China recalls tainted leukemia drugs By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer

China recalls tainted leukemia drugs By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer
26 minutes ago



BEIJING - Chinese authorities ordered the recall of tainted leukemia drugs blamed for leg pains and other problems, state media reported Sunday, the latest crisis to strike the country's embattled food and drug industries.

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Most of the drugs involved — methotrexate and cytarabin hydrochloride — have been recovered and authorities have traced the remainder, the Xinhua News Agency said. The report did not say if any of the drugs had been exported.

Authorities have banned the sale and distribution of the drugs, produced by the Shanghai Hualian Pharmaceutical Co., it said.

China, a major global supplier, has been facing growing international pressure to improve the quality of its exports after dangerous toxins — from lead to an antifreeze ingredient — were found in goods including toys and toothpaste.

China has been eager to cast itself as a victim, too, of unsafe imports. Xinhua on Saturday announced that inspectors recently found residue of the banned stimulant ractopamine in frozen pig kidneys imported from the United States and frozen pork spareribs from Canada. The names of the exporting companies were not identified. Ractopamine is forbidden for use as veterinary medicine in China.

Xinhua said the 18.37 tons of frozen pork kidneys and 24 tons of frozen pork had been returned to importers exporters, said the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

Ractopamine, a hormone that promotes the growth of lean meat in pigs and cattle, is banned by China and most other countries as a health hazard, although its use in stock animals is permitted in the U.S. and Canada. China has also recently banned imports of U.S. meat contaminated with salmonella, additives, and veterinary drugs.

Xinhua said the State Food and Drug Administration and Health Ministry banned the two leukemia drugs after several child leukemia patients who were taking them complained of leg pains and difficulty walking. Xinhua said some patients also complained of urine retention.

It said the Health Ministry and drug administration had traced the problems with the drugs to their being tainted with vincristine sulfate, an anticancer drug. Xinhua said factories manufacturing the drugs had been closed.

China has taken a series of steps to crackdown on tainted drugs and other unsafe products, in part due to concern over the reputation of its exports.

In the harshest action so far, the country's former top drug regulator was executed in July for taking millions of dollars in bribes to approve substandard medicines, including an antibiotic that killed at least 10 people.

China replaces 5 Cabinet ministers By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer

China replaces 5 Cabinet ministers By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 11 minutes ago



BEIJING - China replaced five Cabinet ministers — including the finance minister and the head of the secret police — the government said Thursday, just weeks ahead of a major Communist Party meeting that will set the country's policies for the next five years.

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Jin Renqing, finance minister since 2003, has been replaced by Xie Xuren, government spokesman He Shaoren told a news conference. He also announced that Geng Huichang had replaced Xu Yongyue as state security minister in charge of China's secret police.

The others replaced were the ministers of supervision and personnel, and the minister in charge of the State Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, He said.

The changes were announced at the end of a meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's legislature. The committee meets to decide laws and personnel changes when the legislature is not in its annual sitting.

One official said Jin stepped down for personal reasons, but no reasons were given for the other changes.

"For personal reasons, Jin Renqing requested to resign. The central government agreed to his request and approved appointing him to be deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council," a spokeswoman for the State Council told The Associated Press earlier on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.

The State Council is China's Cabinet.

Jin's transfer comes six weeks before the opening of a twice-a-decade Communist Party congress. Besides setting policy, the meeting is also expected to result in new appointments of senior party and government positions.

Xie, Jin's replacement, has been director of the tax administration since March 2003. He is also an alternative member of the party's Central Committee.

Jin, 63, is one of about 200 members of the Communist Party's Central Committee, and formerly headed the tax administration.

There was no immediate word on what factors had influenced Jin's resignation, but similar cases in the past have been attributed to marital, health or family problems. Jin is still two years below the official retirement age for officials at the central government level.

Asked Wednesday about rumors of Jin's departure, Central Bank Vice Governor Su Ning said monetary policy would not be affected by personnel changes at the Finance Ministry, a reflection of how decisions about the direction of China's economy are determined at a higher level.

Geng was vice minister of the State Security Ministry. Few other details were known about him.

Ma Wen was appointed supervision minister, replacing Li Zhilun, who died of an illness in April, He said.

Zhang Qingwei was appointed director — a ministerial-level position — in charge of the State Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, replacing Zhang Yunchuan.

The fifth change was the appointment of Yin Weimin as minister of personnel, replacing Zhang Bolin, who is retiring.

