Polluters fined

    NINE companies and one individual were each fined 1 million yuan (US$145,330) for polluting the Maozhou River, a river bordering Dongguan, which is being treated for pollution, the city’s environment protection administration said in its quarterly report.

    A man named Wang Wei was fined for illegally building without applying for an environmental assessment.

    Between September and December, the administration issued fines totaling 58.11 million yuan. Eight enterprises were closed and 18 companies were ordered to halt production. Eleven polluters were handed over for criminal investigation.

    H7N9 rumor

    LONGGANG police are investigating a rumor that has been circulating on microblogs and WeChat, which says that a man died from an H7N9 infection after eating chicken on a business street in Nanling Village.

    The rumor gave the name and age of the victim and named the doctor involved in treatment. It also said that 5,570 chickens had been infected with the virus. Police have confirmed it was a rumor and started an investigation.

    New schools

    FOUR new schools will open in the new semester in September in Nanshan District, offering 7,000 school slots, Nanshan District Education Bureau said. The schools are Shenzhen Bay School, Liuxian School, Xiangshanli Primary School and Lixiang School.

    Lowest fare

    SPRING Airlines will offer a promotional fare of 9 yuan (US$1.31) when the flight from Shenzhen to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, is put into service March 29.

    During the post-festival period, many airlines are offering cheap fares to attract travelers.

    The trip between Shenzhen and Xi’an will cost 700 yuan in the coming week, and on Feb. 28 the fare will stand at 350 yuan.

    Hitchhiking service

    SHENZHEN ranked at the top among five cities that used the Didi Hitch cross-city seat-sharing service during the Spring Festival transport season that ended Tuesday, statistics showed.

    It was followed by Guangzhou, Chengdu, Beijing and Hangzhou.

    Under the seat-pooling program launched by Didi Chuxing, a total of 8.48 million people used the service, equivalent to 3,046 eight-carriage high-speed trains.

    Wet and cold

    SHENZHEN will experience three to four wet and cold days starting today as cold air arrives to the coastal areas of South China.

    The minimum temperature will drop to 10 degrees Celsius in the early mornings from tomorrow until Sunday. The maximum temperatures will stand between 14 and 16 degrees Celsius, the Shenzhen Meteorological Observatory said yesterday.

    Nature museum

    A NATURE museum will be built in Guanlan, Longhua District. A key project in the city, the 1.3-billion-yuan project has a floor area of 43,000 square meters. It includes five functional areas for exhibitions, public services, education, and collection preservation.