HEROIC CANAL BUILDER COMMENDED

Huang Dafa， former Secretary of the Communist Party of China （CPC） Committee of Caowangba Village in Zunyi， southwest Chinas Guizhou Province， was honored as a“contemporary role model” by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee on April 25 for his perseverance in building a 9，400-meter-long water channel through steep mountains to help fellow villagers get out of poverty.

Caowangba sits on a cliff more than 30 km from the closest town. Villagers had severe water shortages， as they depended upon a single well for water.

Huang， now 81， led more than 200 villagers to dig a canal using only hand tools and explosives over a span of more than three decades.

By 1995， a 7，200-meter-long channel， which also has an auxiliary channel stretching 2，200 meters through three villages， was completed. The project has not only solved local peoples drinking water problem， but also increased the villages annual rice output from 30，000 kg to nearly half a million kg.

Blocking Foreign Garbage

Xinhua Daily Telegraph April 20

In mid-April， China adopted a plan to ban foreign garbage from entering the country. While proper use of solid waste may relieve Chinas resource shortages， foreign rubbish can only bring bad results.

According to the 2016 edition of the annual report on Chinas prevention and treatment of solid waste pollution， Chinas 246 big and medium-sized cities produced 185 million tons of household garbage in 2015. While the rubbish keeps rising， garbage classifi cation is still at a trial stage. The infl ux of smuggled foreign garbage inevitably compounds the diffi cult situation. The import of solid garbage is forbidden， but over the past three decades， a huge amount of such rubbish has been smuggled into China.

Some of the garbage comes from morgues or rubbish recycling stations. The continuous influx is harmful to peoples health and the environment. Although China has regulations to block foreign rubbish， there is still a long way to go as foreign garbage smuggling has already developed into an industrial chain with finely coordinated networks. The profits generated by processing garbage smuggled into China can be dozens of times greater than the costs. There must be specific measures to deal with smuggled rubbish and penalize smugglers.

Embracing AI

China Newsweek April 24

The rapid development of artificial intelligence （AI） is increasingly impacting social life and commercial models in China and throughout the world.

Domestically， apart from iFlytek， whose AI programs cover sectors like education， government services， automobiles and medical care， AI breakthroughs have been achieved mainly by the three Internet giants Baidu， Alibaba and Tencent. For instance， an AI Go program called Jue Yi， also known as Fine Art， developed by Tencents AI Lab beat Crazy Stone from France and DeepZenGo from Japan in the 10th Computer Go UEC Cup in Tokyo in March. AliCloud has developed its online-to-offline takeout food platform， which helps to effi ciently match consumers demand for takeouts and restaurantsservice.

In China， AI is also widely used in the real economy. According to estimates by McKinsey， automation based on AI can contribute 0.8 to 1.4 percentage point growth to the Chinese economy annually. At a time when Chinas demographic dividends are disappearing， AI technology will help to boost the efficiency of conventional industries.

The shortage of talent is a major obstacle in Chinas AI technology development.Fewer than 30 universities have AI labs and production of talent falls far behind the demand. Besides， Chinas AI scientists center on computer vision and voice recognition， leaving other AI research areas short of talent. However， its expected that in the upcoming decade AI will be more widely applied in various aspects of peoples life， and the era of AI Plus will fi nally come.

Regulating UAV Flying

Peoples Daily April 24

In recent years， more and more unmanned aerial vehicles （UAVs） have begun to pop up in the supposedly clear zones surrounding airports. UAV users choose to fl y their drones in such locations for the wide open space without high buildings or other obstacles in the way. Their behavior poses threat to aviation safety and even national security.

Statistics show that currently， around 20，000 UAVs are fl ying illegally. While four UAV-related accidents were reported in 2015， the number soared to 23 in 2016， and so far this year， 10 accidents have occurred in the southwest region alone. For aviation authorities， these incidents are a big headache， and call for strengthening UAV supervision. Relevant punishments are rising.

As early as 2009， the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued regulations concerning UAVs. These regulations， however， are not widely known. UAV users are often confused as to whether pilot licenses are needed， what procedures are necessary， and which departments handle these procedures. Also， many UAVs are made of plastic and fi berglass and are diffi cult to detect by radar.

As a result， most people who are determined to fl y UAVs do so illegally. To stop them， we need more feasible and practical measures on UAV use. For example， so-called electronic fencing could be incorporated into UAV software， so they cannot fl y in restricted airspace， and UAV approval procedures need to be streamlined. Explicitly informing users of their rights and obligations can also make a great difference.

YOUNGEST CHINA LPGA TOUR WINNER

Amateur golf player Liu Wenbo made history on April 22， when she won the Zhangjiagang Shuangshan Challenge to become the youngest winner on the China LPGA Tour.

The Beijing teenager accomplished the feat in a dramatic fashion by beating Thailands Kanyalak Preedasuttijit on the first hole of a sudden-death play-off at Shuangshan Golf Course.

“[It was] an unexpected win. My goal was to win [sometime] this year， but I didnt think it would happen so fast. Im really happy now，” she said.

Liu—aged 16 years， two months and 11 days on the day of her victory—became the fourth amateur to win on the China LPGA Tour. She bettered the previous record for the youngest winner set by Wang Ziyi， who won the 2014 Xiamen Challenge at the age of 16 years， fi ve months and two days.

“As long as the job market and inflation remain steady and incomes keep improving， it does not matter if the growth is a touch higher or lower.”

Ning Jizhe， Vice Minister of the National Development and Reform Commission， in an interview with Xinhua News Agency on April 26

“The data overwhelmingly suggests that Chinese investment in the U.S. is complementary to the current administrations focus on creating and protecting American jobs.”

Stephen Orlins， President of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations， writing in a recent report published by the organization and the Rhodium Group， a New York-based economic research firm， that says Chinese direct investment in the U.S. tripled in 2016 with Chinese companies hiring over 140，000 Americans

“The partnership will provide financial support to projects that address urban environmental challenges and will encourage taking action such as biking to reduce our carbon emissions.”

Stéphane Dujarric， spokesperson for UN Secretary General António Guterres， at a daily news briefing on April 25 in response to the UN Development Programs partnership with Chinese bike-sharing platform Ofo

“In the western part of the country， more projects focus on infrastructure such as traffic networks， land rehabilitation and water conservancy， while in eastern parts， the demand is for public facilities such as landscaping in urban areas.”

Zhao Zaozao， a researcher on financing strategy with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences， commenting on the thriving public-private partnership market in China on April 24