African women delegates visit Xiada
非洲妇女代表访问厦大



Sixty-six delegates participating in Workshop on Women Capacity Building in African Countries visited Xiamen University on December 23. They exchanged views on improving the skills of female university students and other topics with their counterparts. The workshop was organized by the Chinese National Ministry of Commerce.

 

 

Economics

Vegetables and meat to be sold in Kinmen
蔬菜肉类要进金门市场
According to Huang Chengjian, Director of Xiamen Taiwan Affairs Office, Xiamen will deepen its relationship with Kinmen by supplying high quality, competitively priced local vegetables and meat in the hope of becoming a major supplier of food to the island.

Personal tax free threshold raised
外籍人士缴税标准更动
Xiamen local tax authority has recently announced that the personal tax free allowance for foreign nationals here in Xiamen will be raised from the current RMB 4,000 per month to RMB 4,800 per month. For tax purposes, foreign nationals are defined as payers of individual income taxes who have no permanent domicile in China but obtain incomes within the territory of China.

Property price to remain stable next year
明年房价将保持稳定
According to property experts, property developers and industry insiders, strong demand and supply will help stabilize property prices next year, and the scope for price rise is limited.

 

 

Society

Minimum "housing" standards set for animals
动物"住房"将有最低标准
Under China's first local standards on the construction and management of safari parks, which have been formulated by the Wild Animal & Plant Protection and Management Center of the Fujian Forestry Department, all animals will enjoy minimum "housing space" standards. Each panda must have an enclosure of at least 36 square meters, and large carnivorous animals such as tiger and lion will have at least 200 square meters of housing each.

Science & Technology Museum to open in June
市科技馆明年6月开放
The Xiamen Science & Technology Museum is currently under construction. The museum, scheduled to open in late June next year, is being built in the old workshops of the Xiamen Engineering Machinery Plant. It will cover an area of 15,000 square meters, with 9,010 square meters of exhibition space. The museum is designed to be a national level integrated Science & Technology Museum with the best facilities in Fujian Province.

Outdoor sports alliance website
户外运动联盟网站开通
The web portal for the Xiamen Outdoor Sports Alliance, xmhw.csnn.com.cn, has been officially put online. As a platform for sports enthusiasts and clubs to exchange ideas and information, the portal aims to develop into the largest outdoor sports website in Fujian.

Xiamen marathon mascots unveiled
厦门马拉松吉祥物亮相
The unveiling ceremony for the mascots for the 2006 C&D Xiamen International Marathon Race was held on December 19. The mascots are three pixies based on bougainvillea, flame tree and egret, which are the symbols of the city. The three mascots, in red, yellow and blue, are made of flannelette.

Certificate required for serviced vehicles
车辆维修后要出合格证
The local traffic administration department will begin regulating the servicing of vehicles in Xiamen from Janurary 1 next year. Unlicensed servicing stations will be closed and certificates will be required for serviced motor vehicles; a quality warranty should also be provided before the vehicle leaves the servicing station.

A warm Christmas
爱心圣诞
Staff from Sofitel Plaza Xiamen celebrated Christmas with children from Xiamen Special Educating School.

 

 

Education

Advanced Technical School links up with Singapore
高级技校携手新加坡
Xiamen Advanced Technical School has recently entered into a cooperation agreement with the Singapore-based Singapore-China International Education Institute (SCI), which has been authorized by Singapore's Institute of Technical Education (ITE). Under the agreement, Xiamen Advanced Technical School will introduce Singaporean teaching education courses to Xiamen, which will make the school the first educational institution outside Singapore to make a partnership with the ITE.

Teaching vacancies to be filled through open competition
学校岗位将竞聘
From now on, Xiamen's directly governed schools must fill their new vacancies through an open competitive procedure. Direct appointments by head-teachers will be forbidden under the new regulations.

Xiamen University to offer rock-climbing course
厦大学生可选修攀岩课
Students at Xiamen University no longer need to venture into high mountains or the wilderness to experience the thrill of rock climbing. The first rock-climbing wall at Xiamen University has recently passed its safety inspection, paving the way for the university to offer a special rock-climbing course next year.

 

 

City News
Edited by Lily

Beijing 北京

More foreign students
扩招留学生
Universities and research institutes in Beijing will continue to increase the numbers of foreign students next year. Chinese language and culture courses will be open to all foreign students. In 2005, more than 40,000 foreign students studied in 69 Beijing universities or research institutes. Among them, 2000 were studying for doctorate or master's degrees.

Great Wall to get facelift
八达岭将除"旧疤"换新颜
The popular Badaling section of the Great Wall has suffered more at the hands of modern visitors than the barbarian invaders it was meant to keep out. To repair the damage, it is to receive a comprehensive facelift. Many tourists have carved their names and other graffiti on its bricks. The administrators of the section has been soliciting suggestions from the public on how to clean up the wall without damaging it, but so far no proper solution has been found.



Car sales peak before holidays
年前汽车销售达新高
Beijing is seeing a surge in car sales this holiday season, with some 2,200 license plates being issued every day since mid December. The Beijing Traffic Management Bureau usually issues about 1,000 license plates a day. There are 2.55 million cars and 3.92 million drivers in Beijing.

Shanghai 上海

Savings surge
银行储蓄额剧增
With the cooling of the property market and a stagnant stock market, Shanghai has seen a surge in savings deposits in the past 11 months. Savings deposits increased by 131 billion yuan (16 billion U.S. dollars), 46 billion yuan (5.7 billion dollars) more than in the same period last year. The surge in savings deposits was due to the higher interest rates, a stagnant stock market, cooling property market and the appreciation of renminbi.

