CHANGSHA - For villagers in a poverty-stricken region in central China's Hunan Province, there are many more important things their elected lawmaker can do than telling them how to deal with their garbage.However, for the past five years, Dai Hairong, a deputy to the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, dedicated herself to finding a solution to the garbage problem that has plagued her otherwise picturesque hometown.Her effort started from an inspection tour years ago to Hunan's Pinghushan national nature reserve.While marveling at the natural beauty of the reserve, she was surprised by how polluted it was: garbage filled up a scenic natural pit, and piles of fermented trash on the roadside caught fire, giving off strong smelling smoke.Dai vowed to wage war on garbage, an environmental tumor that she believed she had the responsibility to help eradicate.But many villagers and officials thought Dai had picked the wrong fight. In their mind, economic development should be the top priority for a lawmaker privileged of having a say in national meetings.Garbage disposal is certainly no trivial or household matter, Dai said. It is a difficult problem that the world today needs to tackle head-on.The garbage problem is getting worse, but we don't even know how to deal with it. We can't just sit back and give in, she said.After two years' research, she concluded that due to the vastness of China's rural areas, collecting garbage and then shipping it away for disposal was too costly. Villagers needed to sort it at home and dispose or recycle it as close by as possible.She then began her lobbying efforts, raising the issue whenever she could at meetings with local officials, and looking for sponsors willing to give garbage sorting a try. She also repeatedly made proposals on the issue at legislative meetings.In 2015, her determined efforts finally caught the attention of officials with China's Housing and Urban-Rural Development Ministry. They realized that the 40-year-old woman was adamant about making a difference and would not take no for an answer.They soon sent an expert team to Dai's county and helped her devise a plan that was logistically feasible and economically viable.They agreed that household garbage such as kitchen and restroom waste could be processed at home, and plastic garbage and glassware should be sorted out and then shipped to nearby recycle stations.They also worked out that one recycle station should be set up for every 500 villagers, which would achieve the highest utilization rate. And it was most economical for a truck to carry 30 tons of recyclables in each trip.In 2015, with a detailed plan in hand, Dai picked Dasheng Village as a trial site and began to promote a garbage sorting system. All she needed now was the cooperation of villagers.Hearing about Dai's plan, a local official said bluntly, You cannot count on ordinary rural woman to separate wet garbage from dry. We are not that advanced yet.The official was not entirely wrong. Even in China's first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, sorting garbage is considered a troublesome practice that is yet fully adopted by city-dwellers. Promoting it among rural Chinese proved to be a much more difficult task, as they are often less inclined to change the way they go about their everyday life.Dai did not give up easily. At one meeting with the villagers, She tried to highlight the economic incentive of garbage sorting.Wasted plastic film can be sold at 700 yuan ($107) per tonne, but will be worth nothing if not sorted, she said.Dai also warned villagers against the danger of burning unsorted trash, which may produce substances that cause cancer.We are willing to do garbage sorting, because we do not want to live in a village full of dust and garbage for the rest of our lives, said Wu Xianhao, a villager in Dasheng. We just did not know how to do it before.Now, three years into the trial program, Dai has found that villagers have become more environmentally conscious. They use less plastic cups and tablecloths during banquets and often volunteer to collect garbage in the mountains.To fight against garbage, we should never give up or give in, Wu told Dai. wristband sportsdebossed wristbandcustom fidgetcustom sweatbands no minimumsilicone rubber bands
A flag-raising ceremony on Sunday at Golden Bauhinia Square in Hong Kong marks the 21st anniversary of the city's return to the motherland. ZHANG WEI/CHINA NEWS SERVICE SAR has experienced steady economic growth with lower unemployment rate One year ago, President Xi Jinping called upon the people of Hong Kong to redouble their efforts, leverage their strengths and build their economy under one country, two systems. His remarks have energized and reinvigorated the special administrative region, as the city has boasted a banner year ever since. Since the president's inspection tour on June 29 through July 1 last year, Hong Kong has experienced steady economic growth. The polarization that divided the city is now less fractious, and the SAR has achieved even greater integration with the Chinese mainland. There are also new initiatives to help the people of the city, especially the young, to achieve their hopes for a better future. Xi promised the central government's firm support as he set out his vision for Hong Kong's development, marking the 20th anniversary of the SAR's return to the motherland. Today, government officials, the business community, emerging entrepreneurs and university students concur that the