Briefly

Former senior legislator prosecuted

A public prosecution has been initiated against Gong Jianhua, a former senior legislator of East China's Jiangxi province, over suspected bribe-taking. The Zhangzhou People's Procuratorate in East China's Fujian province recently filed a lawsuit against Gong with the Intermediate People's Court of Zhangzhou, an official statement said on Thursday. The lawsuit comes following the conclusion of an investigation by the National Supervisory Commission into Gong's case. He was formerly vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of Jiangxi Provincial People's Congress. The procuratorate charged Gong with taking undue advantage of his official authority or position to seek gains for others and illegally accepting a huge amount of bribes in money and valuables in return.

Over 1,000 national water parks by 2025

China will have over 1,000 national water conservancy scenic spots by the end of 2025, according to the Ministry of Water Resources. From 2021 to 2025, more than 100 such scenic areas will be built, according to a guideline released by the ministry. The development of water parks, which combine water conservation and sightseeing, can help maintain the healthy state of rivers and lakes and meet the growing needs of people for better lives. According to the latest official tally, China has 902 national water parks including the Xiaolangdi Reservoir on the Yellow River, covering 31 provincial-level regions in the country.

Wentian's small arm completes tests

The small mechanical arm mounted on Wentian, the first lab module of China's space station, has successfully completed in-orbit tests, according to the China Manned Space Agency. With the support of the ground team, the small mechanical arm has completed a series of in-orbit function and performance tests. All indexes performed well, achieving expected results, said the CMSA. The weight and length of the small mechanical arm are about half that of the 10-meter-long large mechanical arm on the core module Tianhe. It is quite flexible and can perform operations with greater precision. The Shenzhou XIV crew will, for the first time, be aided by the small mechanical arm to carry out extravehicular activities. The small arm can also be held with the large arm to form a combined arm that is capable of performing extravehicular operations with greater accuracy at a larger range.

Xinhua