Beijing will boost green commuting this year to make it account for up to 72 percent of the way citizens travel, with the length of rail transit increasing by over 30 kilometers.

Beijing’s 16 district governments and 22 departments have been instructed to cap the number of motor vehicles at 6 million, and keep the road network traffic index in the central area within a mild range.

Beijing will conduct a trial run of Line S1, Line Xi Jiao and Line Yan Fang in sections, making the length of rail transit in the city surpass 600 kilometers. Another 40 kilometers will be open exclusively to buses. Moreover, the city will roll out and optimize 40 bus lines on the basis of road conditions and public needs.

The city will also designate 600 kilometers for bicycle lanes alongside landscape construction. Main walkways inside the 3rd Ring Road will be equipped with bike rental booths.

Beijing-Qinhuangdao Highway will be built within the year. Once completed, there will be three direct routes connecting the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Additionally, six districts will choose five regions to relieve parking difficulties by providing more designated areas, setting up mechanical parking facilities among other measures. At the same time, a financial subsidy policy will be set up to manage public parking.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) renewed its blue alert for a cold front on Tuesday, forecasting low temperatures in the country’s northern and western regions.

From Tuesday to Thursday, a cold front will hit northern and western China, bringing strong gales and low temperatures, according to the NMC.

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces will see temperatures drop by up to 12 degrees Celsius, as well as high winds, the NMC said.

Sand and dust will accompany the cold front and sweep parts of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Gansu Province and Inner Mongolia.

China has a four-color warning system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

Xue yaqing, 6, holds her brother on New Year’s Day at No 1 Hospital in Xiangyang, Hubei province. The newborn is the second child of a couple from the city in Central China. [Photo: Xinhua]

Most mothers in China feel they are happier after having a second child, according to a survey report released a year after the country relaxed its family planning policy.

The report, released on Sunday, was based on an online survey of about 4,200 mothers with two children. The survey found that about 63 percent of the respondents said they were happier after the birth of their second child, and 67 percent said they did not regret having another baby.

The survey of parents conducted this month was led by mama.cn, a website for Chinese mothers, and Muruai, a voluntary group based in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, that promotes breast-feeding. Of the 4,182 respondents, 4,151 were mothers.

The major reasons given for the increase in happiness after a second child included seeing their children play together and the fact that some couples now had both a boy and a girl, according to the report.

Nearly half of the mothers also said their husbands were more willing to help take care of the children after the second child, according to the report.

The survey also found some factors that caused unhappiness after a second child, such as the economic burden and the extra pressure resulting from the need to devote more time and energy.

About 72 percent of those surveyed said they may face heavier burdens to take care of their parents while having to raise two children, while less than 7 percent of mothers with a second child felt they had better career opportunities after having a second child.

More than 70 percent said they would not consider having a third child, even if they are allowed to do so in the future.

It was generally believed that many people would not choose to have another baby due to the increased expenditure, said Zhu Yuzi, who worked on the survey for Muruai.

“But the result of the survey shows that the spiritual joy brought by having a second child can greatly offset the increased economic burdens for many Chinese,” she said. “That is why so many people feel happier after having a second child, even with more economic burdens.”

Cai Lina, content supervisor at mama.cn, said that while bringing joy, having a second child can also bring many problems for couples.

“We expect more supportive measures, such as reducing taxes for families with a second child, so the second-child policy can be better carried out.”

Yang Jun, a 36-year-old media employee in Beijing who already has a child, said he will not consider having a second child even if it might bring him more joy.

“Both my wife and I are very busy, so who will take care of the second child if I have one? Besides, having a second child means we have to buy a bigger apartment, which is so expensive in Beijing,” he said.

China adopted the second-child policy at the beginning of last year, encouraging all couples to have two children. The number of newborns in China reached 18.7 million last year, an increase of 11 percent over 2015, and about 45 percent of them were a second child, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

A man in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, was placed under investigation for threatening two doctors, blaming them for his aunt’s death from pneumonia.

According to the hospital, the man, surnamed Wang, claimed to be a national security worker and said he would take revenge on the two doctors at Jiangsu Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine who sent his aunt to an intensive care unit for emergency treatment on Saturday.

Relatives of the 70-year-old patient insisted that only two traditional Chinese medicine treatments could be used to save her life, and they brought one remedy to the hospital themselves, the hospital said.

Doctors who treated the patient explained her condition to the relatives and received approval – and the signature – of her son. However, a nephew claimed that the emergency treatment caused the woman’s death, it said.

Although the hospital asked Wang to take his complaint to a higher authority, he continued to insist that the doctors, surnamed Lu and Zhao, should “pay for what they did”, the hospital said. Some witnesses said that Wang took pictures of the two doctors and claimed to know their personal information.

“As a doctor, I did what should be done to save a life,” the doctor surnamed Zhao said. “I don’t understand why he targeted me. He didn’t threaten me face-to-face, but told my colleagues that I should pay.”

The police in Qinhuai district received reports on Saturday afternoon and have been investigating the case. They confirmed that Wang does not work for the government.

Yuan Shenghan, a lawyer in Nanjing, said threatening other people does not violate Chinese law if no action results.

“But he could be punished for disturbing public order under China’s public security administration law,” Yuan said.

The news received wide public attention in China. A top transplant specialist was stabbed just two days earlier in his office in Nanjing.

The specialist, Sun Beicheng, head of Jiangsu Provincial Hospital’s liver transplant unit, is said to be one of the country’s finest. An alleged ticket scalper locked the door of the doctor’s office, stabbed Sun in his left leg, fractured his jaw and cut him around the mouth, later telling police that the doctor had once criticized him for buying up appointment tickets in bulk and selling them at inflated prices to would-be patients.

According to the Qinhuai publicity department, the results of the investigation into Wang’s threats will be made public by the end of this week.

The bronze mirror that was unearthed in the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun. [Photo provided to China Daily]

A polished bronze mirror unearthed in China’s most complete Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24) cemetery bears the earliest known image of Confucius, while the writing on it may offer more information about the educator and philosopher who lived about 2,500 years ago, an archaeologist said on Monday.

The mirror, mounted on painted wood, was discovered in the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun. It is nearly 1 meter in height and has a painted wooden cover and holder. Confucius is depicted on the cover dressed as a commoner. Images of two of his students are also on the cover, said Yang Jun, head of the tomb’s excavation team.

Also on the painted wood are almost 2,000 Chinese characters, written in ink, that tell stories about Confucius and his students.

The mirror doubled as a folding screen, Yang said.

The mirror is believed to have been used by Marquis Liu He, the grandson of Emperor Wu.

The stories about Confucius and his students would likely have been written by some masters of Confucianism who were Liu’s teachers, Yang said.

However, that information is not the same as that found in Records of the Historian, written by Sima Qian during the Western Han Dynasty, he said.

Archaeologists began to excavate the tomb in 2011, and the remains of the marquis were removed for research in January last year. The burial chamber, near Nanchang, the Jiangxi provincial capital, covers about 40,000 square meters and is one of the few imperial tombs that have not been looted. It contains eight small tombs and a burial site for chariot horses.

Among the greatest archaeological finds made were 285 gold ingots, 48 gold horse hoofs, 25 gold hoofs of qilin (a mythical animal) and 20 gold plates.

Archaeologists also found a bronze pot containing chestnuts, possibly a sign that China’s hotpot cuisine was also popular among ancient aristocrats.

During the excavation, care was taken to preserve the site, and an application has been submitted to include it on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Confucius, who lived from 551 BC to 479 BC, was an educator and philosopher whose teachings have influenced generations of Chinese society.