Impoverished students financed
厦航资助贫困学生
Photo by Yao Fan



On November 6, Xiamen Airlines donated RMB 120,000 to the Xiamen Charity Society subsidizing 100 impoverished students from Xiamen University. On the 20th anniversary of Xiamen Airlines this July, it promised to inject a total sum of RMB 3 million into a study subsidy foundation in ten years, with RMB 120,000 each year for 100 impoverished Xiamen local students. Last month, Xiamen Airlines also financed 100 poor students from the Fujian Normal University located in Fuzhou with the same amount.

 

 

Economics

New models of Amoi mobile phones to debut in Taipei
夏新手机新品将在台北面市
Following the entry of Bird mobile phones, new models of Amoi mobile phones will hit the Taipei market next month, thus creating a "mainland wave" in Taiwan's mobile phone market. Media reports indicate that the Taiwanese mobile phone market is currently dominated by European, American, Japanese, South Korean and local brands. The entry of mobile phones made in the mainland may lead to a reshuffle of the market on the island.

RMB 500 000 reward for top brands
中国名牌奖50万元!
Siming District has recently unveiled a series of incentive measures aimed at stimulating the growth and expansion of private entrepreneurs. Under the new measures, any private enterprise awarded the title of a famous Chinese brand or a premium Chinese brand this year will receive a lump-sum reward of RMB 500,000.

Malaysian Sabah Food Festival
到海景品尝马来西亚美食
The Malaysian (Sabah) Food Festival is being presented at Harbour Café in Crowne Plaza Harbourview Xiamen till November 20. Malaysia is a paradise for food lovers. One will be spoilt with choice when it comes to eating -there is the colourful traditional Malay food, the hot and spicy Northern and Southern Indian cuisines, and the unique Nyonya and Portuguese cuisines.

 

 

Society

Trust-Mart to open another outlet at Fushan
好又多富山旁将增开"姐妹店"
Trust-Mart will open another outlet close to its existing facility at Fushan. The new mart, tentatively named "Vogue Life Venue", will be located right next to the existing mart, bordering Fushan Trust-Mart on the southeast and facing Xiahe Road.

Dadeng to build magic "Water World"
大嶝将建奇妙"水世界"
The overall planning for Xiamen Ocean Park has recently passed the evaluation by an expert panel and will be implemented after a minor revision. The ocean park, featuring combined functions of scientific research, science education and tourism, will be based on Dadeng Island. Unlike Hong Kong Ocean Park, which highlights entertainment, Xiamen Ocean Park will serve the primary purpose of scientific research, with auxiliary functions as a base for children's science education and an integral part of the tourist facilities for Xiamen as a bay city. At present, land requisition for the park is underway, with Phase I of the project to start next year.

Local women outlive men by 6.5 years
厦门女性比男性长寿6岁半
The average life expectancy of local women has reached 81.53 years, exceeding that of local men by 6.58 years, and as many as 99.89% of the city's eligible children are enrolled in primary schools. These numbers are revealed by the city's Statistics Bureau in the 2003 Xiamen Report on the Monitoring and Statistics of the Women and Children Development Program.

19000 people sign up for graduate admission tests of Xiamen University
1.9万人报考厦大研究生
The Test Center of Xiamen University recently disclosed that a record number of more than 1.7 million students have registered online for the 2005 National Graduate Admission Tests, with 19,000 students opting online for Xiamen University.

Woman kills herself with poison to evade cremations
一女子殡改前服毒自尽
November 1st marks the beginning of the funeral reform in Anxi County, Quanzhou City. A middle-aged sick woman surnamed Li in Anxi who was worried about possible cremation after death, committed suicide with poison one day before land burial was replaced with cremation under the reform.

 

 

City News
Edited by Lily

Beijing 北京

Illegal sand-digging threatens Beijing water supply
非法采沙危及供水
Months of illegal sand-digging have transformed the once flat ground of Beijing's largest reservoir into ravines, directly threatening the water quality of the wellheads and one fifth of the city's water supply, according to the Beijing News. According to the measure on the protection of underground watersources issued by the municipal government, water sources should be surrounded by several obstacles to protect them and their management be supervised by the local government.

Computers help make gov't more transparent
市政透明监督
In an attempt to guarantee transparency of government affairs, a total of 54 computers will be put in place to allow for inquiries and searches to be made into legal and government information. They will be located in streets, squares, residential districts and government affairs service halls in Beijing's 18 districts for use by the public. Local residents will be kept up to date on effective ways to send advice or complaints to the government.

Calendar influences Beijing's birth rate
"瑞猴"猛增
Beijing expects to see the arrival of 10,000 more babies this year, the Year of the Monkey in the Chinese lunar calendar, which is roughly parallel to the Gregorian calendar, over last year, the Year of the Sheep. The amount of newborns in the capital in 2004 will reach 70,000, experts predict.

Guangzhou & Shenzhen 广州 & 深圳

Guangzhou streamlines fee charges
降低流程费
Guangzhou is looking to cut the red tape. The southern city plans to eliminate 44 administrative charges and reduce the costs of two other charges this year, sources with the Price Control Administration of Guangzhou said. Those charges range from annual inspection fees of driving licenses and audio-visual products sales administration fees to registration fees levied on private and foreign-funded enterprises.

