You are listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Liu Yan in Beijing.
Beijing plans to build an industrial park in the city's outskirts in an attempt to boost its creative industries.
The "China Creative City" is to be set up in Yizhuang Economic and Technology Development Zone in southeastern Beijing. The zone is aimed at helping creative start-ups with research and development before their products enter mass production.
The municipal authorities said creative industries refer to economic activities concerning the exploitation of knowledge and information, which includes film, music, advertising, and software.
With an investment of more than 5 billion yuan, roughly 820 million U.S. dollars, it will help generate some 10,000 jobs in the area. The 130,000-square-meter park is expected to be completed in three years.
Beijing is stepping up development efforts for the creative industry. It plans to build 20 such industrial parks by 2020, with added values accounting for at least 15 percent of the city's gross domestic product.
This is NEWS Plus Special English.
A real-time traffic status platform has been launched to help reduce road congestion and optimize urban traffic plans in China.
The platform was initiated by navigation and digital map provider AutoNavi in conjunction with traffic management authorities in eight cities across the country. It will provide authorities with real-time information, including road conditions in popular spots and a ranking of congestion hotspots in cities.
The platform will also serve as a database for traffic management authorities to improve their efficiency and capacity in public service. The developer, AutoNavi Software Company, monitors roads in more than 100 cities across the country.
Services also include early warning of major traffic incidents, including road accidents. Traffic management authorities can use real-time data to optimize the dispatch of officers to maintain order on the roads and deal with accidents.
The platform has so far been operated in eight Chinese cities and will hopefully be open in a number of other cities soon.
The developers say, in the near future, they will be able to diversify and provide more early warning services, including travel rush forecasts for holidays and information analysis for policy-makers.