99 knives found

    A SECURITY guard at Shenzhen East Railway Station recently detected a man in his 50s carrying 99 knives and an axe through luggage inspection before boarding a train.

    The passenger said he was a carpenter and had planned to use the tools to make some crafts as gifts for relatives during the Spring Festival.

    However, it is against the law to bring sharp weapons including fruit knives, hammers and axes on board. The passenger eventually left Shenzhen without the tools after asking his friend to keep them for him.

    Ticket replacement

    FOR those who lose their train tickets before departure, train stations now offer a ticket replacement service for only 2 yuan (US$0.29).

    Passengers who lose their tickets can report the loss and repurchase a ticket for the same seat of the same train at the ticket office. When bordering the train, passengers need to inform a crew member if they are holding replacement tickets.

    The crew member will issue an evidence paper if no other passenger boards the train with the lost train ticket, and the passenger holding the replacement ticket can get a refund at their destination station. It costs two yuan to get the refund.

    9 new leprosy cases

    SHENZHEN reported nine new leprosy cases last year, the city’s chronic disease prevention and control center said last week, ahead of the 64th World Leprosy Day.

    The youngest leprosy patients reported last year were 16 years old. The city government pays 1,200 yuan (US$174) to each leprosy patient each month as a living allowance.

    At present, 114 leprosy patients are receiving treatment in Shenzhen.

    Traffic rush advanced

    A TOTAL of 1.58 million people have departed from train stations in Shenzhen since the Spring Festival traffic rush began last week. This year has seen an increase of 6.44 percent from the same period last year. All train stations in the city have experienced an advanced traffic rush compared to previous years.

    The border checkpoints also saw a rush in traffic as more people entered and exited through Huanggang and Futian checkpoints in the past few days.

    Metro line extension

    AS a resident living in Luohu for a long time, one of the deputies from the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress, Cai Hong-liang, suggested that Metro Line 11 be extended eastward to connect Luohu to the city’s central and western districts.

    Cai said that Luohu District has been positioned as part of the city center and an international consumption center, but the traffic network there does not effectively link Luohu to the rest of the city. Thus, he suggested that Metro Line 11 be expanded to Grand Theater Station.

    Flower market opens

    A FLOWER market at the Dutch Flower Town in Nanshan District will be open between Jan. 21 and 27, with flowers of all kinds for sale so residents can celebrate the coming Spring Festival.

    Due to possible heavy traffic, residents are reminded to take public transportation to the flower market. According to the traffic police in Nanshan District, no vehicles should stop on Yueliangwan Boulevard, the main road and relief road of Shennan Boulevard, during that week.

    Unemployment

    A SET of newly amended regulations on unemployment registration is going to be adopted Feb. 1 this year, with a streamlined process and more objective definition of being unemployed. Under the new regulations, applicants for unemployment can register at any subdistrict office in Shenzhen, instead of being limited to the offices where their household registration (hukou) belongs.