Jin's time in office saw huge growth and development in the economy as well as concerns about overheating.

On Wednesday, the central bank said inflation was likely to exceed the government's 3 percent target for the year despite a series of credit tightening measures to tamp down prices and cool enthusiasm for buying shares.

Jin's tenure at the Finance Ministry also saw China's foreign currency reserves surge past $1.3 trillion, a sign both of China's foreign trade juggernaut and the government's failure to balance flows of money into and out of the economy.

He oversaw preparations for the creation of one of the world's largest investment funds to make more profitable use of its foreign currency reserves that are now parked in safe, but relatively low-yielding U.S. Treasury securities and other dollar-denominated assets.

China's massive trade surplus with the United States which hit $235 billion last year and is expected to grow this year, has put Beijing under pressure to revalue its currency. Critics say the Chinese yuan is deliberately undervalued against the U.S. dollar and other currencies to spur trade by making Chinese exports unfairly cheap.

Beijing says its currency regime is fair, but has allowed a gradual strengthening of the yuan.

Also Thursday, China removed four officials accused of corruption from its legislature, the official Xinhua News Agency said, apparently signaling the ruling Communist Party's resolve to battle the widespread problem.

Chen Liangyu, a former party boss of Shanghai who has been jailed and is awaiting trial on corruption charges, was stripped of his last official post as a deputy to the National People's Congress, Xinhua said. Chen was kicked out of the party last month and fired from all government positions after he was dismissed as Shanghai party secretary in 2006.

He is the highest-level Chinese official to be dismissed in a decade. His ouster reflects the ruling Communist Party's push to crack down on deeply rooted corruption ahead of a major, twice-a-decade meeting of party leaders in October.

Also kicked out of the People's Congress were Duan Yihe, head of the city council in Shandong's capital, Jinan; Sun Shengchang, a former mayor in northeast China's Heilongjiang province; and Bao Jianmin, former director of the Henan Provincial Bureau of Quality Supervision, Xinhua said.

___

Associated Press writer Audra Ang contributed to this report.

China bridge collapse kills 22 By ALEXA OLESEN, Associated Press Writer

China bridge collapse kills 22 By ALEXA OLESEN, Associated Press Writer
10 minutes ago



BEIJING - A bridge under construction in an ancient Chinese city collapsed as workers removed scaffolding from its facade, killing at least 22 people and leaving 46 missing, state television reported Tuesday.

The official Xinhua News Agency said 64 people were rescued, including 22 who were injured when the 1,049-foot bridge spanning the Tuo River in Hunan province collapsed Monday. The cause of the collapse was under investigation, it said.

The 140-foot-high bridge in Hunan's Fenghuang County had four decorative stone arches and was scheduled to open as a tourist attraction at the end of this month, Xinhua said. It collapsed as 123 workers were removing scaffolding from its facade, it said.

China Central Television showed bulldozers plowing through the rubble, overturning chunks of stone and concrete mixed in a tangle of steel reinforcement bars. It said 22 people died and 46 were missing.

Xinhua said Hunan Governor Zhou Qiang was at the scene overseeing rescue efforts.

Most of the people working on the bridge were local farmers, the agency said.

"I was riding a bike with my husband and we had just passed under the bridge and were about 50 meters (160 feet) away when it collapsed," said a witness, who would only gave her surname, Wu. "There was a huge amount of dust that came up and didn't clear for about 10 minutes."

Xinhua said the bridge was a $1.6 million project by the Fengda company of western Hunan, without giving the company's full name.

An employee of a Fengda Road Construction Company in Fenghuang said he was not clear if the bridge project was his company's or not. He refused to give his name.

Xinhua identified the contractor as the state-owned Hunan Road and Bridge Construction (Group) Ltd. Co., or RBC.

RBC construction manager Xia Youjia and project supervisor Jiang Ping were detained for questioning, it said. Phone numbers listed on the company's Web site rang unanswered Tuesday.

Construction accidents in China are frequent, with contractors often opting for shoddy materials to cut costs and using migrant laborers with little or no safety training.

In its annual report on road safety last year, the Ministry of Communications categorized 6,300 of the country's bridges as dangerous because of serious damage to their "structural components," the China Daily newspaper reported Tuesday.

The newspaper quoted Xiao Rucheng, secretary general of China's Institute of Bridge and Structural Engineering, as saying many of the country's new bridges were being built too quickly and were poorly designed.

