Author Archives: GovWorldMag

After one year of trial operation, the China-based FAST, the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope, has identified two pulsars, the National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC) said Tuesday.

The pulsars, named J1859-01 and J1931-01, are 16,000 light years and 4,100 light years from Earth with rotation periods of 1.83 seconds and 0.59 seconds, respectively.

According to Li Di, chief scientist at the NAOC, the two pulsars were discovered on Aug. 22 and 25 when FAST was drift-scanning the southern galactic plane. The discovery was later confirmed by the Australia-based 64-meter Parkes radio telescope in September.

Peng Bo, deputy director of the FAST project, said three to five years are usually needed for trial operation for a radio telescope as large and complicated as FAST.

“It is truly encouraging to have achieved such results within just one year,” said Peng.

Located in a naturally deep and round karst depression in southwest China’s Guizhou Province, FAST, which stands for Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope, was completed in September 2016.

The receiving area of FAST is equivalent to about 30 football fields.

FAST’s key technical components include the feed cabin, 4,600 triangular panels and an active reflector. With it, astronomers are able to survey hydrogen in the Milky Way and other galaxies, detect thousands of new pulsars and seek out the origin and evolution of the universe.

The development of, and services offered by, new-generation bullet trains will benefit the government’s promotion of the country’s high-speed railway technology in the international market, according to officials at China Railway Corp.

A new Fuxing bullet train running between Tianjin and Beijing, prepares to leave the capital.[Photo by Wang Zhuangfei/China Daily]

In a statement published on its website in September, the State-owned railway operator said it plans to design and export bullet trains based on the CR400 Fuxing, or “rejuvenation”, model, the nation’s newest fleet of trains.

The statement added that the trains will meet the requirements of users overseas and will be competitive in the global market.

As prime examples of China’s world-leading expertise, the CR400AF and CR400BF models were put into operation on the Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway in late June, running at about 300 kilometers per hour.

On Sept 21, the speed was increased to 350 km/h on the 1,318-km-long line, becoming the world’s fastest operational wheeled rail vehicles. Their deployment cut the journey time between the municipalities by 60 minutes, reducing the trip to four and a half hours.

Their development began in 2012 under the Ministry of Railways, the predecessor of CRC, which aspired to manufacture bullet trains with “Chinese standards”.

Before Fuxing came into service, trains running on the country’s high-speed rail network had been designed and built in accordance with a range of standards in use overseas.

The new models have longer service lives than their predecessors – 30 years compared with 20 – and their streamlined designs allow lower power consumption and more space for every passenger, according to Zhang Bo, a designer at the China Academy of Railway Sciences.

Zhang said the overall design and all of the key parts – such as traction equipment, brakes and the control software – were developed by Chinese engineers.

The trains are equipped with advanced monitoring systems that provide autonomous deceleration in the event of emergencies or malfunctions.

He Huawu, chief engineer at CRC, said the level of technology and the capabilities of the CR400 series meet the highest standards in the world, and will prove major advantages as China seeks to export homemade high-speed railway equipment.

Liu Jinwen, a retired primary school teacher now living in Beijing’s Sijiqing Nursing Home, never expected she would have a visit from the Chinese president. But she did, and it changed her life.

A nurse at Sijiqing Nursing Home combs the hair of an elder resident at the Beijing facility. President Xi Jinping visited there in December 2013 and residents said they were energized by his presence. [Photo/Xinhua]

“It was the morning of Dec 28, 2013. I was sitting reading a newspaper story for one of my friends intently at the hall, and suddenly I realized others turning their eyes to the direction across my head,” said Liu, 74. “I turned back my head and saw President Xi Jinping approaching us.”

Xi sat down in a chair and joined their book-reading activity, she said.

“Xi praised us that we are still studying although we have retired, and he encouraged us to take good care of ourselves and enjoy life,” Liu said. “He looked so easygoing. All of us were so excited.”

Liu said her meeting with the president lasted no more than 10 minutes, after which Xi went to see other elders in the nursing home, but she said it was a great encouragement to them.

“I felt we are not useless people whom nobody pays attention to. I was young again,” she said. “Although we are old, why can we not have an equally colorful life?”

Following Xi’s visit, managers of the nursing home, which has more than 600 residents, gave more attention to services and encouraged the retirees to have more entertainment activities. A chorus was begun, and Liu set up a fashion modeling team, she said.

The team, with eight members including two men, performs for other retirees in the nursing home every Tuesday morning and during festivals and holidays, Liu said.

“Many people, when admitted to a nursing home, will think it not necessary to spend money buying new clothes, as they are getting older, awaiting for that final day,” said Zhang Jin, 81, a retiree living in the nursing home and also coach of the team. “But I don’t think so. We need to keep a good spirit and outlook, and first of all we should buy new clothes.”

“We hope giving modeling performances can help relieve the psychological pressure of aging, so we can become old with elegance.”

Liu said she has spent more than 1,000 yuan ($150) buying new clothes and shoes since the modeling team was set up in early 2014. Among her purchases was a qipao, a traditional Chinese dress.

Liu Zhongli, director of the nursing home, said with the rising elderly population in China, it is important for nursing homes to improve services and management.

“We have taken many measures to improve our living environment and barrier-free facilities in the past several years,” she said. “The goal is to let the elderly to have a comfortable and safe life here.”