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.