Inventive period
Fudan University announced that it had applied for national patents for 350 inventions and scientific achievements last year; 189 were granted.
Most of the inventions and achievements came from postgraduate students, making Fudan one of the top five universities in the country's patent application list. --(3/30)
Discount to be offered on 350 bus routes by June
Shanghai will promote discounts on all 350 public bus routes within the Inner Ring Road by June to encourage more commuters to ride buses and reduce pressure on the overcrowded Metro system.
Commuters paying fares with a public transport card will receive a 0.5 yuan discount on their two-yuan fare if they take a second trip on any of the targeted routes within 90 minutes of boarding the first bus.
A discount for people older than 70 could be in place by October and a discount for students is currently being studied.
The city will expand its 70-plus kilometers of bus lanes fourfold by 2010 and put three more Metro lines into operation by the end of this year. --(3/29)
Pudong airport moves up two notches to No.6
Shanghai Pudong International Airport climbed the ranks as the world's sixth largest airport in terms of cargo traffic last year, said the city¡¯s airport authority yesterday.
Pudong Airport moved up two notches to the sixth spot from a year before on the list issued by the Airports Council International in early March, Eastday.com reported today.
The airport loaded 2,159,321 tons of freight and mail in 2006, a jump of 16.3 percent from a year before.
Almost 90 percent of the total cargo was flying to or from a foreign country or region, growing by 31.7 percent from 2005.
Express delivery giants United Parcel Service Inc and DHL have signed agreements with Shanghai airport to build global and north Asia hubs at the Pudong airfield to further boost the freight volume.
Domestic freight hit 321,600 tons for the first time last year since the airport was put into use in the 1990s.
The United State¡¯s Memphis Airport ranked No. 1 on the total cargo list, followed by the Hong Kong International Airport and the airports in United States'Anchorage, South Korea's Seoul and Japan's Tokyo.
A 19.7-billion-yuan (US$2.5 billion) second phase project at Pudong airport, which includes a second terminal and a third runway, is expected to be completed in 2007 and put into use before the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
The expansion will give the airport the capacity to handle 60 million passengers and 4.2 million tons of cargo in 2008. --(3/28)
Expo attracts 124 countries and organisations
Shanghai Vice Mayor Yang Xiong yesterday introduced the general information of the Expo to the representatives of 20 permanent mission countries to the United Nations.
According to Yang, 124 countries and international organisations have signed up to participate in the World Expo 2010, including Palau, Costa Rica and Guatemala, which haven't established official foreign relations with China.
Wang Guangya, China's ambassador to the United Nations, chaired yesterday's promotional meeting. --(3/27)
Torpedo barbs on display
The Shanghai Ocean Aquarium has put five red-lined torpedo barbs on display, the first time the fish has been exhibited to the public in China, officials said over the weekend.
The fish, on display in the aquarium's southeastern exhibition area, has a bright red line across its body, the most distinguishing characteristics of its appearance.
The torpedo bard, which is found in India, is difficult to keep in an artificial environment, as it needs strictly controlled water temperature and oxygen levels, aquarium officials said.
The fish are very "shy" and love to hide in the weeds and live in groups, officials said. --(3/26)
Pandas separated to avoid fights
The Shanghai Wildlife Park has restored its panda area for the three pandas to live separately so they don't fight each other, officials said yesterday.
The 2,000-square-meter "panda plaza" includes rocks and a little creek for the pandas, which moved to the park from the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province last April.
Temperatures in the plaza will be kept between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius all year long, said the park. The whole project cost the park eight million yuan (US$1 million), according to park official Su Feilong.
"The three pandas, Rongrong, Ya'ao and Tongtong, were born in 2004, and are now physically mature," said Su. "If they kept living together, they will likely fight with each other."
Rongrong has been moved into a separate space in the plaza, and the other two will be separated soon, said Su. --(3/25)
Metro ticketing minus the people
Most city subway stations will adopt assistant-free ticket machines next year.
The Shanghai Metro Operation Company made the official announcement yesterday after a trial operation that has been underway for more than a year. Authorities will renovate 35 metro stations. Only 18 metro stations, such as at the Shanghai Railway Station, with a large flow of non-locals, will continue to provide ticket-selling assistants in addition to automatic machines. --(3/23)
City bids for 2011 World Swimming Championships
A vote on Saturday will determine whether Shanghai will be the host of the 2011 World Swimming Championships.
FINA, the World Wide Swimming Sports Organization, will hold the vote in Melbourne, a city of southeast Australia, which is hosting this year's swimming championships.
