Shanghai

SHANGHAI is considering joining in the test of a looser family planning policy in the country, a change that would allow a couple to give birth to a second child if just one of the spouses has been an only child, local lawmakers said yesterday. Under the city's current policy, only couples who both have been single children themselves can give birth to a second baby. Xie Lingli, director of the city's Population and Family Planning Commission, said it's time to improve the birth control policies because Shanghai's populace is quickly aging. Ding Wei, a deputy to the city's People's Congress, the legislative body, said yesterday that Shanghai should try to become one of the test spots of the country's new birth control policy that would enable more families to have second children. China is going to allow couples with one spouse who is an only child to have a second child in some cities and provinces in the next five years, Xie said. Gu Xiaoming, another lawmaker, said the city should calculate how many more people will be born if couples with one party being the only child can have a second child. "We should adopt the policy after we have the number, as the city has already been burdened by the great population," Gu said. Not every couple is eager to have a two-child household, experts said. Some qualified couples are unwilling or afraid to have a second one due to the high cost of living and fast-paced city life. Shanghai residents aged 60 or older make up more than 22 percent of the city's population, while those aged 14 and younger in 2008 were only 8.4 percent of the population, according to Xie. That's lower than the national level of 19 percent. At current rates, the old people will account for 28 percent of the population by 2015, while the ratios for 2020 and 2030 are likely to jump to 34 percent and 38 percent respectively. Moreover, Shanghai has an extremely low birth rate of 0.83, lower than the country's average of 1.6 to 1.8. The global birth rate averages 2.6. In developed countries the figure is 1.7, according to 2009 statistics. The one-child policy, which was introduced in 1978, restricts the number of children married urban couples can have to one. Xie, the population director, also said Shanghai's population -- 19.21 million residents at the end of last year -- will keep rising, reaching 21.40 million in 2015 and 22.5 million in 2020. That includes the registered population and migrant people staying in the city for more than six months. Mayor Han Zheng said Shanghai would be the world's most populated city by 2020 with more than 23.5 million residents. Meanwhile, local lawmakers advised the city government to raise the standard of subsidies to one-child families since it has not been changed in 30 years. Parents who have one child are able to receive a lump sum of 2,300 yuan (US$340) when they retire.

DENSELY populated cities like Shanghai need to find new ways to reduce traffic congestion in downtown areas, experts said at an urban planning forum yesterday. Held by the Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority, the forum focused on sustainable and livable cities. Overseas urban planners suggested suburban residents use cars to drive to subway or bus stations near their homes, and then take public transport to get downtown, which reduces traffic congestion. They also said carpooling helps reduce traffic congestion.

MARGARET Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, said yesterday that Shanghai's self-managed health groups have been a success and will be promoted around the world. The city has 6,382 self-managed health groups, which offer ways for more than 100,000 residents to learn from one another about basic health knowledge and ways to prevent diseases, officials with Shanghai's health promotion commission said. Chan visited a resident's home to see how the campaign worked. "I'm impressed by the ability of government to mobilize the whole community," Chan said. "Shanghai's successful experience will be promoted worldwide." The first self-managed health group in the city was set up in 2007 to help residents change unhealthy lifestyles. Now the groups cover 90 percent of neighborhood committees. Participation is voluntary in the groups. Residents can hear free lectures from Fudan University at their complexes and discuss health care issues. According to a survey by the commission, 94 percent of group participants exercise regularly. Only 78 percent did so before they joined.

THE regional civil aviation authority said Shanghai's two international airports handled 12.31 million passengers from May 1 to June 30, a 34 percent increase compared with the same period of last year. Among them 2.53 million were international air travelers, a 46 percent jump compared with last year. The airports also handled 626,300 tons of cargo in the period, which coincided with the first two months of the World Expo.

