Inquiry into university graft widens (October 16, 2009, Xinhua)
Investigators probing a campus graft scandal in central China over student apartment construction have uncovered a web of deceit. They were first tipped off by the wife of the apartment developer who was placed in custody and then cooperated with authorities. Prosecutors said more executives at the prestigious Wuhan University in Hubei Province were likely to be involved since both vice president and vice Party secretary of the school have been arrested for allegedly taking bribes over major infrastructure construction projects, People's Daily reported yesterday.

Software Pirates in China Beat Microsoft to the Punch (October 18, 2009, Reuters)
At shops in the bustling Xinyang market in Shanghai, fake Apple iPhones and Bose speakers were displayed alongside bootleg copies of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system, a week before it officially was to go on sale. People in mainland China have been able to buy pirated copies of the newest version of Microsoft's Windows franchise this month for just 20 yuan, or $2.93, each - a fraction of list prices, which are as high as $320.

Beijing has 200 A/H1N1 flu cases each day (October 28, 2009, Xinhua)
There are 5,800 confirmed cases of A/H1N1 flu in Beijing, as of 12:00 am on Monday, xinhuanet.com reported Wednesday. The fight against A/H1N1 flu in Beijing has become more serious, Fang Laiying, the top leader of the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, said at late Tuesday night. 200 new cases were confirmed each day over the last two days, Fang added. Fang said this year's flu wave came earlier than normal and added that the combination of the A/H1N1 flu and traditional flu may mean a record number of flu cases this year. Flu season is usually in December and January.

Beijing reports more violent crimes on campus (October 28, 2009, Xinhua)
A Beijing court has reported an increase of violent criminal cases on university campus in the past five years. Since 2004, 20 cases of intentional injury or homicide were heard at the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate Court, involving 26 college students, Wednesday's China Daily reported. There were four such cases between 2004 and 2006. This number grew to ten from 2008, an increase of 150 percent, a court press officer surnamed Guo was quoted by the newspaper as saying. The crimes were mostly caused by trifles, love affairs, or post-drinking provocation, the court was quoted by China Daily as saying.

Here’s an article on a Christian view of the use of the Internet. It was translated from China’s Three-Self Church’s magazine.

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Princess starts semester with 19 suitcases - and two guides (September 8, 2009, Shanghai Daily)
A university freshman from an apparently wealthy family has stunned her fellow students by bringing along 19 suitcases to the campus plus two professional tourist guides. Her actions have sparked online discussion about luxuries enjoyed by wealthy families, a report said in today's Xinmin Evening News. The student's parents drove a luxury limousine to send her to college in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, to register for the new semester on September 2, the report said. The family is from east China's Zhejiang Province, according to the girl's tutor.

Suicide remains top killer of young Chinese (September 4, 2009, Shanghai Daily)
Suicide remains the top killer of young Chinese aged between 15 and 34, according to a Beijing health official. China reports a high suicide rate with 2.25 million people attempting to commit suicide every year. About 250,000 are successful, said Deng Xiaohong, vice director of Beijing Health Bureau, citing research by China Diseases Prevention and Control center and Huilongguan Hospital. Deng made his remarks yesterday to coincide with the 7th World Suicide Prevention Day, today's Chongqing Evening News reported. The research found suicide is the fifth-largest cause of death in China. For every 100,000 people, 22.23 had tried to commit suicide.

Student suicide survey shock (September 11, 2009, Shanghai Daily)
Almost one in four students has thought of suicide, according to a survey released yesterday at a seminar in Yangpu District to mark the seventh World Suicide Prevention Day. Suicide has becoming the prime cause of death among 15 to 34-year-olds with students accounting for a large proportion of the total, experts said. The thought of killing themselves had occurred to about 24.39 percent students while 15.23 percent had taken suicide into serious consideration, according to the study by the Children's Hospital of Fudan University and local education authorities. Of the 2,500-plus students questioned, 2.85 percent had planned how to commit suicide and 1.71 percent students had tried but failed.

Confucian family tree branches out (September 24, 2009, Xinhua)
CHINA celebrated the completion of the first full revision of its philosopher Confucius' family tree in 72 years at his birthplace Qufu City, east China's Shandong Province yesterday, three days before his "2,560th birthday." Kong Deyong, a 77th-generation descendant of the revered Chinese philosopher, disclosed the family tree covered with red silk at 9am. The family tree has 43,000 pages and is bound in 80 books. It records all 83 generations of Confucius' offspring of more than 2 million people and is believed to be the biggest in the world, Kong said. The new list, which includes minorities, overseas and female descendants for the first time, added more than 1.4 million names than the previous revision in 1937, said Kong Dewei, head of the family tree editorial office.

