Chinese head coach Zhu set to quit

KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 - China coach Zhu Guanghu is set to step down after his team crashed out of the Asian Cup quarter-finals following a humiliating 0-3 defeat to Uzbekistan.
It is the worst performance for the Chinese team at the Asian Cup in 27 years.
Chinese fans, like times in the past, were again broken-hearted after the match, in which a tie would ensure a knock-out stage berth for China.
Zhu, who apologized to the fans after the match, looked to be on his way out, but he vowed not to leave football.
"I am the one responsible for the result and I am very sorry for the fans but I hope that in the future, the players can learn from this," he said at a news conference on Wednesday.
"I will not leave football," he noted.
Xie Yalong, vice chairman of Chinese Football Association, declined to make it clear whether Zhu will be replaced.
"We will sum all these up and find the problems......I will not disclose our arrangement (concerning Zhu) now, but we will make these arrangement soon," Xie told reporters.
But many people believed it is a mere matter of time for Zhu to step down to take the blame for the poor performance of the team.
Before the tournament, Zhu made it clear his aim was to reach the semifinals. He emphasized before the crucial clash with Uzbekistan that the aim would not be changed.
But the Chinese team was flooded by criticism for its poorest performance even in its warming-ups to the Asian Cup including a stunning 0-1 defeat to Thailand.
China played well in its opening match, defeating co-host Malaysia 5-1 followed by an acceptable 2-2 draw with Iran.

China to comprehensively investigate the Great Wall in 4 years

Chinanews, Beijing, July 20 - According to the State Cultural Heritage Administration, China has started its general investigation of the Great Wall, the first of the kind since 1949, aiming at collecting basic information of the entire Wall in 4 years. Some provinces and autonomous regions have already acquired the data needed.
The investigation of the part of the Great Wall built in the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) will be completed in the late 2008, and the archives and database of the Great Wall will be built by 2010.
The Great Wall is one of the biggest and oldest existing cultural heritages in the world. Though China has put it on the national cultural heritage list, the damage to the Wall has never stopped, particularly damages caused by the development of it as tourist spot. Besides, local cultural heritage administrations often complain that they don't have enough money to protect or refurbish the Great Wall. Making general archives of the Great Wall will be the first step to offer it better protection.

Half of Chinese cities' drinking water unqualified, OECD

Chinanews, Beijing, Jul. 20 – The OECD released a report on China’s environmental protection effort in Beijing on Tuesday, which points out that half of Chinese cities’ drinking water sources fail to meet the required standard, and water quality in the Yangtze River, Zhu Jiang, Songhua and 4 other rivers is seriously deteriorating.
OECD’s report has been approved by State Environmental Protection Administration.
The report points out that the main polluted sources come from dejections, as well as industrial and chemical wastes. The Haihe, Liaohe and Huaihe rivers are under the threat of heavy pollution.

Highest seismological station built in Tibet

Chinanews, Lhasa, July 20 - The highest manned seismological station was put in trial operation in the northern part of Tibet Autonomous Region, to monitor the small-scale earthquakes there. The station was also built as an important supply to the national earthquake monitoring network.
The station was first put in use during the 9th Five-Year Plan Period (1995-2000), but at that time it had no proper instrument to monitor small-scale earthquakes, which are common in northern Tibet and along the boarder between Tibet and Xinjiang and the border between Tibet and Qinghai.
Thus the station was upgraded to its current scale. Now it can sense very small earthquakes (less than 1 on the Richter scale) that occur within the range of 250 km. It can even record the vibration caused by a moving car.
So far, the station is in normal operation, and has recorded all the earthquakes that had occurred.

