A Visual Delight.docVIP

A Visual Delight 　　Tourists are treated to a fairy tale sight when a solar halo appears over a snow-covered scenic spot in Mudanjiang， northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province， on January 21. 　　January is Mudanjiang’s coldest month， in which the average temperature reaches minus 17 degrees Celsius. 　　 Rural Fiber Optic Network 　　The fiber optic network in China now covers more than 82 percent of the nation’s rural villages， according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology （MIIT）， which aims to raise the figure to 90 percent in the second half of 2017. 　　In November 2016， more than 61 million rural households had access to the fiber optic network， an impressive 90 percent increase from one year previously， said MIIT general engineer Zhang Feng at a ministerial workshop held in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on January 20. 　　In 2016， China began the huge task of installing fiber optic cables in more than 100，000 villages nationwide， including 31，000 villages considered to be impoverished. 　　The campaign was financed by 30 billion yuan （$4.4 billion） of public and private sector funding. 　　Fiber optic cabling will be installed in 30，000 more villages this year. 　　Besides e-commerce， the installation of broadband Internet will allow villagers to access online healthcare， education， and agricultural resources， Zhang said. 　　 EV Charging Networks 　　Electric vehicle charging networks will be built in 11 cities in east China’s Zhejiang Province， the Zhejiang branch of China’s State Grid Corp. has announced. 　　By the end of 2017， there will be a charging station every 2 km in the urban districts of the 11 cities. By the end of 2016， the company had installed 404 charging stations across the province， and charging facilities had also been set up in service stations along the province’s major expressways. 　　China is encouraging its populace to switch to electric cars as part of a shift from coal to renewable energy sources for power generation. O