China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp has begun to use the expertise gained in the space and defense sectors to help the government handle air pollution.

“The control and prevention of air pollution, especially the PM2.5, requires a sophisticated and systematic effort involving an interdisciplinary combination of technologies,” said Zhou Xiang, chairman of CASIC Smart Industry Development Co, which specializes in planning and building smart cities.

The company is a subsidiary of the CASIC Second Academy, a major defense contractor that has rich experience managing complex, interdisciplinary programs, along with all the technologies required in the environmental effort, Zhou said, adding: “It can use its skills to help detect, monitor and analyze air pollution.”

The State-owned air-defense academy has abundant know-how and experience in systems engineering, optoelectronics, sensors, equipment control, and data collection and analysis – all of which are essential in the effort to mitigate air pollution, he said.

“You can’t resolve air pollution problems if you are unable to accurately monitor and forecast them. We can offer different solutions to environmental protection departments for them to monitor and analyze emissions from manufacturing industries, vehicles and residential areas,” he said at an intelligent industry forum on Thursday, the 60th anniversary of the founding of the academy.

Zhou’s company is working with a national-level key optics laboratory (also an academy subsidiary) to design instruments capable of identifying every hazardous gas emitted by factories by analyzing their light spectrum. Four or five such instruments will enable environmental protection authorities to monitor an industrial park in real-time, for example, around-the-clock and with less manpower and lower costs, he said.

To handle emissions from vehicles, CASIC Smart Industry Development has leaned on the Second Academy’s knowledge of infrared and ultraviolet tracking to develop equipment that can accurately nail cars discharging excessive exhaust and then transmit the information back to a control center. Authorities can then deal with the car’s owner.

The company has joined a demonstration program led by the Ministry of Environmental Protection that aims to monitor pollutants emitted by cars in about 30 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei province region. It also signed an agreement with the city of Chengdu, Sichuan province, to deploy the equipment at major traffic junctions in the city starting in 2018, Zhou said.

In addition, the company is able to take advantage of the academy’s leading status in weather radar and computer simulation technologies to forecast PM2.5 concentrations and movements, he said.

Air pollution is one of the top concerns of the Chinese public. People living in large cities complained about thick haze consisting of PM2.5 particulate matter – particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter that can harm lungs and enter the bloodstream – every winter over the past several years.

According to the ministry, PM2.5 is one of the biggest contributors to air pollution in Chinese cities.

President Xi Jinping has pledged to bring “blue skies” back to the Chinese people, and the government has stepped up laws and regulations to punish polluters, forced factories to install pollutant-reducing devices and continues to encourage and support the use of greener cars and fuels.

In 2016, the average concentration of PM2.5 was at least 30 percent lower than in 2013 in three major city clusters – Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, and the Yangtze River and Pearl River delta areas, according to the ministry.

A drama written, directed and performed by people with cancer will take the stage of the China Millennium Monument Theatre in Beijing on Friday to serve as encouragement and inspiration for cancer patients to live a better life.

Friday is the 17th International Lung Cancer Day.

The drama, Oh, Don’t Be Afraid, a coproduction of Shanghai Cancer Recovery Club and Jiefang Daily, tells the story of a late-stage cancer patient who helps a young lung cancer patient regain the courage to live－through acting.

Jiefang Daily is the newspaper of the Shanghai Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Based on real-life experiences, the drama is directed and written by Dai Rong, a lung cancer patient. It also includes seven cancer patients among its 12 cast members.

“The drama itself acts as a kind of psychological therapy, using the power of the arts to heal both the audience and the actors,” said Dai, a director at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, who was diagnosed with lung cancer along with multiple bone metastases five years ago.

Feeling hopeless after her diagnosis, Dai sought support from the Shanghai Cancer Recovery Club, one of the country’s first grassroots organizations for cancer patients. In its 28-year history, the club has helped 200,000 people come to terms with their illness and fight it.

From the club, Dai learned about drama therapy, which has since redefined her life purpose. She started to direct films, dramas and television programs again. She is also the organizer of a drama-healing workshop to help more patients, where drama therapy is utilized as a kind of therapeutic intervention.

“Years ago, I wondered what it means to be a director, but now I’ve got the answer,” Dai said. “It is to help cancer patients like me delve into truths about themselves, release their negative emotions and be optimistic toward life.”

As Dai’s first therapeutic production, Oh, Don’t Be Afraid is also thought to be the first of its kind in the country. Since its early October debut in Shanghai, Dai’s hometown, it has received extensive acclaim from both the actors and audiences.

Lu Lanzhen, an eight-year breast cancer patient starring in the drama, said: “I feel warmth and release from the bottom of my heart whenever I am in the play. We are sharing our own stories with the audience and hope to encourage more patients.”

Zheng Ying, director of the cancer prevention department at Fudan University’s Shanghai Cancer Center, said drama therapy is presented as a rehabilitation option for cancer patients, many of whom have better prognoses thanks to improved diagnostics and treatment methods.

According to the World Health Organization, lung cancer remains the biggest cause of cancer-related deaths in China. The country reports 800,000 new cases of lung cancer each year. Experts predict the number will be close to 1 million by 2025.

