Pair up for the festival
中外配对过大年
Photo by Liu Gang



Around 20 Chinese families and 20 foreign residents gathered at the Xiamen Daily Building on January 22 to "pair up" for the upcoming Spring Festival. After the Chinese families and foreign residents each gave a brief talk introducing themselves, the two groups chatted together and finally got matched up. Each foreign resident who registered for the event will be invited to spend this important traditional Chinese festival with a Chinese family. The "pair-up" event is organized by the Xiamen People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and Xiamen Evening News.

 

 

Economics

Service apartments over 50% reserved
公寓式酒店预订率过半
Spending Spring Festival in a service apartment is quickly gaining in popularity. Many tourists from other cities have reserved service apartments in Xiamen for the upcoming holidays. Economical home-style service apartments have proved most popular among the tourists, with more than 50% reserved thus far. This represents relatively high reservation rate for Spring Festival, which has traditionally been a sluggish time of year for the hospitality industry.

Largest flat-screen TV factory
建全球最大平板彩电基地
Chunghwa Picture Tubes plans to team up with XOCECO in building the world's largest flat-screen color TV production center. The contracts for the investment project have recently been signed. The center, with a total investment of nearly RMB 3 billion and a site of 1.1 million square meters, will produce 8-10 million flat-screen color TV sets per year when it becomes operational.

Lighting fixtures market opens
闽南最大灯饰市场落户厦门
Strait Lighting Fixtures Mall, covering an area of 35,000 square meters in the commercial district around the Railway Station, has recently opened for business. As the largest market in South Fujian dealing exclusively in lighting fixtures, the Mall has completed over 90% of its Phase I business promotion campaign, attracting 30-plus retailers.

160, 000 new jobs
将新增就业16万人
According to Xiamen Labor & Social Security Bureau, Xiamen will create an estimated 160,000 new jobs this year. The registered urban unemployment rate will stay below 4%.

Super 8 to lodge in Xiamen
"速8"宣布进入厦门
Super 8, the world's largest economy lodging chain, will soon establish a presence on Hexiangxi Road in Xiamen. Super 8 Hotel (China) has recently announced the opening of its first office in Xiamen. Super 8 operates nearly 2,100 hotels worldwide.

Local GDP hits RMB 100 billion
GDP首次突破千亿大关
According to figures from the Municipal Government, Xiamen's GDP in 2005 totaled RMB 102.955 billion, breaking the RMB 100 billion mark for the first time. The economy has doubled in size since 2000, and grew by 16% over the previous year.

 

 

Society

Firecracker ban to stay
岛内仍禁放烟花爆竹
Recently, 170 out of the 208 cities in China which had previously imposed a ban on fireworks and firecrackers have eased the restrictions. The 170, including Beijing, have allowed them in designated areas, putting greater pressure on Xiamen to follow suit. However, government authorities have announced that due to local geographic conditions, the ban will be maintained on Xiamen Island this year.

Public buses banned from Zhongshan Road
中山路公交车不通行
Effective January 24, public buses will be completely banned from Zhongshan Road. Cars will be allowed to run one way during the daytime, but at night the western section (from Lujiang Avenue to South Siming Road) will be entirely pedestrianized.

One-night hospitalization for operation
动手术住一夜就出院
Siming District Hospital has recently announced its plan to develop the city's first one-day hospitalization program for surgery. Under this program, patients who have undergone a minor operation will be discharged from hospital only 24 hours after the operation. This program will greatly reduce the financial burden on patients.

Air passengers to print tickets at home
在家就能打印机票
Spring Airlines has launched a seating arrangement service in its online ticketing system (http://www.china-sss.com) which allows passengers to choose their desired seats. With this service, passengers can pay for their tickets through the online payment platform and print them out with a printer at home. However, this service is available to passengers flying on the Shanghai-Xiamen route only.

 

 

City News
Edited by Lily

Beijing 北京

Gold coins issued
首发纯金微型版人民币
Pure gold miniatures representing the third series of RMB coins have been issued at the Cishikou Department Store, attracting the attention of many customers. They are China's first RMB collectables made of pure gold. Each set is composed of seven pure gold miniature RMB coins, seven third series banknotes and four coins. With a face value of 18.8 yuan, each set sells for 16,600 yuan (US$2,000). A total of 8,000 sets have been issued for release worldwide, with only 200 sets released in Beijing.



Robots to probe drains
机器人探查排水系统
Beijing plans to import 10 robots this year to check for hazards in the city's drainage system, following a sewage pipe leak that caused cave-in on a major urban road. Equipped with video cameras, the robots will enable technicians in the control room to carry out real-time monitoring of the pipes. There is poisonous gas in the sewage pipes. It is safer for robots than humans to undertake maintenance tasks.

World's largest ice cream cake
制作世界最大冰淇淋蛋糕
Chinese workers celebrated after breaking the Guinness World Record for the biggest ice-cream cake in Beijing, January 16, 2006. The cake was 4.8 meters long, 3 meters wide, and 1 meter high, and weighed 8 tons. It has been recognized as the largest ice-cream cake ever made.

Shanghai 上海

Food safety website launched
开通食品安全网站
Citizens can now access information on food safety problems via an authoritative website. Operated by the Shanghai municipal food and drug administration, the website at http://www.spaq.sh.cn will provide safety warnings, serving suggestions, expert advice, demonstrations of food safety, food science and technology and relevant rules and regulations.

