6 | Friday, August 16, 2019 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY CHINA Experts share concerns In the hands of a master Ex­official over sluggish pace of pleads guilty regional smoking bans to accepting By WANG XIAOYU regions and other large cities with a bribes of [email protected] population of more than 2 million begin implementing smoking bans Regional smoking bans have in the next three years,” said Cui shielded only about 10 percent of Xiaobo, vice­president of the Bei­ 449m yuan the Chinese population from the jing Tobacco Control Association. harmful effects of tobacco in public There are over 100 cities in Chi­ By ZHANG YANGFEI venues, health experts said on na with such large and dense pop­ [email protected] Thursday. ulations that maintaining healthy The low percentage has pitted air quality is particularly difficult, Xing Yun, former vice­chair­ China against a tough and urgent Cui said. man of the Standing Committee battle to stub out cigarettes in pub­ “Implementing comprehensive of the People’s Congress of Inner lic spaces as the country aims to smoking bans in these large cities Mongolia autonomous region, raise the rate of people protected is the first step to push for a wider pleaded guilty to bribery during by anti­smoking rules to 30 per­ coverage of tobacco control his first trial on Thursday at a cent by 2022 and 80 percent by nationwide,” he said. court in Dalian, Liaoning prov­ 2030, according to a health pro­ According to the national ince. motion plan released in July by health plan, China is also striving Prosecutors said that Xing, 67, the State Council, China’s Cabinet. to reduce the percentage of smok­ had been taking advantage of his “In China, it took more than a ers who are 15 years or older to A master teaches a foreign student a tai chi sword position on Jinhua Mountain in Jinhua, Zhejiang positions from 1996 to 2016 to decade to implement smoking 24.5 percent by 2022 and to 20 per­ province, on Wednesday. Thirty­eight students from 13 countries got a taste of Chinese culture by seek benefits for others in job bans in about 20 cities. The slow cent by 2030. studying the martial art. SHI BUFA / FOR CHINA DAILY promotions as well as project pace is worrisome, and health There are more than 300 mil­ contracting. authorities should hasten efforts to lion smokers in China, and about 1 He had curb tobacco use,” said Xiao Lin, a million deaths are tied to tobacco accepted prop­ researcher at the Tobacco Control use each year, according to the erties and gifts Office at the Chinese Center for National Health Commission. either directly Disease Control and Prevention. “It is also necessary to deliver or through At present, 23 cities across Chi­ more services to help heavy smok­ 17 workers missing close relatives na have rolled out regulations to ers quit, as a large number of cities equivalent to restrict smoking in public spaces, have not launched such services 449 million including office buildings and yet,” according to Xu Guihua, a con­ yuan ($64 mil­ public transport. sultant to the Chinese Association lion). Xing Yun The latest entries include on Tobacco Control. Xing had Wuhan in Hubei province as well “Compared to the complicated after rock collapse served as a member of the as Qinhuangdao and Zhangjiakou process of setting up regulations, region’s Standing Committee of in Hebei province, which have it’s a much more feasible approach the Party Committee, head of the passed local smoke­free rules in to provide withdrawal programs 11 pulled from rubble following sudden train started operation immediate­ region’s Commission for Political the past month. for smokers as part of efforts to ly each time. and Legal Affairs, Party chief of “To achieve the goal, it is crucial protect the public from smoke landslide over Sichuan railway section The Chengdu­Kunming Rail­ Baotou city and vice­chairman of that all capitals of provincial­level fumes,” she said. way, nearly 1,100 kilometers in the Standing Committee of the By HUANG ZHILING in Chengdu Chengdu-Kunming Railway length, started operating in 1970. region’s people’s congress. [email protected] When Chinese workers were about Dalian Intermediate People’s Chengdu to build the railway in the 1950s, Court heard the trial, which was Seventeen people were con­ foreign experts said the area along attended by about 50 people firmed missing after a rock col­ the planned railway was a including legislators, political lapse in Southwest China’s Sichuan “restricted zone where it was advisers and journalists. Xing Sichuan province on Wednesday, Ganluo impossible to build a railway”. pleaded guilty after a cross­exam­ the rescue team said on Thursday. Wriggling across undulated moun­ ination. Following continuous rainfall, tains, deep valleys and various riv­ The court announced an rocks and mud on mountains sud­ ers in Sichuan and Yunnan adjournment and will make its denly collapsed between the Lian­ provinces, it runs through complex ruling at a later date. ghong­Aidai section of the terrain that is prone to geological Prosecutors officially