City to create more green space
The rising cost of creating green space, which has tripled from 10,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan per square meter since 2000, won't impede the city's progress in green space development.
The local green-cover rate and green space per capita will reach 38 percent and 11 square meters, respectively, by the end of this year, said Cui LipingŁ¬vice-director of the Shanghai Garden Administration Bureau. By the time Expo 2010 is held in the city, all residents living within the outer ring road will live no more than 500 meters away from an open space larger than 3,000 square meters.
The green space campaign has proved successful in reducing the urban heat island effect. All four urban heat islands (UHI) in Pudong's Lu Jiazui have vanished after the completion of the Lu Jiazui Green Space. With a total investment of 8 million yuan, the project relocated 3,500 families. --(10/31)
Rules of the road
The city's legislature approved the new municipal protection law and road transport management law yesterday. According to the transport law, which will take effect on January 1, driving instructors who help disqualified trainees cheat for a driver's license, could face a fine of up to 1,000 yuan (US$123). In serious cases, instructors could lose their job licenses. --(10/29)
Couples turn to foreign firms for special wedding
As a growing number of engaged couples are fed up with traditional wedding ceremonies, foreign-invested wedding companies are tapping the city's big high-end market.
Although novel ideas and service philosophies from overseas are attractive to the couples, the high charges and big investment of these foreign-invested firms, mainly Japanese, pose challenges to the companies' balance sheets. --(10/28)
Children's hearing center established
In order to prevent and control congenital hearing disability, the Shanghai Children's Hearing Disorder Diagnosis and Treatment Center was established at Fudan University's Children's Hospital yesterday.
The center will cooperate with all maternity and children's hospitals in the city to ensure newborns can undergo hearing tests within 72 hours of birth by staff trained at the center.
Infants failing the test will be transferred to the center for further examination and early treatment if they are diagnosed with hearing problems. --(10/27)
Flag of 2010 Shanghai Expo returned from space
Party Secretary Chen Liangyu and mayor Han Zheng officially received the flag of the 2010 Shanghai Expo from a national defense official at a celebration gala yesterday, marking its return from the space to its host city.
The flag is one of the six items stored in the re-entry capsule of Shenzhou VI in the five-day unmanned space mission. It was taken out of the capsule last week in Beijing and escorted to Shanghai later. During the celebration party at the Oriental TV station, Zhang Yunchuan, the director of the Comission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense, handed over the flag to Chen and Han. --(10/26)
Keep an eye on bird flu
The city government has tightened the import of chickens, ducks and other fowl from other regions to prevent transmission of bird flu. The city has also put police dogs on duty to sniff luggage at airports. --(10/25)
10th National Games conclude
The closing ceremony of the 10th Chinese National Games, a rehearsal for the 2008 Olympics, yesterday in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. After 12 days of competition, the host province topped the medal standings with 56 golds, Guangdong was second with 46, and the People's Liberation Army came in third with 44. Shanghai was seventh with 26. --(10/24)
First drive-in KFC opens
US-based fast food giant KFC recently opened a new outlet here, bringing the total number on the Chinese mainland to 1,500.
The new outlet is the first drive-in KFC in Shanghai and the second on the mainland. The other drive-in outlet is located in Beijing.
The American company entered the world's most populous country seventeen years ago. --(10/23)
International fashion fair and flare in town
Shanghai Fashion Week, attracting Chinese and international designers, buyers and celebrities, gets underway next week.
It opens next Thursday and closes on November 6 at several venues. The China Fashion Awards for 2005 will be given out.
Shanghai Fashion Week, as in the past, will continue to introduce international designers and promising local talent to the China market and to global buyers. Seven international brands, including Paco Rabanne and Lagerfeld Gallery from France, Elena Miro from Italy and Doina Levintze from Romania, will present their latest designs in Fuxing Park. --(10/21)
Training plan launched for children's hospital nurses
China's first international training program for nurses working with newborns in intensive care was launched at Fudan University's Children's Hospital yesterday, in an effort to improve the overall standard of pediatric nursing in the country.
