6 | Thursday, July 29, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY CHINA Xinjiang expressways surpass 6,000 km By XING WEN and tains. The company plans to sign MAO WEIHUA in Urumqi agreements with travel agencies in Beijing this month to further pro- The overall length of express- mote such areas. ways in the Xinjiang Uygur auton- The 1,931-km Turpan-Hotan omous region has exceeded 6,000 Expressway, which passes through kilometers, according to the Turpan, Bayingolin Mongol auton- region’s transport authority. omous prefecture and Aksu, Kash- “The construction of express- gar and Hotan prefectures, is ways has been speeded up in our currently the longest expressway region this year. With some of the in Xinjiang. It has been contribut- projects being completed, the ing to the development of multiple expressways in Xinjiang have industries in southern Xinjiang as topped 6,000 km in length, forming well as helping local people boost a more convenient transportation their incomes. network that allows people to travel Salamat Idris, a villager in Pi- across the region efficiently,” said shan county, Hotan, works at an Sun Xiankui, an official with Xin- edible fungi cultivation zone situ- jiang’s transportation department. ated near the Turpan-Hotan The last section of the 2,822-km Expressway. Beijing-Xinjiang Expressway — or The mushrooms she packs in the G7 national road network — the workshop are delivered to out- Wu Tianyi checks his students’ work at a laboratory in Xining, Qinghai province, on June 17. ZHANG HONGXIANG / XINHUA opened to traffic on June 30. The lets across the country through the route runs from Beijing, the prov- expressway, which is part of the inces of Hebei, Shanxi and Gansu national G30 network. “The cold- and the Inner Mongolia autono- chain logistics and the expressway mous region to Xinjiang. networks ensure the freshness of The expressway, winding the mushrooms when they arrive through a variety of landscapes, at the outlets,” she said. Doctor helps people breathe such as mountains, the Gobi Mamat Iminjan, a melon grow- Desert, grassland and wetland, er in Aksu prefecture’s Awat coun- cuts the driving distance between ty, said that traders seldom drove Urumqi and Beijing by 1,300 km. to visit his orchard in the past due It also reveals some of the natu- to poor road conditions. easier at high elevations ral splendors in Xinjiang’s remote “After the road was paved, trad- areas to a larger group of tourists. ers would come to buy and ship For example, as the first express- my sweet melons one after anoth- Pioneer’s legacy includes protocol that aided Qinghai-Tibet Railway construction way linking Yiwu county in Xin- er during the harvest season every jiang’s Hami prefecture to other year,” he added. parts of the country, it is expected Meanwhile, the expressway that By ZHANG YANGFEI as the country was encouraging had to solve the problem of adapta- Between 2012 and 2013, she joined to fuel the county’s tourism sector. connects Ruoqiang county in Ba- [email protected] young people from more prosperous tion to the high altitude,” he said. an international project in which a Ren Zihua, president of a cul- yingolin with Minfeng county in provinces to get involved in the devel- For decades, Wu spent his time hyperbaric chamber simulated con- ture and tourism company that Hotan — an important section of a Wu Tianyi is the only member of opment of the northwest. observing and surveying the local ditions at 5,000 meters above sea lev- manages the popular scenic areas loop expressway circling the Tarim the Chinese Academy of Engineering Along with many of the other population. His hard work paid off. el, allowing researchers to better in Yiwu, said the G7 route’s open- Basin — is under construction and living in Northwest China’s Qinghai young arrivals, Wu soon began to During construction of the Qing- study the function of the hearts and ing will promote the county’s sce- is expected to open by the end of province. experience symptoms of altitude hai-Tibet Railway, the world’s highest lungs. nic areas, enabling tourists from this year. The 84-year-old is a pioneer of sickness, such as breathing difficulty, railway, in the early 2000s, Wu and Despite being in his 70s, Wu was across the country to come and high-altitude medicine, as well as an headaches and fatigue. his team devised a protection-and- the project leader and helped solve appreciate breathtaking sites at Contact the writers at expert in hypoxic physiology. While altitude sickness commonly first-aid protocol that allowed all the problems researchers encoun- places such the Tianshan Moun- [email protected] For more than 60 years, Wu has affects people new