen city's yearly power consumption.

 

[ahojunk]

Qualcomm, Guizhou pledge $280m investment in server chips
Updated: 2016-01-18 02:12
By GAO YUAN(China Daily)

A Qualcomm sign is pictured in front of one of its many buildings in San Diego, California November 5, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

Chipmaker Qualcomm Inc delivered a boost to the high-tech sector in Guizhou province on Sunday by pledging a major investment.

The United States company said it is building a 1.85 billion yuan ($280 million) joint venture in the less-developed southwestern province to produce server chips for the domestic market.

Named the Guizhou Huaxintong Semi-Conductor Technology Co, the joint venture will be 55 percent owned by the Guizhou provincial government's investment arm and 45 percent by a Qualcomm subsidiary.

Derek Aberle, president of Qualcomm, said the venture will focus on the design, development and sales of "advanced server chipset technology" in China.

The venture will be based at a technology park near Guiyang, the provincial capital.

As part of the deal, Qualcomm will also license its proprietary server chip technology and provide research and development processes to the venture, Aberle said at a news conference in Beijing.

Sun Zhigang, the acting governor of Guizhou, said the collaboration is a major step for China's semiconductor industry and will also assist Guizhou to set up a world-class chipmaking plant.

The collaboration will also help the province to build up its high-tech industries such as cloud computing and chipmaking, providing key ways for it to grow its economy in the coming decade.

"The partnership is a win-win deal for both Guizhou and Qualcomm," Sun said.

Xu Shaoshi, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, said the partnership sets an example for cross-border technological innovation, the key to economic growth.

"China is open to foreign investment. … We welcome more overseas investment flowing into China, especially in the western part of the country," Xu said.

Wu Lianfeng, vice-president and chief analyst at research firm International Data Corp China, said more overseas technology companies are expected to set up joint ventures in China to gain access to highly profitable government procurement deals.

 

[ahojunk]

Xinjiang's foreign trade grows 40% over 5 years
(Xinhua) | Updated: 2016-02-02 17:18

URUMQI - Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in northwest China has made 770 billion yuan ($116.8 billion) from foreign trade from 2011 to 2015, up 41.5 percent over the previous five years.

According to Urumqi Customs Office, the region's trade growth had slowed during the past five years.

Foreign trade volume for the region totaled $19.7 billion in 2015, down 28.9 percent year on year. Exports shrank by 25.4 percent to settle at $17.5 billion, while imports plunged by 48.2 percent to $2.2 billion.

Customs data showed a decline of more than 40 percent in trade with Kazakhstan in 2015, but growth of 180 percent with the United States last year. Electro-mechanical products, textiles and shoes accounted for the majority of export while the region also imported large quantities of electro-mechanical and agricultural products as well as paper pulp.

Customs statistician Chen Guoliang was upbeat about the outlook for Xinjiang's exports thanks to supportive policies from the central and regional governments.

 

[ahojunk]

Vegetable production base in Yunnan

Some pictures of a vegetable production base in Tonghai County, in southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 4, 2016. This vegetable production base is quite large.

 

[ahojunk]

Xinjiang welcomes labor-intensive plants for more jobs
Feb 07,2016

URUMQI, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- China's remote Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region aims to cultivate more heavy labor employers in the next five years.

Medium and small enterprises are also on the welcome list.

With abundant resources of cotton and labor, Xinjiang will try to attract textile and clothing manufacturers with the support of policy, capital, and training, during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).

It will also encourage as many as 200,000 residents to find jobs in textile mills or clothing companies in eastern inland areas during the same period.

The westernmost region is the biggest cotton cropper in China, harvesting 3.5 million tons of cotton last year, 62.5 percent of the national yield. Textile and garment industries contributed 130,000 new jobs in Xinjiang during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).

In Tarim Basin, one of the region's principal cotton producers, many villagers left farmland for factories where they earn stable income.

Currently, 1.85 million people, 8 percent of Xinjiang's population, are living in poverty.

 

[ahojunk]

Southwest China's Guizhou pioneers in setting up regulation for big data
By Ma Si in Beijing and Yang Jun in Guiyang (China Daily)
Updated: 2016-01-30 08:19

Photo taken on Sept 16, 2015 shows a view of the Yueliang Mountain in Guizhou Province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Big data enterprises in Guizhou province say they expect benefit from the country's first local regulation for the budding industry, which urges governments to expand public data initiatives and offer more policy support. The regulation, published by the southwestern province, will be implemented from March 1 and is designed to promote the development and application of big data in the inland province.

"As one of the country's first batch of companies focusing on healthcare big data, we have been cautious because there are no laws that tell us what we can and what we cannot do," said Huang Guohong, president of Guiyang Longmaster Information & Technology Co Ltd.

"The Guizhou regulation has set a direction for us by promising tax rebates, financial support as well as encouraging us to voice opinions on industry standards," Huang said.

The regulation lays out a framework for a wide range of big data related issues such as how to collect and store data, what types of data can be commercialized and how to protect users' privacy.

Du Hu, the co-founder of Baihe Finance, the subsidiary of matchmaking website Baihe Network Co Ltd, said the company has accumulated a huge amount of information since it started operations 11 years ago, but the bulk of it is lying idle in the company's computers.

