Dongshan crab exported to the U.S.
东山岛小螃蟹 横行美国大市场
Photo by Xie Hanjie & Chen Zhaohe



On Dec. 12, 180 tons of canned crab meat produced by aquatic processing factories in Dongshan County were dispatched to America. To date, Dongshan's crab produce exported to Ameirca this year has amounted to 6,200 tons, valuing USD 26.5 million, which accounts for nearly half of all exported aquatic produce in the county.

 

 

Economics

Leading enterprises rewarded with 2.1 mil. yuan
210万重奖龙头企业
Seven Xiamen-based enterprises which had made it to the List of National Key Leading Enterprises for Agricultural Commercialization were recently rewarded with 300,000 yuan each by the municipal party committee and municipal government.

Honglu Tungsten-Molybdenum becomes world No. 1
虹鹭钨钼跃升世界"老大"
On December 12, Xiamen Honglu Tungsten-Molybdenum Industry Co., Ltd. officially launched its production line for special alloy tungsten filaments, which cost 100 million yuan. The new production facility will bring the company's thick tungsten filament output capacity to 1,500 tons, which is three times that of the second biggest tungsten filament manufacturer in the world, securing the company's position as the world's No. 1 tungsten producer.

Kinglong Bus goes global next year
金龙客车明年开向全球
According to an estimation by Yang Guojun, Kinglong's sales manager, 15% of Kinglong buses will be destined for the international marketplace in 2005, jumping more than 100% over 2004 and topping 450 million yuan in value, which is the highest among Chinese bus builders. The exports will mainly go to Europe, West Asia, Africa and South America.

Airport passenger throughput tops 5 million
机场运送旅客突破500万

Up to November, Xiamen Airport has handled 5 million passengers, up 32.25% over the same period last year; the airport has ranked as the 4th top airport in China for several years in succession in terms of passenger, cargo and mail throughputs on international and domestic routes.

 

 

Society

Air quality to be brought back to excellent level
让空气质量回到"优"
Feng Jin, Director of the General Office of Xiamen City Appearance and Environmental Management Evaluation Committee, recently revealed the city's determination to cap the average air pollution index at 50 within one or two years, meeting the Grade 1 national standards for the daily average value of air quality, which means that the air quality has no effect on human health.

Fujian residents' Kinmen tour officially launched
福建居民金门游正式启动
Huang Xiaoyan, chief of Fujian Provincial Tourism Bureau announced the official launch of Fujian residents' Kinmen tour at Heping Wharf on December 7 with three tourist groups from Fujian Province departing for Kinmen aboard the "Tong'an" passenger vessel.

Barrier-free facilities required for new buildings
新建筑须配无障碍设施
The recently concluded Xiamen National Barrier-free Facilities Construction Demonstration City Inspection Conference indicates that from now on all new buildings must be equipped with relevant barrier-free facilities.

Job-related injury to be covered by insurance
受工伤可获保险赔偿
Rural migrant workers who are injured while working on a construction site will no longer be left on their own. Under the "Xiamen Implementation Regulations for 'Job-related Insurance Ordinance'", rural migrant workers with job-related injuries will be entitled to compensation from insurance.

Loving Heart Supermarket impresses foreign visitors
爱心超市打动外宾
"They get what they need here just like shopping in a department store; they don't have to ask anyone for alms and their pride is protected." On the afternoon of December 8, a group of visitors from the New York-based Sri Chinmoy Charity visited the Loving Heart Supermarket, run by the local Red-Cross Society. They commented favorably on this practice of helping the needy in Xiamen, saying that "the method is worth copying."

Xiamen to open basic telecom market next year
我市明年开放基础电信
China officially opened its basic telecom market on December 11. As a second-tier city, Xiamen will open the market next year, allowing foreign interest to rise to 49%. The impact on local citizens will not manifest itself until 2006.

Xiamen shines in Los Angeles
厦门美景辉映洛杉矶
On December 5, a Xiamen Investment Environment Briefing and Xiamen SEZ Construction Achievements Photograph Exhibition was held in Los Angeles, a US economic and cultural center.

