chinadaily_pdf_20111207591813
PAGE 2 |https://www.sodocs.net/doc/4d18905876.html,/NATION CHINA DAILY
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WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
- 1 / 4
- 5 / 1
- 7 /- 3
- 7 /- 1
Chengdu
Urumqi
Beijing
Yangon
Vientiane
Ulaanbaatar
Shanghai
Bandar Seri
Begawan
Guangzhou
Hanoi
Tokyo
Lhasa
CHINA
Thunderstorms
weather
ASIA-PACIFIC-MIDDLE EAST
0 / 6
- 3 / 2
Beijing - 1 / 4 C - 5 / 1 S
Changchun -14 /- 7 C -18 /- 9 S
Changsha 6 / 8 D 3 / 7 D
Chongqing 9 / 11 D 8 / 10 D
Dalian - 3 / 4 Sn - 5 /- 3 C
Fuzhou 17 / 23 Sh 13 / 19 Sh
Guangzhou 17 / 23 C 12 / 18 D
Guilin 9 / 15 D 8 / 9 D
Guiyang 3 / 6 D 1 / 3 D
Haikou 19 / 23 D 19 / 21 D
Hangzhou 11 / 14 D 6 / 10 D
Harbin -15 /-10 C -19 /-10 S
Hefei 7 / 9 D 4 / 8 D
Hohhot - 8 /- 6 C -13 /- 9 S
Hongkong 19 / 21 C 16 / 20 D
Jinan 0 / 4 O - 4 / 2 C
Kunming 9 / 17 C 6 / 18 C
Lanzhou - 4 / 2 C - 7 / 2 S
Lhasa - 3 / 17 S - 4 / 16 S
Lijiang 2 / 17 C 2 / 17 C
Macao 18 / 22 C 14 / 19 D
Nanchang 8 / 13 D 3 / 8 D
Nanjing 9 / 12 R 3 / 7 D
Nanning 16 / 21 D 11 / 17 D
Qingdao 3 / 8 D - 1 / 3 R/Sn
Sanya 22 / 26 O 22 / 26 O
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2011
CHINA FACE
Farmer: No regrets over giveaway
By LIU XIANGRUI
CHINA DAILY
ZHENGZHOU — When it
comes to marketing, few things
are better at attracting custom-
ers than freebies.
Han Honggang will be hop-
ing that theory is true aft er he
decided to give away an entire
field of bai
l u o b o,o r
white radish.
Th e 37-year-old farmer says
the idea came to him aft er he
heard a cold snap was on its way.
“Weather forecasters had
predicted snow, and the rad-
ishes had to be pulled up before
that or they would spoil,” Han
said when China Daily caught
up with him on Saturday. “I
thought it’d be a pity for them to
rot in a fi eld.”
Instead, on Nov 25, he con-
tacted local media and adver-
tised his vegetables for free to
anyone willing to pluck them
from the ground.
Business had been poor,
he said, and wholesalers were
offering just 0.12 yuan (2 US
cents) per kilogram.
“I knew that giving away the
crop would probably cost me
at least 70,000 yuan, but hiring
workers to pick them and trucks
to ship them would have cost
more,” said Han, who rents a
four-hectare fi eld beside the Y el-
low River, just outside Zheng-
zhou, capital of Central China’s
Henan province.
Once Han’s announcement
appeared in newspapers, roads
around his fi eld were jammed
with cars, as thousands of peo-
ple fl ocked to get their share of
free vegetables.
Within three days, pickers
had taken about 250 tons of
radishes. However, Han did not
notice until later that they were
also pulling up sweet potatoes
and other crops.
“I was a little angry and felt
helpless,” he said, explaining
that he told people that only the
radishes were free. “Maybe they
ignored me aft er seeing others
take vegetables away.”
Han estimated that the lost
produce could end up costing
him as much as 60,000 yuan.
