介绍:
This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing. Here is the news.
Timing is everything for flower enthusiasts, and the flowers in Beijing have a tight schedule to follow. Now, the time is ripe for peonies, and the flowers are as many as the people straining to see them.
Even the spring showers couldn't deter the crowds. Some were even enthusiastic about the drizzly conditions. The light is scattered on a cloudy day and people can take good pictures as the light is well-distributed.
Many visitors carry heavy camera and tripod in their hands. They were particularly attracted by a peony variety called "the bleeding hearts", which look like hebao, a cute traditional decorative bag.
One of the most popular peony gardens is located in Jingshan Park north of the Forbidden City, or the Palace Museum at Tian'anmen Square.
In addition to the peony garden, a variety of flowers are scattered throughout the park, presenting a vibrant attraction in early May.
You are listening to NEW Plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing.
Experts say that despite the economic slowdown, China's tourism sector has tremendous potential.
Christian Petersen, a senior hotel manager and area director of operations for East China, says he has seen potential and opportunities in China's tourism market.
High-end hotels were dealt a blow last year as the Chinese government launched a frugality campaign to uproot bureaucratic and extravagant working styles among public servants. The policy has reportedly prompted star hotels to downgrade their ratings to woo customers.
Petersen says that the policy had impacted business, but he has remained optimistic on the Chinese market, especially due to opportunities from the booming wedding sector.
He says Hainan island, the southernmost province in China, can be a main niche market, as the natural environment offers a perfect place for a wedding.
He adds that Chinese people are increasingly health-sensitive, sophisticated and tend to like having more choice as they become wealthier. Most tourists stay in Hainan much longer than in Shanghai and Beijing as it is a desirable recreational resort.
This is NEWS Plus Special English.
In a tourism-related development, rural tourism in China will receive a boost in investment this year.
Ten thousand villages across China will become tourism spots this year, and 200,000 households will be turned into farm stay accommodations.
Nationwide, over 14 million people were employed in the tourism sector last year, and around 2 million households were involved in the farm stay business benefiting more than 30 million farmers.
The Chinese tourism market is expected to exceed 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars within the next five years, and the country will roll out more supportive policies to nurture the tourism sector.
China is the world's second largest tourism economy with each Chinese person making an average two trips last year. This is expected to grow 7 percent annually for the next decade.
You are listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing.
Anyone who uses large data centers, cloud services, social networks, or gets music and film online can thank British-American physicist Stuart Parkin.
Parkin has won the 1 million-euro or 1.3 million-US dollar Millennium Technology Prize for discoveries leading to a thousand-fold increase in digital data storage on magnetic disks.
The Finnish prize foundation cited the 58-year-old consulting professor at Stanford University in the United States, for his "pioneering contribution to the science and application of spintronic materials". The materials have made "the contemporary online world largely possible."
Parkin says it changed the world by allowing storage of all knowledge created since the beginning of time.
This is NEWS Plus Special English.
A study shows that biofuels made from the leftovers of harvested corn plants are worse than gasoline for global warming in the short term.
The find has challenged earlier conclusions that they are a much cleaner oil alternative and will help combat climate change.
The study cost 500,000 US dollars paid for by the U.S. government. It concludes that biofuels made with corn residue release 7 percent more greenhouse gases in the early years compared with conventional gasoline.
While biofuels are better in the long run, the study says they won't meet a standard set in a 2007 energy law to qualify as renewable fuel.
You are listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing.
China's health watchdog is worried that a drop in vaccination coverage driven by vaccine safety concerns will offset its achievements in limiting infectious diseases such as hepatitis B and measles.
The number of children vaccinated for hepatitis B in 10 Chinese regions declined by 30 percent at the end of last year.
The National Health and Family Planning Commission's disease control and prevention bureau warned ahead of World Immunization week, the last week of April.
Vaccination coverage for other diseases has also declined by 15 percent on average. That's according to a survey conducted after a series of deaths in December was blamed on vaccines.
The 17 deaths were initially suspected to be caused by unqualified hepatitis B vaccines manufactured by Shenzhen-based BioKangtai, and use of the company's vaccines were halted. However, such assumptions were later ruled out.
The figures show how hard it is for China to win back parents' confidence after scares like this. China had successfully protected more than 80 million children from being infected with hepatitis B.
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