CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Monday, July 13, 2020 | 5 CHINA Bus driver Isolation over XIAOKANG@GRASSROOTS responsible Factory, agriculture park for crash help Lianzhang village held grudge farmers boost incomes By QIU QUANLIN By YANG ZEKUN in Qingyuan, Guangdong [email protected] [email protected]

The driver of the bus that plunged Feng Caixia began working at a into a lake in Anshun, Guizhou toy factory in Lianzhang village, province, on Tuesday was found to her hometown in Qingyuan, Qingyuan have been holding a grudge after his Guangdong province, in 2017 after Guangdong house was demolished on the same quitting her job of seven years at a Guangzhou day, Anshun police said in a state­ shoe factory in the Pearl River Del­ ment on Sunday. ta region. He had consumed some alcohol “The toy factory now has more that day and intentionally steered than 100 workers from my home­ the bus across several lanes and town, helping us to earn a monthly through a guardrail before it salary of about 3,000 yuan ($427),” plunged into the Hongshan Reser­ Feng said. voir, which led to the death of 21 Working at the toy factory, dren, as the job allows many wom­ people and injured 16. People leave a centralized quarantine location in Beijing on Saturday after their isolation period for established in 2017 with an invest­ en like me to take care of children,” The driver was among those potential COVID­19 infection ended. They are the second group of people with links to the Xinfadi ment of about 500,000 yuan, has Zeng said. killed. wholesale market to be released from quarantine. The market was linked to a cluster of COVID­19 been one of the most efficient ways She said a school bus service was After an autopsy and examination cases in the capital in mid­June. LIU PING / FOR CHINA DAILY for farmers in Lianzhang, a for­ put into operation last year. of physical evidence, it was deter­ merly impoverished village in the In many once­poor counties in mined that the driver, surnamed north of the province, to boost northern Guangdong, a growing Zhang, had drowned. Ethanol was their incomes. number of modern factories have found in his body, and 200 millili­ “It used to be a school, but now it been set up in recent years, allow­ ters of alcohol was detected in a bev­ is a factory that helps provide us jobs ing farmers to work in their home­ erage bottle found at the scene, the at home,” said Feng, who is a proc­ towns. police statement said. essing line director at the factory. In Lianzhou, a nearby city, a fac­ An investigation team sent by the 5.1 magnitude quake She said the factory employs tory that produces dried bean milk city government concluded that more than 100 workers during cream in tight rolls has also helped Zhang had received no physical or peak seasons, with most from provide jobs for dozens of local verbal interference while driving. Lianzhang and nearby villages. farmers. The vehicle involved was an electric “Many of us had to work outside “The city has a long history of city bus that was put into use in hits Hebei’s Tangshan our hometown in the past because making dried bean milk cream, October, and it met national stan­ there were few job opportunities,” but there was low production effi­ dards at the time of the incident and Feng said. ciency as most farmers had been had no mechanical failures, the City reports no casualties; temblor is tion, and electricity supplies were About 500 meters from the fac­ making such agricultural products statement said. stable, the bureau added. tory, a modern agricultural scien­ in their family run workshops,” Zhang is suspected of the Crimi­ result of 1976 incident, expert explains Railway authorities halted the tific demonstration park, jointly said Pan Wenge, general manager nal Law offense of intentionally operation of trains that were sched­ invested in by the village commit­ of Qilian Agricultural Products. endangering public safety, it said. By ZHANG YU in Shijiazhuang uled to pass through the quake zone tee and property giant Country In 2017, GAC Group, a leading and ZHAO YIMENG in Beijing and conducted a thorough check of Garden, was put into operation in automobile company based in railway facilities and equipment, 2019, encouraging a growing num­ Guangzhou, Guangdong’s provin­ 21 No casualties or serious damage Hebei Daily reported. At around 10 ber of villagers to stay put. cial capital, set up the Qilian com­ people were reported as of Sunday night am on Sunday, suspended trains Aiming to advance targeted pov­ pany with an investment of 4.5 died after a bus broke a railing after a 5.1 magnitude earthquake Beijing had mostly resumed operation. erty alleviation efforts, a new mod­ million yuan to help upgrade the and plunged into a reservoir in hit Tangshan, Hebei province, at “My bed collided with the wall el integrating agriculture, efficiency of producing traditional Anshun, Guizhou province. 