Xiao also said China should "learn a lesson from the Mississippi bridge and accelerate the inspection of unsafe bridges," referring to the Aug. 1 collapse of a major interstate bridge in Minneapolis that killed nine people and left four others still missing.

Authorities are trying to determine exactly what caused the nearly four-decade-old Minnesota bridge to crumble.

Surrounded by lush mountains and rice paddies, the ancient city of Fenghuang is a well-known tourist spot and home to the Miao ethnic minority. It is also famed for traditional stilt houses lining the Tuo River.

The Fenghuang bridge collapse was among China's worst in recent memory. On June 15, a bridge in south China's Guangdong province collapsed when a cargo vessel loaded with sand rammed into it, killing nine people. That bridge was built in 1988 and spanned the Xijiang River, a major tributary of the Pearl River.

In January 1999, a pedestrian bridge spanning the Qi River in southwestern China's Sichuan province collapsed three years after it was built. Forty people died and another 14 were injured.

Following the accident, a local county deputy party secretary was sentenced to death for accepting a bribe from a childhood friend in exchange for the bridge-building contract.

The China Daily ran an editorial Tuesday saying rising traffic levels made the need for nationwide bridge repairs and upgrades an urgent issue.

"If left unrepaired these bridges may crumble at any time, (wreaking) economic havoc and possibly claiming human lives," it said, without mentioning the Fenghuang disaster, which wasn't reported by state media until late Monday.

China sends terracotta army to London 57 minutes ago

China sends terracotta army to London 57 minutes ago



BEIJING - The largest ever loan of artifacts from China's famed terracotta army started on its way to London on Thursday, official Chinese media reported.

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The 120 items include 20 life-sized clay statues of warriors, acrobats and musicians, along with weapons, and decorative items in jade and copper. They departed their home museum in the western city of Xi'an by truck for Beijing where they were to fly to London to be displayed at the British Museum from Sept. 13 to April 6, 2008. "It's going to be the largest exhibition of the terracotta army ever to be seen outside China," Zhao Kun, a specialist at the Xi'an museum, was quoted as saying. The warriors were buried 2,200 years ago to guard the tomb of Qin Shihuang, who created China's first unitary state by conquering rival kingdoms. Qin established a single written language, unified measurements, the currency and legal system, and built an extensive system of roads, canals and levies. After his death in 210 B.C., he was buried in the city-size mausoleum outside Xi'an, which was not discovered until 1974 by peasants excavating a well.

China pours money into drug, food safety By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer

China pours money into drug, food safety By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 15 minutes ago



BEIJING - China's food and drug regulator said Wednesday it would meet regularly with its U.S. counterpart to crack down on counterfeit pharmaceuticals and boost product safety.

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China is also building new safety testing labs, and upgrading food safety inspection offices at 16 ports and basic infrastructure in central and western China as part of a multiyear, $1.1 billion project, said Yan Jiangying, spokeswoman for the State Food and Drug Administration,

The announcement was one of a series made in recent weeks aimed at allaying global fears that China is not doing enough to guarantee the safety of its food and drug exports.

"China and the U.S. cooperating to fight fake drugs will help us clean up our medicine market," Yan said at a regularly scheduled news conference.

"This is something the world is concerned about," she said.

Chinese-made goods have come under intense scrutiny in recent months and have been banned or recalled in the U.S. and a growing number of countries. Problems have ranged from potentially dangerous levels of toxins or chemicals in seafood to poisonous toothpaste ingredients and tainted dog food components.

On Thursday, China said it had temporarily banned exports by two toy manufacturers whose products were subject to massive recalls in the U.S. and urged them to overhaul their business practices, the government said.

Lee Der Industrial Co. Ltd. and Hansheng Wood Products Factory, both located in the southern province of Guangdong, made toys that were decorated with lead-tainted paint.

Officials at Lee Der and Hansheng said they had not heard about the ban and refused to answer any more questions.

Lee Der made 967,000 toys recalled last week by Mattel Inc. because they were made with paint found to have excessive amounts of lead. The plastic preschool toys, sold under the Fisher-Price brand in the U.S., included the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters.

In June, RC2 Corp. recalled 1.5 million wooden railroad toys and set parts made by Hansheng from its Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line because of lead paint.

The government has repeatedly pledged to tighten restrictions and surveillance over the country's problematic food and drug industries.

The lab-building project was approved by the central government in late 2005, but construction has just recently begun, Yan said. She said progress has been steady, albeit from a low base.