Most people working in industry, service
打工者多从事工业服务业
Most of the working population in Shanghai have jobs with the industrial and service sectors, including manufacturing, wholesale and retail, construction, rental and commercial services, transport, storage, and postal services. Approximately 4.67 million people are working in the service sector. Shanghai now has a population of 17 million, of which 60% do basic level labor or service jobs.

Apartment prices slow
新房价格将下降
The rise in the average price of new apartments in Shanghai is predicted to slow to 4.9% this year. The price at year end will be about 6,700 yuan (US$830) per square meter. The figure is affected by budget houses and apartments selling at less than 3,500 yuan per square meter and offered only to families relocated for urban reconstruction. More than one third of the new apartments sold in the first 11 months of 2005 in Shanghai are budget housing.

City gets tough on parking
城区泊车更严格
Downtown parking will be banned along all streets that are not marked with parking signs from next year. The new rules cover 110 square kilometers within the Inner Ring Road. In the past, street-side parking was banned only in spots where no-parking signs were posted. The new regulations aim to reduce traffic congestion caused by carelessly parked cars that take up road space.

Guangzhou 广州

Railway station renovated
广州火车站改造完成
The renovations to the Guangzhou Railway Station waiting rooms have been completed. It is expected that all renovations at the Railway Station will be finished before the Spring Festival travel season. Guangzhou Railway Station is getting a makeover, with new aluminum alloy walls and green glass. New customer-friendly facilities are being installed.

New social security cards
市民有了新安保卡
Guangzhou has begun issuing personal security cards to its residents. The cards will replace the residents' original medical insurance cards and will also be used for administering employment, social security and home loans.

GZ-Zhuhai expressway open
广珠高速北段通车
The Guangzhou to Zhuhai expressway north section opened to traffic on December 20. The expressway cuts half an hour off the driving time from Guangzhou city center to Zhuhai. At the same time, the Zhuhai to Beijing expressway is also being opened.

Fruit festival in Nansha
南沙镇举办水果节
On December 23, "the first Guangzhou Wanqingsha Shatian water world and fruit festival" was held in the Nansha Economic and Technological Development Zone. Nansha is the first model town for environmental protection in the Guangzhou administrative region.



Chongqing 重庆

Filmmakers go online
首部网络电影上映
The Chongqing film industry is moving with the times. "Chongqing Salarymen"is the first film to be shot entirely with digital equipment and distributed over the internet by a cast and crew of internet enthusiasts. The film is about a female university student's work, and was inspired by Zhu Deyong's work related cartoons.

Second expressway under construction
第二条水路通道渝长线在建
Work recently began on the construction of Taiping Bridge, a key section on the Chongqing-Changsha expressway.The Chongqing-Changsha expressway is the second Chongqing expressway to include a series of bridges. The total length of the expressway is over 800 kilometers. It will be the longest expressway of Chongqing's and will open to traffic in 2009.

800 kilogram pig
3年养头800公斤肥猪
For the last three years, a farmer in Longmiao Village, Hechuan County in Chongqing has been raising a pig which is as big as a bull and weighs about 800 kilograms.



Hong Kong 香港

Special New Year stamps
发行第七套农历年特种邮票
Hong Kong Post is to issue two Lunar New Year commenmorative stamp sets, "Year of the Dog" and "Gold and Silver New Year Animals -Rooster/Dog", on January 15. A series of associated stamps will also be available. The "Year of the Dog" is the seventh Lunar New Year stamp set released by Hong Kong Post.

Anti-piracy program to boost tourism
商品"打假"促旅游
The Hong Kong government plans to toughen up its "No Fakes" pledge scheme in the coming new year as part of its efforts to boost tourist spending. The criteria for joining the scheme will be tightened,and the names of any companies confirmed to have breached the scheme's code of ethics will be published. The scheme's organizers will keep a close watch on participating companies' operations.

Taipei 台北

Taiwan comedy a hit on Beijing
相声承继中华传统文化
Four acts from Taiwan got through to the final round of the annual comedy competition which is now being held in Beijing. Stand up comedy, called xiangsheng in Chinese, is one of the most popular performance traditions in China. It first appeared in Taiwan in the 1950s and saw a boom in the 1960s but declined over the next 20 years. At present, there are no more than 10 professional xiangsheng performers in Taiwan. Even though there are a lot of differences between the Taiwanese form and mainland variety, xiangsheng in Taiwan is an important part of this unique Chinese artform.

Seafood advice: cut deep-sea fish
深海鱼须慎食
Authorities have recommended that seafood lovers eat less deep-sea fish, as the mercury levels found in fish are higher than in other meats. Mercury can cause neurological problems if it collects in high levels in the human body. The hair of Taiwanese who eat deep-sea fish such as tuna, swordfish and salmon was discovered to contain 3.68 mg/kg of mercury, six times more than in those who did not eat fish at all (0.55 mg/kg).


Vocabulary
capacity 能力
threshold 门槛
domicile 住处
intensify 强化
safari park 野生动物园
alliance 联盟
portal 门口
pixie 小精灵
barbarian 粗鲁的
graffiti 乱画
surge 急涨
appreciation 增值
congestion 拥塞
breach 违背, 破坏
neurological 神经学上的
salmon 鲑鱼