"The regulation will accelerate the application of our data. It says clearly that local governments should encourage enterprises to sell and buy data through legal channels," Du said, adding the company will take strict measures to protect users' private information while engaging in big data deals.

Photo taken on Sept 16, 2015 shows paddy fields on the Yueliang Mountain in Guizhou province. [Photo/Xinhua]

The provincial regulation comes as Guizhou is aggressively tapping into the big data industry to boost economic growth. Currently, it is home to more than 1,200 big data companies. China's big three telecom operators are spending 15 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) for constructing three Internet data centers in Guizhou, which are expected to house 2 million servers.

Li Yao, director of the finance office in the Guizhou provincial government, said many firms have developed models for big data applications but they just do not have enough data to put them into use.

"The regulation urges governments to open more public data to enterprises, which will help solve the problem given the vast volumes of information governments have collected. But the difficulty lies in how to implement such rules. Relevant parties need to come up with detailed methods."

Tian Jinghai, a big data expert at the Emerging Industrial Centers of China Investment Association, agreed. "I am glad to see that the regulation says the government will set up a grading system for public data, detailing what types of information can be shared with enterprises. This is the prerequisite for large-scale application of big data."

 

[ahojunk]

Guangxi becomes China's largest timber-producing region
Feb 03,2016

NANNING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has become the country's largest timber-producing region, according to the local forestry bureau on Wednesday.

Guangxi reported an annual timber production of 25.5 million cubic meters during the last five years, accounting for one third of the total timber production in China.

Forest coverage in Guangxi reached 62 percent by the end of 2015, with 220 million mu (about 14.7 million hectares) of forest land.

"The total output for the forest industry hit 430 billion yuan (about 65.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the last five years," said Huang Xianyang, director of the local forestry bureau.

China launched its first national forest reserve pilot project in Guangxi. So far, the region has 2.3 million mu of forest reserves and is planning to build the country's largest timber reserve, according to Huang.

 

[ahojunk]

Truffles are very expensive in France, but these truffles are less desired, hence they are cheaper.
Even so, this is still another welcome source of additional income for the rural farmers.

--------
How truffles went from pig food to treasure in Yunnan, China
Sophie Pither
Sunday 7 February 2016 21.00 AEDT

Rich pickings … the tubers fetch around £100 a kilo. Photograph: Edmond Ho

Perhaps the most unusual food experience I had in China recently – as well as deep-fried scorpion and sliced yak’s penis – was sliced black truffle in a village near Kunming city, Yunnan province, south-west China. The Chinese middle-class is hungry for European luxury foods, and the country is meeting that demand with a burgeoning home-grown supply. In addition to truffles there’s a thriving caviar trade and some decent Chinese wines.

Farmer Mao Xin Ping subsidises his income by truffle hunting. He and his wife go out between November and March, using only instinct and experience, not dogs as is common in Europe. I met him unearthing black truffles with a long-handled hoe in the woods above his farm.

I ask whether he likes truffles. “We don’t eat them,” the translator relays. “We used to feed them to pigs, but now they are treasure.” The couple fills two ice-cream tubs with truffles in the hour and a half we’re out.

These are the naturally occurring black tuber indicum truffles, less pungent and costly than the French tuber melanosporum. They fetch about £100 a kilo (the French Perigord variety go for more than £1,000).

Many Chinese farmers use instinct and experience to find truffles, rather than dogs. Photograph: MCT via Getty Images

Buyers are mostly hotels and city restaurants. Executive chef Terrence Crandall, of Shanghai’s Peninsula Hotel, says: “I’ve had good Chinese truffles, but sometimes they’re picked too young. We could get to a point where forests are rented out, as in Europe, and truffles can ripen for longer.”

At Mao Xin Ping’s house, we slice a truffle. It has a mild taste and no aroma. Mao will keep hunting, getting better and riper truffles as the weather turns colder here in the Yunnan hills.

 

[ahojunk]

Neat! The approach distance and height are reduced, increase throughput and enhance the safety at the same time. This leads to a better ROI.

---------------
Airbus ProSky, Sichuan Airlines Design RNP-AR Procedures
by Bill Carey
February 12, 2016, 12:30 PM

Airbus ProSky, the air traffic management subsidiary of the Airbus Group (Stand J23, Chalet CD19), joined with Sichuan Airlines and the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to design required navigation performance-authorization required (RNP-AR) procedures at Gannan Xiahe Airport, the parties have announced. The remote airport is located in the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province, northwest China.

Using the new arrival and departure procedures, Sichuan Airlines can improve payload by two tons on one of the airport’s runways and four tons on another runway, Airbus ProSky said. Approach minimums were reduced from 1,810 feet to 600 feet and from 820 feet to 290 feet, respectively. The RNP-AR procedures have also produced track-mile savings of up to 18.6 nm for one of the approaches.

Sichuan Airlines, a regional carrier based in Chengdu in southwest China, first demonstrated the new procedures with an Airbus A319 narrowbody airliner on November 30.

“We are pleased to partner with Airbus ProSky on RNP-AR procedures at Xiahe. The stabilized approach and track-mile savings will not only enhance safety, but also operational efficiency,” said Wang Xinghua, Sichuan Airlines general manager of operational standards.