Air pollution to kill 600,000 in China by 2020

Chinanews, Beijing, July 20 - According to a joint report by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the National Environmental Protection Administration, more than 270 million urban Chinese are breathing polluted air nowadays. It is estimated that about 600 thousand of them will die an early death by 2020 due to polluted air.
Every year, 20 million Chinese fall victim to respiratory diseases caused by pollution, not including 5.5 million chronic bronchitis patients.
Some overseas media say that every year about 750 thousand Chinese are killed by air pollution, and they claim the data are taken from a report by the World Bank. However, the Ministry of Health and the National Environmental Protection Administration have confirmed the data to be false, and demanded that the World Bank delete them from its report.
"I have not read that report, thus I don't want to comment on it. Air pollution is still a severe problem in China, although it is very difficult to analyze its harm quantitatively," said Zhou Jian, deputy director of the National Environmental Protection Administration.

Gene library for looking for family members

Chinanews, Beijing, July 20 - The first gene library for looking for missing family members has been completed in Beijing, which will help orphans to find their root.
It is estimated that currently there are 500 thousand people in China looking for family members with whom they have lost touch for long.
Lu Shunfang, a warm-hearted woman from Guanlin of Yixing County, Jiangsu Province, initiated the building of the gene library. Lu has lost track of her sister for year, and she has met many people with similar experiences in her journey of looking for her sister.
In 2000, Lu organized several meetings to help these people, with more than 1,000 people attending each.
Lu found that such meetings were not efficient enough for people to identify their family members, for they had to rely on their dim memories of appearance, voice, birthmarks, etc.
"Many people found wrong family members at the meeting, thus I thougt we should build a gene library, which would be more precise and more efficient," said Lu.
Lu told her ideas to the Center of Forensic Sciences, and jointly, the gene library was set up.

Buns return to dinner table

Chinanews, Beijing, July 20 - "Tonight I can sleep tight," said Wang, the owner of a baozi (steamed stuffed bun) restaurant on the Zhaodengyu Road in Beijing. He looked very tired, for he really had difficulties these days, when a TV program claimed that the fillings of many buns sold in Beijing were made from the mixture of cardboard and grilled meat.
Before people had a chance to confirm the authenticity of the news, the business of nearly all the bun restaurants in Beijing, particuarly small ones, were driven into a fix. Luckily, the news was found to be fake on July 18.
"My business still sags. In the past 3 days, I have used 25 kg of flour, while in the past, I needed 75 kg of flour every day," said Wang. "I bought good-quality meat to make the fillings, but none of my customers would trust me after the broadcast of the news."
However, Qingfeng, a bun chain restaurant of long-standing originality, has had a much better time, for its good credit. Our reporter saw that that all its shops have been very crowded during the lunch hours, even after the news broadcast.
"In fact, our business has been better," said Luo, the manager of Qingfeng. "The customers of the bun stalls have started to dine in our restaurants, too."
After the broadcast of the news, local industrial and commercial administration sent special teams to check the quality of buns in the market. Though no "cardboard filling buns" were found, many disqualified bun sellers were expelled in the checks. It can be estimated that it will only be a matter of time for buns to return to dinner tables in Beijing.

Chinese pay more attention to financial affairs

Chinanews, Hangzhou, July 20 - Chinese people today pay more attention to managing their money, due to the sharp price hike in the first 6 months of 2007, particularly the price hike of basic necessities like food, housing and energy.
Nowadays, most urban Chinese are doning the best to maintain a good life quality even when many things have become more and more expensive. Thus many of them have chosen to make investment.
"I have started to pay attention to the changes of CPI, and I keep the record of family expenses every day," said Mrs. Wang, a recently married young lady. In fact, many young ladies like Wang plan their every day expenditure carefully.
Mr.Wang, a clerk in a network company in Hangzhou, has made several investments on agricultural products, for their prices are rising. "One should make investments in various fields, to guarantee a maximum profit," said Mr. Wang. He believes that one should not deposit all the money in banks, for there is hardly any profit at all. The stock market is not a good choice, either, where the risk is too high, he said.

Six Party talks expected to end Fri.

