Southwest China Province Builds Passageway to SeaLandlocked Guizhou Province in southwest China started December 25 to build a waterway leading to the sea.The waterway, on the rivers of Nanpan and Beipan which run through Guizhou and their combination of the Hongshui River, is one of the most convenient and economical passages linking China's southwest region with the sea. Economic growth in this region has been held back due to transportation difficulties. The Guizhou section of the waterway is designed to reach the sea down to the south. Construction of the 336-kilometer section, where nine berths for ships of 250 deadweight tons will be built, is expected to cost 160 million yuan (US4192,800). The three rivers run through 18 counties in Guizhou, which are abundant in coal, water energy and tourism resources, and where poverty-stricken people and members of ethnic minority groups live in compact communities. The construction of the waterway, together with railways and highways under construction in this area, will form a communication network and help develop local rich resources and speed up economic growth, analysts say. Passageway Smoothed Out for Chinese Horseshoe Crabs to Return to SeaFisherman in Beihai, a port city facing the Beibu Gulf, are removing nets and cages from the seashore to help smooth out a passageway for horseshoe crabs to return to the sea. The peculiar looking crabs with a shell shaped like a horse shoe and a pointed tail have outlived dinosaurs and survived 400 million years. The horseshoe crab's blue blood was discovered to have medicinal properties for detecting bacterial toxins in the 1940s and this triggered market demand for the crab. |
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