YINCHUAN - Thanks to the new Beidou Navigation Satellite System, Chinese farmers are having an easier time with spring plowing.In Tawan village in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, a tractor installed with a vegetable transplanter was slowly moving ahead in the field, while several farmers nearby filled the transplanter with seedlings. The tractor's cab was empty, however, and an antenna and receiver sat atop the machine."The antenna serves as the eye of this unmanned machine," said Ma Haitao, the original driver of the tractor.Once a plowing path has been entered, the machine will follow the route precisely, deviating less than three centimeters per kilometer.The unmanned tractor belongs to Yihe Agricultural Machinery Operation Service Co. Ltd. in Wuzhong city of Ningxia. The company's owner, Tan Zhenlong, purchased seven Beidou Satellite Navigation System sets for its agricultural machinery in two years."It costs 200,000 yuan (about $31,683) to import a foreign navigation system, but no more than 70,000 yuan for a domestic Beidou navigation system," Tan Zhenlong said. "Four sets of the navigation systems, which were used for planting trees and wheat interplanting last August, worked very well and earned a positive response from the market."Beidou Satellite Navigation System enables the tractor to plow with great accuracy, preventing mis-seeding and reseeding. It not only cuts farmers' workload by nearly half, but greatly improves land use and production output, according to Tan.In order to fully apply the navigation system in agriculture, Tan combined an unmanned tractor with a vegetable transplanter.According to Zhao Jun, an engineer at the local Agricultural Machinery Promotion Center, the combination allows for a 10-percent increase in the seedling survival rate, and the vegetables the farmers eventually harvest will be of the same size and weight, which helps with standardized agriculture production.Farmer Yan Xue widened his eyes while watching the unmanned tractor. "I've been growing vegetables for years, and I've never thought of witnessing such technology. I'd like to have a try this year," Yan said.The development of China's modern agriculture is gaining speed thanks to technology like the Beidou Satellite Navigation System.In the near future, more and more advanced technology, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle fertilization, will bring farmers into a new agricultural age, according to Zhao. anti bullying silicone braceletscustom made paracord braceletswholesale rubber braceletspersonalized sports braceletsnike silicone wristbands
A Chinese volunteer (left) at the China-Guinea Friendship Hospital in Conakry, capital of Guinea, discusses a patient's condition with local medical professionals. Provided to China Daily A growing number of medical professionals are offering their services to aid those most in need. Wang Xiaodong reports. After working at a large, well-equipped hospital in Beijing, Chao Shuang could not have been more astonished by the conditions in Conakry, capital of Guinea, and the China-Guinea Friendship Hospital during her first visit to the West African country. I was prepared for the worst before I set out, but it turned out to be worse than I expected, she said. There are virtually no roads in the city. The hospitals, even major ones in the capital, are in dire need of basic equipment. Some of the testing equipment was made in the 1970s, so most of us had no idea how to use the machines. Chao, a pediatrician at Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, was part of an eight-strong team organized by the Chinese Medical Doctor Association. The Chinese medics - neurosurgeons, gynecologists and pediatricians from three tertiary hospitals in Beijing - provided voluntary services at the hospital in Guinea for three weeks. They mainly treated children with hydrocephalus, a condition in which fluid accumulates in the brain. Though the illness is common in Guinea, the patients often had a serious form of the condition as a result of delayed diagnosis and treatment, according to Chao. Working there was completely different from working at my hospital in Beijing, she said. We were constantly under pressure due to a lack of equipment, despite the things we had brought from China. The power supply in the operating rooms often failed, and sometimes the backup generator was also out of operation so we had to use the flashlights on our mobile phones to conduct surgery. Moreover, none of the Chinese doctors could speak French, the official language of Guinea, so it was difficult to communicate with the patients. Luckily, they met an interpreter who was working for a medical assistance squad dispatched by the Chinese government. The two groups shared the interpreter's services whenever possible, which was a great help, Chao said. In addition to providing diagnoses and surgeries, her team also helped to train local medical professionals. I was pleased to see some of the children with serious conditions improved after we treated them, she said. The experience was a spiritual baptism for me because I was finally able to help others in need, and I was so proud of myself.