During school, Chinese nurses don't specialize, and most of their on-the-job training is based on the experiences of older nurses.
A training network from Canada is cooperating with Fudan to teach five Chinese nurses a year. This year's group of students includes two nurses from Shanghai.
Nurses selected from domestic hospitals will receive one month of training in the city from foreign nurses and then spend three months in Canada practicing their new skills. --(10/20)
Traffic toll down, bus injuries up
Fatal road accidents involving transit buses increased by nearly 60 percent in the first eight months of this year from the same period last year, traffic police said in a report released yesterday.
Totally 6,133 road accidents happened on local streets in the first eight months, killing 865 while injuring 5,944 others. Compared with the same period last year, the death toll was down 12.63 percent and the injury toll declined by 26.31 percent, police said.
The total number of traffic accidents dropped by 74.3 percent.
Damages caused by the road accidents amounted to about 54.6 million yuan (US$6.75 million), down 67.21 percent, from one year earlier.
However, fatal traffic mishaps causing large casualties increased.
Nine of the traffic accidents during the past eight months killed three or more in a single vehicle and resulted 30 deaths in total. The numbers increased by 12.5 and 7.14 percent respectively from one year earlier.
With ongoing effort to improve road safety condition in city suburbs, police said traffic on 21 suburban road trouble areas was improving with the number of deadly accidents and the death toll both dropping by about 40 percent in the last eight months compared with a year earlier.
Road safety condition at six of the roads including suburban Luoyue and Yixian roads are improving particularly well. However, transit buses and cargo vehicles involved in fatal accidents were increasing significantly.
Deadly mishaps involving transit buses soared by 59.1 percent while the cargo vehicles involved increased by 14.2 percent, police said. --(10/19)
Ba Jin dies at 101
Ba Jin, one of China's greatest writers of the 20th century, died at 7:06pm on Monday in Shanghai. He was 101. --(10/18)
Chinese Grand Prix concludes
The 2005 Chinese Formula One Grand Prix was run at the Shanghai International Circuit yesterday afternoon, with the world champion driver Fernando Alonso winning the season-ending Grand Prix to clinch his Renault team's first-ever Formula One constructor's title. An audience of more than 130,000 watched the race and a total of 270,000 attended the circuit over the 3 days from October 14, exceeding the number of last year.
Several government leaders watched the race yesterday afternoon, including Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Liangyu, State Councilor Chen Zhili, Minister of the General Administration of Sports Liu Peng, director of the standing committee of Shanghai Municipal People's Congress Gong Xueping and Chairman of the CPPCC Shanghai Municipal Committee, Jiang Yiren. Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, with his wife, and Max Mosley, president of the International Automobile Federation, also attended. --(10/17)
City baby boom from 2005 to 2015
A baby boom began this year and will last through 2015, as many parents from one-child families now have a chance for a second child, and they are making babies with passion.
The major reason for the boom, however, is that the last delivery peak was in the 1980s, and now it's about time for more.
Further, couples are allowed to have a second child if both husband and wife come from one-child families, officials said. And that's what they are doing in this metropolis of 16 million to 20 million.
About 120,000 babies will be born to local residents this year, 17,000 more than last year, according to the Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission.
Officials estimated that newborns in 2006 will total 130,000 with a gradual upward curve reaching a peak of 160,000 in 2015. --(10/16)
Science and technology musuem to launch science film week
From October 18 through October 23, the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum will launch its first Special Science Film Week during which 11 IMAX movies about popular science will be screened. --(10/14)
Shenzhou VII launch set for 2007
Even before Shenzhou VI returns to Earth, local researchers involved in China's space program are already looking forward to the launch of Shenzhou VII - the country's third manned spacecraft - in 2007.
That mission is expected to see the first space walk by Chinese astronauts. Also, it will include a docking experiment in preparation for the country's plans to build its own space station. --(10/13)
Summer ends, fall arrives, cold front heads our way
Autumn has officially arrived.
