A Chinese-made dredging vessel, the largest of its kind in Asia, started water testing in east China’s Jiangsu Province Friday.

The 140-meter-long vessel, with the designed capacity to dredge 6,000 cubic meters per hour, can dig as deep as 35 meters under the sea floor.

The vessel named “Tian Kun Hao” was funded and designed by Tianjin Dredging Co. Ltd. associated with China Communication Construction Co. Ltd. (CCCC) and was built by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co. Ltd.

“The electronic vessel is able to dredge an area the size of a soccer field with a depth of one meter within one hour,” said Wang Jian, deputy chief engineer of CCCC Tianjin Dredging.

He said on sea floor with rocks, the vessel’s 6,600-kilowatt dredging equipment can mince hard rocks and pump the silt into the vessel, where it can be automatically blown out as far as 15,000 meters away.

The vessel is expected to be delivered in June next year.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s (HKSAR) Chief Executive Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said Friday that Hong Kong can serve the Belt and Road Initiative well in different areas including fund-raising and infrastructure development.

Speaking at the Belt and Road Innovation and Development Forum on Friday, said that the Belt and Road Initiative is the new driving force of the global economy over the next few decades, with strong emphasis on international cooperation.

“It will attract more international interactive trading systems and investment flows. Now is the time for us to awaken to the Belt and Road chimes. I believe with us jointly acting together, the Initiative will materialize into reality,” Lam said.

Hong Kong handles some 70 percent of global Renminbi transactions, providing a wide range of Renminbi services and products, with a deep and multilingual financial talent pool, the chief executive said.

“Hong Kong is, in short, ideally positioned to serve as the Belt and Road’s fund-raising and risk-management capital,” she added.

Lam mentioned that infrastructure development is the driving force of the Belt and Road Initiative and Hong Kong has much to offer in professional service areas such as consultation, planning, design, construction, project development, operation management and capacity building.

The revised Constitution of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the report of the 19th CPC National Congress have been published across the country.

Dozens of publishing houses are printing the latest revision of the CPC Constitution, which highlights the inclusion of “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”, and the report delivered by Xi at the congress.

The report and the CPC Constitution are available at nationwide bookstores.

Shanghai Printing Group had printed 600,000 reports, 800,000 CPC Constitutions, and other related documents, according to Shen Jianyi, general manager of the company.

Shen said he initially knew Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era was included in the amendment of the Constitution via the Internet. But more than 150 employees at the company would experience the “historical moment” of printing it.

Jiang Jianhua, who took part in the debut of the printed reports and CPC Constitutions in a bookstore, said he was eager to study the fulltexts. “We should integrate those new concepts and new ideas into our daily lives, particularly Xi’s thought.”

After reading the report and the CPC Constitution, Tang Di, a recent graduate of Lancaster University in Great Britain, who has just returned to China, said he understood the strong leadership of CPC as key to unifying the country.

“I have obviously felt that the position of my country has been improved during the time I’ve spent abroad,” Tang said.

“China is now full of opportunities. Our young generation should be more confident about the future and the country,” he said.

Beijing Friday issued an orange alert for air pollution in the coming days, advising children and the elderly to stay indoors.

The alert, the second highest level, will come into effect from Saturday, said Beijing’s air pollution emergency response office.

Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and their neighboring regions are forecast to see slight to severe air pollution from Saturday to next Wednesday, said the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

In Beijing, the air will gradually improve from Tuesday night when a cold front arrives, the ministry said.

The office advised children, the elderly and those suffering from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases to stay indoors, and kindergartens, primary and middle schools to cancel outdoor activities.

The office ordered some manufacturers to reduce production and some construction sites to halt work. Heavily polluting vehicles and trucks carrying construction waste and dirt were banned from roads.

According to the local air pollution emergency response plan, an orange alert should be issued when the average air quality index (AQI) is forecast to exceed 200 for three consecutive days and and one of those day is forecast to be over 300.

Under China’s four-tier warning system, red is the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region sits in the heart of the North China Plain where air pollution, particularly winter smog, often occurs as a result of the high concentration of industrial and vehicle emissions, limited air circulation and the burning of coal.

More residents are increasingly worried about the health impacts, particularly of PM 2.5. The smaller particles pose a greater health threat as they can get deeper into the lungs than larger particles.

China has set a target to reduce the average PM 2.5 level by at least 15 percent in the cities around the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region between October 2017 and March 2018, compared to last year’s level.

Authorities in Tianjin and neighboring Hebei Province previously ordered heavily polluting industries, including steel, casting and coking, to restrict production and cut emissions in the winter heating period.

Authorities in the region have been also helping more households switch from coal-fired heating sources to gas and electric sources.

A total of 1.21 million households in Tianjin will switch to clean energy-fired heating sources in 2017 and 2018. In Hebei, 1.96 million households will finish the shift in 2017.

Beijing Friday issued an orange alert for air pollution in the coming days, advising children and the elderly to stay indoors.

The alert, the second highest level, will come into effect from Saturday, said Beijing’s air pollution emergency response office.

Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and their neighboring regions are forecast to see slight to severe air pollution from Saturday to next Wednesday, said the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

In Beijing, the air will gradually improve from Tuesday night when a cold front arrives, the ministry said.

The office advised children, the elderly and those suffering from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases to stay indoors, and kindergartens, primary and middle schools to cancel outdoor activities.

The office ordered some manufacturers to reduce production and some construction sites to halt work. Heavily polluting vehicles and trucks carrying construction waste and dirt were banned from roads.

According to the local air pollution emergency response plan, an orange alert should be issued when the average air quality index (AQI) is forecast to exceed 200 for three consecutive days and and one of those day is forecast to be over 300.

Under China’s four-tier warning system, red is the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region sits in the heart of the North China Plain where air pollution, particularly winter smog, often occurs as a result of the high concentration of industrial and vehicle emissions, limited air circulation and the burning of coal.

More residents are increasingly worried about the health impacts, particularly of PM 2.5. The smaller particles pose a greater health threat as they can get deeper into the lungs than larger particles.

China has set a target to reduce the average PM 2.5 level by at least 15 percent in the cities around the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region between October 2017 and March 2018, compared to last year’s level.

Authorities in Tianjin and neighboring Hebei Province previously ordered heavily polluting industries, including steel, casting and coking, to restrict production and cut emissions in the winter heating period.

Authorities in the region have been also helping more households switch from coal-fired heating sources to gas and electric sources.

A total of 1.21 million households in Tianjin will switch to clean energy-fired heating sources in 2017 and 2018. In Hebei, 1.96 million households will finish the shift in 2017.