Briefs | Greater Bay musicians to present joint New Year concert

Several hundred musicians from China’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area will jointly present a New Year concert, according to the event’s host the China Media Group. The show will include nearly 300 musicians from the major symphony orchestras of Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau, and a choir made up of around 500 singers from 11 cities in the area, according to the group. They also include famous singers and actors from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. The concert will be broadcast on January 1, 2020, on the TV and radio channels of the group and its new media platforms.

Guangdong begins building new test zone for self-driving cars

Guangdong Province has started building a testing center for both conventional vehicles and those featuring new energy, intelligent network and driverless technologies. With an investment of 2.15 billion yuan (around $307 million), the 573-hectare facility in the city of Shaoguan, just north of the Greater Bay Area cities, aspires to become a world-class vehicle testing center upon completion. It will be constructed by Chinese automaker Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. Ltd. (GAC Group) and the government of Shaoguan. Guan Qiao, deputy head of the GAC R&D Center, said the testing site will have world-class performance parameters, road diversity and the capacity to ensure efficient tests for new energy, self-driving and other vehicles. “It is an inevitable trend for vehicles to go intelligent,” Guan said. “For new technology, testing and verification are vital to ensure its reliability.” China has conducted road tests on autonomous vehicles and other intelligent auto technologies in several cities including Beijing, Changsha and Guangzhou.

Support ship for saturation diving arrives in Guangzhou

China delivered a new support ship for saturation diving in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou yesterday, according to its developer. Developed by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited and a ship design company in Shanghai, the ship named Hailong is China’s most advanced supporting ship for saturation diving. The ship is 124 meters long, 24 meters wide and has a cruising speed of 14.5 knots. It has a deck area of 900 square meters and can hold 120 people. The ship adopts the integrated design of the diving system and the main hull, carrying a world-class saturation diving system. The saturation diving system allows divers to dive hundreds of meters in deep-sea and work for a long time. It is widely used in the fields of marine resources development, emergency rescue and salvage as well as scientific research.