YANGTZE PROTECTION EFFORTS BEAR FRUIT

As the weather turned cold, most plants near Xiliang Lake withered. Little green remained around the fog-shrouded body of water in Xianning, Hubei province, in the Yangtze River Basin.

But if you gaze into the water, you might see a different scenario. Aquatic plants cover almost every inch of the lake's bottom at depths averaging about 2 meters. Their vivid green color can be seen easily despite the poor visibility brought by the clouds.

About two years ago, however, what could be seen stood in stark contrast to the current view.

"Two-thirds of the lake was covered with net cages for fish farming," said Zuo Zhiguo, head of the lake's management and law enforcement bureau. The water was so dirty it looked like tung oil, which is yellowish. And the water stank, he recalled.

The turning point for the lake's environment came in January 2016, when President Xi Jinping presided over a national conference in Chongqing about the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Xi said concerted efforts should be undertaken to protect the Yangtze, the country's longest waterway, and excessive development of the river should be banned.

Zuo said an action plan was developed to remove all the net cages in the 80-square-kilometer Xiliang Lake by the end of 2016, and work was completed by April the following year.

To restore the lake after removing the net cages, Zuo said local authorities followed the principle of letting nature restore itself, which was included in an address delivered by Xi at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October 2017.

Fishing was banned in April 2018, and the bureau has strengthened law enforcement to crack down on illegal exploitation of lake resources, Zuo added.

Since 2018, the bureau has discovered 168 violations involving electrofishing, gathering freshwater snails and picking aquatic plants. Twenty-one people received criminal punishments of up to half a year in prison, he said.

In addition to intensifying patrols, employees of the bureau advertise the regulations designed to protect the lake, he added.

Zuo said the work has yielded good results. Before the net cages were removed, the quality of water in the lake had remained below Grade IV, the second-lowest in the country's five-tier water quality system. Currently, 65 percent of the lake has water above Grade III.

Instead of the net cages, visitors can now observe birds by the hundreds over the lake.

Honghu Lake in Jingzhou, Hubei, has also improved significantly, as local authorities have returned reclaimed land to the 414-square-kilometer lake and have forbidden fish farming.

At the turn of the new millennium, 90 percent of the lakes natural wetlands had been degraded by faming activities. While some areas were being used as farmland, others were occupied by net cages for fish farming, recalled Zhu Junhua, administrative head of the Honghu Wetland Nature Reserve.

As of the end of 2018, more than 15,800 hectares of farmland and fish farms had been returned to the lake. With a significant decrease of human activity, the lake has seen rapid growth of aquatic plants and a marked increase in birds, he said.

"Areas with lotus increased by more than 5,000 hectares, and 20 percent of the lake bottom is now covered by plants," he said, adding that water quality in key areas of the lake had improved to Grade III. Previously, some areas of the lake had water even worse than the lowest category, Grade V.

The lake was once visited by merely several thousands of migrant birds annually. So far this winter, it has received more than 100,000, he said.

"The lake was so beautiful when I was a little boy. There were lotuses everywhere. ... You could even drink lake water directly," local resident Zhang Shengyuan, 61, said.

"Though it will take time to see the lake return to what it was in my memory, it is beginning to come back," Zhang said.

XINJIANG GOVT DECRIES ATTACKS BY CELEBRITIES

Some foreign celebrities who attacked the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in social media were blinded by fake news cooked up by a few foreign reporters who listened to ill-intentioned lies from people with political agendas and then published irresponsible reports, a spokeswoman for the regional government said on Friday.

"Qurans are burned, mosques were closed down, Islamic theological schools, madrassas, were banned, religious scholars were killed one by one. Despite all this, Muslims stay quiet," Mesut Ozil, a soccer star of Arsenal, an English Premier League team, posted on Dec 13 on social media together with an image of the flag of so-called East Turkestan.

Gul Abulim, a spokeswoman for the regional government, pointed out at a news conference on Friday in the regional capital of Urumqi that "Xinjiang has never been called East Turkestan, and never has there been any so-called East Turkestan."

"I don't know if these celebrities have ever been to Xinjiang, but they seem to be blinded by fake news," she said.

