 |
||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||||
|
The committee in charge of Kunming's no-car days has reduced the scope of no-car days to only include the area within the city's first ring road, citing current construction on the Second Ring Road's western portion as well as roadwork starting today on the road's eastern and southern segments. For the last three months, the area between the first and second ring roads was off limits to odd- or even-numbered cars on alternating months. Beginning this Saturday and continuing on the last Saturday of each following month, private automobiles will be banned from the area within the First Ring Road from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. The First Ring Road includes Huancheng Dong Lu, Huancheng Nan Lu, Xichang Lu and Yieryi Dajie. Buses and taxis will still be allowed to operate within the no-car area. Over the next 12 months, Kunming will invest six billion yuan (US$878 million) into improving traffic flow on the Second Ring Road. Roadwork on the second ring road is scheduled for completion by September 2009. Related articles: Kunming first Chinese city with monthly no-car days Kunming's no-car days expand to second ring road Kunming goes car crazy Tags: construction, environment, First Ring Road, no-car days, Second Ring Road, traffic
Editor's note: GoKunming is publishing photos from the collection of Auguste François (1857-1935), who served as French consul in south China between 1896 and 1904, during which he spent several years in Kunming. The photos have been provided by Kunming resident and private collector Yin Xiaojun (殷晓俊). GoKunming thanks Yin Xiaojun for providing us a glimpse of Yunnan at the beginning of the 20th Century. Year: 1901 Subject: Zhuantang and Daguan Canal Location: Daguan Lu/Huancheng Xi Lu, Daguan Canal Background: More than two thousand years ago when people began to build settlements in the area now known as Kunming, Dianchi Lake was the main source of life and livelihood, providing water for humans, livestock and crops. Over time, it also became an important transport link between Kunming and other towns springing up around the lake. The city of Yuxi (玉溪), roughly 110 kilometers south of Kunming, was founded in 960. By the Yuan Dynasty, which was founded in the Thirteenth Century, trade between Kunming and Yuxi was flourishing. Lacking good roads and vehicles, traders in the two cities used sailboats to transport livestock and goods. Shipping goods between Kunming and the town of Jinning (晋宁) eliminated the need for slower horse carts for 40 of the 110 kilometers.
Water transport became increasingly important to Kunming, which undertook the major task of digging out the Daguan Canal (大观河) roughly 800 years ago. The canal extended Dianchi Lake's northern tip into what is now downtown Kunming, culminating in the pier known as Zhuantang (篆塘), which was located at the present-day intersection of Daguan Lu and Huancheng Xi Lu. Today, things are different as roads and automobiles have made Dianchi an outdated transport option. Zhuantang is but a small park, the Daguan Canal has fallen out of use, and Dianchi Lake is known for being one of China's most polluted lakes rather than a 'sparkling pearl' as it was once called. Tags: Auguste François, Daguan Canal, Jinning, Yin Xiaojun, Yuxi, Zhuantang Hongyun Group and Honghe Group, two of Yunnan province's largest tobacco companies intend to merge, a move that will form China's largest and the world's fourth-largest cigarette producer by volume, according to Chinese media reports. The planned merger, which is still awaiting regulatory approval, suggests a move towards consolidation in China's highly fragmented tobacco industry. China is the world's largest producer and consumer of cigarettes, with a market of more than 300 million smokers, a market that is still growing. If the merger goes through, the new company is expected to be the world's fourth-largest cigarette producer after Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco Inc. Yet in terms of revenue, the two companies' combined 2007 revenues are less than 30 percent of the revenue of current number four Imperial Tobacco Plc, partially because cigarettes in China are some of the cheapest in the world. According to their websites, in 2007 Hongyun Group posted 29 billion yuan (US$4.2 billion) in revenue and Honghe took 16 billion yuan. The proposed company would be named Hongyun Honghe Tobacco Group Company Limited (红云红河烟草集团有限责任公司) and would have production facilities in Kunming, Qujing, Honghe, Zhaotong, Huize in Yunnan province, plus facilities in Xinjiang. After the merger, the company would produce several of China's larger cigarette brands, including Yunyan, Honghe, Hongshancha, Shilin and Lesser Panda. Related article: Kunming: Bong city, PRC Tags: business, health, Honghe, Honghe Group, Hongshancha, Hongyun Group, Lesser Panda, Shilin, tobacco, Yunyan