Christopher Hill, head of the United States delegation to the six-party talks speaks to the meida in Beijing, capital of China, July 19, 2007. The meeting of the heads of the delegations to the six-party talks entered the second day on Thursday.
BEIJING, July 20 - The two days of Six Party talks to set a timeframe for disabling the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) nuclear programs, are expected to end Friday without a disarmament deadline, US chief envoy Christopher Hill said late Thursday amid uncertainties over the talks.
Hill believed the consensus given was "kind of not very successful", although negotiators had a great deal of discussion on an overall deadline.
But Hill said he still believed the DPRK could complete disablement before the end of the year as expected, and was pleased with what had been accomplished, describing the meeting as "the best one" he had attended.
Hill said working groups would likely to meet by the end of August to negotiate technical specifics on disablement procedures before all parties reached an overall deadline.
The talks were originally scheduled to end on Thursday with a chairman's statement, but were extended to Friday morning, to nail down a DPRK disarmament promise and an unlikely specific timetable.
Hill said they would meet China's foreign minister Friday before China issued a statement concluding the session, which would lay out the sequence of events at the second phase, the tasks of all five working groups, and a new round plenary session.
The six negotiators met on Thursday morning and held several rounds of bilateral consultations in the afternoon in "a serious and pragmatic" atmosphere, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, and in a "businesslike" manner in the eye's of Hill.
Japan's chief delegate Kenichiro Sasae told reporters that China was putting together the negotiation results to date for the next day's talks and the eventual chairman's statement.
"There were points we agreed on, but we also have divergence," Sasae said, adding the DPRK and Japan agreed on working together towards resolving issues of common concern despite a longstanding rift.
ROK chief negotiator Chun Yung Woo said Thursday's meeting, in a "more practical atmosphere", mainly discussed details of complete disablement of nuclear facilities, and the Six Parties "made their proposals frankly".
Russian special envoy Vladimir Rakhmanin said the meeting was held in "a friendly atmosphere". He also warned the participants not to "complicate or simplify the problems discussed".
Given the complexity of the issue, it was hard for negotiators to reach agreement on a disablement timetable, said the ROK negotiator, which, observers say, was the likely reason for prolonging the meeting.
However, positive signals emerged after the first day of talks. Hill said on Wednesday that the talks had been "very open and substantive discussions". The ROK negotiator said the DPRK demonstrated its willingness to disable its nuclear facilities and declare all its nuclear programs "in five to six months".
Although the DPRK made no comment on the ongoing talks, it had held three one-on-one meetings with the US. All chief negotiators held bilateral consultations as soon as they arrived in Beijing.
Chun, the ROK negotiator, said earlier on Thursday that the DPRK this time demonstrated "a practical and realistic approach", and if it could maintain this "pragmatic" way, it would be helpful for setting a specific action plan.
"It might be a controversial discussion about which step to take next," said Tao Wenzhao, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
He said it would be a "strategic choice" for the DPRK to implement the Feb. 13 joint document, and that trust was required between the DPRK and US.
The DPRK has already shut down its Yongbyon facilities, the first step to implementing the joint document, which maps out the specific steps for the DPRK's nuclear weapons abandonment and financial compensation.
The six nations ended with a joint document during the fifth round of talks in February this year, which was considered an initial action to implementing a landmark joint statement signed in Sept. 2005.
The meeting this week was the first since the last round of talks went into recess in late March.