CITY police said yesterday that they had beefed-up a crackdown on traffic violations this week. About 1,500 traffic law violations had been found and punished on Monday and Tuesday in the Pudong New Area. Sixteen drivers were caught while driving under the influence of alcohol and 41 were caught running red lights.

TWO extra entrances at the Nanjing Road E. Station, which serves Metro lines 2 and 10, were opened yesterday. Both were Line 10 entrances. The entrances remained open after Line 10's service ended at 7:30pm. Now the station has five entrances at night. The operator also removed some shops in the station to make space for more ticket turnstiles.

TRAFFIC authorities warned yesterday that the city's transport network faces increasing pressure in the next three months as more tourists come to Shanghai for the World Expo. The number of tourists coming to the city is rising, officials said. Shen Xiaosu, deputy director of the city's transport and construction commission, said yesterday that "crowds and congestion will be more severe as the peak arrives." Elevated roads and subway lines are expected to be especially crowded in the next few months, Shen said. Gridlock may get worse on the South-North Elevated Road, Humin Elevated Road and the Middle Ring Road, Shen said. The Metro network now serves more than 6 million passengers a day and the number is expected to break 7 million soon. More than 360,000 tourists arrive in the city everyday now, a 12.5 percent increase from June. Of those, 150,000 are group tourists arriving on buses, traffic authorities said. The newly opened Shanghai-Nanjing high-speed railway also brings more visitors, officials said. The volume will continue to rise and is expected to peak in October, Shen said. Officials said about 95 percent of people use public transport when going to the Expo. Shen said traffic organizers will increase transport capacities to handle the higher volume and study passenger flows before imposing any traffic controls.

A GANG of six people was caught after they allegedly swindled more than 310,000 yuan (US$ 45,756) from victims through the Internet, city police said yesterday. More than 30 people around the country were victimized by the gang since April, police said. The suspects attracted victims by pretending to sell cheap goods online, police said. The goods offered included second-hand cars, electric appliances and clothing, police said. In one example, the suspects claimed they were selling an Audi car for 36,000 yuan, police said. A victim surnamed Yang told police that he contacted the suspects last month to buy a second-hand car priced at 30,000 yuan. The suspects claimed online that the car was cheap because they had a contact who had access to vehicles that had been confiscated by customs. Yang paid 1,000 yuan, but was told he could not get the car until he paid more. Yang paid another 14,000 yuan but still didn't receive the car. He became suspicious and reported to police when the suspects continued to pressure him for more money, officers said. In another case, a man surnamed Zhang was deceived into paying 40,000 yuan. Police did not say what Zhang thought he was buying. He deposited the money to the suspects' account from a bank at Hongqiao International Airport, police said. After not getting his purchase, Zhang reported to police. Officers found the gang operated mainly in Chongqing Municipality. With the help of Chongqing police, the gang members were caught at their residences on July 22, police said.

SHANGHAI will spend 3 percent of its annual gross domestic product on scientific development and innovation in 2012 and raise the percentage above 3.5 percent in 2020, city officials said yesterday. Officials gathered to announce the launch of the national science and technology innovation project. The central government approved Shanghai as the eighth region to begin pilot operation of the national project following the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui, Shandong, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Sichuan and Liaoning. City officials said Shanghai will set up a system encouraging enterprises to innovate through governmental support and make the city a leading scientific center in the Asia Pacific region by 2020. Shanghai has been focusing on scientific innovation for several years and annual investment for research and development keeps rising, officials from the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission said. Shanghai invested 40.1 billion yuan (US$5.91 billion) in scientific research and experiments last year, or 2.7 percent of GDP. Its high-tech industry output reached 556 billion yuan last year, covering 23.3 percent of total industry output. Shanghai is now home to 66 universities, 113 scientific institutes, 37 national-level laboratories, 38 national-level enterprise technology centers and 2,500 high-tech enterprises. "The industrialization of high technology is the key for a quick-growing economy," Shanghai Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng said. By 2012, Shanghai plans to have 500 national and city-level enterprises focusing on major industries like new energy and new medicine. The government will also promote talent cultivation and introduce better financial services by 2012.