"The foundation is weak and infrastructure and technology still lag behind," Yan said.

"The goal is to raise the levels and ability of supervision of food and drugs," she said. "You may say that there are problems in this area but I think that the safety level is gradually improving."

Yan said the government had held off on announcing the initiative until work got under way.

She said cooperation with the U.S. side would take the form of regular exchanges, but gave no details.

Last week, Beijing and Washington wrapped up their first meeting aimed at resolving safety problems with Chinese products by sharing more information and drafting cooperation agreements by December.

U.S. officials also offered to provide information on how Chinese exporters can show they are obeying safety requirements.

Like China's food industry, the pharmaceutical field is poorly regulated, with companies trying to cash in by substituting fake or substandard ingredients.

Sending a harsh message that such abuses must end, China last month executed the former head Yan's department for approving untested and substandard medicines in exchange for cash.

Under Zheng Xiaoyu's tenure, which ended in 2005, the agency approved six medicines that turned out to be fake, and the drug-makers used falsified documents to apply for approvals. One antibiotic caused the deaths of at least 10 people.

Beijing's yearlong Olympic party begins By STEPHEN WADE, AP Sports Writer

Beijing's yearlong Olympic party begins By STEPHEN WADE, AP Sports Writer
31 minutes ago



BEIJING - Sprawling Tiananmen Square was the center of celebrations Wednesday as the countdown to the Beijing Games reached the one-year mark, an event China's communist government hopes will showcase the country's rising political and economic clout.

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Eight is a lucky number in China, so the magic moment was to come at 8:08 p.m. — and 8 seconds — marking one year until next year's opening ceremony on Aug. 8, 2008.

Everything seems on schedule for Beijing to host the most expensive Olympics in history. Beijing's new anthem — the just-released pop song "We're Ready" — was to be part of a grandiose two-hour ceremony played out on a temporary stage under banks of searchlights.

"From what we have seen so far, the preparations for Beijing 2008 are truly impressive in every regard," said International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, who is in Beijing this week meeting students, planting trees and greeting Olympic sponsors.

"I don't think we have ever seen preparations on this scale."

China's Communist government has been efficient in building venues. Except for the iconic "Bird's Nest" National Stadium, all of the 37 venues are to be finished by the end of this year. Venue construction has eaten up only a part of the $40 billion being spent on new subway lines and skyscrapers to remake the capital.

There have been few delays, and the $2.1 billion operating budget has been offset by the vast revenue expected from TV and sponsorships. That has allowed attention to focus on Beijing's choking pollution, campaigns to "civilize" the city and the risks involved for China's authoritarian government.

Normally cautious with his words, Rogge warned hours before Wednesday's big party that some events next year could be postponed if the air is too dirty.

"Yes, this is an option," Rogge told CNN in a brief interview. "It would not be necessary for all sports, sports with short durations would not be a problem. But definitely the endurance sports like the cycling race where you have to compete for six hours, these are examples of competitions that might be postponed or delayed to another day."

Despite billions spent to move refineries and steel mills out of town, Beijing has been blanketed for weeks by choking industrial smog, limiting visibility to a few hundred yards.

To guarantee clean air during the 17-day Olympics, about 1 million of the city's 3.3 million vehicles are expected to be kept off the roads. Officials are also hoping to control the weather. Meteorologists began tests last month, firing rockets to disperse rain clouds — a move to guarantee sunshine. They've also fired rockets containing sticks of silver iodide to induce rain to clean the air.

"They've told us the factories will be closed for three months in 2008 and that they will have a directive to encourage residents to stay off the roads with their cars," said Steven Roush, chief of sport performance for the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Like other national Olympics bodies, the USOC is monitoring the quality of Beijing's air, laden with ozone, dust and exhaust from some aging vehicles.

Image is important with 550,000 foreign visitors and about 22,000 accredited media set to attend. In addition, up to 10,000 non-accredited journalists are expected.

Old habits like spitting in public, jumping ahead in line and littering are under siege in various campaigns aimed at improving the behavior of China's citizens. Everyone — from taxi drivers to Olympic volunteers — is being pressured to learn some English.

Chinese officials are also warning citizens to be good sports.

"It is natural for the Chinese people to hope and wish for good performances since China is the host country," said Wang Wei, an executive vice president of the Beijing organizing committee. "I also want to tell the Chinese spectators that while we can be a winner, we should also be a polite loser."