He also complained that the
damage left behind, including
crushed radishes, half-picked
sweet potatoes and car tire
tracks, also took two people 10
days to clear up.
Han’s family moved to
Zhengzhou from their village
in northern Henan in 2001.
Before switching to vegetables,
he previously used the land to
grow wheat and corn, which
made an annual profi t of about
30,000 yuan.
Despite the outcome, and
his father’s concerns about the
fi nancial loss, Han said he does
not regret the giveaway.
“I had to try my best so the
radishes weren’t wasted,” he
said. “I’d do it again, too.”
Yet, he admitted he has
learned some important lessons.
“Even a good deed must be
done in an organized way, oth-
erwise there will be problems,”
he said, smiling. “Also, next
time I’ll give my vegetables to
welfare houses, migrant work-
ers and schools.”
M a n y p e o p l e h a v e
approached Han since his give-
away to offer their support,
including some who off ered to
make a donation to his family.
“I won’t accept their charity.
My fi nancial conditions haven’t
worsened to that extent, and
many people need help more
than I do,” the farmer said.
On Saturday morning, Han
drove a truck fi lled with sweet
potatoes to a public square
in Zhengzhou for a special
sale organized to thank him
for his kindness. When he
arrived, there were lines of
people stretching more than
30 meters.
“I come from a rural area, and
in Han I see the typical simple
nature of Chinese farmers,” said
Qiao Taotao, a teacher who
organized Saturday’s event. “W e
should care about the problems
faced by vegetable farmers and
give them a hand.”
Han said many people also
helped during the special sale,
adding that he was especially
grateful to an elderly woman
who fed him bread and milk.
“I’ve redeemed some losses
now, and I plan to work harder
next year to thank those who
helped me,” said Han, who has
received orders totaling 200,000
yuan for next year’s crop of
sweet potatoes.
Y ang Xiaonan in Zhengzhou
contributed to this story.
Fatal Wenzhou crash report ‘concluded’
BEIJING — Th e probe into
July’s fatal bullet train crash
has fi nally been concluded, a
safety watchdog official said
on T uesday.
Investigators under the State
Council are “gathering and
sorting out the results … to
develop a report”, according to
Huang Yi, spokesman for the
State Administration of W ork
Safety.
No date has yet been given
for when the fi ndings will be
released.
Forty people were killed and
191 other injured on July 23
when a high-speed train rear-
ended a stalled service on a
bridge outside W enzhou, Zhe-
jiang province.
A report from the resulting
probe was originally due in
mid-September, but authorities
said investigators needed more
time for further analysis to
answer questions concerning
technology and management.
Huang said the probe did
not exceed the country’s
legal time limit for accident
investigations, as time spent
on technical evaluation is not
counted.
Regulations state that inves-
tigators are required to submit
reports within 60 days aft er an
accident, although that can be
extended by another 60 days
under special circumstances.
The team will “submit the
report as soon as possible and
publicize the results to give a
sincere, responsible answer to
the people”, Huang said.
Preliminary investigations
revealed serious design fl aws
in railway signaling equip-
ment, as well as gaps in safety
management, Huang said in
August, noting that the acci-
dent could have been pre-
vented.
Since its establishment, the
team has conducted on-the-
spot inspections, simulated
tests, technical evaluations,
expert reviews and other
investigative work in a scien-
tifi c, objective and fair man-
ner, Huang said on T uesday.
Team members include
railway experts, as well as
senior offi cials from the safe-
ty watchdog, the ministries
of supervision and railways,
the All-China Federation of
Trade Unions, the Zhejiang
government and the Supreme
People’s Procuratorate.
According to the State
Council, the team is mainly
in charge of ascertaining the
facts, cause, casualties and
direct economic loss of the
crash, while also recommend-
ing punishments for those
found responsible.
XINHUA
YAN HUAZHUANG / FOR CHINA DAILY
Han Honggang, a farmer in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan
province, displays some white radishes that were left because
of their “unsightly appearance” after local people swarmed to
his farmland to pick free radishes.
