Tourists in Beijing can now board improved sightseeing trains to appreciate picturesque spring blossoms in the city's suburbs, which operate on historical routes with thoughtful services provided.
Flowers blossom along the S2 Line train running through Juyongguan, a section of the Great Wall in northern Beijing's suburbs. This year, the trains have been upgraded and painted with motifs of floral seas on their exterior.
The train operates on the tracks of Jingzhang Railway, China's first independently-built railway, which opened in 1909, linking Beijing and Zhangjiakou, a major city in nearby Hebei Province.
"It is my first time boarding a sightseeing train. The landscape along the route is impressive. No matter where I go, I try to discover and collect beauty through my eyes," said Xuan Jing, a tourist.
The sightseeing trains also improved their services for a growing number of passengers, including offering audio guides on the scenery along the route and providing reserve medications.
"We are expecting to handle an estimated 96,000 passenger trips during this year's flower-viewing season, 5,000 more than the same period last year," said Hua Hongsheng, a Beijing North Railway Station deputy officer.
As the temperature gets warmer, local authorities established a specialized task force to step up forest fire monitoring along the suburban railway route to ensure the safety of the increasing number of tourists.
"Nankou Town established a safety agency for the floral walkway, with a security force of about 100 personnel being deployed every day," said Wang Shui, deputy mayor of the town.
Beijing improves sightseeing trains to better serve flower-viewing tourists
The China Coast Guard (CCG) has regularly carried out law enforcement operations against rights-infringement and provocative acts of certain countries as well as Taiwan secessionist activities to safeguard China's national sovereignty and maritime rights and interests over the past five years since the entry into force of China's Coast Guard Law, CCG Director-General Zhang Jianming said in Beijing on Friday.
Effective as of February 1, 2021, the Coast Guard Law provides a clear legal framework for Coast Guard operations at sea, marking a key milestone in strengthening the country's maritime rule of law.
Over the last five years, the CCG has carried out a total of 550,000 vessel operations and conducted over 6,000 aircraft sorties in maritime rights-protection missions with a clear legal basis, reinforcing standardized, law-based governance at sea, Zhang said at a press briefing to mark the fifth anniversary of the enactment of the law.
"[Over the past five years,] the China Coast Guard has worked to prevent and check rights infringement and provocative acts by the relevant countries, and powerfully deter Taiwan secessionist actions, to resolutely safeguard China's national territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. Last year alone, the China Coast Guard conducted patrol operations covering 357 days in the territorial waters of Diaoyu Dao," said the director-general.
"[Over the past five years,] the China Coast Guard has regularly carried out rights-protection patrols in the East China Sea, the South China Sea and the Yellow Sea, while maintaining law enforcement operations in waters around the Taiwan island and its affiliated islands, as well as in the territorial waters of Huangyan Dao and surrounding area," he said.
China Coast Guard carries out law enforcement to safeguard national sovereignty: director-general