The Communist Party also wants charm, a soft edge to China's aggressive economy and recent scandals over food and product safety.

Revenue from local sponsorship is expected to be at least double that of Sydney or Athens, reported to reach $1.5 billion, with billions more spent on advertising and promotional campaigns.

Although many athletes will eat specialized diets provided by their own teams, Olympic organizers have also promised to track food electronically from the field to the consumer. The state-run China Daily newspaper reported recently that mice will be used to test food samples.

The biggest security threat — to the Chinese government — may come not from al-Qaida but from protesters hoping to highlight causes like labor rights or China's role in the Darfur crisis. Other protests may center on Tibetans who seek autonomy, or Taiwan activists who want formal independence for the island.

"Great achievement is always accompanied by great challenges," said Jiang Xiaoyu, an organizing committee executive vice president. "While the Beijing Olympics are a great opportunity, we are also confronted with huge challenges."

The government earlier this year removed reporting restrictions and promised foreign journalists "complete freedom to report." However, some are still unhappy.

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday urged Beijing to free 29 imprisoned journalists and loosen restrictions on local reporters. It also called on the IOC to pressure China to increase press freedoms. On Monday, police detained journalists at a rare protest in Beijing.

"The Olympic movement is very pleased the focus is going to be on China in the lead up to the games ... in every way including human rights," said John Coates, an IOC member and president of the Australian Olympic Committee.

"We hope there will be change, we hope there will be improvements, but at the end of the day we are not a government and we are not the United Nations."

Rogge has called the games a "force for good." But Beijing-born Xu Xin, a political scientist at Cornell University, says the view is simplistic.

"The government has to strike a delicate balance between openness and control," Xu said. "Maintaining stability remains the primary concern whereas promoting openness and reform are secondary."

"In contrast with the conspicuous transformation of landscape and infrastructure in Beijing, any major political reform cannot be expected simply because of the Beijing Olympics."

First two traditional Tibetan medicine students with doctoral degree

First two traditional Tibetan medicine students with doctoral degree
www.chinanews.cn 2007-08-06 18:28:33







Chinanews, Lhasa, August 6 – The first two traditional Tibetan medicine students graduted with a doctoral degree on August 2, 2007 in Lhasa, according to their instructor, Nimaciren.

Both of them are Tibetans, one from Qinghai Province and the other from Tibet Autonomous Region.

They had studied under a traditional Tibetan medicine research program, jointly initiated by Beijing Traditional Chinese Medicine University and Traditional Tibetan Medicine Institute. By now, there are 38 postgraduate students studying under the program, and 36 have already finished their studyies. This year, another doctorate student has been recruited for study under the program.

Nowadays, with the operation of Qinghai-Tibet Railway, traditional Tibetan medicine has become more and more famous in the world, thus the regional government has invested a lot of money and effort in its development.

Ancient tinder storage vessel discovered in Luoyang

Ancient tinder storage vessel discovered in Luoyang
www.chinanews.cn 2007-08-07 09:11:11







Chinanews, Beijing, Aug 7 – For people living in modern society, fire is a common thing in daily life. Whenever we need fire, we can simply use a lighter or a match to get it. However, for our ancestors who lived about 5,000-6,000 years ago, getting fire was not an easy thing to do. Thus, how to keep the kindling materials became very important. Recently, archeologists made some new discoveries in Luoyang city, Henan Province, which might help modern people to unveil the mystery in this respect, CCTV international channel reported.

Recently, archeologists unearthed a thick red pottery in the basement of a building which was assumed to be built in the Yangshao Culture Period some 5,600 years ago. After doing assessment work, archeologists confirmed that the pottery was used to store kindling in ancient times.

We found the pottery by a cooking stove, which showed that the pottery had something to do with cooking. It might be a cooker, said Li Defang, a researcher at the Luoyang Municipal Cultural Heritage Working Team.

The tinder storage vessel is the earliest of its kind found so far. The vessel is easy to use and keep. With it, ancient people could not only prevent fire disasters effectively, they could also bring the fire wherever they wanted, experts say.

The vessel has an important scientific value in that it can help modern people to better understand how ancient people used fires and how they created and improved the fire stoves, Li said.

Rural youths face marital difficulties

Rural youths face marital difficulties
www.chinanews.cn 2007-08-06 16:11:32







Chinanews, Taiyuan, August 6 – Nowadays, more and more rural youths in China have chosen to work in cities as migrant workers. Life in the cities has brought a great shock to the traditional view on marriage. Besides, the problem of husbands and wives living apart in two different places has also caused many troubles. Thus many of them have started to think about their marriage over again.