Gulangyu ticketing reform put off
鼓浪屿票改推迟
The municipal government has announced its decision after much deliberation to postpone the Gulangyu Islet Ticketing System Reform Scheme, originally scheduled for implementation on December 20, 2004, until April 1, 2005 as a result of the late delivery of some equipment, which makes it impossible to run a test on the system as scheduled.

 

 

City News
Edited by Lily

Beijing 北京

"Cars for cash" move
政府官员实行"车贴"
Beijing has begun long-awaited trials to change the use of official cars in three of the capital city's districts. Transport subsidies have been given to government staff below the chief-level section. The strategy should save money on maintaining official cars at many levels of government. However, officials above the chief-level section and staff of public security departments, procuratorates and courts in the three districts are not involved in the reforms.

JV renamed Beijing Benz-DaimlerChrysler
JV易名北京奔驰
German-US auto giant Daimler-Chrysler and Chinese partner Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp began building a new plant for their joint venture to produce Mercedes-Benz sedans.
The new plant will have an annual production capacity of 25,000 Mercedes-Benz E and C-Class sedans. The production will kick off next July. The joint venture has been renamed Beijing Benz-DaimlerChrysler Automotive Co Ltd from Beijing Jeep Corp.

Netizens oppose price rise for tickets of world heritage sites
网民反对"世遗"涨价
The proposed admission charge raise for Beijing's world heritage sites has been strongly opposed by some netizens in China even though a public hearing has already approved the price adjustment. Many Chinese netizens say protection of these sites should be financed by the government. They also say the sites belong to the whole of the Chinese people, disputing the Beijing Municipal government's right to change the prices.
In addition, as those who attended the hearing were all from Beijing, it was pointed out that a resolution from such a hearing can't represent the will of the people of the whole country.

Shanghai 上海

No Playboy club in Shanghai
"花花公子"被拒之门外
Business administrators turned down the application for the establishment of a Playboy club in the east China metropolis because the application did not comply with the requirements of China's corporation law and regulations on capital registration.
Shanghai Entertainment Ltd., an American firm, announced earlier that it would launch Playboy Club Shanghai through its joint investment with the Shanghai Times Supermarket Investment & Construction Co. Ltd., and that the club was expected to open at the end of 2005. Earlier, Shanghai Entertainment Ltd. was authorized by Playboy Enterprises to use its logo.

Famous shopping malls to be revived
恢复著名老商业街
The local government and the Bailian Group are working on reviving the fame and beauty of Nanjing Road, a 150-year-old commercial street in Shanghai. The government as well as business groups will try to restore the facades and attributes of the four stores that existed on the street between the 1910s and 1930s.

Mickey Mouse to star in carnival
米老鼠要来过春节
Mickey Mouse and several other popular Disney characters will star in a carnival in Shanghai during next February's Spring Festival, but organizers still don't know where the event will take place or how long it will run. The Disney carnival will be the first of its type to be held in the Chinese mainland. The Disney characters will be dressed in shining clothes, reproducing classic scenes from 31 Disney stories. The carnival is expected to attract 30,000 to 50,000 visitors a day, but ticket prices have not been set yet.

Anti-terrorism robot developed
反恐机器人问世
After more than four years of strenuous effort, scientists at Jiaotong University have succeeded in developing an anti-terrorism robot to help dismantle explosives.
The robot, code named Super-D, is expected to serve at airports and in other public places.
The one-armed robot can be controlled by an engineer via a remote control. It is 120 cm tall, weighs 200 kilograms, can move 40 meters per minute and can climb ladders or slopes above 40 degrees in gradient.

Chongqing 重庆

Largest shopping mall in southwest to be opened
西南最大商场在建
Jinyuan Times Shopping Mall, the largest one in southwest China, will be opened for business next October in Jiangbei District, Chongqing. It is said that the construction area will be 600,000 square meters with an investment of 2.6 billion yuan.

