16 | DISCOVER SHANXI Friday, April 17, 2020 CHINA DAILY Taiyuan showcases 5G tech to the public By YUAN SHENGGAO A 5G experience event was held in Taiyuan on April 11, allowing visitors the chance to From left: A tourist takes photos at a plum farm in Huangfu township in Wanrong county. XUE JUN / FOR CHINA DAILY The Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River in Jixian county is get to grips with ultra­high def­ one of the most popular tourist attractions in Shanxi province. SUN RONGXIANG / FOR CHINA DAILY A child flies a kite at a park in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi. LIU TONG / FOR CHINA DAILY inition streaming, high­speed network connections and real­ time virtual reality transmis­ peratures checked at the entrance. sion. They also have to keep a distance of The event was held by the more than 1.5 meters from each oth­ Shanxi branch of China Unicom Millions of tourists descend on er inside the museum, according to and information technology its officials. giant Huawei. Every scenic area in Shanxi now Yuan Xiaoshen, an online has online reservation services, movie enthusiast, was among according to Shi Zhenya, an official the excited visitors during the Shanxi for Tomb Sweeping Day at the Shanxi Department of Culture event. and Tourism. “It’s amazing that it takes less He said those who booked their than 10 seconds to download a Hundreds of scenic and cultural sites are reopened with strict health monitoring rules in place tickets online can directly enter a high­definition movie of one scenic area by scanning their ID gigabyte. That’s the amazing cards or QR codes at the entrance. speed of 5G,” Yuan said. not alone. During Qingming Festi­ nations in Shanxi open to tourists. With these measures in place, This practice reduces the risk of The event was held two days val — or Tomb Sweeping Day — at The provincial department of cul­ tourists were allowed to expand cross infection by avoiding close after the government of Shanxi the beginning of April, Shanxi’s vari­ ture and tourism released a market their options from outdoor to contact with staff members. announced the latest develop­ ous tourist destinations received report on April 7. It showed 6.99 mil­ indoor sites, according to Li. It is a tradition during Tomb ments in the commercialization nearly 7 million visits, according to lion visits were made to Shanxi’s Shanxi Museum, based in the pro­ Sweeping Day that people make of 5G technologies. the Shanxi Department of Culture destinations and total spending by vincial capital of Taiyuan, reopened sightseeing tours in the countryside At a news conference on April and Tourism. tourists surpassed 3.68 billion yuan on March 24. For Qi Chenyu, a fre­ after sweeping the tombs of their 9, Zhang Zhanxiang, deputy Officials at the department said ($522.6 million). quent museumgoer in Taiyuan, the ancestors and deceased family chief and spokesman of the By YUAN SHENGGAO the number is a welcome sign of During last year’s Tomb Sweeping reopening was a long time coming. members. Shanxi Department of Industry recovery after the industry was hit Day, Shanxi’s tourist destinations “I planned to watch the murals To meet this demand, tourism and Information Technology, Upon hearing that tourist desti­ hard by the outbreak of COVID­19 in received 9.65 million visitors and show at the museum several operators in various regions in told the media the province has nations were reopening in Shanxi the first quarter of 2020. netted 4.63 billion yuan in revenue. months ago, but the trip was Shanxi have organized special recently achieved breakthroughs province, Tong Fuquan, a retired The recovery was also the result of “This year’s numbers are not com­ delayed by the epidemic,” she said. routes and programs for rural tours. in the 5G communications policeman, started planning a trip a provincial marketing campaign to parable to those in 2019. However, To her excitement, she was able to Flower­themed sightseeing festi­ industry. to the province for early April with help the tourism industry overcome the sign of recovery is obvious,” said visit on April 7. vals are now held in Yuncheng, According to Zhang, more several of his friends. the negative effects of the pandemic. Li Gui, deputy chief of the Shanxi “I just felt I was the guest of honor Yangquan, Changzhi, Linfen and than 3,800 5G base stations have His trip covered Datong, Youyu, The campaign launched by the Department of Culture and Tour­ when visiting the show with so few Jincheng cities. been built and operational in Linfen and many other places. Tong department, which lasts from April ism. people. I could have enough time to In some areas surrounding public Shanxi as of the end of March. All then shared his travel experiences 1 to June 30, called on tourism oper­ “Although ticket revenues study all the exhibits