July 21, 2009
In anticipation of Wednesday’s solar eclipse, the municipal government of Wuhan has released a list of measures to deal with possible emergencies that may be caused by the sudden darkness, reports the Wuhan Evening News.
On the list:
· Cars and pedestrians will not allowed to stop in driving lanes during the eclipse;
· All construction work will be suspended from 8:00 to 11:00 for safety concerns;
· Swimming areas along the Yangtze River will be shut down in the morning to prevent a possible rush and stampede;
· School authorities will organize orderly viewing for students who have remained at school during the summer holiday;
· The public security bureau will strengthen its forces on streets and in prisons to prevent criminals using darkness as cover for crimes…
An editorial accompanying the report praises the preemptive initiatives as a clear sign of the government’s enhanced awareness of its role as a provider of public services.
In other news, a court in Hangzhou has found Hu Bin guilty on charge of serious traffic offense and sentenced him to three years in prison. On May 7, the 20 year old drove a modified Lancer EVO which struck and killed 25-year-old Tan Zhuo as he was crossing the street (see this post for background).
The release of the preliminary police investigation, which cited Hu for driving 70 kph, met with public backlash. A secondary investigation established that the car’s speed was somewhere between 84.1 kph and 101.2 kph, and the court noted those results yesterday.
Finally, three senior PLA officers ascended to the rank of “general” (上将), China’s highest military rank during peacetime. Liu Yuan, the son of former Chinese president Liu Shaoqi, is the commissar of the PLA Academy of Military Science, Zhang Haiyang is the commissar of the Chengdu Military Region, and Ma Xiaotian is deputy head of the People’s Liberation Army General Staff Department.