The city was selected by China's State General Administration of Sport to participate in the bid after beating two rivals: Beijing and Nanjing.
Shanghai successfully hosted the 8th FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in 2006 after winning the bid under the support of the General Administration of Sport and China Swimming Association. --(3/22)
School-bus network on the way
The city plans to set up a network of school buses to replace shuttle buses run by individual schools, the Shanghai Education Commission said yesterday.
The city-funded buses will go into service in September, when all school buses are required to be painted yellow and follow one of three publicly chosen designs, which were unveiled yesterday. --(3/21)
Peachy time again
The annual Peach Blossom Festival in Nanhui District will start on Thursday and continue until April 8. This year's festival opens four days earlier than last year's, due to the mild winter, officials said yesterday.
The district has set up several shuttle bus lines for the festival, from the Shanghai Wildlife Park or Longyang Road Station of Metro Line 2 to the Peach Blossom Village. First held in 1991, the festival usually attracts 500,000 visitors from home and abroad each year. --(3/20)
Charming Shanghai to shine in Forbes Museum
Shanghai tourism delegation will hold a travel fair in the famous Forbes Museum in New York tomorrow, to promote the city's tourist attractions in the United States.
The fair, under the theme of "Charming Shanghai," will welcome representatives from some well-known US corporations that are listed in Forbes magazine's ranking and major US media.
Shanghai tourism delegation, organized by the Shanghai Tourism Administrative Commission, flew to New York yesterday in preparation for the fair.
Forbes will spare six pages in its newest periodical for special coverage of¡°Charming Shanghai.¡±
Several major travel agencies, together with Jin Jiang Hotel and Jianguo Hotel, will participate in the activity. --(3/19)
Nature reserve to import female takins
The Shanghai Wildlife Park will import female golden takins to improve the gender balance of takins in the park, officials said on Friday.
Currently, only two of the 22 golden takins living in the park are female, and they must be isolated from the males to prevent attack.
The park introduced three couples of takins from southwest China's Sichuan Province for the first time in 1996.
At that time, the takins lived with yaks and antelopes.
The park has taken several steps to try to solve the gender imbalance, including changing the feed in an attempt to encourage more female births, but to no avail.
Living mainly in Sichuan Province and the Tibet Autonomous Region, golden takins are regarded as one of the three national treasures, along with pandas and golden monkeys. --(3/18)
Plants spruce up underground space
Shanghai is planning to grow more plants in subway stations and underground shopping malls by 2010 to improve the scenery and purify the air, city engineers said yesterday.
The idea is being studied by researchers at Tongji University and is expected to be implemented in an underground facility within the 5.28-square-kilometer World Expo site between Lupu and Nanpu bridges.
It will also be implemented in some subway stations and shopping malls in the city's downtown. --(3/16)
Town on the up
Construction on the new town of Tangzhen in Pudong New Area officially started yesterday.
The town will cover 18.17 square kilometers and hold a population of 150,000. --(3/15)
Expo invites
Fifteen international organizations, including the United Nations, and 106 countries have confirmed they will take part in the World Expo 2010, the city government announced yesterday.
The local government plans to start the construction this year on several key Expo pavilions, including the China pavilion. --(3/14)
Exchange old medicines
Starting today, residents can exchange expired medicines for new products at 24 drug stores, under a nationwide three-day campaign sponsored by a Guangzhou pharmaceutical company.
Officials from Hutchison Whampoa Guangzhou Baiyunshan Chinese Medicine Co said it launched the campaign to arouse people's awareness on safe drug use and promote regular clear-outs of household medicines.
The company started the medicine exchange in 2005, naming March 13 as expired medicine reclamation day. So far, it has received 15.4 tons of expired medicines from some 2,000 drug stores across China. --(3/13)
Institute opens
Fudan University set up its Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies on Saturday.
Benjamin Elman, a professor of East Asia studies and history at Princeton University in the United States was named Fudan's guest professor and one of the center's 11 academic board members. --(3/12)
Science awards
Scientists under the age of 55 working in the city, including returned Chinese, can apply for this year's "model researcher" award - a biennial honor in the city, the Shanghai Association for Science and Technology announced on March 8.
Its should submit application material to Room 402, 57 Nanchang Road no later than April 30. Each of the 10 winners will receive 100,000 yuan (US$12,500). --(3/11)
Jobless rate among young a key concern
Shanghai will create 500,000 new jobs this year for laid-off workers, unemployed youth and those living in the suburbs, city officials announced yesterday.
