Hong Kong residents now take no more than one minute to pass through the Luohu checkpoint in south China's Shenzhen City adjacent to Hong Kong, after the checkpoint started to use the Passenger Automation Inspection System Thursday.

Hong Kong resident Chen Xiaoping Thursday became the first passenger passing through automation inspection system at the Luohu checkpoint in south China's Shenzhen City adjacent Hong Kong.

The Passengers Automation Inspection System, which incorporates information collecting and processing as well as fingerprint identification, is able to collect information from travel documents to confirm the identity of the passenger through fingerprint verification.

The system will greatly increase the flow of passengers at checkpoints, according to Shenzhen General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection.

Shenzhen has the largest number of exit and entry checkpoints in China. In 2004, more than 150 million passengers and 14.399 million vehicles passed through the city's inspection stations, accounting for 54.6 percent and 77.3 percent of the country's total, respectively.  

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2005)