Peace concert
By Vivian Zhang
Photo by Yao Fan



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

Most imported iron ore proved substandard
进口铁矿大都不合格
Since the beginning of this year, iron ore imports via Xiamen Port have been increasing dramatically, but their quality has not always been satisfactory. Local authorities are calling on importers to exercise caution when signing contracts. Statistics show that 1.1 million tons of iron ore has been imported through Xiamen Port so far this year, jumping nearly 300% over last year; but as many as 80% of these imports have been found to be substandard. Most of these substandard shipments of iron ore came from India and Australia.

Xiamen Xingsha challenges American "Deep-sea Fish Oil"
厦门星鲨叫板美国"深海鱼油"
A newly launched healthcare foodstuff production line at Xiamen Fish Liver Oil Factory under Xiamen Xingsha Group, has recently obtained GMP Certification on Healthcare Foodstuff from Fujian Provincial Department of Health. Xingsha-brand soft capsules of fish oil will roll off the production line early next year and enter the high-end market. Currently, soft capsules of "deep-sea fish oil" in the market are mostly imported products, 60% of which are of American brands.

Gold trading heats up in Xiamen
鹭岛"炒金"陡然升温
According to China Merchants Bank Xiamen Branch, nearly half of the first batch of 40 kilograms of CGS gold bullions put into the Xiamen market has so far been booked by investors. CMB Xiamen Branch will launch gold mortgage loan business by the end of the year, which will allow borrowers to obtain up to 70% gold mortgage loans.

North Hubin Road to emerge as Financial Business District
滨北将崛起金融商务区
Local authorities are soliciting requests for proposal on the design of the last plot of untapped land in Xiamen's Central Urban Area. It will be developed into a high-standard Financial Business District, covering a total area of 780,000 square meters on a site surrounded by North Hubin Road, Central Hubin Road, Xianyue Road and East Hubin Road. After the design contract is awarded, construction may start next year.

Shopping Cultural Festival welcomes visitors
购物文化节邀您同乐
Xiamen Shopping Cultural Festival, jointly organized by economic and trade authorities from Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and Longyan, will open on December 24. At the festival, 60-plus retailers will promote a wide variety of commodities, including fashions, household appliances, specialty products, new models of cars and traditional snacks and books.

Top building material retailers plan presence in Huli
建材大腕湖里"圈地"
The world's leading building material retailers are swarming into the Xiamen building materials market. Orient Home is planning to open its Xianglu Store in the vicinity of Metro around the upcoming Spring Festival. Retailers making similar moves said they were establishing a presence in the local market ahead of B&Q, Giga House and other major players in order to secure a firm foothold in the market.

 

 

Society

Chicken, ducks to don "claw rings"
上市鸡鸭套上"脚环"
Effective December 22, all live poultry bound for the market in Xiamen must first be sent to one of the three wholesale markets for quarantine and inspection; satisfactory poultry will don "claw rings" as a symbol of wholesomeness before they are distributed to retail terminals such as agricultural produce markets, supermarkets and hotels.

New evaluation rules get tough on bus drivers
考核办法管住公交司机
Public bus drivers who are caught smoking, chatting or using a mobile phone while driving or spitting out of the window may lose their jobs under new evaluation rules to be implemented next month. Operators of bus routes with improper business behaviors will be disqualified from operating the routes.

Counterfeit cigarettes destroyed
假烟灰飞烟灭
On December 15, more than 100,000 cartons of finished and semi-finished cigarette products of over 10 counterfeit brands, including Marlboro, Chunghwa, Panda and 555, and 11,002 kilograms of shoddy tobacco leaves and cut tobacco, with a combined face value of RMB 20 million yuan, were set ablaze at Dongfu Dumping Site. Representatives of foreign tobacco companies were present at the site.

12 businesses receive fire hazard plaques
12家单位被亮消防黄牌
District governments in Xiamen have installed "Major Fire Hazard Unit" warning signs on 12 local businesses with major fire hazards to alert members of the public. This new warning method was implemented in accordance with recently promulgated State Council regulations.