And in honor of Chinese 60th Anniversary on October 1st, check this out.

China posts rules of sex change (June 16, 2009, China Daily)
To change gender in China costs more than money. One must be free of a criminal record and be single if he or she wants to have a sex change, the Ministry of Health said Tuesday in a new regulation. Other conditions include having lived publicly as the other gender for more than two years, at least five years of unwavering desire to change, more than one year of psychotherapy and a commitment by local police to issue a new ID card after the operation.

Chinese upper class growing (June 18, 2009, China Daily)
More than half of nearly 800 wealthy Chinese recently polled believe the widening gap between the rich and poor is also creating an emerging upper class in the country. The survey, carried out by lifestyle magazine Best Life, interviewed 792 rich Chinese in 62 cities from 27 provinces through local chambers of commerce. Those interviewed were private entrepreneurs with personal assets of more than 10 million yuan ($1.4 million). More than 80 percent of those polled also said the income gap between rich and poor in the country was too wide, the magazine reported this week. "In recent years, the huge gap between rich and poor has become an indisputable fact in China," Li Wei, director of the social development department at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), told China Daily Wednesday.

Kids taken in adoption scheme (July 2, 2009, Shanghai Daily)
An orphanage in southwest China has been accused of taking children away from parents who can't afford fines for violating family planning policy and sending the kids overseas for adoption. The orphanage was reportedly earning US$3,000 for each child placed with a foreign family. The allegations involve family planning officials in Zhenyuan County, Guizhou Province. They demanded that parents who violated childbirth regulations pay 10,000 yuan (US$1,460) for each extra offspring, according to Nanfang Metropolis Daily. Those who couldn't afford the fine were ordered to give their child to a local orphanage, the paper said. The orphanage was funneling the children into China's system for foreign adoptions, the paper reported. Overseas families sent applications through adoption agencies in their countries to a state-backed adoption center in China. The center collected information about abandoned and orphaned children from around country, including the Zhenyuan orphanage, and sent it the adoptive families. If a child was chosen, the orphanage received US$3,000 from the adoptive family.

License plate with lucky 8 sells for record price (July 2, 2009, China Daily)
A vehicle license plate with the number D88888 was auctioned off for the record price of 100,100 yuan ($14,652) in Qionghai, Hainan province, on Monday. The buyer is a businessman who felt it was worth the large sum of money. The public auction for the plate started at 30,000 yuan. The digit 8 (ba) has a similar Chinese sound to "fa", meaning becoming rich.

The never ending song (March 12, 2009, Xinhua)
More than 1,200 residents in northeastern China have set a new world karaoke record by singing continuously for 456 hours, two minutes and five seconds. Students, soldiers, and businessmen from Changchun, capital of Jilin Province, sang more than 6,200 songs from February 20 until yesterday morning, Xinhua News Agency reported today. It beat the old Guinness World Record, set by Finns in July, by nearly 10 hours.

Bidding fierce for last-round Beijing Olympic Games relics (March 19, 2009, Xinhua)
Collectors spent a total of 47.8 million yuan (7 million U.S. dollars) yesterday to get their hands on the last 410 drums and 978 bamboo scrolls that featured in the amazing opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics last summer. The popular souvenirs went under the hammer at the China Beijing Equity Exchange (CBEX) in a four-hour auction that attracted more than 130 millionaires from across China. It was the third and final round of the auctions, with the total winning bids for all 1,500 fou, a traditional Chinese drum, and near 1,000 zhujian, ancient-style bamboo scrolls, a staggering 119.1 million yuan. The sales are expected to make the Beijing Games an even bigger financial success, with organizers, who will wrap up their duties by June, already declaring an estimated profit of over 16 million U.S. dollars.