New passenger-building of Chongqing Airport in trial
机场新旅客厅试检
The new passenger-building of Chongqing Airport that was just put into test operation, received the first group of passengers from Flight 3U8670. On the first day, passengers from 7 flights passed through the new building and everything ran smoothly.

Guangzhou 广州

Most luxurious night cruise on Pearl River
最豪华夜游轮亮相珠江
The most luxurious commercial yacht of Guangzhou City, started its maiden voyage on the Pearl River on December 7th after a two-month trial operation. The double-decker yacht "Guangyou 03" is designed in the shape of a crystal spaceship, with non-framed structural glass and some other constructive materials fitting its modern and luxurious needs. It cost over RMB 8 million to build.
The commercial ship receives the Pearl River tourists in two lines; at 19:00 to 21:00 and 21:30 to 24:00.

Opening up bottlenecks
打破交通瓶颈
Traffic authorities planned to alleviate the city's growing traffic pressure by optimizing bus routes and incorporating advanced control systems. The municipal government has deployed a taskforce to deal with traffic problems, particularly in the densely populated Tianhe District, to remove major bottlenecks by the end of next year. Under the plan, some bus routes will be moved from busy roads such as Tianhe Road to less busy routes with new bus stations to be built.

Auto output value to exceed 300 bln yuan in 2010
轿车产值2010超3000亿
The annual auto production capacity will increase to 1.3 million units in 2010, with a gross industrial output value of 300 billion yuan. Guangzhou has witnessed a fast development of its auto industry. It ranked 3rd among the cities of China in auto industry output in 2003, next to Shanghai and Jilin. Sources released that the Guangzhou Honda Motor Co. and Dongfeng Motor Corp. are listed in the top 10 auto-manufacturing corporations of China. Besides, in a bid to solve the shortage of workers with specialized auto knowledge, the first auto institute-Auto Institute of South China University of Technology is under construction.

Hongkong 香港

Forex reserves hit US$ 121.5 bln
外汇储备达千亿美元
Hong Kong's foreign currency reserve assets amounted to 121.5 billion US dollars in November, up almost 2 percent when compared with the October figure.
Hong Kong is the world's sixth largest holder of foreign currency reserves, after Japan, the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, South Korea and India.
Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets stood at 121.5 billion US dollars. The figure for October was 120 billion US dollars. The total foreign currency reserve assets of 121.5 billion US dollars represent over six times the currency in circulation.

Students rank first in maths
中学生数学能力世界第一
A recent international survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development says Hong Kong middle-school students are ranked first in the world for maths skills, and tenth in the world for reading capability.
About 280,000 15-year-old students from more than 40 countries were surveyed last year to assess their capabilities and to find out what factors influence their performance. Many experts think that communication between students and parents and the students morale are the main factors that influence the students' performance.

Scientists seek effective cure to avian flu
研制治疗禽流感有效疫苗
Hong Kong scientists have been researching a vaccine for the avian flu epidemic, commonly known as bird flu. A pathologist at Hong Kong University says they still need time to give full diagnosis to the deadly virus, and a lack of scientific data may be an obstacle to the research, and may subsequently delay the control of the disease.
To protect Hong Kong against the virus, the Hong Kong government is providing more training for medical workers, focusing on preventing the spread of the disease. The training includes learning how to effectively isolate patients and wear protective clothing.

Taipei 台北

Fishermen scuffle with police in protest against Japan
渔民抗议日本与警察冲突
About 100 fishermen clashed with police in Taipei, protesting Japan's impounding of two Taiwanese fishing trawlers. Japan took over Taiwanese fishing boats on Nov. 4 and Nov. 23 because they were fishing in its economic waters. Japan penalized the Taiwanese with one fine of 1.8 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$56 million) and another of NT$1.5 billion (US$47 million).
The protesting fishermen scuffled with police outside Japan's representative office in Taipei. They denied they were in Japan's territorial waters and demanded that Tokyo refund the fines.