Members of a voluntary rescue team in Shanghai's Zhujiajiao town patrol its waterways on charge boats. [CHINA DAILY] Pedestrians and cyclists in a busy riverside town outside of Shanghai can move about with more peace of mind thanks to the efforts of a highly trained rescue team. For over a decade, the team's patrols have helped prevent accidents, especially along the Dianpu River in Zhujiajiao - a town with a history of more than 1,700 years in suburban Qingpu district. Members perform various tasks, including fighting fires, emergency water rescues, and flood prevention and typhoon preparedness, according to Chen Chunhao, director of the Zhujiajiao's conscription office, which oversees the team. The team has several dozen members, he said. Half are ex-military and the rest are college graduates under 25. All are unpaid but receive free training, and were selected through exams and stamina tests. The group is officially classed as a militia, which still operate nationwide under guidance from local authorities. They play a part in protecting national security and respond to emergencies that threaten social stability. However, such groups are only armed during training with the military. We undertake more diversified duties - mainly covering the propagation of national defense knowledge and performing daily guard duty along the river - in addition to our basic security work, said Li Linjie, the team leader. For example, we rescued a 22-year-old woman who attempted to drown herself in the river in September. In January, the team also cleared heavy snow from the streets and laid skid-resistant straw mats to protect vehicles and pedestrians. On an average day, Zhujiajiao receives more than 40,000 tourists keen to take in the town's history and watery vistas, and accidents sometimes occur with children and the elderly trying to negotiate the river's slippery banks. We're ready for every mission, Li said. Every member also speaks a second language, to help foreign tourists in town. According to its members, the team's track record of success is due to its disciplined military-style management. A full set of equipment is available to us, including rescue and patrol boats, inflatable rafts, motorcycles and firefighting tools, said Yuan Heqiang, another team leader. Members undergo regular military training and physical conditioning, as well as study water-rescue and firefighting techniques. We even began using drones last year to quicken our emergency response time, Yuan said. Experts from the Qingpu Lifesaving Association and the Qingpu Red Cross Association are regularly invited to teach the team the latest techniques in water rescue and first aid. The emergency response team has become a key guardian of peace and security in Zhujiajiao, said Colonel Li Huilin of the Qingpu district's conscription office. Over the past 11 years, the unit has coped with more than 30 major disasters and 500 crises, helping prevent property losses of more than 8 million yuan ($1.21 million), especially before and during weather emergencies. [email protected]cheap wristbands ukcustom rubber wristbandsrubber arm bandscheap silicone wristbands
BEIJING - With its own development and becoming increasingly closer to the center of the world stage, China has been injecting positive energy into the international community in pursuit of better global governance over recent years. At the 86th Interpol General Assembly held in Beijing last week, China proposed a concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security to jointly respond to security challenges. At the BRICS' Xiamen Summit in early September, China put forward the "BRICS Plus" approach by inviting the leaders of Egypt, Mexico, Thailand, Tajikistan and Guinea to take part in a dialogue. BRICS began its second golden decade with the summit to make the grouping ever brighter. As the world's second largest economy and the biggest contributor of global economic growth, China's innovative concepts on improving global governance and promoting global peace and common prosperity have gained wide recognition and support from other countries. Undergoing structural reforms, China is implementing its new concept of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development, eyeing a quality growth model driven by innovation. Meanwhile, the country is assuming its international responsibility to promote common development with other countries in the interconnected world. The Belt and Road Initiative, building a community of shared future for mankind and the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, all proposed by China, have been incorporated in U.N. resolutions, showing wide international consensus on the concepts. Equality, mutual respect and win-win cooperation feature in the Chinese plans, which also safeguard the irreversible trend of globalization. After colonialism, imperialism and hegemonism, the world is ushering in an era of "win-winism" as initiated by China, a country which unswervingly adheres to its peaceful development path, according to Hu Angang, director of the center for China studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing. "Win-winism" highlights an open world economy for common development of all countries and joint efforts to address global challenges such as climate change and terrorism, and exchanges of different cultures, said the researcher. China has been actively assuming its international responsibility and participating in global governance by putting forward new concepts, thoughts and plans to reshape the global governance system, said Liu Wei, president of Renmin University of China, at a global governance forum on Saturday in Beijing. For example, the Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit has injected new momentum into global governance, said Liu. The world needs a new type of globalization, which calls for improving global governance and boosting common development, former Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said at the forum. The Belt and Road Initiative, which is multilateral and open, is a global project and a response to global demands, he added.