Yao Ming tops Chinese celebrity list again (March 18, 2009, Shanghai Daily)
Basketball player Yao Ming remains China's top Chinese celebrity, leading the Forbes China Celebrity List for the sixth year. The 2009 list was released yesterday in the March issue of Forbes China, the Chinese-language edition of Forbes magazine. It surveyed the incomes and popularity of leading figures in film, sports, media, music and publishing. All those considered were born and raised on China's mainland. The China list is modeled on Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 list. Yao topped both the income and popularity sectors with an income of 357.77 million yuan (US$52.34 million) last year. Though income is the biggest single factor in compiling the list - which tracks the transfer of fame into fortune over the past year - media coverage and web hits within China also figure prominently. Actress Zhang Ziyi now ranks No.2 overall - she was 5th last year.

Public must be allowed to 'air grievances' (November 26, 2008, Xinhua) More channels should be set up for the public to air their grievances, and local governments must exercise restraint when dealing with social order issues, a senior official said on Monday. Speaking at a conference in Zhejiang province, Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and former public security minister, said it is essential that potential social order problems are "nipped in the bud". Also, people should be provided with proper outlets to air their views and grievances, he said. "More channels should be opened to solicit public opinion and local governments should spare no effort to solve people's problems," Zhou said. Commentators have said Zhou's and Meng's statements are indicative of the central government's growing concern that the financial crisis could spark further social unrest.

China central bank cust interest rates (November 26. 2008, Xinhua)China's central bank slashes the lending and deposit rates by 1.08 percentage points as of Thursday in the latest strong effort to stimulate economy. The People's Bank of China (POBC) said on Wednesday it will cut the benchmark one-year yuan lending rate to 5.58 percent from 6.66 percent and the one-year yuan deposit rate to 2.52 percent from 3.60 percent. The cut was substantially larger than earlier three cuts, 0.27 percentage points each, since mid September. It was the largest cut since October 1997 when the PBOC cut the one-year borrowing cost by 1.44 percentage points to support growth to withstand the Asian Financial Crisis. It was the third time the PBOC cut the deposit rate since early October and the largest cut since June 1999.

China to hire more college grads as rural teachers amid weak job market (December 1, 2008, Xinhua) The Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Monday it would recruit 30,000 college students as rural teachers next year, a move intended to ease employment pressure in China amid the global financial downturn. The 2009 figure would be nearly equal to the total quotas for 2006 and 2007, which were 16,000 and 17,000, respectively, the ministry said. The move is part of a larger drive by the MOE that aims to channel next year's estimated 6.11 million college graduates into jobs that need filling in the country's remote, less-developed west.

Retirement age to rise for women (December 4, 2008, Xinhua) The retirement age for women officials at county level and above is set to be raised from 55 to 60 next year, as part of a series of legal revisions to ensure sexual equality at work, the Beijing municipal government said on Wednesday. The city's legislation office began collecting public opinion on Tuesday on the planned revisions to Beijing's implementation of the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women. Under current regulations, women officials at the municipal level and under have to retire at 55, five years before their male counterparts. If the revisions are approved, Beijing will become the first city to raise the retirement age for women. The revisions are expected to come into force sometime next year.

Women refuse to give birth on Singles Day (November 20, 2008, Xinhua) An unusually small number of babies were born in Hubei Hospital of Women and Children in Wuhan on Nov 11, as mothers sought to avoid giving birth on Singles Day. Just five babies were born there that day, less than one-fourth of the average. Other major hospitals also hosted much fewer births, as many local pregnant women had Caesareans in advance or delayed their delivery. Doctors and nurses attributed the slump in births to local residents' superstitions. Many Chinese believe Singles Day is not a lucky day for childbirth in the central metropolis.

Beijing to provide winter accommodations for beggars (November 20, 2008, Xinhua) Vagrants and beggars in Beijing will be given accommodation and meals as the temperature drops to minus degree, according to the municipal relief administration center. The center announced that as of Thursday evening, staff in the city's 18 relief stations will seek out vagrants and beggars. Each station is to reinforce street patrols, check the identities of vagrants and beggars, and provide them with beds and meals. The centers will provide tickets home once identities are confirmed. Beijing has helped about 57,000 vagrants and beggars since 2003, when  China introduced a policy that replaced the "custody and repatriation" system.

China has more newspapers and magazines (October 8, 2008, Xinhua) There are ten times as many Chinese newspapers and magazines than there were 30 years ago. That's when the country adopted the reform and opening-up policy. Figures from the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) show there were 186 newspapers and 930 magazines in China in 1978. Today, the country has 2,081 newspapers and 9,363 different magazines. In the meantime, official figures show China has some 600 publishing houses producing nearly 300,000 kinds of books. That's a dramatic increase from the 105 publishers of the past that produced only 10,000 different books.

