‘Blue network’
By 2025, Putuo will have 70 waterways and 30 lakes and ponds. The water area of the district will be increased to 2.5 square kilometers from the current 2 square kilometers.
CHINA’S first floating major hotel has been suspended by authorities over illegal occupation of maritime space.
Located 500 meters off the coast of Dongshan Island in southeast China’s Fujian Province, Hi Sea Floating Hotel has attracted a robust following on social media for its unique design and unrivaled views.
With rooms going for up to 7,800 yuan (US$1,207) a night, it has been fully booked until April.
The Maritime Safety Bureau in Zhangzhou began
investigating the hotel’s legality last November.
The bureau ordered the hotel to suspend operations, which the owner surnamed Lin ignored.
In 2018, Lin posted an article on the hotel’s WeChat account saying he wanted to build a cabin on the sea to get away from the crowds.
The hotel has gone through several design and construction updates to ensure it is strong enough to withstand tidal currents and even hurricanes.
Construction took 17 months, and the hotel was divided into three rooms that can accommodate up to 8 adults.
The Maritime Safety Bureau fined the owner 10,000 yuan and ordered him to vacate the occupied sea space.
Lin is applying for approval to reopen in March next year.
GERMAN sportswear company Puma expects the financial impact from coronavirus lockdowns to last well into the second quarter, but believes global growth in running should help to support a strong improvement after that.
“We clearly see a running boom in the whole world,” Chief Executive Bjorn Gulden told journalists, noting that yoga and other outdoor activities are also doing well. He expects the healthy living trend to continue even after the pandemic.
Gulden said his optimism is underlined by the fact that orders for 2021 are up almost 30 percent compared with a year ago, with bookings for running products particularly high.
However, there is still uncertainty about when lockdowns in Europe will end, with about half of the stores selling its products currently closed in its home region.
For the full year, Puma expects at least a moderate increase in sales in constant currency, with an upside potential, and a significant improvement for both its operating and net profit compared with 2020.
“The wording on outlook looks softer than we had anticipated, even by Puma’s cautious standards,” said Jefferies analyst James Grzinic.
Gulden noted that a shortage of shipping containers bringing products made in Asia would impact margins, with freight rates likely to double in the next 12 months.
Puma will put a stronger focus on the women’s market in future, Gulden said, creating shoes better modelled to female feet for running and soccer and capitalizing on partnerships with celebrities like singer Dua Lipa and model Cara Delevingne.
Gulden admitted Puma had been slow in creating its own app, but it plans to launch one toward the end of the year, further supporting online sales, which grew by 63 percent in 2020.
Rival Nike in December raised its fullyear sales forecast after demand for outdoor sportswear drove an 84 percent surge in online sales.
Gulden said he is hopeful that the Olympics will go ahead in Japan and the European soccer championship will also take place after both were postponed from 2020.
DIGITAL upgrade has begun on Nanjing Road E. and technologies like cloud, big data, artificial intelligence, edge computing and 5G have been adopted, according to officials from the Huangpu District government and Huawei, a major partner in the upgrade.
Upgraded digital services include pedestrian traffic monitoring, security checks and automatic warnings, parking management and fire prevention.
Shanghai will upgrade digital management systems in “every street and every building” in the city to improve urban management and boost its digital transformation, according to the city’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025).
Similar systems, which are considered pillars of urban management, will be adopted throughout the city.