Beijing has arranged 255 major engineering projects this year to accelerate the construction of its sub-center. By now, the overall design of the sub-center and the detailed design of six key areas have been reviewed by experts.

By the end of April, a total of 27 new projects have been launched, and 140 projects worth 16.35 billion yuan (US$2.41 billion) are under construction. The first-phase construction of the sub-center’s administrative area is speeding up, and the city’s major departments are expected to begin relocation by the end of this year.

Shi Weiliang, chief planner of Beijing’s urban planning and land resources authority, revealed that the plan of the six-square-kilometer administrative office area of the sub-center has been completed. He said that the overall plan of the entire Tongzhou District was rolled out last year, with the focus on the planning of the peripheral towns with unique characteristics and their coordination with the sub-center, surrounding cities and downtown Beijing.

Liu Xianlin, a well-known scientist on surveying and mapping, focuses on his work on a high-speed train, June 12, 2017. [Photo from the Weibo account of People’s Daily]

Liu Xianlin, an expert on surveying and mapping, was seen being preoccupied with his work on a high-speed train on June 12, the People’s Daily posted on its account on Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

The 78-year-old was preparing for a report to be delivered in Beijing, said the post. The photo shows Liu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, wearing a pair of old leather shoes, with one of the trouser legs rolled up and his eyes glued to a piece of paper.

The academician’s plain clothes and dedication to his job won applause from many internet users.

“He’s truly the soul of the nation, the backbone of the country,” said one web user.

“Hats off to the spirit of the older generation!” said another.

Liu graduated from the School of Geodesy and Geomatics in Wuhan University in 1962. Since then, he has been devoted to developing and improving China’s domestically built surveying and mapping instrument, and has played a key role in ending China’s reliance on foreign equipment.

In 2009, Liu led a program to complete the high-resolution three-dimensional map of moon, which paved the way for the country’s lunar probe projects.

Liu has received the National Prize for Progress in Science and Technology Award, one of China’s top prizes in recognition of scientific contributions, three times.

South China’s Guangdong Province signed three agreements with the University of Birmingham recently in the UK.

Hu Chunhua, Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Guangdong Provincial Committee, and Wen Guohui, Mayor of Guangzhou City, joined China’s UK Ambassador Liu Xiaoming to lead the 20-strong delegation.

The leaders and their fellow delegates attended a special ceremony hosted by Birmingham City Council, where the University of Birmingham Provost Professor Tim Jones signed agreements with three partners from Guangzhou to further strengthen the university’s research and teaching presence in the province.

Professor Jones signed an agreement with senior leaders from Sun Yat-Sen University (SYSU) to establish a primary care training centre at the First Affiliated Hospital of SYSU that will help to boost the numbers of Chinese doctors in general practice. The University of Birmingham will help to provide high-quality training, education and academic projects.

He joined academics from the Guangdong Academy of Sciences (GDAS) to launch a partnership that will see Chinese research students joining their Birmingham counterparts to explore a range of areas in metallurgy and materials, as well as mechanical engineering.

The Provost also formalized a new partnership with Jinan University that will allow students to study in China and receive degrees from each university. Students will be able to take dual degrees in economics, information computer science, pure mathematics, and statistics – taught by both Jinan and Birmingham academics on site.

Professor Jones said: “I am delighted to meet the delegation from Guangdong, the region in which the University of Birmingham has particularly strong links with China.

“Today marks another milestone of the university’s development in Guangzhou, as we are signing three major projects with our partners, which allow us to bring both our research and teaching excellence into Guangzhou.

“Through these projects, we are pleased to contribute to Guangdong’s regional social and economic development by nurturing talent for the big data economy, upgrading manufacturing technologies, and enhancing innovation for health.

“The University of Birmingham is playing a pivotal role in helping to deliver China’s £85 billion health reform investment, which is focused on developing primary care and training an extra 300,000 GPs by 2020.”

Under the leadership of Professor KK Cheng, Director of the Institute of Applied Health Research, the University of Birmingham has delivered training programmes, both locally and in the UK, to some 500 senior managers, over 4,000 doctors and 1,000 GP trainers.

It has also jointly established six “China-UK Collaborating Centres for General Practice Training” in Guangzhou, three of which are officially listed among the “Best 100 Community Health Centres” in China.

The university has been participating in joint research programmes with GDAS since 2013, especially in the fields of new materials, advanced manufacturing, and hydrogen storage.

