4 Wednesday, February 8, 2017 We are looking forward to having monthly train passes. We hope the monthly pass can help frequent passengers save money.” CHINA Xiang Nan, managing director of a Tianjin­based investment company that has an office in Beijing CHINA DAILY » CHINADAILY.COM.CN/

Briefly Beautiful beast Beijing, Tianjin plan BEIJING Underprivileged to monthly train pass get more funding China plans to set up coun­ By LIANG SHUANG in Beijing ty­level coordination for and ZHANG MIN in Tianjin ensuring basic living stan­ 350 km/h dards for people in difficul­ Beijing and Tianjin are plan­ Speed of trains on the Beijing­ ties, according to the ning a monthly pass for high­ Tianjin Intercity Railway, the Ministry of Civil Affairs on speed intercity trains linking first of its kind in China Tuesday. A circular issued the cities, as well as canceling by the State Council has expressway toll fees between called for various authori­ the two cities, the mayor of ties at county level, includ­ Tianjin said on Monday. ing civil affairs, reform, The move will facilitate the having monthly train passes,” finance, social security, integrated development of Bei­ said Xiang Nan, the managing housing and health agen­ jing, Tianjin and Hebei prov­ director of a Tianjin­based cies, to work together to ince, an outline given in 2015 to investment company that has address the needs of peo­ improve transportation links in offices in Beijing, downtown ple living in difficulties. the area, while also moving Tianjin and Binhai New Area Such groups include those some of Beijing’s low­end of Tianjin. He has rented offi­ in poverty, the disabled, industriestoneighboringareas. ces near the train stations to left­behind children, Wang Dongfeng, mayor of save time on commuting. orphans and the homeless. Tianjin, said the plan is to Xiang said that he and seven build a modern transporta­ of his employees spend nearly HUNAN tion system. He added that a 5,000yuan($730)everymonth Livepoultrytrade unified smart prepaid traffic on commuting. “We hope the haltedoverdisease card, called Yikatong, already monthly pass can help fre­ exists in 12 cities in the Bei­ quent passengers save money.” The sale of live poultry has jing­Tianjin­Hebei region, In 2009, a prepaid express been suspended at several and the government aims to card was issued by railway markets in Hunan over expand its use to all cities in authorities for Beijing­Tianjin bird flu concerns. The prov­ the area by the end of this year. intercity trains, offering exclu­ ince has reported 20 cases In addition to universal sive entrance channels at sta­ of human H7N9 infections, traffic cards and expressways, tionssofrequenttravelersdon’t including five fatalities, Men holding a dragon lantern walk through a field in Yuqing county, Guizhou province, on Monday to celebrate the Spring Festival holiday. the proposal of a high­speed have to buy tickets in advance since the beginning of this The Yuqing dragon lantern was included on the provincial intangible cultural heritage list in 2007. MU MINGFEI / XINHUA train network in the region or wait in line before boarding. year, the provincial center was approved last year, with In 2012, the express card for disease control and pre­ Beijing­Binhai New Area was upgraded into a debit card vention said on Tuesday. Intercity Railway expected to that also works on about 20 The center expects more be completed by 2020. intercity rail transit lines cases to emerge in the fol­ The Beijing­Tianjin Intercity nationwide. lowing months and, thus, Railway was the first of its kind However, in both cases, pas­ decided to close several Pangolin dinner prompts in China. Traveling at up to 350 sengers still have to pay the markets, including in kilometers per hour, passen­ full price for each trip — 54.5 Changsha and Yueyang. gers can commute between the yuan from Beijing to down­ cities in about 40 minutes on town Tianjin. YUNNAN trains that depart every 10 to 15 “If expressway toll fees were Rare ibis spotted calls for species’ protection minutes. lifted, it would save us a lot of in wetlands Officials from Tianjin’s money,” said Wang Rui, who transportation bureau said drives between Tianjin, where they are still deliberating the she works, and Beijing, where Animal listed as ‘critically endangered’ Wu Shibao, a professor at One of the authors of the monthly pass mechanism and she and her husband own a South China Normal Univer­ review, who wished not to be a timetable is not available. house. after population declined by up to 94% sity, has devoted himself to named, told China Daily that Potential benefactors are pangolin protection