carefully and cemeteries, tree­planting events 11 prefecture­level cities in the on WeChat, attracting the interest of ators to offer preferential treatment decreased in many destinations, take pictures,” Qi said. have been held. Planting trees is a province have drafted their 5G other friends. to customers. This includes the there was an increased willingness To ensure the health of visitors, tradition in China to commemorate network development plans. “Spring is a good time to see the exemption of ticket fees and deduc­ among tourists to spend on related the museum only accepts online res­ ancestors as Chinese people believe In addition, 5G networks sights, visit friends and relax,” Tong tion of transport and accommoda­ services and products,” Li said. ervations from individual appli­ that the later generations should deployed by the three major tele­ said. He added that the incentive tion costs. He added that the tourism boom cants and applies strict preventive rest in the shade of trees planted by com operators — China Mobile, packages of many destinations and The three­day Qingming Festival was achieved while strict preventive measures. their ancestors. China Unicom and China Tele­ hotels are making tours cheaper. was the first tourism peak of the measures were applied to ensure Visitors are required to have their com — cover all major urban are­ Tong and his companions were year, with 215 out of 216 major desti­ the health of tourists. online health codes and body tem­ Li Yali contributed to this story. as in the 11 cities. While residents pin their hopes on 5G changing their lives, local market players and industrial Students head officials are more optimistic back to school about 5G applications in indus­ as virus now tries. “While the 5G infrastructure is under control in place, we will shift our focus to across nation industrialized use of the new technologies,” said Wu Jin, chief Grade­four students in 12 of the Shanxi Communications higher­learning institutions in Administration Bureau. Shanxi province returned to The official cited the example lectures on April 10, marking the of Huozhou Coal Electricity reopening of local universities Group, which is currently pro­ and colleges as the novel moting the use of 5G technolo­ coronavirus epidemic is under gies to manage its coal mines and control in the country. other production sites. According to the Shanxi The group based in Huozhou, Department of Education, all of Shanxi province, signed a coop­ the 30 universities in the eration agreement with China province will resume classes by Unicom to explore 5G applica­ this weekend, with the return of tions, including artificial intelli­ 66,585 grade­four students. gence, big data and augmented Local senior middle schools reality, in coal and electricity pro­ resumed classes on March 25, duction. as grade­12 students were the In May 2019, the group first to return to school. Students launched its first smart mine and of all grades at local universities, equipment inspection and moni­ primary and middle schools are toring system at its Pangpangta scheduled to return to their Mine, with the help of China Uni­ campuses in the near future. com, marking the beginning of its large­scale application of 5G MA LIMING / FOR CHINA DAILY in its production. “The system can greatly improve safety and efficiency at our mines and production sites through such technologies as remote sensing, remote diagnoses and real­time data transmission and processing,” said Yan Lila, an executive at Pangpangta Mine. He added the smart system can be upgraded to cover more Coal pipeline reduces costs and environmental impact functions in the future, including smart transportation, smart ven­ tilation and other remotely con­ By YUAN SHENGGAO It uses high­sulfur coal, coal­bed transform 2.2 million tons of high­ Mine, said such a huge facility needs The pipeline crosses two town­ trolled operations. methane and other industrial waste sulfur coal into 1.2 million tons of a daily supply of 4,500 tons of crude ships, six highways and 18 high­volt­ Wu from the Shanxi Commu­ Construction on a 8.4­kilome­ to produce methanol, a kind of clean methanol a year, according to the coal from Sihe. age power transmission lines, nications Administration Bureau ter­long coal­transmission pipe­ fuel. company. He said the coal is currently trans­ according to Zhang. cited 5G applications in the pre­ line was recently completed in Its coal liquefaction facility can Wang Jie, an executive at Sihe ported by truck. Zhang is responsible for the pipe­ vention and control of the COV­ Jincheng Economic and Techno­ “We are using a fleet of 50 trucks line’s trial operation. ID­19 epidemic. logical Development Zone in Jin­ to carry coal to the liquefaction He said the whole system is moni­ One example is a 5G thermal cheng city, Shanxi province, plant.