Over 5 million travel on Spring Rush
In the first 8 days of the Spring Rush travel peak, Guangzhou has seen over 5 million passengers leave the city. This number however is about 10% less than over the same period in 2009. Yesterday (Feb 7), it was 830,000 passengers that head out home by train, breaking the record of number of passengers travelling in a single day. The travel peak ahead of the Chinese New Year is expected to last until Thursday, 3 days before New Year's Eve.

Five injured in bloody rampage
A 38-year-old man has been detained after he allegedly stabbed five people at a hospital in Jiangmen on Saturday (February 6). According to a statement from the Wuyi Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Jiangmen, the five victims, three female doctors, a female intern and a male patient, were all in a stable condition yesterday. The hospital said the suspect, Liang Jiangang, is a local resident and had received treatment from all three doctors. However, the hospital denied that the incident was triggered by a dispute over treatment that he received at the hospital. According to several witnesses, the incident took place on Saturday at 11:18 am when Liang, holding a kitchen cleaver, ran into the hospital, shouting that he wanted to meet the hospital president.

BRT Undergoes 2nd Drill
The BRT in Guangzhou underwent a 2nd test yesterday (Feb. 7) before it opens this Wednesday. Our journalist Lihui was at the scene:
This test is aimed at checking how things will take place on the platforms during the rush hour. At the Huangcun station, about 300 volunteers were arranged as if waiting for the bus. Within 20 minutes, frequent BRT buses had succeed in picking up all these passengers. During the first drill held last week, passengers found that the fencing on the platforms was too low, so now it has been raised by 50 cm.

Another challenge is to guarantee easy passage on the platforms. An official from the traffic commission explains:
" we have set up display panel indicating which bus is arriving so passengers can queue up and wait for it. If 2 buses arrive at a similar time, passengers can estimate the buses' exact arrival order thanks to the display screen. The platform is between 5 to 8 meters wide, sufficient to easily move around on."

However, some passengers till find it difficult to move amidst the crowd:
" in this situation I am not able to move forward. I really don't know how I can get on the bus. "