Blue Lions claim championship
蓝狮问鼎中甲冠军
Photo by Yao Fan



Xiamen Blue Lions beat Nanjing Youyou 2-0 to claim the second division title. Next season, they will be promoted into the first division for the first time in several years.

 

 

Economics

Residents' car spending drops 90%
居民购车支出降九成
Car purchases by local residents have plummeted during the first three quarters of the year, with spending dropping by 93.78% from the same period last year. By contrast, residents' spending on healthcare, education and house decoration and furnishings rose sharply.

Unearned income increases fast
厦门人赚外快增加
Stock dividends, bonuses, house rental income and insurance income are accounting for an increasingly large part of local people's incomes. A survey shows that the city's per capita disposable income for the January-September period reached RMB 12,482.8, up 13.06% year-on-year. Of that amount, RMB 5,117.12 was unearned income, a jump of nearly 20% since last year.

Price of bottled LPG for residential use rises again
民用瓶装液化气再涨价
As a result of the rapidly climbing LPG purchase price, the local commodity price authority has recently hiked the retail price of bottled LPG for residential use, with the price of the popular 14.5kg bottled LPG increased by RMB 8 to RMB 86 per bottle, a record high for the local LPG market.

Companies to post skills requirements online
企业引进人才可上网申报
The Municipal Personnel Bureau will conduct a survey among local companies to discover which skills are in great demand and in short supply. Companies are required to submit their requirements to the Bureau's Skills Development Department by December 20 so that the Bureau can provide the necessary assistance to facilitate their attraction of skilled employees.

 

 

Society

Water quality improves in Tingxi Reservoir
汀溪水库水质改善
Thanks to the removal and closure of all large-scale animal cultivation farms, the water quality of Tingxi Reservoir has been brought back to normal. Only a few months ago, the reservoir's water quality was still below the standards for Grade 3 water quality, but today, the water quality is up to the standards for Grade 2.

Recruits subjected to psychological tests
征兵增心理测试
Huli District will be the site of the city's pilot tests on the mental health of potential army recruits who have made it to the stage of the physical checkup. Such tests are the first of their kind in the history of local army recruitment.

Have your birthday party on a double-decker
包部双层巴士开派对
The city's first double-decker equipped with sun shade for sightseeing tours has recently hit the streets, offering a rental service for weddings and birthdays. From November onwards, a 50% discount will be offered to primary and secondary school students, and discounted rates will also be available to groups.

Garbage disposal charges to be levied
垃圾处理将收费
The city's Commodity Price Bureau has recently held a public hearing on the proposed fees for the city's domestic garbage disposal. If the fees are approved, from January 1, 2006, each household will pay RMB 3 per month for garbage disposal; temporary residents, public institutions and businesses will also be required to pay for the disposal of their garbage.

Waterless car washing service appears
"无水洗车"悄然兴起
A waterless car washing service has recently appeared in the city: with a piece of cloth and a bottle of detergent, a car will take on a fresh look in just 20 minutes, requiring just a little water to clean the cloth.

Textbook prices regulated
课本身价有规定
The Fujian Provincial Commodity Price Bureau, the Provincial Administration of the Presses and Publications and the Provincial Education Department have recently issued a joint circular aimed at strengthening the regulation of the prices of textbooks for the province's primary and secondary schools. Under the new guidelines, textbooks for primary and secondary schools must have fixed prices and the thickness and price of each sheet of paper will also be regulated.

 

 

City News
Edited by Lily

Beijing 北京

Sample census to start in November
人口标准普查在即
Beijing will start its sample census from November 1. The census will take a sample of one percent of Beijing's population, recording their age, sex, profession, income, housing conditions, health condition, education, marital status and employment. The census is a part of the third national census which will also kick off in early November.

Diverted water to quench thirst
北部调水缓解短缺
Nearly 100 million tons of water from North China's Shanxi and Hebei provinces is winding its way to Beijing to quench its thirst. One of China's most populous regions, Beijing's average annual percapita water supply is only around 200 cubic meters, much lower than the international benchmark for an area suffering acute water shortage - 1,000 cubic meters or less per person.

Restrictions on heating service
使用暖气限定不超过22度
Beijing has asked hotels in the city to keep their temperatures between 20 and 22 degrees Celsius during the coming winter amid efforts to save energy, following the "26 degrees campaign" in the summer. Shopping malls, office buildings and other public areas are to keep their temperatures down to 18 degrees.

Shanghai 上海

Diamond Princess steams into harbor
"钻石公主"豪华游轮抵沪
The Diamond Princess, the largest and most luxurious cruise vessel in the Princess cruise line fleet, steamed into Shanghai harbor on October 20. It was the first time the "Princess" had landed in Shanghai since it was launched in March 2004. From the distance, the ship resembles a great white mountain as high as a ten-storey building glittering in the sunshine, reminiscent of the ill-fated Titanic. Passengers and crewmembers hailed Shanghai as a "shoppers' paradise" and "Paris of the Orient."



Credit reports to go online
信誉资讯上网查
With just their name and ID card number any local resident in Shanghai will soon be able to look up their credit history on the Internet after the city launched two official credit report websites. The two websites (www.mycredit.cn and www.credit.net.cn) will host credit information about city residents and companies in Shanghai that can be searched for free.