Take a small city in north China as an example, where 50% of divorce cases involve rural couples (most of them being migrant workers), averaging 2,500 every year.

Most migrant workers return to their hometowns only on the Spring-Festival holidays, and that is the only time for them to think about love affairs: dating and marriage. Many of them get married in a rush, and then leave their spouses to work in the cities. The next time they can see each other is probably the next Spring Festival.

Many young girls in rural areas are no longer content with the life there. Instead, they wish to start careers of their own in cities. In fact, quite a large number of them got married with men from cities.

With great gender imbalance in rural areas, young men there find it even more difficult to find wives. Local governments should take immediate action to solve the marriage problem in rural areas, before it starts to affect social stability.

Lovers nearly suffocated in order to win underwater kissing contest

Lovers nearly suffocated in order to win underwater kissing contest
www.chinanews.cn 2007-08-06 16:56:35







Chinanews, Guangzhou, Aug 6 – On August 1, an underwater kissing competition was held in a swimming pool in Shunde city, Guangdong. During the competition, a pair of lovers nearly suffocated because they stayed under the water too long.

“We came to rescue them just in time. If we had come 10 seconds later, they might have died in water,” rescuers working at the swimming pool said, the Guangzhou Daily reported.

In order to win the 9,800-yuan top prize for the winner, the two lovers stayed for more than 50 seconds under the water. Seeing that they hadn't emerged after that long, rescuers jumped into the water to pull them up from the water. When the lovers were brought above the water, the man opened his mouth widely, gasping for breath. The woman's eyes remained closed, her head bent and she had only a faint breath. Rescuers had to help her to her feet.

“We saw from the edge of the swimming pool that the couple did not look as strong as they first dived into water. Before, they held each other tightly. However, later, they were somewhat drifted by the waves in the pool. I looked at my watch and noticed that the lovers had stayed in water for 50 seconds! We thought the couple might die from suffocating. So we jumped into the water and pulled them up, ” Mr. Liang, a rescuer at the swimming pool, later told this reporter.

Four pairs of lovers joined the underwater kissing competition that day. One couple remained in water for only 16 seconds before they showed up. Another two pairs stayed in water for 30 seconds. It was really a hard job for them to do! The two lovers who had stayed in water for 50 seconds thus created a record of kissing for the longest time under water, Mr. Liang said.

Young women make money by chatting with older people

Young women make money by chatting with older people
www.chinanews.cn 2007-08-06 17:48:34







Chinanews, Xi'an, Aug 6 – A group of young women in Xi'an recently found a new way of making money – chatting with older people. They can spend some time talking with the old people to help them kill the time and in return, they will charge a small sum of money for their work, Sanqin Daily reported.

Last week, this reporter went to the Huancheng Park in Xi'an to have a look. When he arrived at the gate at five o'clock in the afternoon, he saw some middle-aged or old people laughing and talking with some young ladies over a cup of tea. It seemed that they were having a good time together.

Some other young women were walking among the crowd, with a handbag in hand. “Ten yuan for a one-hour chat. You might pay me more or less, depending on your mood today,” the young women said.

This reporter saw that some old people were bargaining with the women about the service fee.

Mr. Li was a regular visitor to the park. He told this reporter that he lived in the Danni'er Community Center in Xi'an. Every afternoon, he comes to the park to look for someone who can chat with him. After the chat, he will pay the person a sum of money.

“This year, I am turning 78. My wife passed away years ago and my children are always too busy to stay with me. I often feel lonely at home. So I want to find someone to chat with me. I don't mind paying a little money for the fun I get from the chat,” Mr. Li told this reporter.

　A young lady also went to the park regularly. “Usually, I arrive here at three o'clock in the afternoon and chat with old people until late in the evening. I charge some money for chatting with them. I have earned much money by doing so.”

Unemployment to remain a headache in China

Unemployment to remain a headache in China
www.chinanews.cn 2007-08-07 16:16:30







Chinanews, Beijing, August 7 – According to a report by the People's Daily Overseas Edition, unemployment might remain a headache in China in the next 15 years, as the demand for jobs has been greatly underestimated.

Some people say that China will face labor shortage by 2009. However, statistics show that there is still a large surplus labor force of at least 120 million people in the rural areas, while many laid-off workers and college graduates in cities are badly in need of jobs. In fact, nearly 12 million Chinese might not find jobs every year.

