Holiday attraction
国庆好去处
Photo by Wang Xieyun



During the National Day holiday, Xiamen citizens admired the sculptures at the Musicians' Square, Island Ring Road.

 

 

Local News

King Long eyes truck market thru alliance with XEM
金龙欲联手厦工造卡车
Xiamen King Long, a leading manufacturer of passenger buses, has set its sights on the truck market. At the recently-concluded Seminar on the Development Strategies for the Automobile Industry of Xiamen, Fujian, which was part of the Xiamen Auto Show, Xiamen King Long unveiled its plans to take advantage of the resources of Xiamen Engineering Machinery Co., Ltd. to introduce leading international brands and cutting-edge technology for building heavy-duty trucks and special-purpose vehicles. At the seminar, experts were invited to demonstrate the feasibility of the plan.

Indian company to acquire 60% stake in Mchem Pharma
迈克药业6成股份被收购
Xiamen-based Mchem Pharma (Group) Ltd. has recently entered into a formal joint-venture agreement with the India-based Matrix Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. Under the agreement, Matrix will acquire a 60% stake in Mchem Pharma. The deal is expected to be closed before December.

17 teachers go to Canada for training
17名教师赴加受训
A group of 17 teachers of subjects other than English from secondary schools in Xiamen recently left for Vancouver, Canada for a two-month training program aimed at helping them acquire advanced teaching theories and methods. Such a training program is the first of its kind in local educational history.

World's largest choir competition to take place next year
世界最大合唱比赛明年开唱
The 4th World Chorus Competition will take place in Xiamen on July 15-25 of next year. According to the press release of the organizing committee, the competition will be the world's largest ever chorus contest and will attract more than 400 teams and 28,000 contestants from 60 countries and regions.

Results of beautiful building vote announced
靓楼评选结果出炉
The results of the vote for the "most beautiful LED lamp-decorated buildings" have recently been announced. Printemps Siming Store was rated the most beautiful, with 4,156 votes, followed by Lujiang Hotel with 3,890 votes and China Construction Bank with 2,416 votes.

Singapore offers visa-free transit permit
新加坡推出特许过境免签证
During the promotion period from October 1, 2005 to at least the end of the year, mainland visitors holding a valid visa/long-term pass (with a minimum one-month validity) from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the UK or the US will be allowed to stay in Singapore for up to 96 hours under a visa-free transit permit.

Construction of Xiamen-Shenzhen Railway to kick off next year
厦深铁路明年动工
An expert panel has just concluded a five-day evaluation of the new Xiamen-Shenzhen Railway Project Proposal. It's reported that the construction of the new railway will kick off next year and be completed in 2009. The new rail link will shorten the journey time between Xiamen and Shenzhen to two hours.

 

 

City News
Edited by Lily

Beijing 北京

Parks to use recycled water in flushable toilets
公园使用循环水冲厕所
More than 10 parks in Beijing have begun using recycled water in their flushable toilets, a move that is designed to cut water consumption by at least 80 percent. The technology is based on a newly developed film bioreactor whose fiber film absorbs filth in the water. The subsequent biochemical reaction sterilizes the water making it reusable. The recycled water can also be used to irrigate public greens.

Books galore
书展开锣
Visitors search for books under the watchful gaze of China's former leaders (from left to right) Sun Yat-sen, Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi and Zhu De, and further behind (from left to right) Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, at a book fair in Beijing. The book fair held every year in Ditan Park attracts many visitors.



"Charming Beijing" photo exhibition in US
"迷人北京"图片展在美开展
The "Charming Beijing" photo exhibition at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington shows both the ancient and modern city of Beijing to visitors. The exhibition is part of the Festival of China. The month-long Festival of China will feature dozens of events, including performances, exhibitions, outreaching programs and educational activities, such as dance, theater, music, visual arts, literature and film.



Shanghai 上海

Maintain export pep in Jan-Aug period
头八个月保持出口强势
Shanghai exported 58.4 billion US dollars worth of goods in the first eight months of this year, representing an annual growth of 26.9 percent. Between January and August, the city actually used 5.1 billion US dollars of foreign capital, up 5.4 percent. The appreciation of the Renminbi had little impact on Shanghai's foreign trade, of which more than 50 percent was processing trade.

Hot hello for million-plus visitors
国庆"热力"迎游客
More than 1 million tourists poured into Shanghai during the first two days of the week-long National Day holiday. They were greeted with a 21-year record high temperature of 33.7 degrees Celsius. Almost all the major shopping malls, department stores, theaters, parks and scenic spots around the city were packed with people.