Air pollution worsens in Shenzhen
空气污染恶化
Pollution in Shenzhen has become more serious with 21 days of smog during October, according to the Shenzhen Meteorological Observatory. The poorer air quality has become a health threat. Experts warn residents to avoid outdoor exercise in the mornings when pollutants are more intense.
Most pollutants in the atmosphere can be breathed into the human body triggering respiratory illnesses and even lung cancer.

Parking fees to be adjusted in Guangzhou
泊车费要调整
Guangzhou's current outdoor parking fees are 350 yuan (US$42) a month and indoor fees are 600 yuan (US$72) a month.
The fees are much higher than in Beijing and Shanghai. Guangzhou's parking lots have uniform fees, whether in busy downtown areas or in suburban districts.
Many car owners complain that this does not reflect the land value of the different areas. The new fees will be implemented on November 19.

Chongqing 重庆

Extension project of Chongqing International Airport completed
国际机场扩容
The extension project of Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport passed the preliminary check and acceptance a few days ago, which is estimated to be put into operation by the end of this year.

Elevated light rail train debut
轻轨车亮相
An elevated light rail train runs on track in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality Nov. 6, 2004. Part of China's first elevated light rail line, stretching from Daping to the Zoo, came into use Saturday for sightseeing.

Shanghai 上海

Divorce rate soars
离婚率飚升
Divorce rate in Shanghai soared 30 per cent year-on-year between January and September to more than 20,000, according to the Marriage Administration Office of the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.
The rising divorce rate is believed by many to be connected with the city's new marriage registration policy which makes divorce "fast and easy".

White-collar women drink too much
白领女性饮酒过量
About 35 percent of women surveyed by a Shanghai women's hospital suffer from diseases caused by excessive drinking. The hospital surveyed over 10,000 women, ranging in age from 17 to 65. About half of those surveyed have a university education. And the majority admitted they drink due to high stress and work-related functions, such as having business dinners with clients. The article says that with the increase in the pace of life, most white-collar women face the added pressure of caring for a family as well as work-related stress - something which was a contributing factor in their choice to drink regularly.

Natural gas promoted
力推天然气
Shanghai plans to increase its use of natural gas by 10 per cent by 2010 to improve the environment, according to vice-president of the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau. The city plans to stop burning coal for energy in urban areas by 2010. Natural gas from western China will become one of the city's major energy sources for civil and industrial purposes.

Taipei 台北

Ads by marriage brokers accused
婚介广告受质疑
Rights activists accused marriage brokers of trampling on the rights of Southeast Asian women by displaying them in public like merchandise for the benefit of potential Taiwanese husbands.

Taipei plans city-wide Wi-Fi by end of 2005
无线宽带上网在即
Taipei plans to make wireless Internet access available across the city by the end of 2005, joining a small number of cities offering Wi-Fi networks.
New York, San Francisco, Amsterdam and Jerusalem are among the cities offering or planning city-wide networks. The network will reach almost 90 percent of the capital's population of 3 million and aims to make accessing the Internet as easy as using cellphones, a project coordinator said.

Youth favor mainland jobs
台青年喜大陆工作
Around 50 percent of the Taiwan people between the ages of 25 and 40 were willing to work on the mainland, according to a survey. Most of the respondents were young people aged between 25 and 29 with higher education. They wished to broaden their horizons while earning money. Young Taiwanese thought they enjoyed advantages in terms of language ability and attitude to work and 72.8 percent of the respondents said cross-straights communications should be strengthened.

Hong Kong & Macao 香港 & 澳门

Richest Chinese list in 2004 Forbes
最富的中国人
Forbes Global's annual ranking of China's richest people for the current year was unveiled recently in Beijing, doubling the number of the selected from the year-earlier level of 100.
Larry Rong Zhijian, chairman of the Hong Kong-based conglomerate CITIC Pacific, is the mainland's richest man with assets of 1.5 billion US dollars. This year's list illustrates that wealth that was once relatively concentrated in southern China and Hong Kong is now really spreading widely in China.

Macao citizens required to apply for ″smart″ ID cards
智能身份证吃香
All Macao ID cardholders are required to have their old cards replaced with electronic cards starting on Nov. 29.
All of 484,800 Macao ID cardholders are expected to have their old cards switched with new ones by the year 2007, according to the Identification Department of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government.
Currently, 162,100 Macao citizens have obtained the "smart" ID cards, who can enjoy the convenience of traveling to Hong Kong without applying for travel documents.

HK airport sets new throughput records despite competition
机场入境量创新高
Hong Kong International Airport has set new records for both passenger and cargo throughput, despite competition from other airports nearby. The new air services arrangement allows more Hong Kong and Chinese mainland airlines to enter the market and substantially expands the frequency of services between the two sides.
It also provides additional rights for mainland airlines to operate via Hong Kong to Southeast Asia, and enables airlines of both sides to code-share with each other to link up Hong Kong's extensive international network with the enormous mainland aviation market.