Bridge in the Clouds.docVIP

Bridge in the Clouds 　　The Beipanjiang Bridge， which took three years to build， opens to traffic on December 29， 2016， connecting southwest China’s Yunnan and Guizhou provinces. It stretches for 1，341 meters over and hangs 565 meters above the Nizhu River Gorge， equivalent to the height of 200 floors， and is the world’s highest bridge. The bridge helps save motorists more than four hours in journey time. 　　 Sansha Rescue Center 　　The search and rescue center in China’s southernmost island city， Sansha， rescued 113 people in 2016， helping save both lives and assets. 　　It mobilized 13 vessel and six aircraft trips in 21 emergencies， with a 99.1 percent success rate. 　　Over the past year， the center helped resist four tropical storms， or typhoons， that swept across the city， it said in a statement. 　　It also organized maritime emergency response drills for nearly 300 people from 19 organizations in the city. 　　Sansha was established in July 2012 to administer more than 200 islets， sandbanks and reefs in the Xisha， Zhongsha and Nansha island groups as well as 2 million square km of surrounding waters in the South China Sea. The search and rescue center was inaugurated the following year. 　　 Air Quality in Beijing 　　Beijing saw more blue sky days in 2016 as its average PM 2.5 density fell 9.9 percent， the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said on January 3. 　　The capital had 198 days with good air quality， an increase of 12 days from 2015， and 39 serious pol- lution days， down by 7 days. Though the average density of PM 2.5， particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 microns， fell to 73 micrograms per cubic meter in 2016， it was still 109 percent higher than the national standard. 　　Since 2013， PM 2.5 density in the city has dropped 19 percent. 　　Average levels of sulfur dioxide， nitrogen dioxide and PM 10 decreased by 28.6 percent， 4 percent and 9.8 percent respectively vis-à-vis 2015. 　　The city’s efforts to deal with pollution include