The government said it plans to keep the registered unemployment rate below 4.5 percent this year, and will provide internship opportunities to 30,000 jobless youngsters.
Last year, 663,000 jobs were created across the city, surpassing the government's target by 163,000 positions.
"Although we fulfilled our goal last year, we should notice that unemployment among young people is becoming an increasingly prominent issue in the city," said Sheng Zuhuan, a spokesperson for the Shanghai Labor and Social Security Bureau.
More than 143,000 students will graduate from colleges and universities in the city this year, an 11 percent increase from last year, which should add to pressure in the job market.
About 49,000 of those graduate come from vocational colleges, and they will likely face the most difficulty finding work, according to Shen Xiaoming, director of the Shanghai Education Commission.
"With the growing supply of university graduates, it does pose a greater challenge for the city to tackle the unemployment problem among young people," Shen said.
The city government plans to set up training programs for 5,000 college and university graduates this year, in order to equip them with stronger vocational skills.
Each of the trainees will undergo tailor-made training at local companies and enterprises during their studies. --(3/9)
Computer to test-drive roads
Shanghai plans to create a computer model of its traffic flow to alleviate congestion.
The model will evaluate new traffic policies including the rearrangement of elevated road entrances and electric traffic signs, city planners said yesterday.
The model "will enable us to try whatever ideas and see their possible effects," Cai Yifeng, a city planner with the Shanghai Transportation Planning Institute who is involved in the project, said yesterday.
Software will produce a three-dimensional image of the traffic situation in the city, including in the most congested areas.
Cai and his colleagues receive constant traffic flow data from the city's traffic information center, which collects data through thousands of ground-buried sensors and cameras in downtown.
He said there were congestion hot spots - the entrance to the Inner Ring Road on Guangzhong Road is one example - but it was difficult to find out why they exist and how to relieve them.
With the help of the traffic-flow model, city planners will be able to conduct virtual tests in congested areas - including adding electronic traffic signs, relocating entrances or widening ground roads.
The city government will continue to use satellite positioning equipment to track cab routes, which have been described by transport engineers as the "moving thermometers of traffic congestion" because they use nearly two-thirds of the city's roads. --(3/8)
Shanghai becomes a magnet for international talents
Shanghai has attracted 67,000 overseas students by 2006 and the number of foreign experts working here is growing by 10 percent year-on¨Cyear, authorities said at a conference yesterday.
Shanghai vice Mayor Feng Guoqin addressed the opening ceremony. Attracting more talents is a must for Shanghai to realize the¡°four centers¡±target, Feng said, adding that Shanghai will make efforts to build it a fair and open place for talents from all over the world.
The conference focused on the mobility of global human resources. --(3/7)
Expo tickets on sale next Sept
Shanghai will start selling tickets for the 2010 World Expo in September next year, one month after the 2008 Beijing Olympics,
Tickets will cost US$20 each with provision for groups, individuals, weekly and monthly passes, Zhou Hanmin, deputy director of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, said yesterday.
Expo planners will set up a 10-hectare display area and invite 20 to 30 international cities to show their successful designs for city life in the future, Zhou said. The Shanghai Expo, scheduled to run from May 1, 2010 to October 31, 2010, will have cities as its theme, paying special attention to booming economies in cities around the world and the interaction between urban and rural areas.
Shanghai has already received formal confirmations from 103 countries and regions taking part, as well as 14 international organizations, Zhou said.
The Expo aims to attract at least 200 exhibitors and 70 million-plus visitors, making it the biggest in history. --(3/6)
Auction goods to preview in city
Sotheby's will hold a preview in the city ahead of its spring auction in Hong Kong, which begins on April 5.
The Shanghai preview will be held on March 9 and 10 at the Four Seasons Hotel. Similar previews will also be held in Beijing, Singapore, New York, Bangkok, Taipei and Tokyo.
The items on auction include contemporary Chinese art, ancient ceramics, traditional ink-wash paintings, and luxurious watches and jewelry.
The 1,200 pieces on sale are expected to take in more than HK$900 million (US$115 million).
The highlight of the sale could be a painting by China's modern master of realism, Xu Beihong.
The painting, "Drop Off Your Whip," was created in 1939 during Xu's sojourn to Singapore. It is expected to bring in HK$30 million. --(3/5)
Doctors develop ear test guideline
Starting this month, local experts will spend three years developing a guideline to regulate and direct hearing rehabilitation and language training for children with hearing difficulties, doctors said yesterday, one day ahead of National Ear Care Day.