since it is difficult to protect the Chi­ eagerlyawaitingtheimplemen­ Contact the writers at 1995. He said the Chinese nese pangolin, unlike the tation of the planned policies. liangshuang@ A group of rare ibis once By SU ZHOU pangolin is already commer­ giant panda or snow leopard. “We are looking forward to chinadaily.com.cn thought extinct in China [email protected] cially extinct in the wild. “The majority of rescue have been spotted in the “There is virtually no infor­ centers or zoos don’t even Dianchi Lake wetlands in Conservation groups have mation available on popula­ know how to keep pangolins Kunming. Ten glossy ibis called for governments to tion levels of the Chinese alive, not to mention encour­ were first captured by a increase protection of the Chi­ pangolin on the Chinese age reproduction,” she said. photographer in late Janu­ nese pangolin after a social mainland,” he said. “The spe­ “One of the important ways to ary.The flock has remained media post triggered public cies exists, but is very rare. I raise public awareness of there for more than two concern over this critically The Chinese pangolin is said to talked to some hunters. Some wildlife protection is to show weeks. The glossy ibis, a endangered wild mammal. be extinct in the wild. said they haven’t seen wild endangered animals in zoos. close relative of the endan­ A Sina Weibo user posted PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY pangolin for three decades.” However, no zoo on the Chi­ gered crested ibis, is under four pictures from 2015 show­ Wildlife trade monitoring nese mainland has pangolins. second­class State protec­ ing a pangolin meat banquet of Wild Flora and Fauna said network Traffic and environ­ So most people don’t know tion in China. Zoologists held for a business delegation in 2003 the population was mental organization WildAid this species is more endan­ used to believe the birds fromHongKongintheGuang­ estimated at 50,000 to in September released an gered than the giant panda.” had become extinct in Chi­ xiZhuangautonomousregion. 100,000, having declined by overview of the pangolin Wu from South China na in the 20th century This triggered public criticism up to 94 percent since the trade in China. The report Normal University is more before a glossy ibis was and has led to a probe. 1960s. said the “illegal trade appears positive about the pangolin’s A driver checks a high­speed train before it heads from Tianjin to found in Yunnan in 2012 The Chinese pangolin, one The International Union to be continuing unabated”. future. He said the first step Beijing South Railway Station on Jan 25. YANG BAOSEN / XINHUA and several others have of the eight species of pango­ for Conservation of Nature Traffic China recommend­ is to conduct a national sur­ been spotted in the prov­ lins, has been heavily hunted listed the Chinese pangolin as ed that the Chinese govern­ vey of wild Chinese pangolin ince over the past few years. andtraffickedforitsmeatand “critically endangered” in ment should upgrade the to provide a basis for estab­ scales, which are believed to 2014 on the basis of predicted species from a second­class to lishing reserve areas. Boy born from embryo Forest fires cover have medicinal qualities. The continuing declines of up to a first­class national protected “We have saved giant pan­ 130 hectares Convention on International 90 percent over the next cou­ species and strengthen man­ das and Tibetan antelope Trade in Endangered Species ple of decades. agement of the animal. from the brink,”he added. frozen 16 years ago Two separate forest fires have broken out since Sunday, engulfing a com­ By XINHUA in Guangzhou bined area of 130 hec­ tares. The provincial Path out of poverty found on ‘green trains’ A healthy baby boy has been forest fire control depart­ bornfromanembryofrozen16 ment said on Tuesday that By XINHUA in Xi’an urbanites. In rural areas, how­ computer literate, so people years ago, a hospital in South as both fires were at such ever, they are the only link like Zhu have been brought in China announced on Monday. a high altitude in Lanping At 6 am, Wang Yingxiang locals have to the outside to help villagers use these A 46­year­old woman gave county, they were carefully boards a train, her 300 world, and to wealth. new tools. birth to her second son at the extremely difficult to con­ hands full with four heavy of Dayudong village’s 500­ The tradition of peddling “We just got an order for First Affiliated Hospital of Sun A baby that was born from an tain. So far, no residential kettles of hot water. plus households still live produce on the trains, which 1,000 chickens