Chinese police arrest 14 more people in milk scandal (October 8, 2008, Xinhua) Police in north China's Hebei Province arrested 14 more people in connection with the country's tainted milk scandal, putting the total arrests in the province at 27. Cao Aiping, Hebei Provincial Public Security Department's deputy director told Xinhua that police had questioned 91 people which generated 27 arrests, since the first 13 arrests on Sept. 29.  The suspects were alleged to have produced, sold or added the chemical melamine into fresh milk to deceive protein tests. Police in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region where Yili and Mengniu are based, arrested six people suspected of producing and selling melamine.

Road accidents kill over 50,000 in China in first three quarters (October 8, 2008, Xinhua) China reported 50,682 deaths in 195,319 road accidents in the first nine months this year, down 12.7 percent and 20.1 percent, respectively, year-on-year, according to the latest Ministry of Public Security figures. The accidents caused 229,484 injuries and direct economic loss of 770 million yuan (113 million U.S dollars), a drop of 21.2 percent and 14.5 percent, respectively, from the same period last year, the ministry said on its website on Wednesday. There were 23 serious road accidents that killed more than 10 people each. 

China plans first national park (October 8, 2008, Xinhua) China is planning its first national park in the dense forest of northeast Heilongjiang Province, in an effort to balance environmental protection and moderate tourism development. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and National Tourism Administration announced here on Wednesday they had approved a site in the southern area of the Xiaohinggan Mountains (Lesser Hinggan Mountains) at the source of the Tangwang River, a tributary of the Songhua River. The park will join about 10,000 national parks in more than 200countries and regions. Previously, China had no "national park" system akin to Yellowstone National Park in the United States, for example. Instead, there were natural reserves of different levels and national Scenic and Historic Interest Areas. The latter was sometimes considered equivalent to national parks but their management stressed sightseeing more than environmental protection.

China, US launch undergraduate summer exchange program (September 18, 2008, Xinhua) China and the United States will exchange 30 undergraduate students annually for three weeks of study, tour and cultural activities starting next year, according to China's Ministry of Education on Wednesday. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on the summer exchange program for undergraduates on Tuesday. It aimed at strengthening mutual trust and understanding between young people. The memorandum was based on the "Agreement on Educational Exchange and Cooperation" renewed by the two governments in 2006 and a result of the US-China Education Dialogue held in April. The program is also an important activity to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-American diplomatic ties, and the 30th anniversary of the implementation of the Chinese-American student exchanges and the launch of the Fulbright study program.

AIG's China division reassures policyholders (September 18, 2008, Xinhua) The Shanghai-based China unit of troubled US insurance giant American International Group, AIG, yesterday assured Chinese policyholders that it's business as usual. American International Assurance (AIA), a wholly owned subsidiary of AIG and China's largest foreign-owned life insurer by premium, said in a statement that it is well capitalized and able to meet local regulatory capital requirements. The statement said AIG's liquidity problem would not affect the interests of Chinese policyholders, and AIA "remains confident in the future of the Chinese market while continuing to operate normally to meet its obligations to policyholders". In China, the insurer operates two subsidiaries, AIA and AIG General Insurance Co China Ltd, both of which are headquartered in Shanghai.

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Bible to be available free during Games (July 7, 2008, People's Daily) Athletes, officials, spectators and tourists can pick up the Bible or just the New Testament for free during the Olympic Games next month. Tens of thousands of copies of the Bible, the New Testament and booklets with just the four Gospels (according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) have been printed for the purpose, say officials of China's Christian society. Rev Xu Xiaohong, an official of the Shanghai-based China Christian Council in charge of publishing, says 50,000 bilingual (Chinese and English) editions of the Gospel booklets had already been printed by June. They are on way to six cities hosting the Olympic events in the mainland. As has been the practice at earlier Games, the Gospel booklets will be available mainly in churches and the Olympic Village in Beijing, and in Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, Tianjin and Qinhuangdao, Xu says. Places of worship for people of other religions too have been set up in the Olympic Village, Chen Guangyuan, president of the Islamic Association of China has said. The cover of the Gospel booklet will have the Beijing Olympics logo. Nanjing-based Amity Printing Co, the country's major printer of the Bible, has printed the Gospel booklets. Its general manager Li Chunnong says 30,000 copies of the New Testament (Chinese-English bilingual edition) are being printed for free distribution during the Games. The Beijing Christian Council has placed an order with Amity to reprint 10,000 copies of the bilingual Bible edition to be distributed in the Olympic Village, Li says.

