EV Infrastructure

The number of electric-vehicle charging stations in Beijing will be doubled by the end of 2015 to encourage the use of new-energy vehicles, local authorities said.

After the expansion program is completed, a charging station can be found within a radius of 5 km from anywhere in the city, according to Xu Xinchao, head of the New Energy and Materials Department with the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission.

Beijing currently has 1,425 public charging stations in operation at 188 sites, including shopping malls, office buildings, parking lots, airports, highway service areas, parks, technology parks and transportation hubs.

Xu called for more private investment in charging facilities to help increase their number in Beijing.

About 6,800 new-energy vehicles had been sold to private owners in Beijing by the end of 2014, according to official statistics.

The Chinese Government has been encouraging consumers to buy electric vehicles as one of the solutions to the country's pollution problems. But the plan has been hindered by inadequate charging infrastructure.

Vanilla Research

Chinese scientists have completed the genome sequencing of Vanilla shenzhenica and produced the world's first orchid genetic map, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The genome sequencing project was jointly launched in July 2014 by Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, and the Shenzhen-based National Orchid Conservation Center of China in south China's Guangdong Province.

Liu Zhongjian, chief scientist with the National Orchid Conservation Center of China said that the genome sequencing would make it possible to alter orchid properties through transgenic technology, indicating a possibility that a synthetic version of vanilla may be produced in the future.

Vanilla is the world's second expensive spice after saffron. It is widely used in food, cosmetics, tobacco and pharmaceutical products.

New Airport

China plans to build a civilian airport in the northeastern border city of Suifenhe in Heilongjiang Province in the country's northeast, the country's largest contributor to trade with Russia.

According to a feasibility plan, which has been approved, the project includes a 2,500-meter-long runway and a 4,500-square-meter terminal. The airport is designed to handle 450,000 passengers and 3,600 tons of cargo by 2025, said the government of Suifenhe. It is estimated to cost 944 million yuan ($151 million).

Expansion of the Suifenhe land port is also under way, which will significantly increase its passenger and cargo handling capacities.

Suifenhe is in Heilongjiang's southeast and neighbors Russia. About 80 percent of Heilongjiang's cargo imports and exports are through Suifenhe.

In 2013, the Chinese Government authorized Suifenhe as the country's first city where the Russian ruble can be used alongside the Chinese yuan on a trial basis.