October 12, 1982

Record grape output

Turpan, one of China's major grape producers in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, estimates a 1982 output of 325,000 tons, a 6.5 percent increase from last year's record, according to local authorities.

Turpan, called "hometown of the grape", is located in the Turpan Depression, which dips 154 m below sea-level at the lowest part. The area's frost-free period is more than 220 days each year, and the sun shines more than 3,000 hours, providing excellent conditions for viniculture.

Phone link completed

The Shenyang-Qinhuandao communication cable project in northeast China has been completed, the Liaoning Daily reports.

The underground communication cable, 400 km long, will enable 480 telephone conversations to go on simultaneously among subscribers in Shenyang , Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Changchun.

River clean again

The Lijiang, a scenic river winding through the city of Guilin, a resort in Guangxi Province, is running clear again as a result of efforts by the local government to fight industrial pollution, China News Service reports.

The measures taken were drastic. A power station, which used to pipe 11,000 tons of coal ash-bearing water every day into the Nanxi River, a tributary of the Lijiang, was closed, as was a paper mill which discharged about 500 tons of waste water a day into the Lijiang.

(China Daily 10/16/2007 page10)