6:38 am, the city’s publicity depart­ Tianjin next to it for about 10 seconds, and industry, and poverty alleviation agricultural products. ment said. Hebei Tangshan bottles on my table shook violently, has been launched in Lianzhang, “We invited workers, most of He divorced his wife in 2016 and Rescue teams have conducted a but this was a small earthquake after which President Xi Jinping visited whom are local farmers, to visit lived in a house that he rented from survey in the city’s Guye district, all,” said Zhang Xin, a 20­year­old in October 2018. our automobile factory in his niece. Police learned that he used the epicenter of the quake, which resident of Fengnan, a district neigh­ After operations began at the Guangzhou to show them what to lament that his family was not was also felt by residents in neigh­ boring Guye. She added that noth­ toy factory and agricultural park, modern production should be happy and his life was not satisfac­ boring Beijing and Tianjin. ing serious had occurred. the per capita income of the village like,” Pan said. tory, according to the statement. The quake struck at a depth of 10 CHINA DAILY Some residents of neighboring — which has 482 households — After upgrades, the factory’s Zhang once worked in diesel kilometers, the Ministry of Emer­ cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, reached more than 22,000 yuan production value has increased by engine factory in Anshun’s Xixiu gency Management said. The dis­ thousands of years, so it’s a normal and Qinhuangdao in Hebei, said last year, the village committee more than 300,000 yuan a year, he district. The factory provided him trict is about 170 km southeast of phenomenon that the aftershocks they were awakened by tremors. said, representing a year­on­year said. with a house with an area of 40 Beijing and around 130 km north­ of the quake can last for dozens of Yin Yu, who lives in Beijing’s Shun­ increase of 42.3 percent. “In addition to providing jobs square meters, with the factory east of Tianjin. years,” Liu said. “The frequency and yi district, said she felt her bed “I started working here at the for local farmers, we also purchase maintaining property rights. The There was no need for residents magnitude of aftershocks of earth­ shaking and started to wonder if it end of 2017, and I have seen great beans from local farmers,” Pan house was included in a shanty­ to be too worried about the quake, quakes will decrease with time.” was an earthquake. changes in the village,” said Zeng said. “The operation of the factory town reconstruction project and the Beijing News reported, citing Data from the center show Sun­ A warning was sent out by a net­ Chunlan, an employee at the toy has helped increase their was scheduled to be demolished, it an expert at the China Earthquake day’s quake was the strongest to hit work jointly established by the factory. incomes.” said. Networks Center. the area within 200 kilometers of Institute of Care­Life, based in She said many young people He said the factory is planning According to the investigation, Tangshan was destroyed by a 7.8 its epicenter in the past five years. Sichuan province, and emergency who had taken jobs outside their to invest more to further upgrade Zhang had not lived in the house for magnitude earthquake in 1976 that The area witnessed 17 quakes management organs, China­ hometowns had returned to work production efficiency, focusing on a long time. However, once the killed more than 240,000 people above magnitude 3 during the news.com reported. at the factory. making high­end dried bean milk project was launched, the project and injured over 160,000. period. Residents of neighboring regions, “The factory has helped solve cream for sale in the Pearl River headquarters contacted Zhang to The 5.1 magnitude quake on Sun­ A total of 332 aftershocks of including Beijing and Tianjin, the problem of left­behind chil­ Delta region. negotiate compensation for the day was an aftershock of the 1976 more than 4 magnitude have been received a warning about 30 sec­ house, the Anshun government one, and another quake of more recorded since 1976, but they have onds before the tremor arrived in said. than 5 magnitude was unlikely to been weak since May 1977. those locations via their mobile On June 8, he signed an agree­ occur in the area in the short term, Since then, only five earth­ phones or televisions with earth­ ment with the district’s housing Liu Jie, the center’s deputy head, quakes above 5 magnitude have quake warning functions activated. authority, which offered him 72,542 told a news conference in Beijing been recorded, including the one The Ministry of Emergency yuan ($10,360) in compensation, on Sunday afternoon. on Sunday. The last major after­ Management has started a level but he didn’t claim it. He also He said the epicenter of Sunday’s shock, another 5 magnitude quake, four emergency response for cop­ applied for public housing but his quake was 28 km from the epicen­ was recorded in Guye in 1995, ing with quake disasters, while application was not approved, it ter of the 1976 quake, well within according to the center. Hebei’s provincial government has said. the aftershock zone, and was con­ Following Sunday morning’s started a level three response, with On Tuesday morning, Zhang sidered a normal fluctuation. quake, two aftershocks — one of 2.2 rescue teams and quake experts found the house was being demol­ “The aftershock zone of the 1976 magnitude at 7:02 am and the