HIV test kits are sold in vending machine. [chinanews.com]

Students at a Chinese university woke up yesterday to find a surprising new addition in their vending machine. On sale alongside instant noodles and soft drinks were HIV test kits.

Harbin Medical University is the second university in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province to sell the kits in a vending machine.

It is part of a program launched by the Chinese Association of STD and HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control to address HIV transmission on campus.

Nine such vending machines had been installed in five universities across the country by the end of 2016, the association says.

The machine is designed with a deposit drawer, but looks just like any other, and alongside the kits, sells snacks, cup noodles, and drinks.

A kit is sold at a discounted 30 yuan (US$4.38), compared to 286 yuan (US$41.55) on the market.

Zhao Donghui, an HIV specialist with the province’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said a test-taker would buy the kit, collect his urine sample, and drop it back into the deposit drawer.

Staff at the center will be notified by a sensor wired to the drawer. They retrieve the sample, do the test, and post it online.

Only the test taker can view the results once they log on the center’s website and enter a specific code number, Zhao said.

“The whole process is anonymous,” he added.

China had 654,000 people living with HIV/AIDS at the end of September, according to official figures.

Sexual transmission accounted for 94 percent of the 96,000 new cases reported in the nine months to September last year, it said. Students and retirees were the two groups where infection rose most rapidly.

More than 2,320 students aged between 15 to 24 tested positive, more than four times the figure in 2010, it added.

The number of HIV tests in China grew from 60 million in 2010 to 140 million in 2015.

“We can’t eliminate the virus for now, but at least we can prevent it from spreading,” said Wang Mengjiao, a student at Harbin Medical University. “For that purpose, it is important to take part in voluntary testing.”

Shanghai’s first helicopter airport will be built at the former Longhua Airport in Xuhui District by early 2019, officials said yesterday.

Longhua Helicopter Airport will cover 30,000 square meters at the riverside area of Xuhui and will have aprons and hangers for 21 helicopters.

Terminal buildings, an air traffic control tower and helicopter maintenance facilities will be built.

The airport would mainly serve helicopters used by urban management and for emergency rescues, said Zhou Ming, secretary general manager of the airport said.

It is estimated that more than 4,000 helicopters would take off and land at the airport by 2020. In peak periods, three helicopters would take off or land hourly, he said.

“The helipad can also serve some commercial intercity flying, but sightseeing services will be forbidden,” Zhou said.

Longhua Airport was built in 1917 for both civil and military use. By 1935, it was said to be the biggest airport in the Far East. The airport was later used only for pilot training and airships because its central location meant it was no longer suitable for fixed-wing take-offs and landings.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China will establish an East China General Aviation Service Center by 2018 in an office building beside the airport.

“The center will offer one-stop services for flying routes applications and other general aviation services,” said Bao Weiguo, the general manager with the airport. Currently, helicopters and business jets owners had to apply to fly at government bodies in different places.

The center will also open an online application platform to the applicants in future to save time and cost for clients, Bao said.

Meanwhile, Xuhui District government plans to turn one of the former Longhua Airport’s two runways into a park featuring bicycle lanes and jogging tracks.

The runway park on Yunjin Road, which runs along the west bank of Huangpu River, will have trees, flowers and an artificial creek. Some relics will be kept to serve as reminder of the park’s aviation heritage, the district government said.

China’s first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 is to be launched into space between April 20 and 24, according to the office of China’s manned space program.

The cargo spacecraft was transferred with a Long March-7 Y2 carrier rocket from the testing center to the launch zone in Wenchang, southern China’s Hainan Province, according to a statement from the office Monday.

The transfer took 2.5 hours.

“The completion of the transfer signals the Tianzhou-1 mission has entered its launching stage,” the statement said.

Technicians have performed several tests during the assembling of the spacecraft and rocket since February.

In the following days, technicians will continue testing the spacecraft and rocket, and inject fuel before the launch, it said.

Tianzhou-1 is the first cargo ship independently developed by the country. It is expected to dock with the orbiting Tiangong-2 space lab and conduct in-orbit refueling.

The cargo spacecraft will also carry out space experiments, including one on non-Newtonian gravitation, before falling back to earth.

Chinese police have detained a man over the weekend for smoking on a Thai AirAsia flight from Bangkok.

The man, a 54-year-old Chinese national surnamed Wang, was apprehended upon arrival of the flight FD568 in Hangzhou City, eastern Zhejiang Province Saturday night.

Wang admitted that he smoked in the toilet while the aircraft was in air. A cabin attendant smelt the smoke and reported him to the captain, who alerted the airport police in Hangzhou.

Wang was punished to spend five days in detention for disturbing the order of public transport.

China has more than 300 million smokers. There have been reports of Chinese on long-haul flights succumbing to urge to smoke.

Police warned that people who smoke in flight can be fined up to 5,000 yuan (735 U.S. dollars) and face detention.

Ma Chengqiang, 16, and 8-month-old Yang Youhong from northwest China’s Qinghai Province have both undergone life-saving heart surgery in Shanghai thanks to 3D printing advances.

“Our children have had the world’s latest 3D printing technology heart surgery. We are so lucky,” said Ma Wenming, grandfather of Ma Chengqiang. “Moreover, the fees including transportation, accommodation, diagnosis and treatment are all free. We are really grateful.”

The two children are among the beneficiaries of a China-Belgium charity project, launched in April by Shanghai Children’s Medical Center and Belgium’s Materialise NV, one of the largest 3D printing software and services providers in the world.

The project provides free treatment, especially with the 3D printing technology, for children diagnosed with congenital heart disease from underdeveloped regions in western China, said Ji Qingying, deputy head of the medical center.

Each year, Shanghai Children’s Medical Center conducts more than 3,700 heart operations on children across the country, ranking first in the world’s medical institutions. Heart surgery would normally cost a family 80,000 to 100,000 yuan (11,600 to 145,00 U.S. dollars).

The project plans to do 15 to 20 heart surgeries every year using 3D printed devices.