Single-child population tops 100 mln (July 8, 2008, Xinhua) The number of only children in China has surpassed 100 million since the introduction of the one-child policy in the late 1970s, according to a population forum in Shanghai on Sunday. The single children group accounted for about 8 percent of China's 1.3-billion population, according to the forum hosted by Shanghai Population Welfare Charity Fund ahead of the July 11 World Population Day. Families have become smaller and smaller since 1982 when households averaged about 4.4 members. In 2005, the figure was reduced to about 3.1. The "core family," which consisted of a couple and one child, had become the common family pattern in Chinese urban areas, the forum said. The one-child policy has prevented an estimated 400 million births.

Mao dropped from new China note (July 7, 2008, BBC News) For the first time in nearly a decade China is issuing new banknotes without the image of Chairman Mao Zedong. The 10 yuan ($1.5; £0.75) notes instead feature Beijing's new Olympic stadium on the front, with an ancient Greek statue of a discus thrower on the back. Both are set against the backdrop of the Temple of Heaven, sited in Beijing. Six million of the new banknotes will be issued, but most notes in circulation will continue to feature Mao - the founder of Communist China.

More than 80,000 dead or missing in China quake (May 22, 2008, Reuters) More than 80,000 people are confirmed dead or missing from China's worst earthquake in decades, the government said on Thursday. Previously, authorities had said they expected the final death toll to exceed 50,000. State Council Information office figures showed that the number of dead now exceeded 51,000, an increase of 10,000 on the previous day's death toll. It said more than 29,000 were still missing. The State Council added that more than 288,000 people were injured by the 7.9 magnitude quake in southwest China on May 12.

Bush mourns earthquake victims (May 21, 2008, Xinhua) US President George W. Bush visited the Chinese embassy here Tuesday, mourning the victims of a devastating earthquake in Sichuan, China, and conveying his condolences to the Chinese people. "We extend our deepest sympathies, and pray for recovery and pray for the strength of those whose lives have been torn apart during this terrible tragedy," he told US and Chinese reporters. Bush and the first lady Laura Bush observed a moment of silence before a black banner which reads "Our deepest condolence goes to the victims of the May 12 earthquake." Both the president and his wife signed the book of condolence.

1st Chinese tour group to leave for U. S. in June (May 16, 2008, China Daily) The first United States-bound Chinese leisure tour group is set to depart on June 17, signaling a new era in Sino-U. S. relations, a senior official said.  Shao Qiwei, head of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), will escort the inaugural tour group to Washington DC. Their arrival will coincide with the fourth China-U. S. Strategic Economic Dialogue, which would be hosted by the city. The first phase will last six months, during which time only nine provinces and municipalities can organize U. S. -bound tour groups, Shao said. Group members must be residents with hukou (permanent residence registrations) in Beijing, Tianjin or Shanghai municipalities, or Hebei, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces, he said.

I left my good friend Sheila in great condition awaiting for her plane in Beijing. She flies out tomorrow. I just happened to be at Tian'anmen in Beijing when the earthquake in Sichuan hit. I am safe. I just want everyone to know that. I am a long ways away from the epicenter. See the map below. I also found a digital representation of all the aftershocks that have hit this province. Click here to see it.

3rd round of Olympics tickets on sale May 5 (April 23, 2008, Xinhua) Organizers of the Beijing Olympics announced on Wednesday that the third round of domestic ticket sales will start on May 5 and close on June 9. A total of 1.38 million tickets will be put on sale for 16 sports, including athletics, boxing, basketball, and soccer. Each individual buyer is allowed to purchase no more than six tickets - three tickets each for two sports sessions. Chinese residents also have the possibility of buying six more tickets. Ticket will be sold on a "first come, first served" basis at Bank of China outlets and on the official ticketing website. "There are roughly 100 days to go before the Games open. We don't have enough time for a lottery draw," said Zhu. He promised the meltdown of the booking system, which disrupted the earlier round of ticket sales would not happen again.

