A suspected scalper (left) tries to sell tickets to a tourist at the front gate of Wuhan University in Hubei province on Monday. QU YAN/FOR CHINA DAILY Eight ticket scalpers were detained at the front gate of Wuhan University for selling tickets to see the cherry blossoms on campus, Chutian Metropolis Daily reported on Tuesday. The university, located in Wuhan, Hubei province, has long been renowned for its 600-meter-long avenue of cherry blossoms, which receives up to 200,000 visits a day during the flowering season in late March in recent years. Since March 17, the university has taken measures, including online reservations, to control the flow of visitors. People are allowed to see the blossoms free of charge, but need to make a reservation three days ahead of time. On weekdays, 15,000 tickets are available for visitors, while 30,000 people are allowed in on weekend days. But even that falls short of demand, creating an environment ripe for scalpers to swoop in. No details about punishments for scalpers, or further moves to control the illegal sales, were released by the university or the police. A male visitor surnamed Shao, from Xi'an, Shaanxi province, complained: It's irrational to book three days ahead. I'm staying here for only two days, how can I manage it? If I want to see the flowers, I have no choice but to buy tickets from the scalpers. The university should take a share of blame for poor management of visitors, rather than criticizing the scalpers, he said. Prices for the illicit tickets have been bid up as high as 100 yuan ($16). Most of the sellers are said to be staff members or students at the university who say they're trying to earn money for tuition by guiding visitors. According to local media reports, some of the scalpers allowed buyers to use their staff cards to enter the university gate. They vanished quickly once they got their cards back. Tourists who did manage to get inside were stopped at a second checkpoint and not necessarily allowed to enter the cherry blossom avenue. Uncivilized behavior, such as littering and snapping off branches, have annoyed the university's students and members of the public alike. One young man was seen shaking a cherry tree fiercely to make the flowers fall, amid laughter and cheers from his companions on Saturday. The university denounced his behavior in a Weibo post saying, Is the rain of cherry blossoms beautiful? The flower suffered a lot. silicon braceletscheap silicone wristbands free shippingsilicone bracelets canadasilicone rubber wristbandsevent wristbands toronto
TOKYO - Kansai Electric Power Co. on Wednesday resumed operations of its No. 3 reactor at its Oi nuclear plant on the Sea of Japan coast, despite ongoing local opposition.The No. 3 reactor now comprises three reactors that the utility has brought back online in the same vicinity.The newly rebooted No. 3 reactor is located just 14 km from the No. 3 and 4 reactors at the utility's Takahama plant, also in the the central Japan prefecture of Fukui.The restarting of the reactor marks the first time since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster seven years ago that multiple reactors have been restarted in the same area.Local residents have voiced their concerns that in the case of a similar type of disaster, evacuation plans for the Oi and Takahama nuclear plants remain insufficient.The No. 3 reactor at the Oi plant marks the sixth reactor to be brought back online after passing the stricter safety regulations imposed by Japan's nuclear watchdog after the Fukushima crisis.By fiscal 2030, the government here has said that it wants between 20 and 22 percent of its total electricity to be generated by nuclear power.In February, Japan's nuclear regulator approved a draft assessment by Kansai Electric Power Co. to bring its No. 3 and 4 reactors back online at its Oi plant.Under current plants, the No. 3 reactor will begin commercial operations in April and the No. 4 reactor is scheduled to be restarted in May.The restarting of the reactors came following unanimous approval by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) as the two reactors have or soon will meet the government's new safety guidelines.The NRA said that since July 2013 when Kansai Electric first sought to bring its two reactors at the plant back on line, the utility has increased its expectations for seismic events affecting its reactors in the future.In response to the NRA's request for improvements in this area, the regulator also said that the utility's plans to introduce special equipment that could help prevent the kind of hydrogen explosions that occurred at the Daiichi facility in Fukushima, were suitable.The utility has yet to win public approval for the restart, however, and has already had a lawsuit filed against it over safety concerns and local consternation remains rife, according to local media reports.Its Takahama plant saw two reactors brought back online last year, however, after gaining the NRA's approval to be restarted, only to be swiftly served with a judicial order to take them offline over public safety concerns.The order was overturned by a Japanese high court.