On August 3, the Kunming government released a comprehensive development plan for the city over the next 12 years. In the course of the next dozen years, three core areas will be built up: 1. The main urban area (主城), consisting of the Guandu, Panlong, Wuhua and Xishan urban districts; 2. Chenggong new city (呈贡新城), located approximately 25 kilometers southeast of the main urban area; 3. The new airport economic zone (空港经济区), which will be northeast of the main urban area. Kunming will expand primarily to the northeast and southeast, with this phase of growth supported by the construction of the city's first urban rail network. Road connectivity between the main urban area and outlying towns including Haikou, Kunyang and Jinning will be upgraded to create a transportation network that encircles Dianchi Lake. Within the main urban area, an 'urban ecological control belt' (城市生态控制带) will be established, consisting of Xishan and Dianchi National Scenic Area. Outside of the city, the Qiaozi Snow Mountain scenic area, Xundian Red Tourism Scenic Area, Jiuxiang National Scenic Area, Stone Forest National Scenic Area, Yangzonghai Tourism and Holiday area and other tourist areas within Kunming municipality will be administered as 'urban ecological scenic controlled areas' (城市生态景观控制区). Five 'functional zones' within the main urban area will be created, with the area within the second ring road as the center of four other areas to the north, east, south and west. This is what the city plans for each zone: Center: Public services infrastructure and green space coverage will be improved and population density reduced. North: Heavily polluting industrial operations will be gradually moved out. West: Heavily polluting industrial operations will be gradually moved out. South: With the pending retirement of Kunming Wujiaba International Airport, the area currently occupied by the airport will be redeveloped for urban use. The airport land plus the nearby exhibition halls and Baohai Park will serve as a secondary city center. At the same time, Dianchi National Scenic Area, Caohai Ecological Park and Daguan Park will be built up into a sports, leisure and tourism area. There will also be extensive residential space in the area, as well as many municipal administrative offices and traffic infrastructure leading out of Kunming. East: The layout and composition of the Kunming Economic Development Zone will be optimized so that it serves as a more streamlined industrial hub. Tags: Caohai, Chenggong, city expansion, Stone Forest, urban rail network
Editor's note: GoKunming has been crossposting content from our sister site China Sports Today throughout the Olympics. On the final day of competition, China took two gold medals and a silver in women's rhythmic gymnastics to end up with a total of 51 gold medals and 100 medals overall – its best Olympic medal haul to date. Number two United States and number three Russian Federation trailed China with 36 and 23 golds, respectively. In terms of total medals, the US took the most medals, with 110, followed by China with 100. The Russian Federation took the third-largest number of medals with 72. Zou Shiming wins China's first boxing gold Zou Shiming ( 邹市明) made Chinese sports history on the last day of the Beijing Olympics by claiming the country's first gold medal in boxing. Zou was declared winner in the second round when light-flyweight opponent Serdamba Purevdorj of Mongolia pulled out of the match due to an injury sustained in a previous match. China's Zou Shiming won China's first boxing gold today by defeating Mongolia's Serdamba Purevdorj in the final of the light-flyweight class. Zou hit Purevdorj with a combo of punches in the first round, earning one point. "I wanted to give the spectators a wonderful show, but I did not expect that my opponent would get injured," Zou said. "However, the gold medal is the most important thing." Zhang Xiaoping picks up second boxing gold for China Shortly after Zou Shiming gave China its first taste of boxing gold, light heavyweight Zhang Xiaoping (张小平) quickly added another gold medal in boxing by beating Kenny Egan of Ireland 11 to 7. "I'm really excited," said Zhang, "before the Olympic Games, I was just a normal athlete but now I am a gold medalist. I was perfect today and did very well psychologically and physically. Throughout the Games, I fought with 100 per cent of my skills. I put myself in a low position and tried my best to fight against my opponent." Zou Shiming image: Xinhua Tags: Olympics