The guideline will be promoted in hospitals around the nation to enhance hearing screening, treatment and language training for children up to the age of three years old.
There are 20.57 million people in China suffering from hearing disabilities. That includes 1.7 million people under the age of 15, of which 800,000 are under seven years old.
There are 20,000 to 40,000 children born with hearing problems in China every year.
Local hospitals conducted hearing checks for 22.6 percent of newborns in the city between 2002 and 2004, detecting 329 congenital hearing problems.
"About 76 percent of the patients are receiving hearing treatment and language training in our hospital, which set up China's first hearing screening and rehabilitation center for newborns," said Dr Xu Zhengmin from Fudan University's Children's Hospital. "Language training for children before three years old is the most effective to renovate their disability and enhance their life quality, while it is also the most difficult due to patient's young age."
The new guideline will also help promote language training to neighborhood health centers and families. --(3/4)
Touch of spring wilts to winter
March is quickly shaping up to be this year's cruelest month.
On the same day spring was declared, Shanghai's meteorologists forecast the coming of some of the coolest weather in a while.
A strong, blustery cold front is expected to sweep into Shanghai on Sunday night, cutting temperatures by up to 10 degrees Celsius.
Temperatures on Monday will range between six and 10 degrees and drop to a low of four and high of nine on Tuesday, the weather bureau said, declining to predict when warmer days would return.
Winds in the downtown area could gust up to 50 kilometers an hour - and up to 75 kph at the mouth of the Yangtze River. But at least the rain will be chased away.
Such unseasonable weather at this time of year is called "daochunhan" in Mandarin, which means "spring turns back to winter."
The city also experienced "daochunhan" last year, when a strong cold front swept in on March 12, dropping temperatures by 10.3 degrees.
For Saturday and Sunday, skies will remain warm and wet. Highs will range up to 21 degrees, the weather bureau said.
The declaration of spring 2007 occurred yesterday, when the average daily temperature remained above 10 degrees for the fifth straight day. But the official start of spring is always backdated to the start of the period, in this case on Monday. --(3/3)
Shanghai leads China in body donation
Almost 4,000 local residents have donated their bodies to science over the past 25 years, accounting for half of the body donors in China, city health officials said yesterday.
A total of 23,578 local residents have registered to donate their bodies since the Shanghai Red Cross launched the body donation system in 1982, officials said at a ceremony yesterday to mark the 25th anniversary of the system.
During that time, 3,942 donors have died and their bodies have been used for scientific research.
The city was the first in China to set up a body donation scheme.
"While many other Chinese still hold back when it comes to body donation of their family members or themselves, some open-minded Shanghainese show their generosity and selflessness through the voluntary donation," said Xiong Fangjie, vice director of the Shanghai Red Cross.
The red cross also announced yesterday it will set up a fund to help poverty-stricken families of body donors, with the Fushouyuan Cemetery donating 50,000 yuan (US$6,250) to the fund.
"My mother wished to donate her remains nine years ago when she was dying as she thought her special configuration of internal organs was useful for medicinal study," said a woman whose mother donated her remains to the Shanghai Second Medical University in 2002.
Local residents who want to donate their remains can sign an agreement with the red cross. --(3/2)
Shanghainese spend 14,762 yuan per capita
Shanghai citizens' living expenditures reached 14,762 yuan (US$1,905) per capita last year, growing 7.2 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.
More people preferred dining in restaurants to cooking at home, which cost them 1,482 yuan per capita, growing 11.3 percent from a year earlier. The spending in restaurants accounted for 28.2 percent of food expenditures, 1.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
Growing food prices also increased people's spending. Last year, vegetable prices grew 5.4 percent and fruit prices rose 14.8 percent.
People also spent more money on dairy products last year, growing 8.3 percent to 267 yuan per capita.
Spending on clothes grew 9.2 percent to 1,027 yuan last year, accounting for 6.8 percent of the entire living expenditures, 0.1 percentage point higher than 2005.
Growing traffic fares increased residents' spending on transport by 20.2 percent to 1,396 yuan per capita, accounting for 9.5 percent of the entire living expenditures. The city increased taxi prices by one yuan for the first three kilometers and 0.10 yuan for the following kilometer, as well as increased Metro line prices by one yuan.
Shanghai people on average spent 458 yuan on buying private vehicles last year, rising 25 percent from a year earlier. --(3/1)
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