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Beijing is currently building a network of regional senior care centers. Today, there are 208 senior care centers throughout the capital city, as well as 259 community senior service dispatch stations. By the end of 2017, each of Beijing’s districts will complete construction on its senior care guidance center, which will direct operations in the senior care network.
Wang Xiao’e, deputy director of the Office of Beijing Municipal Working Committee on Aging, said in a speech at the 6th China International Senior Service Expo that Beijing has set a budget of 1.28 billion yuan (US$190.55 million) for senior care in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 17.7 percent. The city also plans to invest 400 million yuan to establish a senior care fund with 1.6 billion yuan in initial equity in order to build its senior care network.
Each district’s senior care guidance center will serve as the command hub for its local network, overseeing senior care centers that will provide long-term clinical care, and dispatch stations that will deliver services straight to the homes of senior citizens. Of the 350 senior care dispatch stations constructed in Beijing in the last two years, 259 are currently operating. The city plans to increase the number to 1,000 by 2020.
A part of the infrastructure for the regional senior care network is provided by the city as donation, and its operation is entrusted to private service providers. In addition, Beijing is mulling over new policies to support the growth of the senior service industry. Officials said they have learned through surveys that there are 4,104 locations throughout the city that could be turned into senior care centers. Meanwhile, the city will also reclaim vacant factory buildings and schools and transform them into senior care facilities.
read moreA new high-speed rail line that connects Jilin province to Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is set to open this Tuesday.
The project is part of the broader efforts to revitalize the economy of the rust belt region.
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The high-speed rail way connecting Jilin province to Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region runs from Changchun to Ulanhot. [Photo/sina.com] |
It is also the first trans-regional high-speed railway for Inner Mongolia.
The more than 400-kilometer railway runs from Changchun, the capital of Jilin province, to the city of Ulanhot, which is located next to Inner Mongolia’s border with Jilin.
Baicheng, a city on the Jilin side of the border, will serve as the largest stop along the route.
Renovation of the original railway through the area began in late 2014 in order to accommodate high-speed trains.
Cao Like, a railway official with the Jilin Provincial authority, says the renewal project is a big step forward in both speed and capacity.
“The new railway has a 60-million-ton load capacity for cargo, whereas the old railway could only accomodate 10 million tons. Cities along the route are now closer to each other. For example, from Changchun to Baicheng now only takes 2 hours and 40 minutes. Before today, it would have taken more than 4 hours.”
Xia Fan with the China Railway Corporation was the head of the team that renovated the railway.
He says they’ve made changes which should allow for even faster trains on the line in the future.
“We conducted an electrification-based renovation to the railway, as well as an upgrade to its communication systems. Speed of trains now will be limited to 160-kilometers per hour. But we’ve made the electrification of the line at a very high standard. So in the future, it will be feasible to raise the maximum speed to 200 kilometers per hour.”
The railway is bringing high-speed train services to the western part of Jilin for the first time.
Songyuan, a small city along the route, is home to Chagan Lake.
Residents near the lake are renowned for their thousand-year-old tradition of fishing during the winter.
Yan Liang, a local villager, has decided to expand his fish restaurant after hearing news about the new railway.
“We’re going to have a growing number of tourists coming. My previous restaurant was just a small courtyard. It can’t meet the demands of my customers, many of whom now need a place to stay overnight. So I decided to rent a big house for my business earlier this year.”
The renovated railway connects to the current high-speed line running from Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang, and Dalian, which is located at the bottom of the Liaodong Peninsula in Liaoning.
China’s northeast, a combination of the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang, is more than twice the size of Japan.
Authorities are planning to establish a high-speed railway network in the northeast by 2025 which will cut travel times throughout most cities in the region to no more than 2-hours.
Interconnection is viewed as a critical step in pulling the so-called ‘rust belt’ out of its current economic woes.
The three northeastern provinces have undergone the worst economic slowdown across the nation over the last few years, dragged by industrial overcapacity and inefficient state-owned businesses in the region.
Both the central and local authorities have been implementing plans to revitalize the local infrastructure, as well as tap the region’s natural beauty and ruggedness as a draw for tourists.
read moreThe Central Military Commission (CMC) on Monday told the armed forces to study the speeches made by President Xi Jinping around the Army Day and strengthen their sense of loyalty and responsibility, according to an official circular. Study of Xi’s spe… read more
