ZHENGZHOU - The urban share of the population in Henan, one of China's most populous provinces, has for the first time exceeded 50 percent, according to a report released Monday by local authorities.The number of people registered as permanent residents in cities and towns in Henan, home to the largest rural population in China, reached 47.9 million in 2017, pushing the urbanization rate to 50.16 percent. In 2016 the figure was 48.5 percent.Henan is known as China's granary, and produces about one-tenth of the total food in China. When China's urbanization rate surpassed 50 percent in 2011, Henan had only about 40 percent of permanent urban population.Experts say the new share represents a historic moment for the agricultural province to transform into urban society.The employment market, civilization level and social welfare system will change fundamentally when urbanization is over 50 percent, said Wei Houkai, head of the Rural Development Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.Huang Jiusheng, a resident in Huangchuan county, has benefited from urbanization.Having lived in dire poverty in the countryside since young, Huang left his hometown and became a migrant worker in the city when he was 18. Over the past years, he grew from a construction worker into a project manager in a big company and helped more than 10,000 rural residents find work in cities.Many of them have settled in the cities. They not only contributed to the development of urbanization, but also benefited from it, Huang said.To drive up urbanization, Henan reformed the household registration system and published preferential policies in education, social and medical insurances for migrant workers living in the cities.The reform of the household registration system aims to eliminate the unfair treatment between urban residents and migrant workers so that everyone can enjoy our public services, said Zhang Changxing, head of the macro economic research institute in Henan.China has been pushing forward urbanization to drive domestic consumption and investment. In 2015, permanent urban residents accounted for 56.1 percent of the country's population, and the rate is expected to hit 60 percent by 2020.It is estimated that every percentage increase in urbanization can be translated into 3.7 percent growth in investment. custom bar braceletcustom sports braceletscustom logo wristbandsde securite pour personne ageeembossed wristbandscolorfilled wristbandsembossed printed wristbandsdual layer wristbands
A Boeing 737 Max 8 on display during an exhibition in Britain, July 13, 2016. [Photo/VCG] HONG KONG -- The Civil Aviation Department (CAD) of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government announced that the operation of all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft into, out of and over Hong Kong will be temporarily prohibited from 6:00 pm local time Wednesday. The CAD has been closely monitoring the developments, the investigation progress and the information from relevant aviation authorities. Having regard to the latest situation, the CAD has decided to temporarily prohibit operation of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft into, out of and over Hong Kong, a spokesman for the CAD said. He added that the temporary prohibition will take effect at 6:00 pm on Wednesday and continue until further notice. The spokesman pointed out that there were two serious accidents involving Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in less than five months. The temporary prohibition is solely a precautionary measure to ensure aviation safety and protect the public, he emphasized. The CAD has noted that the US Federation Aviation Administration, the type-certification authority of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, has affirmed the airworthiness of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, and the investigation into the accidents is ongoing, he said. The spokesman added that over the past few days the CAD has been in close contact with the FAA and the relevant organizations, including the two airline companies which use Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to operate flights into and out of Hong Kong International Airport. The two airliner companies, SpiceJet of India and Globus Airlines of Russia, have been notified by the CAD of the temporary prohibition and said they would fully cooperate and maintain their services with other aircraft types so as to reduce impacts on passengers. During the temporary prohibition, the CAD will continue to closely monitor the developments and the information of relevant aviation authorities, and will review the arrangement of the temporary prohibition in due course, the spokesman said.
