China is expected to supply next-generation bullet trains capable of traveling at 400 km per hour for Russia’s Moscow-Kazan line by 2020, which could enhance the country’s position as the world’s leader in high-speed rail products and services, said an expert working on the project.

The line is expected to be about 770 kilometers long and will run through seven Russian regions with a total population of more than 25 million. It will use regular high-speed trains rather than magnetic levitation trains.

“To ensure the operation, China will test the 400 km/h train in a selected part of the 709-kilometer Beijing-Shenyang high-speed railway line,” said Yang Guowei, a researcher at the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. The railroad is expected to be completed in 2019.

Yang’s work unit is responsible for designing the shape of the high-speed trains.

Yang said China will be able to produce cargo trains for transporting regular goods, high-end products and industrial equipment at speeds ranging from 120 to 250 km/h between Asia and Europe by 2020.

Through innovation and development, China has the technology to make electric multiple-unit passenger trains with speeds between 200 and 250 km/h and has established a technology platform for producing trains with a speed of 350 km/h, according to data on the website of the National Railway Administration.

The country does not currently have trains with a speed of 400 km/h. However, Yang said that once they are developed, China can introduce them to the domestic market as well. However, the ticket price may increase because of higher operating costs.

Jia Limin, head of China’s high-speed rail innovation program under the management of China Railway Rolling Stock Corp, said, “This could help China build cross-border high-speed train services with its neighboring countries that can alternate between different track gauges, ranging from 60 cm to 1.676 meters.” The CRRC is China’s rail vehicle manufacturer and exporter.

Wang Mengshu, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said it will take time to test safety and control if the speed is increased to 400 km/h.

He said there is a big difference between Chinese engineers getting a high-speed rail system up and running at home and doing something similar in foreign markets. The differences in standards and regulations remain the challenges for China’s rail vehicle exporters and infrastructure suppliers hoping to set up overseas. In addition, building costs are fairly expensive.

“Rather than investing in high-speed railway networks overseas, China should focus on expanding domestic lines with faster train speeds,” said Wang.

The CRRC is trying to overcome technical barriers in its push to develop maglev trains with speeds of 600 km/h in its Qingdao research center in Shandong province.

A young woman in Zhuzhou, central China’s Hunan Province had her cellphone stolen on Feb. 3 while shopping with her friend, whose candid photos happened to record the theft taking place.

Victim Xiaojia said she and her friend Yueyue loved taking candid photos of each other during funny occasions. While they were shopping that day, Xiaojia chucked her iPhone 6s into her coat pocket in order to eat grilled chicken wings. Yueyue then started to photograph her secretly.

Yueyue did not review the photos for fear of being caught, nor did Xiaojia realize that her phone was gone until two minutes later.

They hurriedly examined the candid photos. In the first photo, a middle-aged man was lurking behind Xiaojia, ready to stretch his hand into her pocket; and in the second photo, the iPhone was already in his hand.

They reported the crime to police and the candid images were treated as critical evidence in catching the suspect.

China’s top-ranking tourist attractions should be equipped with unisex toilets to meet higher standards, said a top tourism official on Feb. 4.

As part of a “toilet revolution” scheme that aims to boost tourism through cleaner and better-managed public conveniences, China will build 271 unisex toilets and renovate 333 at the country’s 5A scenic spots, according to Li Jinzao, head of the China National Tourism Administration.

As an alternative to gender segregated restrooms, unisex toilets are installed for people with disabilities, the elderly, the young and anyone who may require the assistance of someone of another gender.

A typical unisex restroom is equipped with a 45-centimeter toilet, a 70-centimeter safety pole, a clothes hook and an emergency call button to meet the needs of different people.

China is making steady progress to improve toilet sanitation nationwide since the “revo-loo-tion” began in 2015.

A total of 50,916 toilets have been installed or upgraded so far, 89.33 percent of the official target the government announced for the three years through to 2017, said Li.

As of 10 a.m. on Feb 1, the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project had supplied Beijing with over 2 billion cubic meters of water, of which nearly 70 percent are for drinking.

Water plants got 1.369 billion cubic meters, accounting for 68 percent of the total. Currently the average daily flow into Beijing hit 1.05 million, with 0.93 million supplied to water plants.

11 million people in Beijing have got access to water from the Yangtze River. In addition, 284 million cubic meters were stored in reservoirs, with the rest used for groundwater, rivers and lakes.

A total of 671 major projects in high-tech and sophisticated industries were registered in Beijing last year, according to the annual work meeting of the city’s investment promotion bureau.

In the same period, the bureau managed to attract 747 foreign-funded projects, with a combined value of US$7.02 billion, up by more than 10 percent year on year. Newly registered enterprises paid 15.2 billion yuan (US$2.22 billion) in total in tax last year,

“Since 2016, the investment promotion bureau has been endeavoring to remove the city’s non-capital functions to make the city more livable,” said Zhou Weimin, director of the Beijing Investment Promotion Bureau.

Zhou said these endeavors were the reason that the bureau put a priority over high-tech industries, high-end and high-quality service industries, and high-value cultural industries last year.

The business sector’s growing willingness to invest in Beijing reflects the perfect, amicable business environment of the Chinese capital. In particular, the city’s business administration, tax, finance, among other government agencies are exploring innovative, new measures that could provide good templates for other cities to follow.

For example, among the 40 innovative, new measures in the city’s service sector, there is China’s first aircraft maintenance company formed by a joint-venture and China’s first joint-venture tourism agency dealing with Chinese citizens’ overseas trips.

While the city keeps promoting cutting-edge industries and projects, local enterprises have accelerated their pace in going overseas. Data shows that in the first three quarters of last year, foreign direct investment (FDI) totaled US$13.75 billion, a 94-percent year-on-year increase. The FDI figure was basically on par with US$12.62 billion, the amount of investment Beijing attracted over the same period.

Zhou Weimin said that in 2017, the investment promotion bureau will continue to serve the city’s objective of developing the service-based economy, knowledge-based economy, green economy and headquarters economy, helping control the city’s population, contribute to stable growth and facilitate private investment.