WORLD Expo-related books and activities will be highlighted at the annual Shanghai Book Fair, which runs from August 11 to 17, the Shanghai Press and Publication Bureau said yesterday. Under the banner "I love reading, I love life -- go with the World Expo," the fair will present more than 150,000 books from some 470 publishers around the country at the Shanghai Exhibition Center, officials said. About 10,000 books will be in foreign languages with the bulk of them in English. There are also at least 420 cultural activities scheduled, including the appearance of renowned economists Wu Jinglian and Justin Yifu Lin, as well as Haim Dotan, designer of the "seashell" Israel Pavilion of the World Expo. Wu will deliver a speech at the fair's opening ceremony. Dotan, a well-known Israeli architect, will launch his new book about architecture. Wu Zhiqiang, general planner of the Expo, will share Expo highlights in a book. Meanwhile, a book studying ancient Chinese literature collected by Spanish libraries will be launched in the Spain Pavilion. Officials said there will be an area set up at the fair to sell licensed Expo products, including publications. Expo commemorative stamps will also be available at the fair. Tourists from other cities will be able to visit free of charge in the evenings on August 13-15. They will get a 20 percent discount on books if they hold an Expo ticket from August, ID cards or Shanghai tour cards. The book fair runs from 9am to 6pm on August 11, 12, 16 and 17, and from 9am to 9pm on August 13-15.

JIA Si, the world's second oldest giant panda to be bred in captivity, is to appear in public again at Shanghai Wildlife Park from August to October. But visitors will have to make an appointment to see her, park officials said yesterday. The 25-year-old female, nearly 100 years old in human terms, has been "retired" for two years. She gained infamy in 1983 in Sichuan Province, when she sneaked out from her hut and broke into a farm, leaving 16 lambs slightly injured. She moved to the park in 1995, but was "retired" in 2008. At that time the park judged she had reached an age when she should enjoy her final years in comfort and they moved her to a private lair, far from the crowds of visitors. Two vets were put in charge of her health. But after a flood of calls and letters from visitors asking about Jia Si's health and saying how much she was missed, it was judged she was healthy enough to meet the public again. But the park will only allow 1,000 visitors to see her from 3pm to 4pm on Wednesdays to Sundays. People can make reservations at the park's official website -- www.shwzoo.com -- a day in advance, officials said. No flash photography will be allowed, park officials said.

AN injured milkman refused to go to hospital on Thursday because he feared customers would complain to his boss and he would be docked salary. Milkman Jin Yousheng, 40, who works for Shanghai-based Bright Dairy, cut his right foot on glass at the entrance of a complex on Luyang Road in Putuo District on Thursday. Even though Jin was bleeding profusely, security guards were unable to persuade him to go to hospital. He took off his underwear and used it to wrap his foot to stop the bleeding and continue his deliveries. Still, he left a long trail of blood from the entrance of the complex to each customer's apartment. The blood on the ground, stairs and milk bottles frightened many residents. Some even thought a murder had occurred. "I can't go to the hospital, the customers will report it to my boss," Jin said. According to Bright Dairy's regulations, a milkman loses 10 yuan (US$1.50) for every complaint sent to his boss. Jin said he could earn 0.2 yuan for each bottle of milk delivered. He said he had to deliver 300-plus bottles every day to earn 2,000 yuan a month to support his unemployed wife and two daughters. If a milkman completes a month without any complaints, the company pays a 150 yuan bonus. Jin was finally sent to Huashan Hospital with the help of his family, as he could hardly breathe due to blood loss. The Jiangsu Province native was out of danger after receiving treatment on his right foot yesterday morning. Meanwhile, a Bright Dairy official surnamed Zhang yesterday called on residents to be more understanding and not treat milkmen rudely or threaten to report them for trivial matters. "The milkmen are serving thousands of households, they may be low paid but they are not doing an insignificant job," Zhang said. He said many residents report milkmen to their supervisors for making noise early in the morning when they make deliveries. Zhang said Bright Dairy checks each complaint carefully before deciding if punishment is necessary.