president's encouragement has brought about important advances in Hong Kong's progress. The city's GDP increased by 3.8 percent in 2017, and registered 4.7 percent growth in the first quarter of 2018. The 2.8 percent unemployment rate from February to April this year was the lowest in two decades. Belt and Road Initiative Hong Kong's participation in the Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development, with strong support from the central government, presents the city with exceptional opportunities toward greater prosperity. The city's strategic position in both the Belt and Road Initiative and the Greater Bay Area assures its continued status as an international center for free trade. During the past year, Hong Kong has signed free trade agreements with Georgia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, advancing the city's significant role in the Belt and Road Initiative. Aron Harilela, chairman of Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, said businesses in the city are ideally placed to capitalize on these developments, particularly within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The chamber's regular business missions to the Greater Bay Area have shown that the initiative is already having an impact. Cities within the cluster, some of them hubs for technology and advanced manufacturing, are eager to work closely with their neighbors for mutual progress, Harilela said. Innovation-tech hub Xi issued an instruction in May to accelerate Hong Kong's development as an international center for innovation and technology. He issued the instruction responding to a letter from 24 Hong Kong-based academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance, as a result, announced that Hong Kong's universities and other scientific institutions may apply directly for funds from the central government. The funds, previously available only on the mainland, may now be used in Hong Kong. The president's directive offers insight into the great importance the central government attaches to Hong Kong talents and potentialities in science and technology. It also gave a shot in the arm to the city's development, said the special administration region's Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. In its 2018-19 budget, the HKSAR government set aside HK$50 billion ($6.37 billion) for innovation and technology development. An interdepartmental Steering Committee on Innovation and Technology, led by the chief executive, also was established. In addition, the Technology Talent Admission Scheme, a three-year pilot program that kicked off on June 25, offers a fast-track on visa applications from global talents. Additional resources have been invested in the city's innovation-technology industry, as outlined in Lam's first Policy Address, delivered in October. Hong Kong already is recognized for its sound technological foundations and outstanding capability in scientific research. Lam acknowledged at a recent summit that this success may be credited to the cooperation among top universities, research institutes and high-quality talents from around the world. Combining the unique advantage of one country, two systems, the vast mainland market, and support from the central government, Hong Kong is predicted to evolve into a world-class innovation-technology hub and smart city, Lam added. Exchanges Another area that Xi particularly emphasized during his inspection tour last year, was to provide greater convenience for Hong Kong people to study, work and live on the Chinese mainland. In August and December, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council announced two sets of measures easing the path for Hong Kong people on the mainland in education, employment, business and travel. Probably the most timely and important measure is the phasing out of the employment permit requirement for Hong Kong people working on the mainland, said Kuo Waikeung. Kuo is a Hong Kongborn entrepreneur, operating a startup in Qianhai, a free trade zone in Shenzhen. Qianhai is the first area to implement the new policy. A two-year employment permit had been required of residents from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan since 2005. Kuo said the change meant his company's Hong Kong employees no longer need to extend their work permits when their contracts expire. The time it takes to recruit new employees from Hong Kong has been reduced by at least two months. Another central government policy, giving Hong Kong and Macao people equal access to the mainland's housing fund, has also been implemented in Qianhai, Shenzhen, according to Witman Hung Wai-man, a Hong Kong deputy to the 13th National People's Congress. Exchanges with the mainland and greater exposure have become more frequent and intensive for Hong Kong's youth. Through internships and guided tours, young people gain greater knowledge of the country's development. Andy Tsang Hin-lam, a freshman history major at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, joined a youth delegation in late June, and visited Shenzhen, Wuhan, Hubei province, and Beijing. Tsang said he was surprised and inspired by the rapid development of technology on the mainland. Hong Kong's development has always pulled at my heartstrings, Xi said when he arrived in Hong Kong on June 29 last year. In a series of speeches Xi delivered during his inspection tour, he emphasized the importance of setting aside differences to find common ground and unite for the greater good of the city's future.