China train crash death toll rises to 71 (April 30, 2008, AP) The death toll from China's worst rail accident in a decade rose Wednesday to 71, with more than 400 injured passengers still hospitalized following the pre-dawn collision between two trains, state media said. Sixty of those injured in Monday's crash were in critical condition, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Xinhua said 385 passengers were being treated in hospitals near the crash site at Zibo city in eastern China's Shandong province. Another 18 were sent to hospitals in the provincial capital of Jinan and to Beijing. Officials have said speeding was to blame for the collision. Three railway officials already have been fired. The accident happened as a passenger train from Beijing to the coastal city of Qingdao was traveling at 81 miles per hour - well over the track section's speed limit of 50 mph, Xinhua reported, citing an investigative panel. The train jumped its tracks and collided with an oncoming passenger train on another track. Nine carriages from the first train tumbled into a dirt ditch. The second train stayed upright but was knocked askew on the tracks. Train service has already been restored after hundreds of workers repaired the track and used a huge crane to lift damaged carriages out of the way.

Beijing subway to clear mobile telecom blind spots (May 1, 2008, Xinhua) Beijing Subway plans to clear all blind spots for mobile telecommunication ahead of the Olympics in August.  Beijing Subway currently operate eight lines. The oldest two, lines one and two, have many blind spots for mobile phones and WiFi connections, the Beijing Daily reported on Thursday. Passengers on those lines often suffered from frequent dropped calls or poor signal reception. In the past seven months, Beijing Subway equipped lines one and two, which were built three decades ago, with 43 telecom control centers as well as 1,507 transmitters in stations and subway tunnels, the newspaper said. The telecom facilities under construction in the two subway lines will enable not only mobile phone use but also wireless Internet connection, the newspaper said. The technological upgrades included the smart entry program for all Beijing subway stations. Commuters are expected to use, no later than May, smart cards for their entries and exits from subway platforms.

Chinese students chalk up higher mean score in TOEFL (May 8, 2008, Xinhua) Chinese students are making "strong progress" in mastering the communicative English skills, as Educational Testing Service (ETS) reported that the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores for Chinese test takers increased to match the worldwide average in 2007, ETS officials said here Wednesday. Citing figures from ETS' TOEFL Test and Score Data Summary, which contains data on the performance of examinees who took the TOEFL Internet-based test in 2007, the officials said that the mean score for Chinese test takers was 78 in the year, a two-point increase over 2006, matching the worldwide average of 78. The TOEFL test is the most widely accepted English-language test in the world. More than 6,000 institutions in 110 countries accept TOEFL scores, including the world's top universities and institutions in the UK., Europe and all 4,300 colleges and universities in the United States, according to ETS.

Report: China's annual tourist arrivals to top 163 mln in three years (May 8, 2008, Xinhua) The annual inbound tourist arrival in China will surpass 163 million in the next three years, according to a report issued by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) on Thursday. China's tourism industry recorded a staggering growth in the past two decades, and the industry is now worth more than 100 billion U.S. dollars a year and creates 90 million jobs nationwide, the PATA said in the report. Last year, 132 million overseas tourists visited the country.

Beijing lodges formal complaint against CNN (April 17, 2008, South China Morning Post) Beijing has lodged a formal complaint against US television network CNN for what it called a vicious attack by one of its commentators who labelled the Chinese as "goons" and their products as "junk". In a statement late on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao condemned the comments by Jack Cafferty on CNN's The Situation Room programme and demanded the network apologise. CNN has already said it did not mean to cause offence with Mr Cafferty's remarks and clarified that the commentator was offering his opinion of the Chinese government, not the country's people, but the Foreign Ministry said that was not good enough. Mr Cafferty had said the United States imported Chinese-made "junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food", adding: "They're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years."

Tsinghua Professor: Big Chinese cities need slums for migrant workers (April 15, 2008, Xinhua) A Chinese scholar from one of China's most prestigious universities claimed slums should be allowed to exist in China's big cities to provide shelters for the urban poor. "It is no shame for big cities to have such areas. On the contrary, Shenzhen and other cities should take initiatives to build cheap residential areas for low-income residents including migrant workers who want to stay in the cities where they work," said Tsinghua University Professor Qin Hui. "By building those areas, big cities could show more consideration for low-income residents, and provide them with more welfare," Qin said in his speech at a public forum on urbanization in Shenzhen over the weekend.  He urged big cities to provide living space for migrant workers, because most cannot settle in the cities where they work.