THE Turkey Pavilion's fortune teller promises a glimpse into the future by reading the shape of coffee grinds in a small cup. Turkish fortune telling is a centuries-old ritual still very popular among Turkish women who pick up the skill as a hobby at a young age and use it to have fun with families or friends during coffee breaks after meals. Deniz Genez Aydin, the 45-year-old fortune teller at the Turkey Pavilion, won fame after videos of her work spread via the Internet. The coffee method of fortune telling has become so famous that visitors who want to learn their fortune now have to wait in line to make an appointment with her. Aydin works three days a week from Tuesday to Thursday, accepting only eight customers every day from 2pm to 5pm. She said most of her customers were young girls curious about their future life, or those who were unable to make an important decision in their life. The service is particularly welcomed by some visitors from the Middle East, where similar traditions are shared. "Many young students ask me to tell them whether it will be good to study abroad, and very often I am shocked why so many people want to leave the city," said Aydin. She chats with visitors while they take sips of a special Turkish coffee, and when they finish the coffee, she will hold their hands to turn the cup counter-clockwise a few times at chest level. Then she turns the cup upside down onto the saucer, leaving the hot coffee grinds to cool down. Unlike Chinese fortune telling, she never asks any information from a visitor, not even a name or age. "I get the information from the various shapes of coffee grinds in the cup," said Aydin. She will tell a visitor about critical moments when decisions are to be made and she will advise the visitor to make the choice wisely. But she will always tell visitors not to take it too seriously as the cup reading is just for fun. "It's impossible to see the entire life of a person because it's up to you to lead the life you want, we can change our destiny by making decisions by ourselves," said Aydin.

Algeria celebrates its National Pavilion Day today. The Algeria Pavilion in Zone C represents the architectural style of North Africa and Algeria by featuring Algiers' old town of Kashi Ba (Kasbah, Casbah), a world-renowned quarter of narrow lanes, souks and mystery. In the 1,000-square-meter pavilion, visitors can take a walk in the replicated lanes, watch the short film "Walking in Kashi Ba," and walk to the "top" of the city and overlook the streets. Virtual scenes give visitors vivid impressions of life in Algiers, old and new. Algeria past, present and future is showcased. Huge screens show the modern faces of Algeria and the push for prosperous and harmonious development, honoring both tradition and progress.

A Gabonese woman puts a crown of feathers on Chen Zhu, China's minister of health, yesterday in a ceremony to mark Gabon Pavilion Day, which was celebrated with song and dance performances. The Gabon Pavilion in Zone C showcases its 13 natural parks, plants, wildlife and other tourism resources.

Visitors brave the scorching summer heat yesterday at the Expo. A woman fans a child that has fallen asleep on her shoulder.