The baby boom in the 1960s and 1970s has guaranteed China an abundant labor force, as able-bodied working people have long taken up 65% of its population. During the 11th Five-Year Plan Period (2006 - 2010), more than 20 million young people will enter the labor market, while some 4 million laid-off workers also need jobs.

If China can maintain its rapid economic growth of 8% or 9% every year, it will be able to provide 8 or 9 million new job vacancies. Even added to the posts released by retirees, there will only be some 12 million jobs available every year, which is still far from enough.

Last batch of Chinese troops arrive in Russia for drills

Last batch of Chinese troops arrive in Russia for drills
www.chinanews.cn 2007-08-04 14:57:47
(Source: Xinhua)






CHELYABINSK, Russia, Aug. 4 -- A planeload of Chinese troops for the anti-terrorism drills of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) arrived near the drill site on Friday, completing the transfer of Chinese troops and armaments for the exercise.

The last trainload of Chinese servicemen arrived earlier in the day at the Misyash railway station near the Ural Mountains city of Chelyabinsk and will soon head to the Chebarkul drill site 75 km away, where Chinese and Russian air squadrons will conduct a joint exercise on Monday.

Setting out on July 20 from northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, over 300 Chinese servicemen traveled over 10,000 kilometers in 15 days and transported more than 500 tons of military hardware.

The exercises, dubbed "Peace Mission 2007" and scheduled to run on Aug. 9-17, will be carried out first in Urumqi, capital of China's Xinjiang region, and later move to Chelyabinsk.

The six member countries of the SCO -- China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan -- will all send troops for the drills.

About 6,500 troops and 80 aircraft are expected to take part in the drills, including 2,000 troops and 36 aircraft from Russia, 1,600 troops and 46 aircraft from China.

The exercise will help strengthen relations between the militaries of SCO members and enhance cooperation in defense and security, said Guo Boxiong, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission.

The six SCO member countries held their first joint anti-terrorism military drills in 2003. China and Russia conducted a joint military exercise in 2005.

Wrong national anthem draws furor

Wrong national anthem draws furor
www.chinanews.cn 2007-08-05 14:29:13
(Source: Chinadaily/Agencies)






Aug. 4 - China has lodged a formal protest with Japan over the playing of the Taiwanese anthem at a basketball tournament in the Japanese city of Tokushima, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday.

A Japanese diplomat in Beijing was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Friday and received a "stern representation" over the incident, Xinhua said.

"China expresses strong protest and demands the Japanese side to immediately take effective measures to remove this vile influence and avoid similar events from happening again," the report said.

Taiwan usually participates in international sporting events under the name "Chinese Taipei" and must use an Olympic flag and anthem.

Premier Wen pays visits to senior scientists

Premier Wen pays visits to senior scientists
www.chinanews.cn 2007-08-06 09:11:26
(Source: Xinhua)






BEIJING, Aug. 6 - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has paid home visits to three senior scientists and an author who played important roles in China's scientific development and literature cause.

Zhu Guangya, the 83-year-old famous physicist, received the Premier at home on Friday afternoon.

Zhu had been one of the leading scientists who took part in developing China's first A-bomb, H-bomb and satellite in the 1960s and 1970s.

"The Chinese People's Liberation Army has just celebrated its 80th founding anniversary. Although you did not attend the conference the Party held to mark the achievements, including the A-bomb, H-bomb and satellite, everybody keeps you in mind. We all remember the great contribution you have made to the projects," Wen said.

The old man shook hands with the Premier with tears in his eyesand handed in proposals on how to coordinate development of military and civilian technologies and to set up a human resources framework encouraging creativity.

When the premier visited the house of Qian Xuesen, the 96-year-old renowned scientist and founder of China's space technology told the Premier his opinions on training more young talents and on combining science with literature and art in education.

"Proper handling of relationship between science and literatureand art will help students in school of science improve creativity," Qian said.

The Premier has also visited He Zehui, renowned nuclear physicist and wife of late physicist Qian Sanqiang, known as Father of China's A-bomb, as well as Ji Xianlin, a well-known Chinese author and translator.

Survey: Rural kids keener on studies

Survey: Rural kids keener on studies
www.chinanews.cn 2007-08-06 18:26:58







Chinanews, Kunming, August 6 – According to a survey conducted by three junior high school students in Yunan Province, rural kids are keener on studies than urban kids. They need less encouragement from parents or teachers, instead they are very good at encouraging themselves, and they are easily impressed by the stories of those who make the grade through hard work.