200 digital halls for World Expo to be constructed
建造200个世博会数控厅
Shanghai will construct 200 digital halls and renovate another 300 conventional centers to popularize science and technology in the coming years. The endeavor is necessary for the display of multi-media and technological applications during the Shanghai World Expo, which is held every five years, and will be held in Shanghai from May 1 to October 31 in 2010, with the theme "Better City, Better Life."

Guangzhou 广州

New districts established
新设行政区
The administrative district divisions of Guangzhou have been redrawn, with the creation of the Luogang District in the northeast, the merger of the former Dongshan District and the Yuexiu District, and the former Fangcun District coming under the administration of the Liwan District. It is aimed at raising the city's administrative efficiency, promoting the rebuilding of the old communities and developing the city at a high standard.

Huge underground mall to open in 2006
2006将建成最大地下商城
The Guangzhou Metro Co. is building a big shopping mall at the transfer station for Metro Line 1 and Line 2 near the Fifth Zhongshan Road. The three-level shopping mall will be the biggest underground shopping mall in Guangzhou when it opens to the public in 2006. Its floor space will cover nearly 30,000 square meters and it will have parking spaces for over 200 cars.

"Short movies" shown in Metro tunnel
地铁放映短片
Passengers taking Line 1 of the Guangzhou Metro from Nongjiangsuo Station to Lieshilingyuan Station can now view short films in the tunnel. The move is part of the Guangzhou Metro Company's experiment in creating the first "movie tunnel" system in China. In the future, all lines of the Guangzhou Metro are expected to be equipped with "movie tunnel" systems at allocated sections.

Chongqing 重庆

Income per capita ranks No.1 in west China
人均收入西部城市第一
According to figures released by the State Statistical Bureau, the average monthly income per capita in cities and towns around Chongqing in August this year was 876.14 yuan, which ranks 8th nationwide and number one in west China.

Huguang Guildhall opens
"湖广会馆"修复开放
Chongqing Huguang Guildhall, the biggest of the old guildhalls in China, is now open after two years of rebuilding. It is a witness to the business history of Chongqing during the Qing Dynasty.

Three projects aiding Tibet completed
完成援藏三项目
The construction of a 6300-square-meter building of the municipal government in Mangkang County, Tibet, representing an investment of 15 million yuan, has been completed. Its construction is the biggest of Chongqing's projects aimed at aiding Tibet. The other two projects are the 4000-square-meter Weise Temple Square in Mangkang County and the rebuilding of the waterworks in Mangkang County.

Hong Kong 香港

Express giant expands HK investment
快递巨头在港扩资
DHL, the world's leading express and logistics company, announced an additional 110 million US dollar investment to expand its express cargo facility at Hong Kong International Airport. The money will be used to upgrade operational capability and double the size of DHL's Central Asia Hub to meet business growth in the region, especially in China.

Levy monthly charges to small check accounts
中行征收小额存户月息
Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited(BOCHK) will levy 60 Hong Kong dollars (7.7 US dollars) as monthly charges to check accounts below 5,000 HK dollars (641 US dollars) from November 1. The bank will also increase the service charges of deposit accounts below 5,000 HK dollars from the present 50 HK dollars (6.4 US dollars) to 60 HK dollars a month as of October 24.

Still Asia's second largest destination for FDI
直接利用外资仍居亚洲第二
Hong Kong has retained its position as Asia's second-largest destination for foreign direct investment (FDI). The Chinese mainland and Hong Kong attracted over two-thirds of FDI inflows in the region last year. The FDI inflow into the Chinese mainland boosts demand for financial services in Hong Kong, especially as Chinese mainland companies choose to list publicly in the city.

Taipei 台北

Tightens monitoring of visitors
测控禽流感袭击国入境者
Beginning on October 3, visitors from Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam are handed a booklet upon arrival at airports in Taiwan asking them to take their own temperatures each morning and evening during the 10 days following their arrival. All of the aforementioned countries have been hit by bird flu. No cases have been reported in Taiwan yet, but thousands of workers from these countries are employed on the island.

Traces of cancer-linked substance found in fish
超市"安全鱼"发现可能致癌物质
Fish is now disappearing from the shelves of supermarkets in Taipei after traces of a cancer-linked chemical have been found in some batches even though they had a new safety label that was supposed to guarantee the absence of the substance. Malachite green, a chemical used to treat fungus infections in fish, turned up in a batch of green groupers from the southern Pingtung region.


Vocabulary
alliance 同盟
transit 通过
valid 有效的
chorus 合唱队
galore 丰富
pep 锐气
appreciation 增值
monitor 监测
malachite 孔雀绿
fungus 真菌