Soldiers leave China for military drill in Russia

July 20 - The first batch of Chinese officers and soldiers have left China for Russia to attend a joint anti-terrorism drill held by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Officers and soldiers left from Korla railway station for Russia at 2:52 p.m. on Thursday, along with armaments needed for the drill.
The six member countries of SCO -- China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan -- will stage a joint anti-terrorism drill from Aug. 9 to 17.
The drill, dubbed "Peace Mission 2007", will be carried out in Chelyabinsk in Russia's Ural Mountainous region and in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
"They (the soldiers) will travel a total distance of 10,300 kilometers," said Qiu Yanhan, deputy commander of the Chinese troops taking part in the drill.
"This is the first time the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has sent so many soldiers and armaments to such a far away place," Qiu said.
On the train, reporters could see various vehicles and armaments including command cars and field emergency vehicles. All of them were labeled with signs of "Peace Mission 2007" in blue and China's national flag.
Guo Boxiong, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission said last week that the exercise was a good opportunity to enhance international cooperation on combating terrorism, separatism and extremism.
The exercise will help deepen relations between the militaries of SCO members and enhance cooperation on defense security, according to Guo.
A total of 1,600 soldiers from China's army and air force -- including airborne and logistic units -- will take part in the drill, according to the Ministry of Defense.

Nuke talks end with schedule for next round

BEIJING, July 20 - The Six-Party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue ended here Friday with a schedule for next round of negotiation, reported Xinhua News Agency.
Delegates attending the meeting decided to convene in early September for another round of Six Party talks and the five working groups would meet by the end of August to discuss technical details concerning the disablement of the nuclear facilities of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Xinhua said.

Old shops on Qianmen Street to be reopened

Chinanews, Beijing, July 20 - Qianmen Street in Beijing will be reopened in October, after being closed off to all traffic for renovation. Nowadays, the street administration is inviting new businesses. It is said that the 13 famous shops of long standing originality lining the street will resume their business, too.
The 200 new shops will be located on both sides of the street, covering nearly 70,000 sq m, including restaurants, retailers and shops providing other services. The invitation will last till the beginning of September. The places of the 13 long-standing shops have already been reserved.
"We are planning to invite some international enterprises to open their business here, too," said a staff member of the Qianmen Street administration.
The buildings along the street will be restored to their original look in the 1920s and 1930s, with well selected materials. The five traditional ceremonial archways on the street will be rebuilt. The street will be paved with slabs, and streetcars will be put in use again on the new Qianmen Street.

Economic growth goes beyond experts' expectation

Chinanews, Beijing, July 20 – During the first half of this year, Chinese GDP reached 10.68 trillion yuan, 11.5% more than the same period last year. Economic growth in the second quarter reached 11.9%, the highest point during the first half of the year. Fixed assets investment increased by 25.9% during the first half of the year, 2.2 percentage points higher than in the first quarter, according to information released by the National Statistics Bureau on Thursday.
The macro economic growth has exceeded experts' previous expectations.
Earlier, most economists predicted that macro economic growth rate might stand around 9-10.5% this year, a level lower than the economic growth rate of last year. The newly released figures show that Chinese economy, which managed o keep a double-digit growth for the past four years, has shown no sign of slowing down.
“The economy is at high risk of becoming overheated, ”said Zhang Yongjun from the State Information Center.
Meanwhile, the latest figures show that during the first half of the year, CPI increased by 3.2% compared with the same period last year. In particular, CPI figure in June increased by 4.4%, hitting a new high after it reached the highest point in October 2004.
Before these figures were released, market speculation had already painted a gloomy picture of the macro economic performance. Analysts worry that once the CPI figures are publicized, it will evoke some new macro control measures, which might further affect the stock market performance. Most market analysts are concerned about the possible interest rate raise, a measure that might probably come after CPI figures are announced.

