Heat Supply in Beijing Could Take 7 Days
Heat Supply in Beijing Could Take 7 Days
Beijingers shivering from the cold temperatures may have to wait another seven days before heating is supplied to their apartments.
Beijing heating office said the city's 600 million sq m of housing would be heated to the required standard of 16 C by Saturday.
Authorities in charge of the city's heating system say that providing heating supply to the whole capital is a gradual process, and usually it takes three to five days to make the temperature in rooms reach 16 C.
The government decided it would switch on the heating supply two weeks earlier than the Nov 15 launch date on Sunday, as snow fell on the capital on the earliest winter date in 22 years.
New Bus Rules: No Smoking, Pets or Spitting
Bus companies in Guangzhou in southern China's Guangdong province will be fined 2,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan, around 300 to 700 US dollars, for not offering air conditioning when the temperature rises above 26 degree Celsius.
According to the new rules, passengers will also be fined up to 200 yuan for carrying pets with them.
Inflammable, poisonous, radioactive and oversized goods are to be forbidden on the buses.
Passengers will also face fines of between 20 yuan and 50 yuan for spitting, smoking and littering on the bus.
Far from Madding Crowd on Great Wall
Remote sections of the Great Wall of China will open to tourists in northeastern Liaoning province with a road-building program across mountains.
Yong'an section of the Great Wall in Suizhong county was built around 1381 during the Ming dynasty. The province plans to integrate several sections of the wall into a bigger tourist attraction ot appeal to more travelers, according to web portal Nen.com.
The Yong'an section is one of the most completely preserved sections of the wall and has not been renovated. Because of its location in inaccessible mountains, few tourists have visited it, with fewer than 30,000 sightseers last year.
The more famous Shanhaiguan section of the wall near Beijing attracts 2 million visitors a year.
Aloha to Flights from Beijing to Hawaii
The first direct flights between the Chinese mainland and Hawaii in the United States are expected to begin early next year.
The direct flights between Beijing and Honolulu will be operated by Hainan Airlines, China's biggest private airline company.
Hainan Airlines plans to start the non-stop flights once a week and increase flights as the demand grows.
First Space Hotel on Track to Open in 2012, Company Says
The first hotel in the outerspace is on track to open in 2012.
A company behind plans to open the first hotel in space says it is on target to accept its first paying guests in 2012 despite critics questioning the investment and time frame for the multibillion dollar project.
The Barcelona-based architects of The Galactic Suite Space Resort say it will cost 3 million euros, or more than 4.4 million US dollars for a three-night stay at the hotel, with this price including an eight-week training course on a tropical island.
The company, set up in 2007, hopes to start its project with a single pod in orbit 450 kilometers above the earth, traveling at 30,000 kph, with the capacity to hold four guests and two astronaut-pilots.
More than 200 people have expressed an interest in traveling to the space hotel and at least 43 people have already reserved.
Can Science Really Become Popular?
Recently the campus of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics is packed with a series of lectures, movie screenings and exhibitions, all featuring popular science. Under the name, "Science Carnival", the event aims to help more college students build an interest in science and technology.