She Ziqing, an 83-year-old survivor of the Nanjing Massacre, died on Wednesday in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. The number of survivors officially registered has declined to 99.

She Ziqing, a survivor of the Nanjing Massacre, recalls being clubbed on the head by a Japanese soldier using a rifle butt. She died on Wednesday at age 83. He was interviewed in 2014.[Photo/Xinhua]

She, born in April 1934, was only 4 years old when the massacre took place. His mother was killed, and he was clubbed on the head by a Japanese soldier using a rifle butt. He carried a scar for the rest of his life.

During the massacre, She was taken to the United States embassy for refuge, along with a neighbor’s children. According to an oral history recorded earlier, he said he saw “layers of bodies everywhere on the streets” and his mother “died lying in a pool of blood”.

“People said at the time that Japanese troops only killed middle-aged men, so my father fled from home while my mother, like many other women in the neighborhood, stayed to protect the house. Nobody thought that the Japanese soldiers would kill, rape and rob people without hesitation.”

She later worked as a newsboy to support his family. In 1950, after his elder brother joined the PLA, She was able to get a job working for the railway system because he was the relative of a soldier.

In 1994, he retired. But in 2004, he applied to work as a guide, without pay, at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre, when it opened that year. He volunteered to guide Japanese visitors around the hall in the hope that through his words “the Japanese people, especially younger generations, would come to understand what happened during that period”.

Every working day for 14 years, except Mondays when the hall was closed, She got up early and went to work. Earlier this year, in light of his health, the hall suggested he only work on Fridays.

But She insisted on coming to the hall accompanied by his wife. He said: “As long as I can breathe, I want to remind other people of a history that cannot be forgotten.”

Xia Shuqin, another Nanjing Massacre survivor, who lost seven of her nine family members during the bloodbath, said that she would feel relieved and happy to be reunited with her deceased family members if the massacre were simply recognized by the Japanese government.

“I don’t know if I will live long enough to see that happen,” the 88-year-old woman said. “I’m too old. I don’t have too much time. I don’t know what to say to describe my feelings.”

More than 300,000 Chinese were killed in a six-week rampage from Dec 13, 1937 to January 1938 after Japanese troops captured what was then China’s capital.

When he learned to paint as a teenager, Xiao Yanqing, 52, a farmer in Henan province, could never have imagined it would lift him out of poverty.

Portraiture is a popular format for tiger paintings by farmers in Wanggongzhuang village. China Daily

Residents in Xiao’s native Wanggongzhuang village used to draw and sell new year paintings. The business dates back to the early 20th century, when a retired Imperial Palace craftsman brought the skill to the village.

In the 1980s, Xiao practiced in his spare time after farm work and traveled to cities to sell his pieces, which sold so cheaply he could barely make ends meet.

But 1998, the Year of the Tiger, proved a turning point in his life when a client ordered a tiger painting. “I used to paint flowers and birds, but not once had I painted a tiger,” Xiao said.

With no real tigers around, he borrowed a tiger painting from a neighbor to copy. His painting sold at a good price, and he realized he was onto something that could benefit his whole village.

“Chinese people love tigers. They hang tiger paintings in their homes because they believe the power of these animals can scare away evil spirits,” he said.

So he began to travel, not to sell paintings, but to zoos in northeastern China to observe tigers and dedicated himself to painting them.

It was a great success. In 1999, he was the first in the village to buy a color TV, and a year later a computer.

Using the internet, Xiao managed to sell his paintings abroad, first to Singapore, then to Japan, Europe and the United States.

He surprised the clerks of the local bank when he brought in US dollars to change for renminbi. “I guess they thought I was a criminal,” he said smiling.

Xiao’s success prompted friends to follow him, and more villagers joined later. Tiger painting is now a trademark of Wanggongzhuang. Over 60 percent of its 1,366 villagers are now in the business.

The village sells thousands of tiger paintings every year, with 40 percent going to overseas markets including Japan and Bangladesh. The total yearly revenue is 100 million yuan ($15 million).

Wang Jiansheng, in his 30s, has done a lot of jobs, from construction worker to butcher. None of them allowed him to buy a house. But he earns 300,000 yuan a year by painting－enough to run his own workshop. He plans to buy a big apartment in the Henan capital, Zhengzhou, and open a gallery there.

Gu Tiquan, former boss of China’s biggest shipbuilder, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for taking bribes and embezzlement.

Gu, former CEO of the state-owned Shanghai Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co, was found to have taken 5.34 million yuan (US$805,758) in bribes and to have embezzled 520,000 yuan over 15 years, according to No. 1 Branch of Shanghai People’s Procuratorate.

The 58-year-old asked his old friend Gao Liansheng to open a company in 1997. Gu took advantage of his position as a high-ranking official with Jiangnan Shipyard Group to seek profits for the company. In return, Gao gave 2.3 million yuan “bonus” payments to Gu from 2002 to 2013.

Also, under Gu’s request, Gao bought more than 10 properties for him, and paid for overseas tours for Gu and his family.

Gu stood trial at Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court in December 2014.