CHANGSHA - For villagers in a poverty-stricken region in central China's Hunan Province, there are many more important things their elected lawmaker can do than telling them how to deal with their garbage.However, for the past five years, Dai Hairong, a deputy to the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, dedicated herself to finding a solution to the garbage problem that has plagued her otherwise picturesque hometown.Her effort started from an inspection tour years ago to Hunan's Pinghushan national nature reserve.While marveling at the natural beauty of the reserve, she was surprised by how polluted it was: garbage filled up a scenic natural pit, and piles of fermented trash on the roadside caught fire, giving off strong smelling smoke.Dai vowed to wage war on garbage, an environmental tumor that she believed she had the responsibility to help eradicate.But many villagers and officials thought Dai had picked the wrong fight. In their mind, economic development should be the top priority for a lawmaker privileged of having a say in national meetings.Garbage disposal is certainly no trivial or household matter, Dai said. It is a difficult problem that the world today needs to tackle head-on.The garbage problem is getting worse, but we don't even know how to deal with it. We can't just sit back and give in, she said.After two years' research, she concluded that due to the vastness of China's rural areas, collecting garbage and then shipping it away for disposal was too costly. Villagers needed to sort it at home and dispose or recycle it as close by as possible.She then began her lobbying efforts, raising the issue whenever she could at meetings with local officials, and looking for sponsors willing to give garbage sorting a try. She also repeatedly made proposals on the issue at legislative meetings.In 2015, her determined efforts finally caught the attention of officials with China's Housing and Urban-Rural Development Ministry. They realized that the 40-year-old woman was adamant about making a difference and would not take no for an answer.They soon sent an expert team to Dai's county and helped her devise a plan that was logistically feasible and economically viable.They agreed that household garbage such as kitchen and restroom waste could be processed at home, and plastic garbage and glassware should be sorted out and then shipped to nearby recycle stations.They also worked out that one recycle station should be set up for every 500 villagers, which would achieve the highest utilization rate. And it was most economical for a truck to carry 30 tons of recyclables in each trip.In 2015, with a detailed plan in hand, Dai picked Dasheng Village as a trial site and began to promote a garbage sorting system. All she needed now was the cooperation of villagers.Hearing about Dai's plan, a local official said bluntly, You cannot count on ordinary rural woman to separate wet garbage from dry. We are not that advanced yet.The official was not entirely wrong. Even in China's first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, sorting garbage is considered a troublesome practice that is yet fully adopted by city-dwellers. Promoting it among rural Chinese proved to be a much more difficult task, as they are often less inclined to change the way they go about their everyday life.Dai did not give up easily. At one meeting with the villagers, She tried to highlight the economic incentive of garbage sorting.Wasted plastic film can be sold at 700 yuan ($107) per tonne, but will be worth nothing if not sorted, she said.Dai also warned villagers against the danger of burning unsorted trash, which may produce substances that cause cancer.We are willing to do garbage sorting, because we do not want to live in a village full of dust and garbage for the rest of our lives, said Wu Xianhao, a villager in Dasheng. We just did not know how to do it before.Now, three years into the trial program, Dai has found that villagers have become more environmentally conscious. They use less plastic cups and tablecloths during banquets and often volunteer to collect garbage in the mountains.To fight against garbage, we should never give up or give in, Wu told Dai. wrist band coupon codeprintable wristbandsentrance wristbandsrubber bracelets cheapcustom rubber braceletscustom rubber band braceletssilicone fidget spinner
BEIJING -- A leading US expert on China studies said the ongoing 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China marks a "new historic starting point," believing it will exert influence on China and the world for decades to come. "Xi Jinping set out an audacious, grand vision for China's future development, which, without doubt, is the highlight of the political report," said Robert Lawrence Kuhn, chairman of the Kuhn Foundation, commenting on the report Xi delivered to the 19th CPC National Congress on Wednesday. What impressed Kuhn was the report's "comprehensive scope" and that it "established the policies not only for the next five years, but framed the agenda and set the strategies for the next 30 years." While announcing socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a "new era," the CPC leader envisioned China with "socialist modernization basically realized" by 2035, and then developing into "a great modern socialist country" by the middle of the century with a leading influence in the world. That's why this congress has special significance as it marks the start of a five-year period that is the confluence of the two centenary goals, said Kuhn, who was at the Great Hall of the People as the co-producer and host of "Closer to China with R.L. Kuhn" on China Global Television Network when the report was delivered. "People orientation and rejuvenating the country, in the historic context of China's ancient civilization and long struggle against foreign oppression, form the foundation of the report," Kuhn said. The report also gave Kuhn, author of bestseller "How China's Leaders Think," a sense of how confident the Chinese leader and the country are in socialism and their commitment to deepening reform and strengthening rule of law. From the report, he also saw the "strict governance of the Party by reforming and purifying itself," which he said is "unambiguous." "The anti-corruption campaign not only continues but is enhanced," he added. On the economic front, Kuhn saw the increasing role of innovation, especially in science and technology. Regarding military, he described the content concerning military reform and modernization as "open and specific." From the report, he also saw China's sovereignty as "sacrosanct" and its international engagement as "pro-active, confident and growing." It impressed Kuhn that "the leadership of China, led by Xi, has a profound understanding of the country, its governance, economy and society, and is determined to bring about its great rejuvenation." "Xi gave a realistic appraisal of problems, including social imbalances, economic structure, endemic pollution," while making an "epic narrative of what China has remarkably achieved, what China has yet to do, and what China envisages as necessary to be a great nation," he said. It is on this competence and accomplishment that the political legitimacy of the CPC is founded, said Kuhn. With this political report and the congress, Xi, who is the core of the CPC Central Committee and of the whole Party, sees China as standing at a new historic starting point and that socialism with Chinese characteristics is entering a new era, Kuhn added.
