A giant panda cub clings to a tree at the Shenshuping base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong, Sichuan province. [NORA ZHENG/CHINA DAILY] A Hong Kong media group is on a five-day visit to Sichuan province to mark the 10th anniversary of the magnitude-8.0 Wenchuan earthquake, which struck the province on May 12, 2008. Led by the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the 28 members of the delegation are expected to enhance their knowledge about reconstructing and developing disaster-stricken areas, as well as become facilitators for cooperation between Sichuan province and Hong Kong. The earthquake claimed more than 80,000 lives and traumatized hundreds of thousands of survivors. Substantial support from the HKSAR has been extended, including in healthcare, education, infrastructure and conservation. The Shenshuping base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, located in Wolong, to which the HKSAR donated 1.4 billion yuan ($215 million) for facility reconstruction and improvement of breeding research, is now home to 55 giant pandas, 19 of which were born last year. As a token of gratitude, Hong Kong residents can visit the base free. The group also visited the Sichuan University-Hong Kong Polytechnic University Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction, where the group saw the demonstration of an emergency medical team from Sichuan University's West China Hospital. The 160-member team can support people affected by natural disasters and diseases globally within 72 hours, with all equipment packaged and transported by air, said Hu Hai, team leader of the emergency department at the hospital. The team will become the world's first unit to achieve the top standard for civilian use if it passes the World Health Organization's exam on May 4 and 5, Hu said. The Hong Kong Jockey Club Disaster Preparedness and Response Institute provided training for EMT medical staff. Academic research support of Sichuan University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and other Chinese institutes also benefited the EMT. The institute has set up labs and facilities for disaster management, including a physical therapy lab, disaster and trauma experience training area and a post-disaster health management lab. Teaching staff at Hong Kong Polytechnic University come to the institute twice a week for exchanges. Aside from reconstruction and education projects, Sichuan province and the HKSAR have developed technology and logistics cooperation. The first Hong Kong company to have received millions of dollars from Hong Kong-based Horizons Ventures, Fano Labs will launch its artificial intelligence program in Meishan, Sichuan province, to facilitate local tourism. The CEO of the company, Miles Wen Haofu, said it will apply the speech recognition and natural language processing technology that was developed at the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Science Park to enable tourists to ask about historical stories or get background information at some tourist facilities in Meishan. hen fest wristbandsballer bandscheap custom wristbandscheap rubber wristbandscustom rubber bandsflash drive wristband24 hour wristbands
A photo of Chinese PLA navy fleet taken in April, 2018. [Photo/VCG] The Chinese military has put an end to 106,000 programs that aim to make profit by June 30, nearly achieving the goal of the three-year plan, the PLA Daily reported. The Central Military Commission said in a circular in March 2016 the military will gradually terminate all paid services in three years, and no new programs or contracts for paid services will be allowed. The circular stressed terminating all paid services was an important political task in building the armed forces, and urged units at all levels to fully implement the decision. The PLA Daily reported multiple military and government organs from the central to local level joined in the terminating work, and the country's top court and top procuratorate also provided support in the judicial field. According to the PLA report, there are still a few sensitive programs in procedures to end. A guideline was released on June 11 to further push ahead the work of ending all commercial activities before the end of this year. Contracts between the military and civilian entities that do not conclude by year's end should be terminated by that time through negotiation or legal procedures, it said, adding compensation will be provided for economic losses. In late 2015, China initiated a new round of military reforms. Ending paid services will help reduce corruption and create an enabling environment for the military to stick to its mission and improve its combat capacity.