Contrary to the accusation about demolishing mosques, local governments at all levels in Xinjiang have made continuous efforts to improve the quality of public services at mosques, she added.

Mosques in Xinjiang now have access to sewage systems, electricity, paved roads, natural gas for heating, telecommunication, broadcasting and TV signals. These services are all welcomed by followers, Gul said.

She said the regional government also noticed that some people recently launched a social media campaign tagged "China kills Muslims".

"This was clearly organized to smear the Chinese government's Xinjiang policy," Gul said.

The New York Times recently carried a report alleging that the Xinjiang government sends children to boarding schools, "separates" them by force from their parents, "replaces ethnic languages with Mandarin" and "brainwashes" them with patriotic education.

It is entirely up to students and their parents to decide whether or not someone should attend a boarding school, said Parhat Roz, a spokesman for the regional government, at the news conference. Because Xinjiang is a vast region, there are a significant number of students who live long distances from their schools. Many of them choose to live on campus. The same principle applies to all students in Xinjiang, regardless of their ethnic group, he said.

"Also, six languages are used in primary-to-secondary education in Xinjiang for courses in the national common language and in languages of their own ethnic groups," he said.

MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY RAISES 1T YUAN FUNDS IN 2019

The State Council, China's Cabinet, held its executive meeting recently at which measures were proposed to promote steady growth in the manufacturing industry, and reduce fund-raising cost for small and medium-sized enterprises, the Securities Daily reported on Monday.

The meeting also put forward carrying out divergent credit policies and encouraging the increase of medium- and long-term loan in the industry. Stock rights, investment, bond financing were encouraged to further lean to the manufacturing industry as well.

Among multiple policies put forward to ease financing cost last year, capital market support saw obvious efforts in the sector, making financing scale continue to grow, said Pan Xiangdong, chief economist at the New Times Securities.

Data from Eastmoney showed initial public offerings (IPO) of enterprises in manufacturing industry raised 114.96 billion yuan ($16.49 billion) in 2019, up 35.56 percent year–on-year; fund raising via secondary share issues reached 401.88 billion yuan, up 25.88 percent; share allotment financing registered 16.36 billion yuan, up 53.8 percent; and bond financing recorded 473.38 billion yuan, up 41.07 percent. In general, the direct financing scale of manufacturing industry in 2019 was up to 1.01 trillion yuan, up 34.16 percent year–on-year.

Securities Daily found that China's Nasdaq-style high-tech board known as the STAR Market contributed nearly half of the financing scale to the IPO fund raising of the manufacturing enterprises listed in A-share market in 2019. A total of 70 STAR Market enterprises raised 76.49 billion yuan among which 57.28 billion yuan were raised by manufacturing enterprises, accounting for 74.88 percent of the IPO financing scale in the STAR Market.

ETC HICCUPS PUT DAMPER ON NEW YEAR SPIRIT

For more than 100 million ETC users, these problems may not happen often, but when they do they will affect the mood of those who encounter them.

According to reports, one driver complained that the ETC system charged him over 150,000 yuan ($21,536) while the correct fee should have been 800 yuan. He should be able to get his money back, but there might be long procedures that he must go through.

It is a good move to popularize the use of ETC and turn the toll stations at provincial borders into automatic ones. However, there should be contingency plans in place to deal with such problems. For example, there should be enough maintenance staff available so that if there is a problem, it can be quickly fixed. And truck drivers should have been better informed about changes to the toll charges.

The Ministry of Transport has already required that each toll station must have at least one lane available so that those drivers not paying electronically can pay by cash. And it has recently instructed all regions to make reasonable adjustments according to the proportion of traffic volume to ensure a smooth flow of vehicles through the toll stations.

The ministry has also organized a technical team to solve the problems; and it has clarified emergency measures for situations such as any serious backlogs at the toll stations and abnormal vehicle charge amounts. Spring Festival is coming soon and people will be heading home for family reunions, a reliable ETC system is needed to prevent possible jams at highway toll stations and ensure a happy start to the holidays for drivers.

