TUESDAY, July 30, 2019 chinadaily.com.cn
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HK urged to

oppose violence,

focus on growth

Central government firmly supports authorities

of SAR adhering to rule of law, spokesman says

Xu added that most members from

the Hong Kong Retail Management

Association have seen significant

declines in sales in the past month.

City University of Hong Kong said

consumer confidence in the city is

now at its lowest level in half a decade.

The number of Southeast Asian

tour groups visiting Hong Kong has

been falling and Hong Kong’s tourism

industry predicts that number could

fall by as much as 70 percent, she said,

without providing a time frame.

“As a small, globally linked econo-

my like Hong Kong in the complex

and volatile international economic

environment, if the business envi-

ronment and business confidence

decline, it will naturally increase the

external risks faced by its financial

sector,” Xu said.

“Therefore, the top priority for

Hong Kong now is to punish the vio-

lent acts, restore social order as soon

as possible and maintain a sound

business environment,” she added.

Yang said that the central govern-

ment firmly supports Chief Execu-

tive of the Hong Kong SAR Carrie

Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in leading the

HKSAR government’s administra-

tion under the rule of law.

The central government also sup-

ports the Hong Kong police in strict

law enforcement, and stands by

HKSAR government agencies and

judiciary bodies in handing out

See HK, page 3

Remains of ex-premier Li Peng cremated

By MO JINGXI

[email protected]

The cremation of former pre-

mier Li Peng took place on Mon-

day in Beijing.

At the Babaoshan Revolutionary

Cemetery, President Xi Jinping,

Premier Li Keqiang and other

members of the Standing Commit-

tee of the Political Bureau of the

Communist Party of China Central

Committee — Li Zhanshu, Wang

Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji and

Han Zheng — as well as Vice-Presi-

dent Wang Qishan and former

president Jiang Zemin, stood in

silent tribute and bowed three

times in front of the former pre-

mier’s body on Monday morning.

They also extended their condo-

lences to Li’s family.

Former president Hu Jintao,

who was not in Beijing at the time,

sent a wreath and his condolences.

Li, aged 91, passed away due to

illness in Beijing on July 22.

In addition to being premier

and chairman of the ninth Nation-

al People’s Congress Standing

Committee, Li was also a member

of the Political Bureau, the Secre-

tariat of the 12th CPC Central

Committee and the Standing Com-

mittee of the Political Bureau of

the 13th, 14th and 15th central

committees of the CPC.

To mourn his death, the national

flag at Tian’anmen Square was

flown at half-staff at 5:10 am on

Monday as the national anthem,

March of the Volunteers, was

played. National flags at Xinhua-

men, the Great Hall of the People,

the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,

seats of provincial-level commit-

tees of the CPC and provincial-level

governments, the Hong Kong Spe-

cial Administrative Region, the

Macao Special Administrative

Region, seaports, airports and Chi-

nese embassies and consulates

were also flown at half-staff.

Li was extolled in an obituary

issued by the central authorities as

“an excellent Party member, a time-

tested and loyal Communist soldier,

and an outstanding proletarian rev-

olutionary, statesman and leader of

the Party and the State”.

By ZHAO LEI

[email protected]

Chinese designers have begun

preliminary research into devel-

oping an electric helicopter and

are working toward building a

prototype for demonstration pur-

poses, according to a key figure in

the program.

Deng Jinghui, chief designer at

the China Helicopter Research

and Development Institute in

Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, said

researchers and engineers have

carried out trial demonstrations

of an electric tail rotor. They are

making preparations for the

device to be used on a 2-metric ton

conventional helicopter during

preliminary test flights, Deng

said.

Engineers will remove the air-

craft’s original tail rotor and related

transmission apparatus and then

install an electric tail rotor that

generates thrust independently

rather than relying on traditional

engines, he added.

“Replacing a conventional tail

Chinese aviation engineers will

strive to build an all-electric heli-

copter. The keys to this goal are

stronger motors and longer-lasting

batteries, which will take the place

of engines and electric generators.

The biggest advantage of an

electric helicopter, Deng said, is

that it will not need transmissions

— not only one of the essential

parts but also one of the most

sophisticated components in con-

ventional helicopters.

“The removal of transmissions

and the use of electric motors will

help to reduce a helicopter’s

weight, streamline its structure,

make control easier and also

improve reliability,” he said.

The first manned flight of an

electric aircraft took place in 1973 in

Austria. However, all manned elec-

tric aircraft today are still limited to

experimental demonstrations.

According to media reports, the

first manned electric helicopter

was the Solution F/Chretien Heli-

copter, developed and built by

Pascal Chretien, a French-Austra-

lian helicopter pilot and engineer,

for technology demonstration

purposes. The aircraft made its

maiden flight in August 2011 in

France.

Since then, a handful of electric

helicopter prototypes have con-

ducted test flights but none of them

have entered mass production.

Wang Ya’nan, editor-in-chief of

Aerospace Knowledge magazine,

explained that compared with a

conventional helicopter, electric

models feature multiple advanta-

ges such as simpler structures, bet-

ter control, zero emissions and

reduced operating costs.

He said the future of electric heli-

copters depends on whether engi-

neers can develop and make high-

performance power systems.

By ZHAO XINYING
[email protected]

F

u Ninghui is happier with
her new life after moving to
Zhengzhou, the capital of
Henan province.
Last year, after living and work-
ing for six months as a translator in
Shenzhen, Guangdong province,
the 24-year-old relocated to
Zhengzhou, one of the country’s
“new first-tier cities”.
Shenzhen is one of the four exist-
ing first-tier cities, along with Bei-
jing, Shanghai and Guangzhou,
capital of Guangdong.
Fu said Zhengzhou offers a much
slower pace of life and places less
pressure on young people compared
with existing first-tier cities.
“I no longer have to spend huge
amounts of time at work or on com-
muting, which means I have more
time for the things that I’m interested
in, such as practicing yoga,” she said.