Editor's note: GoKunming will be crossposting content from our sister site China Sports Today throughout the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee has launched an investigation into the ages of gold medal-winning gymnasts He Kexin (何可欣) and Yang Yilin (杨伊琳), according to multiple media reports. Accusations have been leveled that the hosts cheated by faking age records in the sport, which requires that athletes be turning 16 or older in the year they enter Olympic competition. If the IOC finds that He and Yang are underage and strips China of medals they won, that would cost China both of its women's gymnastics golds—the team title and He's uneven bars gold—and two bronzes, won by Yang in the uneven bars and the all-around competition. The Associated Press claimed to have found archived reports (later scrubbed from the Internet) from last November in Chinese state media Xinhua, stating that He was 13 in 2007. More recently, some digging by an American computer security expert revealed more records indicating that He is underage. Related: China, US medal competition heats up He Kexin image: Boston Globe Tags: Olympics
Saturday: The Side-Effects at Speakeasy Bar As Kunming emerges from its Olympic lull, Beijing funk/blues band The Side-Effects will play Speakeasy Bar on Saturday night. Admission to the 9:30 show is 25 yuan. After the band, DJ Ma Xi will play a trance/electronic/reggae set. Sunday: Free afternoon documentaries at Yuansheng Studio Yuansheng Studio will continue to hold free afternoon showings of documentaries from the Yunfest archives on Sunday afternoon, from 2:00 to 6:00. An open discussion of the films will be held after the screenings. Get your event listed in GoKunming Is your venue holding a concert, party, exhibition opening, dance performance, English corner or any other kind of event? GoKunming wants to share information about events in Kunming with its thousands of readers – for free. All you need to do is send us basic information about your event (type of event, venue, date/time, ticket price if any, etc) to us via our contact form. We are happy to post information about any kinds of events out there – to make sure your event makes it into the calendar please notify us at least 48 hours prior to the event. Tags: DJ Ma Xi, Speakeasy Bar, The Side-Effects, Yuansheng Studio, Yunfest British medical journal The Lancet has published a follow-up report in this week's issue about a man from Yunnan who successfully underwent facial transplant surgery in 2006, raising hopes that the difficult surgery will be more viable in the future. The man is the second person ever to have received a successful face transplant. Farmer Li Guoxing of Yunnan's Lanping County was attacked by a bear in October 2004, resulting in major tissue damage on the right side of his face. Li reportedly had beat the bear with a stick after discovering it eating one of his sheep, leading to the bear disfiguring his face.
In an operation 18 months after his accident, the man underwent allograft tissue transplantation at Xijing Hospital and Fourth Military Medical University in the north Chinese city of Xi'an. He received an upper lip, nose, skin, muscle and even some facial bone from a 25-year-old donor who had died in a traffic accident.
Researchers in the Lancet hailed the transplant and treatment as a positive step forward for face transplant surgery, but emphasized the trickiness of such an operation. "Facial transplantation could be successful in the short term, but the procedure is not without complications," the researchers wrote. The Lancet report also reported another facial transplant after the Chinese man's, in which a French man with a massive facial tumor successfully received a new face in January 2007. The two successful facial transplants follow the world's first face transplant, which took place in France in 2005. The recipient, Isabel Dinoire, had been attacked by a pet dog. For more information about the transplants, The Lancet has produced a podcast on the subject. Related article: The Nature Conservancy working with China to protect biodiversity Black bear incursions a growing problem in protected area Tags: bears, conservation, face transplant, health, Li Guoxing, The Nature Conservancy Next 1 2 3 4 ... 70 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
| ©2006-8 MGHK Limited |