With yesterday's average daily temperature holding below 22 degrees Celsius, weathermen have officially announced the end of summer and the beginning of fall in the city.
The arrival of the new season comes with several windy and rainy days in the forecast, as a cold air mass is headed toward the city.
Autumn officially arrived last Friday, the first of five consecutive days with a daily average temperature below 22 degrees, according to the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau.
Over the past 30 years, the season has generally arrived in late September, but it has been starting later and later in recent years. During the past two years, autumn began on either October 1 or 2. The delayed arrival is connected with global warming, weathermen explained.
A cold air mass will start to affect the city from Friday, bringing stronger winds and some rain, as well as cooler temperatures.
Temperatures today will be almost the same as yesterday, hovering between 18 and 26 degrees. --(10/12)
Huge bridge arch set up
A huge steel-made arch weighing more than 200 tons has been raised at the entrance of the Donghai Bridge - the country's longest span over the sea connecting Luchao Harbor with the Yangshan Deep Water Port - over the weekend. The lighting system on the arch will be put into operation by the end of this month, according to constructors. --(10/11)
New visa center opens in Pudong
Frustrated Chinese travelers and foreigners can breathe a sigh of relief - there's a new, more efficient center for passports, visas and residence permits.
The new complex of the Shanghai Entry and Exit Administration Bureau opened on Saturday in Pudong at No. 15 Minsheng Road.
It is larger, better organized and better staffed than the old center - and it provides 80 parking spaces. The old center had none.
Chinese and foreigners often were frustrated by the congestion, poor organization and long lines in the former passport, visa and residence permit center. --(10/10)
New park home for sport on the edge
Neal Hendrix from the United States showcases his skateboarding skills during the two-day SMP Shanghai Showdown at the newly opened Jiangwan skatepark yesterday. --(10/9)
Weather dampens National Day, people stay home
Persistent rain kept many people at home over the National Day holiday, and the number of visitors to various sites declined.
The city received 3.87 million tourists during the past week, down 2.84 percent year-on-year. However, the total tourism revenue increased by 7.80 percent, reaching 2.5 billion yuan (US$308.64 million) in the week, official statistics showed. --(10/8)
Music fireworks shows close
The curtain was laid down yesterday for Shanghai International Music Fireworks Festival, part of the ongoing Shanghai Tourism Festival, with a Creek show. The tourism festival, which started from September 17, also closed yesterday. --(10/7)
Rose wedding
Sixty-six couples got married during the rose wedding ceremony yesterday at the Shui On Plaza, the Central Plaza and the Pudong Zendai Thumb Plaza. Rose Wedding is a landmark event of the 2005 Shanghai Tourism Festival. --(10/6)
Donghai Bridge progress
Shanghai No. 1 Construction Company, a builder of the Donghai Bridge, announced yesterday it has completed paving asphalt upon the entire 32.5-kilometer connection from Luchao Harbor to the future Yangshan Deepwater Port. This ensures that the bridge can be put into use by the year's end. The asphalt-paving work took six months and was suspended for several days when the two major typhoons hit the city. --(10/4)
Pudong World Carnival: a magnet for tourists
Many young people go to have some thrills on the huge rides at the Pudong World Carnival in Shanghai yesterday. Open to the public on Saturday, the carnival hopes to cash in on the week-long National Day holiday when a large number of visitors from neighboring cities around Shanghai are expected to join local people at the carnival. --(10/3)
People enjoy lighting exhibits
People enjoy lighting exhibits on the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall yesterday to mark the 56th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. A series of events are planned during the one-week National Day holiday. --(10/2)
Special Olympics opens in Shanghai
Special Olympics opens in Shanghai on special education school. About 4,000 athletes from Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau will compete in the event, which ends on Tuesday. Shanghai will host the Special Olympics World Summer Games in October 2007. --(10/1)
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