China's direct investments abroad top $92b by 2007 (April 14, 2008, Xinhua) China's combined direct investments abroad amounted to $92.05 billion by the end of 2007, said a senior official of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) on Wednesday. Zhang Wei, vice chairman of the CCPIT, said in Beijing that since the government initiated the "going global" strategy for domestic companies in 1998, Chinese companies' enthusiasm for investing overseas has been on the rise, big privately-owned enterprises in particular.

Foreign language courses in China draw 50 million people (March 31, 2008, Xinhua) China has nearly 50 million people who are learning foreign languages at schools and language institutes, an official of the Ministry of Education (MOE) said. Colleges offer courses in more than 60 foreign languages, Dai Weidong, professor with the MOE advisory board for foreign language teaching, told an international symposium that concluded over the weekend. More than 900 colleges offer an English major, he said, and of those, more than 600 can confer a bachelor's degree and more than 200 can confer master's degrees. There are more than 800,000 students majoring in English in China.

Retailers face big fines for violating plastic ban (April 10, 2008, Xinhua) Retailers may be fined up to 10,000 Yuan ($1,430) for providing free plastic bags to shoppers, the Ministry of Commerce has proposed. The penalty will take effect from June 1, according to a draft regulation published on the ministry's website to solicit public opinion till April 14. The move follows a ban announced in January on the manufacture, sale and use of ultra-thin plastic bags (defined as less than 0.025 mm thick) from June 1 as part of efforts to protect the environment and save energy. The draft regulation says retailers can set the price for plastic bags, but not below cost. They also have to include the price of the bags on customer receipts, or face fines of up to 5,000 Yuan. The regulation does not apply to plastic packaging for frozen or cooked food.

Yuan breaks 7 mark against US dollar (April 10, 2007, Xinhua) Chinese currency, the Yuan, was set to trade at 6.9920 Yuan against one US dollar on Thursday, the first time for it to breach the 7-Yuan mark against the dollar since the country de-pegged its currency from the dollar in 2005. Following an overnight fall of the dollar, the central parity rate of the Yuan, or Renminbi, gained 105 basis points to 6.9920 Yuan against the dollar on Thursday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System.

Beijing opens $3.6 billion air terminal (March 1, 2008, Xinhua)
Beijing opened a huge new $3.6 billion, Norman Foster designed airport terminal on Friday ahead of the expected influx of millions more visitors coming to this summer's Olympic Games. The impressive new terminal's nearly 3-km (2-mile) long concourse, which is divided into three sections and connected by a shuttle train, will boost capacity at the airport to 76 million compared with the 52 million who used the airport last year. Six airlines will use Terminal 3 initially, including Sichuan Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Qatar Airways, Qantas Airways , British Airways and El Al Israel Airlines.

China gears up for faithful during the Games (March 5, 2008, Reuters)
Beijing is setting up sites and training local believers to provide religious services for foreigners attending the Olympic Games, religious officials said on Wednesday. Large numbers of religious faithful are expected among the athletes, coaches and tourists crowding into the officially atheist nation for the Olympics, opening on August 8. China is keen to use the international attention on the Beijing Olympics to promote its economic and social successes and growing openness, including in religion. Fu Xianwei, president of the official Three-self Patriotic Movement Committee for Protestant churches, said Christians in Beijing and other parts of the country were also undergoing language training for the Games. The Catholic community had been doing the same and would hold a mass to pray for the success of the Games on the 100-day countdown, said Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. The Beijing organizers of the Games had responded "positively" to his suggestion that Bibles should be placed in Christian Olympic athletes' rooms, Liu said.

China, US agree on military hotline (February 29, 2008, Xinhua)
China and the United States officially signed here on Friday an agreement on setting up a military hotline between the two defense departments, the Chinese Defense Ministry said. The agreement was signed at the conclusion of a working meeting between the two defense departments which began on Thursday. The Ministry said the two sides also signed an agreement on launching military archives cooperation in order to find US military personnel missing in the Korean War, but did not disclose the details of both agreements. The hotline is aimed at providing instant contact between Chinese and US defense and military leaders on major issues of common concern, especially in emergencies, according to officials with the Defense Ministry.