 

 

Education

Distinguished teachers rewarded with sedan cars
杰出教师奖小车
Six local teachers were recently awarded the honorary title "Fujian Province Distinguished People's Teacher" by Fujian Provincial Party Committee and Fujian Provincial Government. Each of them will be rewarded with a Lioncel sedan car, worth about RMB 150,000. They are Ge Jiashu and Zheng Lansun from Xiamen University, Wang Yuquan from Double Ten Middle School, Zeng Guoshou and Zhuang Yan from Xiamen No. 1 Middle School, and Liu Ying from No. 2 Experimental Primary School.

 

 

City News
Edited by Lily

Beijing 北京

Second gas pipeline to open soon
第二条煤气管道进京
The second pipeline from northwest China's Shanxi Province to Beijing has been completed and will soon pump natural gas to Beijing.
The current daily gas supply capacity of Beijing is 19 million cubic meters, which cannot meet the demand of 23 million to 24 million cubic meters a day that will be needed this winter.
The project will also contribute to the realization of Beijing's 2008 "Green Olympics".

Sabbatical leave offered to college teachers
高校教师休年假
Teachers in several Beijing-based institutions of higher learning began to enjoy sabbatical leave ranging from six months to one year apart from summer and winter vacations.
The beneficiaries include those from Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing Normal University and China Agricultural University.
It's said that those who take sabbatical leave are encouraged to engage in academic exchanges with universities and research institutes from home and abroad.
Teachers in China usually enjoy about a one-month winter vacation and a two-month summer vacation.

Warm winter brings "cold" ski business
暖冬滑雪场生意冷
The warm winter in Beijing this year has resulted in the postponed opening of its many ski fields, which experts said will cut almost 20 percent income for these ski fields.
As the lowest temperature in Beijing dropped to under zero due to recent freezing air, many ski fields located in suburb Beijing opened business around last week, but the opening came almost two weeks later than last year.

Supermarket displays Louvre exhibits
超市里的卢浮宫画展
In the next two weeks, more than 80 pieces of duplicated artwork from the world famous Louvre will be on display in a Carrefour Supermarket in Beijing.
Traveling to Paris is a must for western art and culture buffs, but those that just can't make it can enjoy world-renowned sculptures like the Goddess of Victory, Aphrodite and many others in Beijing.
During the exhibition, experts from the French National Museum Association will explain aspects of ancient Egyptian culture, Greek culture and modern French civilization to the public.

Shanghai 上海

Hospitals urged to butt out
无烟医院
Local hospitals around the city are encouraged to become non-smoking areas, as part of a plan to become a "Healthy City" by 2005.
The plan is aimed at helping more people adopt a healthy lifestyle, enhancing the medical environment in hospitals and improving the image of doctors.
The bureau issued a notice on the non-smoking plan earlier this month and to date some 200 hospitals have applied to become smoke free. Bureau officials hope 200 to 300 of the city's nearly 500 hospitals will become non-smoking facilities by 2005.

Alien weed taking over Shanghai
外来草种泛滥
Canadian goldenrod, an alien plant, is occupying more than 1 percent of Shanghai's land for agricultural use.
As an invasive plant, Canadian goldenrod is spreading crazily and will reduce crop yield in farmland areas and will also decrease plant varieties in other areas containing plant life.
According to Shanghai Agrotechnical Service Center, the weed covers 7,800 hectares of land at present. The plant, which looks like wheat with small golden flowers, has been found in all 10 suburban districts and some green belts in the urban area.

Staggered hours to save power
移时节电
More than 8,000 enterprises in Shanghai began shifting their working hours to nights or weekends in order to ease peak-time winter power demands. It is said that Shanghai's power consumption in 2005 will reach a record 18.8 million kilowatts with a shortage of 4.2 million kilowatts. The shortage is not expected to be alleviated until 2007 when more power facilities are completed and put into use.

Chongqing 重庆

Video counseling for prisoners
犯人视频对话
Chongqing jail is aiming to solve prisoner's psychological problems through video link-up computer counseling with policewomen.
The jail has opened a 12-hour special service using computer and video technology to allow the prisoners to have conversations about their problems with policewomen. The physiological video consultation service is the largest of its kind in China. So far 15 jails in Chongqing are offering this service.

Legal aid system on Internet
网上法律援助
Bishan Judicial Bureau of Chongqing established a legal aid system on the Internet at the beginning of this month, helping farm workers working in the cities to claim their wages in overdue debt. Over 230 farm workers of Chongqing working in some ten provinces and cities have asked for legal service.