Doctors, nurses donate stem cells to cut shortage
医护人员捐献血干细胞缓缺
More than 800 doctors and nurses from Zhongshan Hospital registered with the Shanghai Stem Cell Donor Bank to help relieve the shortage of samples at the bank and to encourage more people to register and donate stem cells. Doctors said local residents could also donate blood, as the requirements for giving blood are less strict than those for donating stem cells.

Population gets boost from mums
新生儿增加提高人口自然增长率
Shanghai's natural population growth, the difference between the birth rate and the death rate, will most probably be positive this year after a decade of negative growth. The average age at which women give birth is rising, as is the number of teenage mothers. This will be the first year since 1993 that the number of babies born has exceeded the number of people who have died.

Guangzhou 广州

"Polluters to pay" rule urged
严格督行"谁污染谁赔偿"
Environmental protection experts have called for Guangzhou to establish a mechanism to handle computer, electrical and electronic waste based on the "polluters have to pay" principle. Experts suggested speeding up the construction of a treatment center for used electrical and electronic equipment. Guangzhou has plans for a center to handle 80,000 tons of household appliance waste annually.

"Garden-in-the-air"
内环将建"空中花园"
Guangzhou will start its "garden-in-the-air" program this year. The program, which aims at greening the roofs of the buildings on both sides of the city's inner ring road, will build "green gardens" above the city and greatly change the city's landscape. With the completion of the project, the city's total green roof area will reach 60,000 square meters.

Government building to be converted into library after facelift
区府楼翻新成图书馆
The Dongshan District Government office building will be converted into a library as Dongshan has merged with Yuexiu District. The 16-year-old building closed in September after the merger. The building will be transformed into a library to imrprove Yuexiu's education services.

IC card system traces students
启用中学生管理IC卡
All students need to swipe an IC card bearing their name and student number at the gates of some middle schools now so that the school can trace the time each pupil arrives and leaves. The school authorities said the system would catch truants, help students behave themselves and keep outsiders off the campus to ensure safety.

Chongqing 重庆

Clothes from Asia Pacific Cities Summit preserved
亚太城峰会会服成收藏品
Two kinds of uniforms for mayors and guests at the Asia Pacific Cities Summit have been collected by the Chongqing Three Gorges Museum for preservation. One outfit is a Chinese red worn by mayors, the other is a jade green suit worn by their staff.



Silicon Valley to be in west of Shapingba District
沙坪坝将成西部硅谷
The Chongqing Xiyong Microelectronics Industrial Base, the Silicon Valley of Chongqing, has started construction in the west of Shapingba District, and it will be completed in 2010. It is a production and development base for microelectronics, including IC design, software development, chip manufacture and electronic product manufacture.

Hong Kong 香港

Dead pop singers to get stamps
已故流行歌手上邮票
A special stamp issue featuring "Hong Kong Pop Singers" will be issued on November 8. It is the first time Hong Kong Post have issued stamps featuring Hong Kong pop singers, saluting five late pop stars who left their mark on Cantopop history: Wong Ka Kui, Danny Chan, Roman Tam, Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui.

Products to enter mainland market tariff free
明年所有入内地市场商品免税
All products originating in Hong Kong will be allowed to enter the Chinese mainland with a zero tariff from January 1 next year. It is one of the most significant achievements recorded under the third phase of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), which will also give the city's companies greater access to markets on the mainland.

Taipei 台北

Doctors' children get fewer antibiotics
医生的孩子吃抗生素少
Research shows that children of doctors and pharmacists are significantly less likely to be given antibiotics for common colds and viral respiratory infections than other children. To help correct the situation, the researchers have suggested educational, regulatory and other efforts aimed at more appropriate antibiotic prescription.

Optical lens makers prosper on mainland
三大眼镜商大陆生意兴隆
Asia Optical, Largan Precision and Kinko Optical, the top three producers of optical lenses in Taiwan, all have well-established production bases on the mainland. They are scattered around Shenzhen, Shanghai, Suzhou, Foshan and Dongguan.

Anti-bird flu simulation
进行防禽流感演练
Taiwan's Council of Agriculture (COA) held a large-scale exercise on October 19 in which health, customs and transportation officials took part in a simulation of fighting an outbreak of avian flu. Participants simulated killing affected birds, burying or burning the culled birds, and managing their own health risks.

 

 

Tasting the wine of kings
索菲特举办品酒会
Photo by Yao Fan



On October 11, David Launay from Chateau Gruaud Larose hosted a banquet featuring the 1978 and 1988 vintages, paired with the delicious cooking at the Sofitel Plaza Xiamen, for dozens of Xiamen's business leaders. The prices of the 5 vintages tasted range from a couple of hundred to over 2,000 yuan, incuding top choices like Grand Cru Class and 2nd Cru 1978.


Vocabulary
plummet 下落
dividend 股息
bonus 红利
facilitate 使容易
reservoir 水库
vintage 葡萄酒
cru 葡萄佳酿酒
mutate 变异
populous 人口稠密的
antibiotics 抗生素
culled 剔出的