NEW HK LIAISON CHIEF VOWS TO CARRY OUT 'ONE COUNTRY, TWO SYSTEMS'

Luo Huining, new liaison chief in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, made his debut in the city onMonday, pledging to lead the liaison office to faithfully implement the "one country, two systems" principle.

Luo was appointed by the State Council to replace Wang Zhimin as the new director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters in the office lobby at Sai Ying Pun, Luo said "one country, two systems" remains Hong Kong's biggest advantage and the nation will and has always been the city's strongest supporter.

He said he is confident that with concerted efforts by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, the SAR government and different social sectors, the "one country, two systems" principle will go far and steady and Hong Kong could maintain long-term prosperity and stability.

Luo remarked that Hong Kong is the Oriental Pearl and an international metropolis, while its people have made important contributions to the country's modernization as well as reform and opening-up.

Despite working in the mainland in the past, he is not unacquainted with Hong Kong.

Pointing out that the new post as the liaison chief is a new mission and new challenge to him personally, Luo pledged that he will fulfill his duty with sincerity and a true heart to the city.

During the past half year, the situation in Hong Kong has made everyone concerned, Luo said. And people have been eagerly looking forward to seeing the city go back on track, he added.

During the press briefing, Luo quoted President Xi's comments in his New Year speech about Hong Kong, saying, "Without a harmonious and stable environment, how can there be a home where people can live and work happily?"

Luo said he sincerely wishes for the well-being of Hong Kong and its people and expressed his New Year blessing to residents in front of the camera.

He said he hoped local media could support the work of the liaison office in the future and pledged more communication with the public as his work unfolded.

SNOW DISRUPTS TRAFFIC IN BEIJING

The first snowfall of this year has forced the closure of highways, cancellation of flights and train delays in Beijing.

According to the Beijing branch of China State Railway Group Co Ltd, the country's railway operator, the speed of bullet trains running on certain routes, including Beijing-Tianjin, Beijing-Guangzhou, Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Zhangjiakou, has been reduced.

As of 8:45 am Monday, 105 flights have been cancelled at the Beijing Capital International Airport, although 184 flights departed and 101 arrived as scheduled. Beijing Daxing International Airport saw arrival of nine flights and departure of 24 planes.

Eleven highways in the city have been closed Monday morning.

As of 6 am, Beijing Huanwei Group has sent 4,378 workers, 173 snow ploughs and 424 snowmelt vehicles to clear snow and ice on road.

ELECTRIC CARS TO FUEL AUTO TRADE, SAYS COMMERCE MINISTRY

China's exports of new energy vehicles will grow fast in coming years as they are on track to gain popularity in major car markets, said the Ministry of Commerce.

"Their exports stand a good chance of continuing the momentum and will become a new force that contributes to the steady growth of China's auto trade," said the ministry in a report on high-quality automotive trade released last week.

Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that exports of China's new energy vehicles in the first half of 2019 grew 99.3 percent year-on-year.

The report said electric buses from BYD accounted for 20 percent of the market in Europe and more than 60 percent in the United Kingdom in 2018. Those from Chinese brands were the most popular in South Korea.

The situation will further improve as major markets are championing new energy vehicles and China is a leading player in the segment, said the report.

China started to finance the new energy vehicle segment since 2009. It overtook the United States as the largest market for such vehicles in 2015.

It has sharpened its competitive edge over the past decade, with its models being close to or passing internationally advanced levels of battery performance and driving ranges.

Developed economies including the United States and the European Union have announced incentives to spur the growth of the segment. Many Asian countries, especially those in the ASEAN, are encouraging carmakers to roll out more new energy vehicles.

Thailand does not charge tariffs on electric vehicles from China. Meanwhile, Malaysia plans for new energy vehicles to account for 85 percent of vehicles produced in the country in 2020.

"All these have created favorable conditions for Chinese carmakers including SAIC, Geely and Changan to make better forays into the ASEAN markets," the report said.

A total of 197 electric SUVs from GAC Motor are on route to Israel and are expected to hit the market in February, said the Guangzhou-based carmaker.

GAC said dealers in Kuwait, Jordan and Paraguay hope to introduce its electric vehicles. It will soon explore the European electric car market as well.