“Th ese eff orts show China is
really serious about controlling
its carbon footprint, regardless
of the results of the international
climate talks,” he said.
Zhang Jianyu, China pro-
gram director of US-based
Environmental Defense Fund,
said linking green targets with
appraisal systems for officials
proved to be eff ective in previ-
ous national programs to tackle
pollution and improve energy
effi ciency.
“The practice does work in
China very well, though local
offi cials are not necessarily sub-
ject to any legal penalties if they
fail,” Zhang said.
The blueprint also laid out
plans to establish statistical and
verifi cation systems for green-
house gas emissions at both
national and provincial levels
and for individual enterprises.
China will also establish vol-
untary carbon emission off set
mechanisms and pilot car-
bon cap-and-trade programs,
according to the blueprint.
Industries including iron
and steel, electricity generation,
coal, petrochemical, transpor-
tation and construction are
urged to issue their own plans
to curb greenhouse gas emis-
sions. Major enterprises will be
requested to report and verify
their carbon emissions.
DOCKED
AFTER
RIVER
DROPS
PHOTO BY HE LIU /
XINHUA
Boats line a dock
of a reservoir in
W uzhou city, South
China’s Guangxi
Zhuang autono-
mous region, on
T uesday. Th e ves-
sels have been
moored due to
low water levels
in Xijiang River
and ongoing con-
struction projects
around the reser-
voir.
FROM PAGE 1
Climate:
T argets to
motivate
offi cials BEIJING
Top court issues
loan advice
Th e Supreme People’s Court
issued a circular on T uesday
calling for the proper handling
of confl icts about private loans
aft er a number of cases in
which bosses were unable to
pay back informal high-interest
loans, forcing enterprises to the
verge of bankruptcy.
According to the circu-
lar, courts should resort to
mediation as the fi rst option in
resolving cases involving pri-
vate loans, especially those with
multiple lenders or borrowers.
Interest rates on private
loans can be higher than
those set by banks, and local
courts have the right to adjust
an interest rate cap in accor-
dance with the fi nancial situ-
ation in their respective areas,
but they should not exceed
four times banks’ interest
rates, the circular said.
China agrees to
launch satellite
China will launch a tele-
communications satellite for
T urkmenistan atop a Long
March 3B launch vehicle from
Xichang Satellite Launch Cen-
ter in 2014, said China Great
W all Industry Corporation.
On Monday, China Great
W all Industry signed a
contract with Th ales Alenia
Space France, which devel-
oped the telecommunications
satellite for T urkmenistan.
Th e 4.5-ton satellite will be
T urkmenistan’s fi rst telecom-
munications satellite.
HENAN
10 prosecuted in
lethal bus ? re
T en people have been
prosecuted over a bus fi re that
killed 41 and injured six oth-
ers in Central China’s Henan
province in July, authorities
said on T uesday.
Th e 35-seat bus was carry-
ing 47 people from the eastern
city of W eihai to Changsha,
capital of Hunan province,
and caught fi re on an express-
way near Xinyang in Henan in
the early morning of July 22.
T o date, 10 people have
been prosecuted on allega-
tions of illegally carrying and
transporting dangerous arti-
cles and failing to implement
their safety responsibilities, a
spokesman for the Xinyang
prosecutor’s offi ce said.
YUNNAN
2 killed, 38 hurt
in coach crash
Two people died and 38
others were injured aft er a
coach went off the road and
overturned in the Chuxiong
Yi autonomous prefecture in
Southwest China’s Y unnan
province on T uesday morn-
ing, local authorities said.
Th e accident happened
at about 8:30 am on the
218 Provincial Highway in
Shuangbai county when a
45-seat coach carrying 42
people ran off the road and
overturned down the hillside,
according to the prefecture’s
publicity department.
All 38 injured passengers
have been admitted to a
hospital.
XINHUA
brie? y