Expedition Shipping Journey

China's Antarctic icebreaker Xue Long (Snow Dragon) made a full-speed dash northward to cross the stormy Westerlies on her journey home on March 13. The captain gave the order of departure in the morning to take advantage of the good weather in the interval between two cyclones.

From December 2007 to this March, over 100 scientists carried out China's 24th scientific expedition to the Antarctic aboard Xue Long.

The vessel is expected to return to China's coastal city of Shanghai on April 15.

Endangered Plants Protected

Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry has banned the collection of 80 plants in a bid to protect the city's endangered plants, a notice on its website said.

The plants on the list for protection include the baikal skullcap root, balloon flower root and north China larch. Most are species of Pinaceae, Campanulaceae, Liliaceae and Pyrolaceae.

Those found collecting and chopping down the listed plants face being fined. Picking samples for scientific research should be approved by the bureau. Specific punishment measures were still under discussion.

Dangerous Ice Flow

Officials in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have warned of the dangers of collapsed embankments and flooding as the frozen Yellow River begins to thaw.

About 212 km of the 720-km stretch of the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia began to melt on March 11, and the thaw had reached sections near Bayan Nur City on the north bank and Erdos City on the south.

The 200-km section near the two cities has poor embankments, where dangers of collapse occur every year.

The river's ice flow is the heaviest in 40 years. Its downstream watercourse in the region holds 1 billion cubic meters of water, much more than in a normal year. More than 70,000 people in the region are on standby for rescue and disaster relief efforts.

Longest-living Tibetan

The oldest person in Tibet celebrated her 117th birthday in a celebration organized by the local government and fellow villagers in Jiarong Village, Lhasa, on March 16.

Amai Cering, born on March 16, 1891, smiled and murmured amid the music at her birthday party, although her sight and hearing have deteriorated in recent years.

She has borne two sons and two daughters, but only one daughter named Yangjian is still alive. Her 36-year-old granddaughter Xiaobai cares for her mother and grandmother.

Amai Cering lives on a government pension and donations from local companies. She said she is happy with having meat every day.

Deadliest Roads

The death toll on China's roads since 1987 has remained the highest in the world, according to new statistics from the China Automotive Technology Research Center.

According to the center, 81,649 people died last year in 327,209 road accidents. In addition, 380,442 people were hurt.

The fatalities per 10,000 vehicles on Chinese roads were 5.1 persons last year. The figure was down from 6.2 persons in 2006.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, around 110,000 people have died in road accidents annually since 2002. About 300 die each day with 1,500 seriously injured.