filed the Chengdu­Kunming Railway in disasters. lawsuit against Xing in June. Ganluo county in Sichuan’s Liang­ On July 9, 1981, a sudden mud­ Xing was put under investiga­ shan Yi autonomous prefecture at Yunnan Kunming slide triggered by torrential rain tion in October by the Communist 12:44 pm on Wednesday. CHINA DAILY destroyed a railway bridge over a Party of China Central Commis­ Workers had been doing mainte­ small river. A train coming out of a sion for Discipline Inspection and nance work at the time. buried by the landslide and helped tunnel that the bridge connected the National Supervisory Com­ Chen Kun, an official of the Chi­ more than 300 workers and other to failed to brake in time, and sev­ mission for “serious violations of na Railway Chengdu Group Co, people, who were seeking shelter eral railcars fell off the bridge. The Party disciplines and laws”. said: “I spotted a strange move­ in a tunnel near the site of the land­ accident claimed more than 240 He was expelled from the Party ment on the mountain slope after a slide, evacuate the area. lives and was the deadliest acci­ in April after anti­graft watch­ truck passed. And I shouted, tell­ More than 400 rescuers and 14 dent in China’s railway history. dogs found him accepting a huge A medical worker gives out anti­smoking brochures to people ing everyone to run away.” excavators were working at the site That accident took place about amount of money and gifts, pro­ visiting the Daming Palace National Heritage Park in Xi’an, Four minutes later, rocks and as of noon on Thursday. only 30 kilometers from where moting a large number of officials Shaanxi province, in May. ZHANG BOWEN / XINHUA mud collapsed, burying workers Since late July, Ganluo has been Wednesday’s accident occurred. in a short period and meddling in and 70 meters of railway lines. frequented by rainstorms and According to a recent report judicial affairs. “The rocks and mud fell within landslides. Work at the Lianghong­ from the Sichuan Flood Control The statement issued by the two or three seconds,” Chen said. Aidai section of the Chengdu­Kun­ and Drought Relief Headquarters, watchdogs said he seriously vio­ Cities claim to be Ne Zha’s “While we were running, we could ming Railway was interrupted heavy rainfall is expected in the lated the Party’s code of conduct feel rocks chasing us. If we had twice after rainstorms. near future in the Liangshan sec­ on organization, undermined the been a little late, we would have Although passenger train ser­ tion of the Chengdu­Kunming personnel system and the local home amid success of film been buried there.” vice was not resumed after the rail­ Railway, and floods will raise the political ecosystem, and accused After the disaster took place, res­ way was restored in the wake of the water level of many small and him of losing his political convic­ By CHENG SI characters — paid a number of vis­ cuers managed to save 11 workers previous two disasters, the freight medium­sized rivers. tions. [email protected] its to Tianjin to collect stories about Ne Zha. The popularity of the animated In addition, both Jiangyou city blockbuster film Ne Zha has led to in Sichuan province and Xixia a number of Chinese cities staking county in Henan province claim to LGBT people make use of guardianship services claims to be the mythical hero’s be the hometown of Ne Zha. hometown in the hopes of devel­ Since debuting on July 26, Ne By ZHOU WENTING in Shanghai fer from mental problems. legally use the card so that he can oping their cultural and tourism Zha has become the highest­gross­ [email protected] Although far from what a legal save his life. industries. ing animated film ever on the Chi­ relationship like a marriage can I understand that “I understand that such a legal Ne Zha, a warrior commonly nese mainland. Two lesbians in Chengdu, Si­ offer, appointed guardianship, notary document will relieve their seen in ancient Chinese fiction, According to box­office tracker chuan province, who have been which became effective for all adult such a legal notary concern that nobody will take care was recognized by the gods for his Maoyan, ticket sales for Ne Zha together for more than a decade, citizens in October 2017, gives such document will relieve of them in case of accidents, and bravery and appointed to lead the exceeded 3.6 billion yuan ($500 recently went to a local notary pub­ people an opportunity to let their there may be a sense of commit­ guardians in heaven. million) on Tuesday, making it the lic office to register as appointed actual life partner speak on their their concern that ment between the two,” said Ding, Yibin, in Sichuan province, has most bankable Chinese film this guardians for each other with a behalf in emergencies. nobody will take care an attorney of civil cases. posted a series of stories on its Sina summer because of its gripping belief that “we will be kind to each The 29­year­old woman in Cheng­ Zaizi said that she and her girl­ Weibo account over the last week, story and fancy special effects. other under any circumstance”. du