from Beijing,” Yat­sen University in Guang­ embryo frozen 16 years ago. areas are at risk. More The steam from the spout under the poverty line. was once a major source of Zhu said, adding that local dong province early this PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY than 800 people are try­ fogs up the window of the old­ income for many folks, is farmers had received more month. “I’m ecstatic to have ing to contain the fires. fashioned “green­skinned changing. than 30,000 orders last year. another child,”she said. Both the baby and mother train”. She quickly gets to After Lei gets off the train, More than 300 of the 500­ Her first son, already 16 are said to be in stable condi­ ZHEJIANG work. Her first task is to write The train only has three the green carriages chug plus households in Dayudong years old, was from the same tion and due to be discharged 4detainedover information on the carriage’s carriages, and it picks up pas­ along to a bigger market in still live under the poverty batch of embryos frozen in from hospital soon. signboards. sengers every 10 minutes Da’an town, which is where line, which means they sur­ 2000. She gave birth to him Xu said that more women massageparlorfire The signboards advertise from 12 stations in one of the Zhu Jihong, 28, is headed. vive on an annual income through in vitro fertilization are having their embryos Four people from a foot goods that passengers are sell­ most impoverished hinter­ Born locally, Zhu took the below 2,300 yuan per capita. after the hospital froze her 18 thawed, and that some frozen massage parlor in Tiantai ing.Manypeoplesellproducts lands in northwestern China. train to a new life 10 years E­commerce has helped at other embryos. embryos at the hospital date county were detained by duringtheirjourneyontheNo For locals, the clanking green ago. She never imagined it least six households get rich­ Last year, the mother came back as far as 1994. police on Monday after a 8361 train, which runs deep train is their lifeline, taking would bring her back. er in less than a year and to the hospital expressing a As China relaxed the family fire left 18 dead and 18 through the Qinling Moun­ them to relatives, hospitals, She is now vice­chairwom­ encouraged many more to desire to get pregnant again, planning policy, an increasing others injured on Sunday. tains in Shaanxi province. schools and markets. an of an e­commerce associa­ explore large­scale farming. following the implementation number of women of an The people who died in Lei Shunmin paid 1 yuan “When I was young, we tion, which was set up last “There was no independ­ of the second­child policy. advanced maternal age have the incident have been ($0.15) to travel from Xiang­ had to leave at midnight to year, in Dayudong village in ent industry in the village. It “There were a few issues to visited the hospital expressing identified, local authori­ shui town to Daijiaba market, get to the morning fair,” Lei Da’an. The aim of the associa­ was only recently that farm­ address when she asked to a desire to conceive with the ties said on Tuesday. about 8 kilometers away. said. tion is to help villagers out of ers started to grow produce thaw her embryos,” said Xu help of Assisted Reproductive Twelve of the victims were Once he finds his seat, he China’s slow, green trains, poverty through the sale of on a large scale,” a local offi­ Yanwen, director of the hospi­ Technology, Xu said. women. Fifteen were carefully begins to calculate like the No 8361, have no air their produce, such as mush­ cial said. tal’s reproductive center. “Last year, we received locals, and the other three how much he can earn on the conditioning and are often rooms, chestnuts, bacon and Encouraged by the accom­ “It was not easy to thaw the about 1,000 women above the were from Henan, Sichuan train and at the market. crammed with people and free­range chickens. plishments, the local govern­ frozen embryos and there age of 40 seeking to have and Yunnan provinces “The honey sells for 200 hugebagsbulgingwithgoods. E­commerce was identified ment plans to eradicate were also some problems with babies, with the average age of respectively. yuan, and five brooms will In the modern era of high­ by the central government as poverty in the village by 2018 her womb,” Xu said, adding women thawing their embry­ make me 50 yuan,” he tells speed trains they are just a a way to reduce poverty.How­ by helping e­commerce busi­ that the risk of complications os rising from 32.7 to 33.7,” Xu XINHUA himself. distant memory for many ever, many locals are not nesses in the region grow. increases with a woman’s age. added.