oth­ dispatched to the district. ished. He then called the govern­ Tangshan earthquake, with a long er of 2 magnitude at 7:26 am — hit Wang Dongfeng, Party secretary ment service hotline to complain axis of 140 kilometers, covers some the district, Hebei Daily reported. of Hebei province, ordered a thor­ about the demolition and the rejec­ areas in Tianjin and Hebei, but Bei­ According to Tangshan’s emer­ ough check of damage and losses tion of his application for new hous­ jing is not in the zone,” Liu added. gency management bureau, no casu­ caused by the quake during a visit ing. According to international alties or serious damage were found. to Tangshan on Sunday. At 8:50 am, Zhang, who usually research on earthquakes, the slow­ There were reports that several old began driving buses at noon, called er a seismic structure is formed, houses in the district had developed Zou Shuo contributed to this story. the shift driver and requested to the longer the aftershock will last. some cracks after the quake. He Wei (left), a worker at the modern agricultural park in work earlier. “The energy accumulation of Local residents remained calm, Contact the writers at Lianzhang village, in Qingyuan, Guangdong province, explains Zhang bought alcohol from a Tangshan’s earthquake in 1976 took and transportation, communica­ [email protected] how to plant watermelon to a visitor. QIU QUANLIN / CHINA DAILY store, poured it into a nonalcoholic beverage bottle and went to the bus hub to begin his day. He picked up passengers and drove the bus to the HK political leaders slam opposition’s weekend ‘primary’ terminal railway station at 11:37 am, What they really where they all disembarked. He then called his girlfriend via By GANGWEN in Hong Kong The city’s opposition camp held expense reports. reject the Hong Kong administra­ want to do is to hijack WeChat, expressing his unhappi­ [email protected] the event a week before the official Lau Siu­kai, vice­president of tion’s proposed budget if it wins a the legislature to ness. LegCo candidate nomination peri­ the Chinese Association of Hong majority in September. At 11:47 am, Zhang started driving Hong Kong political leaders on od starts. A series of pre­election Kong and Macao Studies, said the LegCo House Committee Chair­ achieve their political again. At 12:09 pm, he was drinking Sunday slammed a so­called Legis­ forums was held before the week­ so­called primary might be con­ person Starry Lee Wai­king said aims.” while passengers got on and off the lative Council primary election end, allowing opposition candi­ sidered cheating, because it such a declaration is “irresponsi­ bus. Three minutes later, the bus held by the opposition camp over dates of different districts to informed residents about the ble,” as they are talking about vot­ Starry Lee Wai-king arrived at the dam of the Hongshan the weekend, saying the move was introduce their election platforms. opposition camp’s potential can­ ing down the budget before they LegCo House Committee Chair­ Reservoir. Zhang slowed down at unfair to other candidates and may They also set up street booths and didates and their election plat­ know what’s in it. person and head of the Demo­ cratic Alliance for the first to avoid other vehicles, then have violated the city’s electoral handed out campaign leaflets. forms in advance. “What they really want to do is to Betterment and Progress of accelerated, crashing through a law. Wong urged the Electoral Affairs The EAC should mull relevant hijack the legislature to achieve Hong Kong guardrail and plunging the bus into Wong Kwok­hing, a veteran pro­ Commission and the Registration measures to ensure fairness in the their political aims”, Lee said dur­ the reservoir. establishment politician who and Electoral Office to follow the elections, including declaring the ing a one­on­one interview with the seats in LegCo. The Anshun government said fur­ became a district councilor in 1991 case and investigate whether the cost of the so­called primary into China Daily on Friday. She worried that public hospi­ ther investigation will be conduct­ and was a LegCo member from acts violated the Elections Ordi­ the final candidates’ election Lee, who is also the head of the tal operations will be disrupted ed, and any violation of laws and 2004 to 2016, described the opposi­ nance. He said the EAC also needs expenses, the sociologist from the Democratic Alliance for the Bet­ and public services will grind to a discipline during the process of the tion camp’s move is “jumping the to require the opposition camp to nation’s leading think tank on terment and Progress of Hong halt if the opposition camp votes house’s demolition and the han­ gun” and “unfair” to other candi­ declare the costs associated with Hong Kong affairs said. Kong, said that the move will pose down all administration­pro­ dling of Zhang’s complaints will be dates who will run in the LegCo the primary event as a part of its During a press briefing, the a serious risk to the city if the posed bills, paralyzing the gov­ dealt with strictly. elections scheduled for Sept 6. final candidates’ LegCo election opposition camp said it would opposition wins more than half of ernment.