East China's Zhejiang Province has enhanced the efficiency of ship navigation on its rivers by implementing a smart system that streamlines the process for ships to pass through the locks.
With the smart system, shipowners can easily fill in the necessary information on a mobile phone platform, which allows them to complete all required declarations for the locks they plan to pass through in Zhejiang in advance.
Previously, ships had to apply for permission and wait every time before they can pass through each lock, which not only slowed down these ships but also disrupted the schedules of those following behind.
With the new smart system, the dynamic has shifted from ships waiting on locks to locks waiting for ships, effectively reducing navigation times.
"I used to have to wait five to seven days, but now I don't have to. Now my ship can pass through the next day. It is much more convenient, as I can apply on my mobile phone with just one submission," said Zhao Xiuli, a shipowner.
The smart system has also integrated port and lock dispatching, aligning lock passage times with terminal loading and unloading schedules, further improving logistics efficiency.
"The connection between locks, ports, docks and ships has not only improved the efficiency of our port operations, but also increased the speed of ships passing through the locks, significantly lowering logistics costs," said Ding Wuxiong, a staff member at the Port and Shipping Management Center of Zhejiang.
Over 300 ships pass through the locks in the Zhejiang section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal each day, and the smart system, covering all 16 operating ship locks in the province, now facilitates 99 percent of ship journeys.
Thanks to this smart system, the average waiting time for ships to pass through the locks has been shortened by 80 percent, which has so far saved 300 million yuan (about 41.73 million U.S. dollars) of logistics costs for shipowners.
Zhejiang improves ship navigation efficiency with smart lock passage system
A video featuring a former member of Unit 731, a notorious Japanese germ-warfare unit during World War II (WWII), was released on Thursday in northeast China's Harbin, revealing details of how the unit used meteorological data to conduct horrific bacterial experiments on human beings.
The video was released by the Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crimes Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army, in which former Unit 731 member Tsuruo Nishijima detailed how the unit used meteorological data to carry out a bacterial dispersal experiment.
The video was recorded in 1997 by Japanese scholar Fuyuko Nishisato and donated to the exhibition hall in 2019, according to the hall, which was built on the former site of the headquarters of Unit 731 in Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province.
Jin Shicheng, director of the Department of Publicity, Education and Exhibition of the exhibition hall, said that Nishijima joined Unit 731 in October 1938 and served in the unit's meteorological squad. The squad was not a simple observation section but rather an auxiliary force supporting the unit's field human experiments by measuring wind direction, wind speed, and other conditions to ensure optimal experimental results, according to Jin.
Nishijima confirmed in the footage that "the meteorological squad had to be present at every field experiment." He testified to the "rainfall experiments" conducted by Unit 731, which involved aircraft releasing bacterial agents at extremely low altitudes.
At a field-testing site in Anda City, Heilongjiang, Unit 731 aircraft descended to about 50 meters above the ground. They sprayed bacterial culture liquids onto "maruta" -- human test subjects -- who were tied to wooden stakes. Each experiment involved about 30 people, spaced roughly 5 meters apart. After the experiments, the victims were loaded into sealed trucks and transported back to the unit, where their symptoms and disease progression were recorded over a period of several days.
"Unit 731's bacterial weapons were dropped by aircraft from a height of 50 meters in the open air. Therefore, the meteorological squad needed to observe wind direction and speed, which directly affected the precision and accuracy of the bacterial weapons deployment," said Jin.
Nishijima recounted the harrowing experience of the human test subjects.
"They were fully aware that inhaling the substances would certainly lead to death, so they closed their eyes and held their breath to avoid breathing them in. Their resistance prevented the experiment from proceeding. To compel them to comply, they were forced at gunpoint to open their mouths and lift their heads," said Nishijima.
These experiments, disguised as "scientific research," were in fact systematic tests of biological warfare weapons conducted by the Japanese military. The data generated from these inhumane activities became "research findings" shared among the Japanese army medical school, the medical community, and the military at large.
"At that time, the entire Japanese medical community tacitly approved, encouraged, and even participated in the criminal acts of Unit 731. The unit comprised members from Japan's medical and academic sectors who served the Japanese war of aggression against China. Thus, Unit 731 was not just a military unit but represented an organized and systematic criminal enterprise operating from the top down," said Jin.
Unit 731 was a top-secret biological and chemical warfare research base established in Harbin as the nerve center for Japanese biological warfare in China and Southeast Asia during WWII.
At least 3,000 people were used for human experiments by Unit 731, and Japan's biological weapons killed more than 300,000 people in China.
Video offers details of Japan's germ-warfare crimes in northeast China