WORLD Expo operating costs may surpass the 10.6 billion yuan (US$1.57 billion) budget, Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng said during a TV interview. However, construction costs stayed within the budget of 18 billion yuan, Han told Taiwan CtiTV. The city government will publicize how much money was spent and how it was used after auditing the event, the mayor said. Meanwhile, the mayor said he hoped the city could receive both tangible and intangible benefits from the Expo. "The Expo site is there for everyone to see and touch, and the spirit of the Expo can have an impact on citizens and this is very important to the city's future development," said Han. Shanghai Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng has said the Expo is expected to break even. Han said he noticed some online rumors claiming the Expo costs huge sums of money. "If they keep saying so even after I give out the real budget, I will just turn a blind eye to the rumors," he said. The mayor said missing the opportunity to host a World Expo would be a "crime to history," because it is the best opportunity for the city's development. "If any city mayor missed the opportunity, he should feel sorry for Shanghai, its people, for later generations and for the country," he said. Most populated city The mayor expected Shanghai would be the world's most populated city by 2020 with more than 23.5 million residents. "To make people's life better in the city is my top priority," he said. The annual increase in the city's population will be more than 350,000, which may bring about some problems, including transport, the environment and social issues among disadvantaged groups, Han said. Luckily, the city can learn a lot and find solutions at the Expo, especially the Urban Best Practices Area that includes urban development experiences from cities around the world, he added. Han said he was greatly inspired by some cases at the UBPA, providing him with a vision of what future cities will be like. Han also said it was the Expo organizer's fault rather than visitors for the disorder during the trial operation from April 20 to 27. For example, crowding at the entrances was common on the first day because not all the turnstiles were opened and 200,000 people were invited to the site, he said. Han also said the organizer initially failed to set up railings near pavilion waiting areas, which led to some people jumping the queues, a practice that was widely criticized by domestic and international media. "Nobody could line up in order without the railings," he said. The media should be more tolerant and try to empathize with visitors, who line up for several hours to see some of the popular pavilions, he added.

ISRAELI Tami Dance will perform in Shanghai at Space 800 Theater (800 Guoshun Road E.) tomorrow night and at the Israel Pavilion on Monday at 6pm. The dance troupe has performed in many countries and big cities around the world, such as New York, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Portugal, Croatia, Lithuania, Romania, Belarus and India.

THE Taiwan Pavilion will distribute reservation tickets at the pavilion gate at 3:30pm each day starting tomorrow, one hour earlier from now. Meanwhile, admission to the pavilion will be suspended from 3:30pm to 4:30pm every day to allow facility maintenance. Visitors must show their Expo tickets to get reservation tickets and enter the pavilion based on the time marked on the tickets.

You don't need wings to fly. Proof is at the Latvia Pavilion, where its vertical wind tunnel has made it a star attraction and people are queuing for long hours to experience what it feels like to fly. "It's a fun job," said Jurgis Grigorjevs, one of the five flying instructors at the pavilion. "Flying makes people happy and it means freedom for me." The youngest, at 19, instructor on the team loves giving demonstrations each day and teaching people how to fly and fall in a vertical sealed tunnel that is 8 meters tall and 3.6 meters in diameter. The wind whips around at more than 320 kilometers per hour. Putting on the flying suit and the helmet, equipped with earplugs and goggles, you are ready to go through the "once in a lifetime" adventure to be lifted in the air. But flying is not easy. A series of body gestures must be learned beforehand, which can help the beginner enjoy the experience better. "The principle behind it is quite simple. The bigger the area of the human body that contacts the wind, the higher you can fly," the instructor said. Chin-down, arms and legs stretching out lifts you up, while chin-up, arms-crossed and a little bit of leg bending makes you go down. Visitors are advised to keep their chins down most of the time because it is safer, lets you breathe easier and feels more comfortable. Grigorjevs said it might be a little difficult for heavy people with a big belly to fly. "A rounded stomach reduces the area that contacts the air. A flat surface is better," he said. If you stretch one arm and bend the other, you can spin in the tunnel. "But this is strictly forbidden for beginners who are not professionally trained," Grigorjevs said. All five flying instructors come from Latvia and are aged from 19 to 27. It's their first time in Shanghai. Every day they perform various exciting, yet risky flying movements in the flight cylinder, including spinning, crossovers and head-down flying. Three wind turbines are on the roof of the pavilion. Every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 7:30pm, the coaches give a flying acrobatic performance 20 meters above the ground in the night sky, complemented by a special sound and light show. Visitors have a chance to try flying in the vertical wind tunnel by participating in an interactive quiz about Latvia on the touch-screens on the third floor. The computer will randomly select 50 lucky people at most everyday. The instructors will guide them during the experience. Each flight is filmed by two video cameras and automatically edited, mixed with music and sent to the person's e-mail address afterwards.