Guangzhou 广州

Free plastic surgery for justice volunteers
勇士免费整形
Citizens who volunteer to risk their lives for others and end up with their bodies disfigured may get free treatment as the Provincial Foundation for Justice and Courage has signed a cooperation agreement with a cosmetic hospital.
Guangzhou Meibo Cosmetic Hospital offers eight free plastic surgeries for those who perform acts of selflessness and get disfigured. The hospital will repair the scars on their faces and bodies. The hospital also has a long-term discount for people beyond their initial eight operations. The program is targeted at public police, fire fighters and ordinary citizens who were left with scars because of courageous actions.

False UnionPay websites discovered
发现假信用网址
A fraudulent website claiming to belong to UnionPay has been discovered.
This http://www.cnbank-yl.com was simply designed, with couples of boxes for filling in personal details, including bank accounts and passwords. UnionPay later published an important notice on its official web site www.Chinaunionpay.com, reminding people that three websites http://www.nihaoqq.com, http://cnbank-yl.com and http://haodx.com/url/12578.htm were fraudulent and UnionPay would close them down.

Residents see growth in income, expenditure
居民收入消费增长
Both income and expenditure of urban households in Guangdong had grown steadily in November this year.
Statistics show that in the month, after deduction for inflation, the growth rate for income and expenditure stood at 6 percent and 7.8 percent respectively.

Largest bus terminal to open
最大巴士站开通
Panyu Passenger Bus Station, the largest bus terminal in Guangzhou, will start operating on December 19. Six old bus stations in the district will become obsolete once the new station is up and running. However, Shiqiao Bus Station will remain in service to disperse passenger flow. Covering an area of 93,000 square meters, it 's a comprehensive terminal offering cross-province, inter-city and urban transportation services. It will manage all 55 cross-provincial bus routes and most inter-city bus routes in the district.

Hong Kong&Macao 香港&澳门

HK performs first artificial cervical disc system implantation
首例人工颈椎盘植入
Faculty of the Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong successfully performed Hong Kong's first artificial cervical disc system implantation.
The patient was a 33-year-old woman who suffered from symptoms of nerve root and spinal cord compression caused by the disc disease.
The implanted artificial disc is expected to reduce neighboring disc degeneration in the long run, which does not apply to the conventional fusion procedure. This surgery, the first case done in Hong Kong, marks the milestone in Hong Kong's cervical spine operation history.

HK strengthens anti-mosquito efforts
加强灭蚊有成效
Hong Kong's monthly ovitrap index fell from a record high of 31.6 percent in May to 2.4 percent in November after the government stepped up its anti-mosquito efforts.
A committee reviewed the government's anti-mosquito efforts in 2004 and formulated action plans for the next rainy season in an effort to control the possible spread of mosquito related diseases. 29 imported Dengue fever and five Japanese encephalitis cases were reported in Hong Kong this year, while the figures for last year were 49 and one.

Coins issued to mark the 5th anniversary of the return to the motherland
回归五年纪念币
The Macao Special Administrative Region Financial Authority plans to issue 25,500 silver coins to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland.
China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation (CBPMC), authorized by the Macao Financial Authority to mint the coins, displayed the five kinds of coins. Each has a different value of 2,000, 1,000, 500, 200 and 100 patacas. The first batch of such coins went on sale on Dec. 20 in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Xi'an and Taiyuan.

Taipei 台北

World's fastest lift opens
世界最快电梯开放
The world's fastest lift opened its doors for business in the world's tallest building. Made by Toshiba, it can travel at an incredible 37mph in Taipei's 101 building.The hi-tech lift has a special control system to stop passengers' ears from popping as they plummet to the earth or soar to the top of the building. The Taipei 101 skyscraper elbowed Malaysia's Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur out of the way to become the world's tallest building earlier this year.

Two strains of avian flu found in bird droppings
鸟粪中发现两种禽流感菌
An official said that Taiwan remains unaffected by the lethal strain of bird flu that has taken the lives of people in other Asian countries. The council's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said that the H5N2 strain was found in one sample of the feces of a teal, and the H5N6 strain found in a sample of snipe feces. Both strains are not nearly as harmful as the lethal H5N1 avian flu virus, which has killed at least 12 people in Thailand and 20 people in Vietnam.