Chinese Scoop up Looted Qing Treasures in Auction (October 9, 2007, Reuters) A sale of Chinese treasures looted from Qing palaces by foreign troops has fetched record prices in Hong Kong on Tuesday, given gritty bidding by Chinese buyers looking to repatriate such objects from the West. A white jade seal belonging to the Qing dynasty, Qianlong emperor carved in 1796 to mark his abdication, was the most expensive lot -- going for HK$46.2 million (US$5.9 million). It broke the record for any Chinese white jade or imperial seal ever sold at auction after intense bidding by mainland Chinese and Taiwanese bidders. The squat, round seal inscribed with a poem, had been looted from the Hall of Imperial Longevity (Shouhuangdian) in Beijing in 1900 by a French soldier, General de Gercey. A total of HK$325.8 million (US$42 million) was paid for the 34 "lost treasures" on offer, exceeding the pre-auction estimate of US$25 million. Sotheby's said most of the buyers hailed from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, but didn't give specifics.

Baby Boom for Beijing Olympics (October 10, 2007, China Daily) For many Chinese couples, October is the right season to conceive babies, as they hope to have an "Olympic baby" delivered at 8:08 PM, on August 8, 2008, the time when the opening ceremony will begin. While the ambitious potential parents plan to celebrate the Games with a new addition to their families, host country China is bracing itself for a baby boom. The first generation born under the one-child policy has reached the age of childbearing. And also, a mixture of traditional superstition and new trends has led to an abnormal surge in the population. The year 2000 saw over 36 million "millennium babies", nearly doubling the number in 1999 and 2001. Seven years later, the country is witnessing a new rush of baby deliveries since February 18, the beginning of the lunar New Year, the Year of the Pig. Many couples are trying to have "piggy babies" so that they will have a happy and prosperous life in the Year of golden Pig, as the animal sign coincides with gold, one of the five elements on earth. As a result, the number of newborns is expected to hit 20 million this year, according to Xinhua New Agency. And with the "Olympic baby" fever, the numbers of babies will be even higher. The baby boom has already started to put strains on schools and hospitals and later on, job markets. Experts warn irrational selective births could result in a shortage of social resources.

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Chinese Military Hacked into Pentagon (September 3, 2007, Financial Times) The Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network in June in the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department, say American ­officials. The Pentagon acknowledged shutting down part of a computer system serving the office of Robert Gates, defence secretary, but declined to say who it believed was behind the attack. Current and former officials have told the Financial Times an internal investigation has revealed that the incursion came from the People’s Liberation Army. One senior US official said the Pentagon had pinpointed the exact origins of the attack. Another person familiar with the event said there was a “very high level of confidence...trending towards total certainty” that the PLA was responsible. The defence ministry in Beijing declined to comment on Monday. The Pentagon is still investigating how much data was downloaded, but one person with knowledge of the attack said most of the information was probably “unclassified”.

Illegal Mapping in China by Foreigners on Rise (September 3, 2007, Xinhua) The number of cases involving foreign institutions and individuals conducting illegal surveying and mapping in China has been on the rise in recent years, according to the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM). In the first six months of this year, local authorities have handled five cases. They are investigating five others in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, Shanghai Municipality, and Jiangxi and Jiangsu provinces. SBSM said most of these foreigners came into the country under the disguise of scientists, tourists, expedition leaders, and archaeologists. These foreign nationals carried out their illegal surveying and mapping with advanced techniques and equipment. They obtained much precise information and data regarding coordinates, topography and geography, all of which may threaten China's state security, according to the official. Currently, surveying and mapping authorities of different levels have stepped up their efforts to crack down on these kinds of illegal activities, in collaboration with state security and secrecy departments.

Chinese Dishes Get Official English Names Before Olympics (August 31, 2007, Xinhua) Foreigners will find it easier to order a meal in Beijing during the Olympics as most dishes and drinks will have proper English translations. Beijing Tourism Bureau has released a list of translations for 2,753 dishes and drinks to solicit public opinions. The list, once finally fixed, will be used in restaurants across the country, to replace confusing, even ridiculous translations, according to the bureau. Bad translations of Chinese dishes are headaches for foreign epicures. There used to be translations like "Virgin Chicken" and "Burnt Lion's Head", which are actually dishes based on young chicken and pork ball resembling lion's head. These translations either scare or embarrass foreign customers and may cause misunderstanding on China's diet habits. A team set up by the Beijing Municipal Foreign Affairs Office and Beijing Tourism Bureau has been working on the problem since March last year, backed by a committee of 20 language experts and catering service managers. The names of Chinese dishes have combined cultural and artistic elements in them, some with historical, geographical and political background, some with origins from Chinese fairy tales and folk tales. Often the dishes are named with stories understood only by people who know their culture well.

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