said that she and her girlfriend of them in case of friend both informed their parents claiming that the city is home to Wei Changren, president of Appointed guardianship — a sys­ regarded the guardianship as more accidents, and there before the registration. Ne Zha. Jinglyu Group, a tourism consult­ tem allowing adult citizens to select meaningful for LGBT people living “Our parents understood that The city claims to have numer­ ancy in Beijing, said that tourist a trusted person to make decisions on the Chinese mainland than regis­ may be a sense of one day, when I need someone to ous locations closely tied with Ne destinations may be able to tap for them in cases such as medical tering for marriage in a foreign commitment sign on the hospital record to pro­ Zha. For example, it contains an into the buzz about the animated rescue — recently triggered discus­ country where same­sex marriage is ceed with medical rescue or give up ancient town that used to be film to lure travelers. sions among the LGBT community lawful. between the two.” further treatment, my girlfriend named Chentangguan — Ne Zha’s However, he said, it requires sys­ as a rising number of such individu­ “This grants a more or less prac­ Ding Yaqing, Guangzhou­based will be prioritized by law to make fictional birthplace — as well as a tematic planning and measures to al cases have been reported by local tical safeguard rather than mere lawyer who focuses on the LGBT the decision before my parents,” she cave, named Ne Zha Cave, which make full use of the blockbuster media. symbolism, although it’s still very community said. they say is the one that plays a over the long term, “or it will be a Li Chenyang, assistant to the far from the rights and duties that “Actually I believe that she and my prominent role in his story. flash in the pan after the film is off director at Shanghai Putuo District a couple is granted by marriage, parents will make a joint decision, Also, in June 2018 the Chinese the screen.” Notary Public Office, said that the and it’s absolutely not a legal coma, the guardian has the right to which is the best for me,” she said. Folk Literature and Art Associa­ Li Qiuyan, director of Lvmama’s office has handled more than 10 same­sex marriage,” said the wom­ withdraw money with his or her However, a 21­year­old gay man in tion recognized Yibin’s Cuiping brand department in Shanghai, applications from LGBT partners to an, who preferred to be named as card and report the loss of the pass­ Shanghai said that the system is district as the “hometown of cul­ also emphasized the importance have each other as their appointed Zaizi. word to the bank. The guardian can more of a psychological comfort for ture concerning Ne Zha”, inspiring of long­term planning for culture guardians. Li from the notary office said they also decide what to do with the partners as it only takes effect when the city to shape Yibin into a cul­ and tourism development related The provinces of Jiangsu, Si­ usually talk to the two applicants for property of the patient, such as one person loses capacity for civil tural brand for Ne Zha. with Ne Zha. chuan, Hunan and Hubei have also hours about their willingness, rela­ obtaining money for medical treat­ conduct. The city of Tianjin, however, has “Ne Zha is a fictitious figure, of handled such cases. Beijing tionship and backgrounds before ment. “But still, it’s meaningful to some made a counterclaim that its sub­ course, but he shares a rather high became the latest with two gay offering such a service. “But an appointed guardian is not extent,” said the university student district of Chentangzhuang is the reputation among Chinese people men applying to be appointed “If two people have not been an heir by law and doesn’t partici­ who gave his name as KK. “I believe place that Ne Zha’s father once because the fiction is very popular. guardians for each other earlier together for a long time, I advise pate in the distribution of inherit­ most LGBT people who have the guarded. “It’s similar with some enter­ this month. them to think twice as this is serious, ance,” he said. idea to have an appointed guardian­ According to the city’s website, tainment properties like Disney Legal experts said that the system entitling another person to make Ding Yaqing, a Guangzhou­based ship are in a broken relationship Wu Cheng’en, the author of Jour­ using its animated figures to was initially designed for an aging decisions for you relating to life and lawyer who focuses on the LGBT with their parents and live away ney to the West — a classic of Chi­ promote tourism and anima­ society to allow seniors to better death,” he said. community, said: “Even if a gay man from home. They need someone to nese literature detailing a tion­related products in real protect themselves if they have lost Li explained that when the per­ has savings of 100 million yuan ($14 legally make decisions for their pilgrimage by a group of unusual life,” she said. their only child or their children suf­ son under guardianship is in a million), he needs someone who can sake.”