Chinese people active in starting a business, report

Chinanews, Beijing, July 20 – A recent report shows that China is at a time when lots of people are active in starting their business or work in newly established companies. In China, related index that measures people's enthusiasm in working in new enterprises now reaches 16.2, which means that among every one hundred people aged 18-64, about 16.2 people on average have established or work in a company that have just opened for less than three and half years. Among all countries that are included in the report, China ranks sixth in its people’s interest in new companies.
The report, titled "Global Observation on China's Interest and Activity in New Companies" (2006), was released on Thursday.
Last year, Chinese people were not as active as the United States or Australia in their enthusiasm for new companies. This year, China has performed better in this aspect. Generally speaking, people in Asian countries are more active in starting or working in new companies, since among the top ten countries included on the list, four are from Asia, said Cheng Yuan, associate professor of the School of Business Administration at Tsinghua University.
New business has contributed more to China's GDP these days, said Cheng, adding that this will make Chinese economy more stable. With new companies, more new products and techniques will appear in the market. In addition, these newly established companies can help boost export and create more job opportunities, all of which are very important to keeping economy further economic growth, Cheng said.
The report shows that 60% of the new entrepreneurs start their business with less than 50,000 yuan. The capital they need to start their business come from their family members, friends, neighbors, relatives, financial institutions, or colleagues. The report also shows that over 40% of the business starters can earn profits in at most 3 months and most business starters are optimistic about their company's prospect.

Chinese people active in starting a business, report

Chinanews, Beijing, July 20 – A recent report shows that China is at a time when lots of people are active in starting their business or work in newly established companies. In China, related index that measures people's enthusiasm in working in new enterprises now reaches 16.2, which means that among every one hundred people aged 18-64, about 16.2 people on average have established or work in a company that have just opened for less than three and half years. Among all countries that are included in the report, China ranks sixth in its people’s interest in new companies.
The report, titled "Global Observation on China's Interest and Activity in New Companies" (2006), was released on Thursday.
Last year, Chinese people were not as active as the United States or Australia in their enthusiasm for new companies. This year, China has performed better in this aspect. Generally speaking, people in Asian countries are more active in starting or working in new companies, since among the top ten countries included on the list, four are from Asia, said Cheng Yuan, associate professor of the School of Business Administration at Tsinghua University.
New business has contributed more to China's GDP these days, said Cheng, adding that this will make Chinese economy more stable. With new companies, more new products and techniques will appear in the market. In addition, these newly established companies can help boost export and create more job opportunities, all of which are very important to keeping economy further economic growth, Cheng said.
The report shows that 60% of the new entrepreneurs start their business with less than 50,000 yuan. The capital they need to start their business come from their family members, friends, neighbors, relatives, financial institutions, or colleagues. The report also shows that over 40% of the business starters can earn profits in at most 3 months and most business starters are optimistic about their company's prospect.

Pork price remains high due to short supply, MOC

Chinanews, Beijing, July 20 – Recently, pork price keeps rising in China. The public fear that in the near future, there might not be enough pork available in the market. In clearing such fears, Assistant Minister of Commerce Huang Hai said that Chinese government could guarantee enough pork supply in the market. Pork selling price might still remain high during the second half of the year; however, the short supply will come to an end by the end of the year, when supply and demand for pork remains at a balanced level. By then, he said, pork selling price will return to the normal range.
Since mid May this year, pork price has witnessed a major rise twice in many places across China. Recently, the pork price is still climbing up little by little.
The price hike is mainly boosted by the short supply of pork, said the assistant minister on Thursday.
At present, pigs are raised by individual farmers. Since these farmers can not share information effectively, sometimes pork supply will exceed demand, while at other times, the situation is vice versa. During the first half of 2006, the price of pigs dropped dramatically. In order to reduce raising costs, many farmers killed sows and sold the piglets at cheap prices. As a result, the number of fully grown pigs dropped dramatically during the first half of this year. In many abattoirs, the number of pigs that could be killed for meat also dropped tremendously. Consequently, less pork is available in the market.
The blue-ear disease occurred in some places across China this year and price of forage kept rising. All these added costs to pig raising. In addition, heat wave swept over some places across China and floods occurring in these places destroyed roads, making pork delivery difficult.
It usually takes about half a year for a piglet to fully grow. So the problem of short pork supply can not be solved in the short term. Pork price might remain high during the second half of the year. If there are serious natural disasters or epidemic diseases occurring at that time, pork price might further climb in some parts of China, the assistant minister said.