to live at high ele- 140,000 workers to avoid suffering tered during the experiment. used his medical knowledge to pro- vations and usually goes away as their the effects of acute altitude sickness. “His dedication to altitude sickness tect the lives and well-being of the bodies adapt, it can also affect those Liu Fengyun, deputy director of the research really touched me,” Li said. people on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, born and brought up at such heights central laboratory of the Qinghai Wu said dealing with a lack of oxy- and on June 29, during celebrations a progressive condition that is known Province Cardiovascular and Cere- gen has become normal. for the Communist Party of China’s as Chronic Mountain Sickness. brovascular Disease Specialist Hospi- “The plateau is part of my life. It is 100th anniversary, he was awarded When he noticed that altitude sick- tal, said no casualty during the the root of my life and my science. I the July 1 Medal, an honor given to ness was also common among border construction was a “miracle”. feel no regret for having chosen to outstanding Party members. soldiers and other migrants who Li Yuxian, assistant researcher at stay here,” he said. “I am old. My Wu began studying at the China came to take part in the region’s eco- the laboratory, said she has been responsibility now is to lead the Medical University in Northeast Chi- nomic development, he decided to studying with Wu for more than a team and train tomorrow’s doctors na’s Liaoning province in 1951. Seven look for a solution. decade since she joined his team in to ensure the health of people on the years later in 1958, he left for Qinghai “To develop the region, you first 2011. plateau gets better and better.” The Beijing-Xinjiang Expressway stretches through the desert in Quiet contributor remembers life on front lines Gansu province. CAI ZENGLE / FOR CHINA DAILY By LIU KUN in Xiaogan, Hubei After the war ended in 1953, she and CHEN MEILING married a PLA officer in the DPRK. After returning to China, she Inner Mongolia rock art Wearing a faded green army uni- retired from military service and form decorated with a dozen medals began to work at a medical appara- and sitting on the sofa at her home tus factory in Beijing in 1958. Later, depicts athletic past in Xiaogan, Hubei province, she rejoined the army and worked 85-year-old Wang Qingzhen opened in the health office of the logistics a photo album. department of the No 15 branch of HOHHOT — It’s a fierce soccer Mountain, in Dengkou county, While looking through the pho- the PLA’s airborne troops. She was game, but it’s not easy to determine Bayannuur, a riding team charges tos, Wang recalled her work as a the office’s deputy director when she what the result will be. Facing toward the viewer through time. nurse of the Chinese People’s Volun- retired in 1982. Her husband, Liu three defenders, the attacker is Some are on horseback, some teer Army amid the bullets and Huanjie, died at the age of 88 in 2011 sprinting with the ball and leaping are on camels, and most of them shells of the War to Resist US and her youngest son died of liver high, making a thrilling break- are moving toward the left of the Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53). cancer last year. through. rock. Only two are on horseback to Wang was a front line nurse dur- After retirement, Wang looked aft- The cheers on the field can’t be the right, as if they are in an eques- ing the Battle of Triangle Hill in the er patients and disabled children in heard, as the scene of the game has trian competition. Democratic People’s Republic of her neighborhood free of charge, been frozen for thousands of years. In the upper right corner of the Korea and was awarded a second- and on hundreds of occasions, she This soccer game is “played” on a rock, a rider is supporting himself class merit for her work on the bat- told her revolutionary stories at black rock in the depths of Yinshan on horseback with his four limbs as tlefield. Wang Qingzhen browses a photo album at her home in Xiaogan, schools and factories and to soldiers. Mountain in the Inner Mongolia if he’s performing a complex gym- Her story begins with a dramatic Hubei province. LIU KUN / CHINA DAILY “I want to encourage young people autonomous region. nastics routine. prologue. to cherish today’s peaceful and hap- “This football-game rock art The art can help answer ques- Born in 1936 in Wuhan, Hubei py life, and to love the country, the dates from the upper Neolithic Age tions about the origin of these province, Wang and her parents and female soldiers and sometimes vol- the list to go, because the officer in Party and the PLA,” Wang said.