Liu, Bai and Shi, are all from the Yunnan University Second High School. They initiated the survey to find out whether rural kids as students perform better than urban kids.

The survey was conducted in a Songyang Town High School, involving 30 questions.

The survey shows that though 70% of the respondents have made plans for their future, only 44% of the excellent rural students are carrying out their plans. Besides, rural students are more pragmatic, particularly those with mediocre academic performance.

Most students are interested in entertainment news. Next to entertainment news, rural students are also interested in news about economy and environment, while urban students are more interested in politics.

Shanghai university recruits SOH president worldwide

Shanghai university recruits SOH president worldwide
www.chinanews.cn 2007-08-06 16:14:41







Chinanews, Shanghai, August 6 – Shanghai Jiaotong University recently announced that it would recruit the president of its School of Humanities (SOH) from all around the world, to enhance the development of both the school and the study of humanities.

The future president of the school should have a doctorate degree and must be an experienced professor who can take charge of the research, teaching and administration of the School of Humanities, and make the school one of the most important research centers in this field in China.

Besides, the School of Humanities is also responsible for teaching students political sciences.

The current plan of the school is to make the school one of the most advanced humanities research platforms in the world.

Shaolin Boxing enters schools

Shaolin Boxing enters schools
www.chinanews.cn 2007-08-07 13:08:09







Chinanews, Zhengzhou, Aug. 7 – According to Henan Business News, pupils in Zhengzhou will start practicing Shaolin Boxing next year.

The local education bureau revealed on last Thursday that the teaching materials were written by Zhengzhou's Wushu Martial Arts Association. Nine elementary schools in Zhenzhou had begun to practice the boxing early this year. In September, the boxing will become a formal course taught in Zhengzhou's elementary school.

Some 300 teachers from 237 elementary schools in Zhengzhou will receive 3 days of trainings on Shaolin Boxing. Before 2008, all pupils in Zhengzhou will start learning Shaolin Boxing.

China to enhance protection of ancient libraries and books

China to enhance protection of ancient libraries and books
www.chinanews.cn 2007-08-07 16:18:22







Chinanews, Beijing, August 7 – This month, a project to enhance the protection of 57 ancient libraries and ancient books (books published before 1912) stored in them will be launched, including a general investigation to rank their collections and renovation work of buildings and repairing damaged books.

In the investigation, a comprehensive list of all the books in the libraries will be composed, on which the books will be categorized according to their conditions, thus they can be better preserved. Of course, damaged books will be repaired. Besides, the storage houses of these libraries will be renovated, with advanced security and firefighting devices installed, or the books in them will be temporarily moved to other libraries.

“We want to extend the project to all the ancient libraries in China if it proves successful with the 57 libraries,” said Zhou Heping, Vice Minister of Culture.

By the end of this year, the first list of protected books will be released, and the first batch of ancient books preservation center will be announced.

Verdict on largest underground bank case pronounced

Verdict on largest underground bank case pronounced
www.chinanews.cn 2007-08-07 17:32:24







Chinanews, Beijing, Aug 7 – The Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court on Monday delivered the verdict on the largest underground bank case in Shanghai. The four defendants in the case, Luo Huaitao, Mo Guoji, Li Qirong and Chen Peixiang, were sentenced to 9-14 years in prison, and confiscation of their illegal gains made through foreign currency transactions and the money they used in making such transactions. Three Singaporeans in the case, Luo Huaitao, Mo Guoji, and Li Qirong, were sentenced to deportation, the People's Daily reported.

From January 2004 to April 2006, the four defendants made illegal gains through cross-country foreign currency transactions. The money involved reached 5.3 billion yuan. Luo Huaitao made a total gain of 98,000 Singapore dollars (SGD), while for the three other defendants, Mo Guoji, Li Qirong and Chen Peixiang, their illegal gains reached 84,000 SGD, 240,000 SGD and 30,000 SGD, respectively.

The court ruled that without the approval of China's financial administration institutions, the four defendants, who were staff members of the Singapore an Huanyu Company, conducted foreign currency transactions outside of the legal foreign currency exchange markets in China. They were charged with illegal management. Since the money involved reached 5.3 billion yuan for Luo Huaitao, Mo Guoji, and Li Qirong, and the money involved for Chen Peixiang reached 386 million yuan, the case was considered to be extremely serious.