Beijing will shut down more than 5,500 polluting companies this year as part of ongoing efforts to improve the city's air quality. Between January and the start of this month, the capital closed 2,086 polluting companies, affecting more than 36,000 workers, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology. The enterprises were small and scattered, making it hard to track emissions, the commission said in a statement on Thursday. Companies still using coal-fired industrial boilers have been ordered to switch to gas or clean energy boilers by Aug 1. Last year, Beijing shut down 4,477 polluting companies, the authority added. Small but polluting companies are also being targeted on a regional level in a yearlong environmental inspection launched by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The inspections, which started on April 1, have covered 28 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and neighboring provinces of Shandong, Shanxi and Henan. The latest results show inspection teams exposed 411 small polluting companies from June 10 to 13. They were concentrated in areas such as Shijiazhuang in Hebei province, Dezhou in Shandong province and Tianjin, the ministry said on Wednesday. The ministry also highlighted repeat offenses by polluting companies. For example, Shandong Wanli Clothing Co in Heze was found to have repeatedly resumed production after inspectors ordered it to suspend production. The ministry required all city and county governments to hand down strict punishments to small polluters to control air pollution. personalised rubber bracelets ukcustom rubber wristbandsdesign your own wristbandsilicone keychainblack rubber wristbands
Many sectors of Chinese society mourned the death of renowned Hong Kong philanthropist and prominent industrialist Tin Ka-ping, who died at the age of 99 in the city on Tuesday morning.Leading the tributes was the central government's top representative in Hong Kong, Wang Zhiming, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Wang expressed his sorrow over Tin's death on Wednesday.He said he respected and appreciated Tin's lifelong love for the country and his great contribution to education in China.Tin cared about society and promoted public welfare in ways that will benefit future generations, Wang said.Joining him was Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. She said on Tuesday that Tin not only made significant contributions to the industrial development of Hong Kong but was also devoted to philanthropy over the past few decades, both in the special administrative region and on the mainland.Lam said she was grieved to learn of Tin's passing and extended condolences to his family.Hong Kong's Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yunhung said the Tin Ka Ping Foundation funded various educational institutions, from kindergartens to universities, as well as several scholarship and exchange programs that benefit a large number of local students.Born in Guangdong province, Tin moved to Hong Kong in 1958. He was successful in his early days in the chemicals business and later made a fortune in real estate. He devoted his life to promoting the development of charities, donating 80 percent of his total assets to different fields, especially education.So far, the foundation, a nonprofit charity founded by Tin in 1982, has funded 318 education institutions, more than 1,800 rural libraries, 29 hospitals and about 130 bridges and roads across 34 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China.Educational institutions that were funded by Tin in both Hong Kong and the mainland also expressed both sorrow and appreciation.The University of Hong Kong said that Tin was a selfless educator and philanthropist who had contributed immensely to the development of teaching, learning and research in Hong Kong and on the mainland.Zhejiang University posted a tribute to Tin on its social media account. Tin provided money to establish the Tin Ka Ping Academy on the Xixi campus of the university. As it is the place where most students go for classes, the building bears witness to students' growth, the university said.Tin's name and the building have been integrated into the university, the post said.Other universities and middle schools in different provinces, including Guangdong, Sichuan, Yunnan, Jiangsu, also mourned Tin. All of them have received donations.
