Around Shanghai: Cabbies, mermaids and rice

• In a Beijing-inspired move to reduce traffic, Shanghai civil servants will not be allowed to drive their cars on certain days of the week, decided according to their cars' license plate numbers.
• This Tuesday, government officials declared that more than RMB 4 billion will be invested in a move to improve Pudong New Area, the site for the 2010 World Expo. Among other measures, 200 square meters in 25 old neighborhoods will be "reconstructed", ie., torn down and replaced with skyscrapers.
• In a crackdown this Thursday cabbies who refused to drive customers to destinations in the Lujiazui area were named and shamed, as well as fined and cut off from work for 15 days. Some taxi drivers have avoided driving in this area since the distances are considered too short or because traffic is slow.
• A special kind of environmentally friendly hybrid rice has been developed by Shanghai Agricultural Agrobiological Gene Center. The rice demands less water than other kinds. Since it can sustain on rainwater, no water needs to be circulated and pesticides won't flow into rivers and lakes through the irrigation channels.
• Copenhagen's city symbol, a statue of the little mermaid from H C Andersen's fairytale will be part of the Danish Expo site. If all goes well, the actual sculpture, not a duplicate will be moved to Shanghai for the Expo.

Photo by People's Daily