Public hearing on fee rise
调整学费举行听证
A public hearing was recently organized for the proposed adjustment of senior high school tuition fees. The scheme which was provided by the hearing session shows that the average tuition fees per student may be increased from the current 720 yuan to 956 yuan, representing a rise of 33%.
Photo by Cheng Lixin

 

Economics


Local residents’ incomes rank 7th nationwide
厦门人收入全国第七
The latest statistics from Xiamen Statistics Bureau indicate that the per capita disposable income of urban residents in Xiamen amounted to 7,471 yuan in the first half of this year, ranking 7th among the 36 large and medium-sized cities in China, and 26.72% higher than the average resident’s income of 5,895.28 yuan of the 36 cities.

World’s leading brand becomes Chinese
世界名牌加入中国籍
GN, a leading multinational company headquartered in Denmark, has obtained as many as 998 certificates of origin under Xiamen’s generalized system of preferences, involving goods worth USD 13.94 million. These certificates allowed the company to receive tariff concessions of USD 280,000.

Danish leather giant ECCO to establish presence in Xiamen
丹麦皮革巨头ECCO厦门“落户”
Following an exhaustive survey of major coastal cities along the Mainland of China, Denmark-headquartered ECCO Company, one of the world’s top five raw leather manufacturers and footwear makers, has recently announced through Xiamen Foreign Investment Bureau that it will inject USD 79 million into Xiamen Tong’an Chengnan Industrial Zone, and that its Phase I Project of leather shoes facilities kicked off construction on August 3.

enterprises put on blacklist of illegal sewage discharger
23企业上违法排污黑名单23
The local environmental protection agency has recently disclosed the names of the first group of 23 enterprises accused of illegal sewage discharge. As these enterprises’ activities have a severe impact on the environment, they will be required to mend their manners, pay fines or shut down their productions before September 30. The local EPA may request the court for forced enforcement of these measures if the enterprises have failed to comply by the deadline. The 23 enterprises have been singled out from the EPA’s 4-month investigation of nearly 500 enterprises which started in April.

Society
Crackdown on parking violations to start this month
本月起全面整治乱停车
A plan to crack down on parking violations has lately been worked out and reviewed jointly by related departments. The plan will be fully implemented early this month. Officials with the Traffic Department of the City Management Office say that considering the increasing difficulty of finding a parking lot, one or two mechanical multiple-storeyed garages will be set up in places with tight parking space. Such garages may be built throughout the city if they prove a good solution to parking difficulties.

Five－star movie plex to be established in Xiamen
五星影城将落户厦门
Fujian Province’s first five-star movie plex, Xiamen Movie Plex, will be based in the Xiamen Cultural and Art Center. The project will soon be opened to public tender. Xiamen Movie Plex will consist of six movie halls of varying sizes, with a combined floor space of 3,788 square meters and seat capacity of 1,600 viewers. The six movie halls will have 500, 350, 300, 200, 150 and 100 seats respectively.

Airport construction fee to be included in air fare from September
机场建设费9月起并入机票
From August 1, passengers buying air tickets at ticket offices of Xiamen Airlines for flights on and after September 1 will pay the airport construction fee as well as the fare according to the regulations of CAAC, which means that they will no longer need to pay for the airport construction fee at the airport.

Over 3000 enter lucky draws
逾三千市民参与港龙抽奖
Out of more than 3,000 Xiamen participants, 100 lucky members have been chosen to the lucky draw to win 20 free return tickets to Hong Kong Dragonair Airlines was giving away on July 31 at the Marco Polo Xiamen. The lucky draw was part of the promotion of Dragonair Airlines to mark the extension of the Individual Travel Scheme to Fujian Province on July 1.

Dragon－boat Pool to have clean water
还龙舟池一泓清水
The sewage intercepting and flow cutoff piping project for the Dragon-boat Pool in Jimei is currently underway. The first stage of the construction has been completed, with a 247m sewage pipe laid. The contractor of the project says that all sewage outlets to the Dragon-boat Pool have been permanently sealed, and that rainwater and sewage round the pool will be discharged from the newly-laid pipe. In four months’ time, the Dragon-boat Pool will have clean water.

Education
Xiamen Airlines to donate 3 million yuan to aid students
厦航捐资300万助学
Xiamen Airlines has announced on the 20th anniversary of its founding that it will donate 3 million yuan over the next 10 years to establish and operate a Xiamen Airlines Student Aid Foundation, with the 1.5 million yuan for the first phase already in place. US Boeing Company and British RR Company have expressed interest in joining this student aid charity program.

British diploma program recruits students in Fujian
英国文凭项目来闽招生
The British (Scottish) High-education Diploma Program has recently debuted in Xiamen. The program plans to recruit nearly 200 students from Fujian Province who have taken the college entrance examinations or who have equivalent educational experience. This is good news for those with less-than-ideal scores in the college entrance examinations. This program was introduced by the Overseas Education Service Center of the Ministry of Education. Students who have obtained this diploma are regarded as having completed the courses of the first two years of a British university and being in possession of certain English proficiency and vocational qualifications for their field of study.