GDAS is the largest research-focused academy in Guangdong province, with six major institutes. Its main research areas include: resources and environment, materials and chemical industries, advanced manufacturing, electronics and IT, biotechnology and health, and industrial services.

The launch of dual degrees with the Jinan University further expands the University of Birmingham’s global teaching offer, with academic partnerships already well established with institutions in China and Singapore. Birmingham has also recently unveiled plans to develop a branch campus in Dubai.

Birmingham City Council Leader, Councillor John Clancy, said: “We’ve forged many links between Birmingham and Guangdong province over the last decade, working together in the world of business, local government, culture and, of course, education. So I’m delighted to welcome such a high profile delegation to the city.

“The three agreements with the University of Birmingham further cement those strong ties and I have no doubt that this special relationship will continue to deliver for both Birmingham and Guangdong province.”

Professor Jon Frampton, Director of the university’s China Institute and Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (China), said: “The University of Birmingham has achieved a great deal since opening our Guangzhou office in 2011. We’ve launched 28 joint research projects with our Guangzhou partners and established collaborations with all major education institutions in Guangdong.

“We look forward to bringing our collaboration with Guangzhou to a new level in research, education and public health, as well as expanding our impact wider in the Guangdong region thanks to the continued support of the Guangzhou and Guangdong governments.”

The installment of facial recognition facilities at busy crossroads in some Chinese cities has substantially reduced the chaos caused by crowds of jaywalkers and unruly cyclists.

Cameras take four snapshots of pedestrians or cyclists ignoring traffic lights and make a screenshot from a simultaneous video lasting for 15 seconds.

In Jinan, capital of East China’s Shandong Province, any violators caught by the system either face a fine of 20 yuan (US$3) or are required to don a yellow costume to act temporarily as auxiliary traffic police for a specified time.

“The firsthand experience of being an auxiliary police officer can be a vital lesson for those who challenge traffic rules,” said Wang Rilei, based with the Lixia Division of the Jinan Traffic Police Squad.

The facial recognition system has spotted 6,200 non-vehicle traffic violations in the city since its launch last month.

“Traffic order at crossroads has been obviously improved in only one month and an increasing number of pedestrians start to obey traffic signals and use pedestrian crossings [rather than simply dashing across the road anywhere as in the past],” said Duan Fuyong, deputy team leader of the Jinan Traffic Police Squad.

However, the penalties of jaywalkers don’t simply end with fines or education. The information is passed on to employers or the local community, seeking to add an element of shame.

However, the punishment has led many to question its legitimacy in terms of protecting personal privacy.

People who oppose the facial recognition application say the police are not supposed to reveal personal information as a means of imposing a civil penalty.

However, Liu Xiaojing, an officer from the Publicity Office of Jinan Traffic Police Squad, argued while exposing the facial image of the rule breakers, traffic authorities would not reveal their complete personal information such as ID number, addresses and employers to the public.

Wang Zongyu, vice professor of the law school of the Renmin University of China, observed that it was encouraging to see law enforcement divisions seeking new approaches to keep cities running in an orderly way, but the critical point is whether the actions pass a bottom line.

According to Wang, law enforcement divisions should not reveal personal information unless they are empowered to do so according to law. In this case, the laws do not stipulate whether the violators’ information should be publicized, meaning traffic authorities do not have the legal ground for doing so.

The facial recognition system has also been adopted by Chongqing Municipality and Fuzhou, Fujian Province.

Scientists in China have unveiled multiple tasks they plan to carry out as part of the lunar exploration program at the just-concluded Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX 2017) in Beijing.

Among them, the creation of a “mini ecosystem on the moon’s surface” is due to be led by researchers with Chongqing University, reports the Chongqing Morning Post.

The “mini ecosystem” will actually be contained in an 18X16cm cylinder.

It’s due to be put on the moon’s surface as part the Chang’e-4 mission in 2018, according to Professor Xie Gengxin, head designer of the project.

Potato seeds and the larvae of insects, including the silkworm, will be inside the cylinder.

The goal is to determine whether the potatoes can grow on the moon, and whether the insects can survive.

If they can, this will be major step toward ultimately putting a fully-functioning human colony on Mars.

The project stood out from the 257 experimental ideas put forward to China’s lunar exploration program.

Scientists and researchers from 28 different universities in China are now working on designing the hardware needed to carry out the various tests.