Slower pace of life, less pressure prove big draws

Electric helicopter research underway

Returns on

forex reserves

expected to

remain stable

By CHEN JIA
[email protected]

The prospective returns on China’s
vast amount of foreign exchange
reserves are likely to remain stable,
and the regulator is optimizing
investment strategies this year to
increase asset values and reduce the
adverse impacts of expected mone-
tary easing in major economies,
according to economists.
They also said that it could be a
trend for China to continue to
increase its gold holdings for the
purpose of reserve portfolio
adjustment aimed at value preser-
vation and reduction of foreign
exchange risks.
The State Administration of For-
eign Exchange, China’s forex regula-
tor, disclosed for the first time on
Sunday that the country had
achieved a 10-year average return
rate of 3.68 percent on its foreign
exchange reserve investments from
2005 to 2014, according to the
administration’s 2018 annual report
published on its website.
Wang Chunying, a spokeswoman
for the administration, said the
investment return rate was at a “rel-
atively good level” compared with
those of global peers.
The expected return rate of China’s
$3.12 trillion foreign exchange
reserves, the world’s largest, is likely
to be maintained at around 3 per-
cent, said Xie Yaxuan, chief analyst at
China Merchants Securities. Further
monetary easing in major economies
may depress the yields, especially for
bonds, but the downside should be
limited, Xie said.
Most global investors expect the
United States Federal Reserve to
announce a rate cut this week — a
move expected to weaken the value
of US dollar-denominated assets.
There is a global trend that
national reserve asset managers
tend to focus on long-term and rela-
tively stable investments such as
infrastructure construction in
order to hedge against potential
weakness in bond and equity mar-
kets, he added.
Zhao Qingming, chief economist
at the China Financial Futures
Exchange’s derivative institute,
said it is also a trend for global
monetary authorities, including
China’s central bank, to increase
gold in their reserve portfolios to
prepare for any shocks from finan-
cial risks.

See Forex, page 3

Like many graduates, Fu’s first

stop after leaving college with a

bachelor’s degree in translation

was a first-tier city to pursue oppor-

tunities in both her career and per-

sonal life.

However, she soon found that

events did not pan out the way she

had expected. Competition for

translators was fierce in Shenzhen,

and she often felt she was at a disad-

vantage. Property prices were also

too high for young people to afford.

It was not long before Fu decided

to move to Zhengzhou, the biggest

city and the only “new first-tier” one

in Henan, her native province.

See Cities, page 2

YOUNG TALENT ON MOVE

TO ‘NEW FIRST-TIER CITIES’

X

Hong Kong residents show support for police fulfilling their duties

at a gathering at the city’s police headquarters on Monday. CHINA DAILY

By ZHANG YI in Beijing

and CHEN ZIMO in Hong Kong

People from all walks of life in

Hong Kong should oppose and resist

violence, stand firm in defense of the

rule of law and concentrate on devel-

oping the city’s economy and

improving livelihoods, Yang Guang,

a spokesman for the Hong Kong and

Macao Affairs Office of the State

Council, said on Monday.

The recent violent attacks have

had a severe impact on the rule of

law, public order, economy and glob-

al image of Hong

Kong, Yang said at

a news conference

on the central gov-

ernment’s view of

the recent situation

in the Hong Kong

Special Adminis-

trative Region.

“We hope that

Hong Kong will

move past the politi-

cal contentiousness

as soon as possible

and instead concen-

trate on developing its economy and

improving people’s livelihoods,” he

said.

Xu Luying, a spokeswoman for

the office, said maintaining a sound

business environment in Hong Kong

is crucial. Recent violence has had a

serious impact on the city’s social

order and international reputation.

Inside

Editorial,

page 8

Yang Guang

Above: The main section of

Laos’ Luang Prabang Mekong

River Super Major Bridge is

completed on Sunday, seven

months ahead of schedule. The

1,458.9-meter bridge is one of

the two cross-Mekong bridges

along the China-Laos Railway.

XINHUA

Left: Workers from China Rail-

way No 8 Engineering Group,

which is in charge of the con-

struction of the bridge, pour

concrete on the final part of the

bridge before its completion on

Sunday.XIONG TIANZE / XINHUA

See story, page 11

Super bridge

built faster

than planned

A member of the

Asia News Network

: CN11-

: ISSN0253-9543 :1-

© 2019 China Daily

All Rights Reserved

Vol.39 — No. 12241

rotor with an electric version is

our first step in exploring and ver-

ifying the technical feasibility of

an all-electric helicopter,” Deng

explained.

He said engineers plan to spend

about two years to test how the

electric tail rotor will perform. If

everything goes according to plan,

they will replace the same helicop-

ter’s main engine and the conven-

tional main rotor with an electric

generator, an electric motor and an

electrically propelled main rotor

for further tests.

Within the coming decade, the

An AC311 helicopter will serve as

a platform for research into elec-

tric helicopters. LIU HAIFENG / XINHUA

Reanimated art

Film based on mythological teenager

a blockbuster in the making LIFE, PAGE 18

Terror attack

At least 20 killed after suicide

car bombing, gunfight in Kabul

WORLD, PAGE 11

Vegan-meat

firms cash in

as market rises

BUSINESS, PAGE 16

ated art

ological teenager

making LIFE, PAGE 1 8