Metro construction booms
大力兴建地铁
Many Shanghai neighborhoods will become construction battle zones over the next five years as the city builds 260 new metro stations. Small streets will be blocked, lanes will be restricted on major roads and noise and dust will fly in the affected areas -although officials have promised to keep the effects to a minimum. The length of the metro system will nearly quadruple by 2010. It took London and New York more than 100 years to build networks of the same length. Shanghai plans to do it in less than 20.

Costly upgrade for race movie
斥巨资放映四维动感电影
The Shanghai Science and Technology Museum has spent US$140,000 to update its theater so that it can show a "four-dimensional" racing movie during the Spring Festival holidays. The movie, along with an exhibition of ancient animal fossils and a modern art exhibition entitled "Dog Meets Man", will open at the museum over the holiday beginning on January 29.
1st obesity surgery center opened
首个肥胖外科手术中心开张
The first obesity surgery training and treatment center in the Asia Pacific region has been established in Shanghai, bringing hopes for body shaping to about 39 million seriously overweight Chinese. The hospital will introduce the gastric banding method, which involves creating a small pouch in the upper part of the stomach with an adjustable stoma so as to limit food intake for obese people.

Guangzhou 广州

STD checks before holidays
外来打工族节前查性病
Guangzhou hospitals have recorded a large number of patients requesting check-ups for sexually transmitted diseases (STD) ahead of Spring Festival. Many of them are migrant workers, who want a check-up before returning home to their spouses for the holiday. It shows that more people, especially migrant workers who are often not well educated, have come to understand the problems resulting from irresponsible sex.

FedEx hub begins construction
联邦快递建亚太运输中心
FedEx, one of the largest air freight companies in the world, has begun construction on an Asia-Pacific transport hub in Guangzhou Baiyun Airport. The transport hub will be FedEx's most important investment in the Asia-Pacific region, and is expected to promote the development of Guangzhou's logistics industry and boost the economic development of Guangdong province. The first phase of the project is scheduled to be completed in October 2008.

LPG prices break cap
撤销瓶装气上限价
The retail price of LPG soared to 109 yuan (US$13.4) per cylinder at some chain gas stations in Guangzhou as a previous price agreement was rescinded by authorities. The firm price cap was rescinded by the Guangdong Province pricing authorities and replaced with a guideline aiming to limit the profit margins of gas firms, rather than fix the price at 95 yuan per cylinder. Economists argue that the government should break the monopoly on LPG imports and let the market decide the price.

Holiday maid shortage
春节急缺钟点工
Guangzhou families are suffering a shortage of between 40,000 and 50,000 domestic helpers as most migrant workers are preparing to return home for the annual Spring Festival. This seasonal shortage has been worsening in recent years, with a growing number of parents flying in to meet their children in Guangzhou for the festival, thus requiring more hands for household chores. Some agencies are trying to employ Guangzhou's laid-off workers as part-time housekeepers for the festival.

Chongqing 重庆

City symbol published
城市标志出台
Chongqing Municipal News Office has published the image that will be the symbol of Chongqing. The symbol is based on the double happiness character. The red figure in the symbol represents stability and the yellow one represents modernity.

Blue collar lodging apartments″to be built
将建蓝领公寓
A project of "blue collar lodging apartments" will start this year in Dadukou District.The "blue collar lodging apartments" will meet the need of farmer workers for residence in town and will not be for sale but just for rent and the rental will be much lower than ordinary cheap lease house.

More centenarians
百岁老人增多
There were 748 people over 100 years old in Chongqing on December 31, 2005. 607 of them were women. Improvements in the environment in Chongqing are thought to be the reason for the increase in the number of people living to a three-figure age.



Hong Kong 香港

Mathematics Olympians show off skills
中学生奥数大赛成绩突出
Six Hong Kong secondary school students won two silvers and four bronzes in the China Mathematical Olympiad 2006 (CMO). Held from January 10 to 15 in Fujian, the CMO 2006 was jointly organized by the China Mathematical Society Olympiad Committee and Fuzhou No. 1 Middle School. A total of 151 mathematically gifted secondary school students in 34 teams participated in the Olympiad.

Poor air quality reduces competitiveness
空气质量差影响城市竞争力
Deteriorating air quality in Hong Kong could drive away potential investors and thus threaten the city's competitiveness as Asia's free trade center. Though no evidence has been detected that investors are moving out of Hong Kong because of poor air quality, the issue has become a major concern among expatriate employees. The authorities have taken action to improve air quality, including limiting the types of fuel used on the city's buses and conducting air quality checks in conjunction with the mainland authorities around the Pearl River Delta.

Local fashion designers to wow the world
引导本地时装设计业走向世界
Long known as Asia's shopping center for global brand names and luxury goods, Hong Kong now is promoting its own designers and trying to sell its local brands to the world. In a bid to encourage original design, the government has launched an innovation center to help promote different forms of design and develop related human resources. A contest among local young designers is being set up now, which is expected to consolidate Hong Kong's role as a clothing trade center and to showcase local designers.

Taipei 台北

7 million domain names registered
注册域名高达767万
Taiwan was hosting 7.67 million internet domain names in July 2005, making it the fourth or fifth largest host country in the world. Taiwan's domain names included 3.83 million using the regional".tw" suffix and 3.84 million using the popular ".hinet.net" domain. The number, a rough indicator of Taiwan's internet hardware capacity and internet user base, made up 2.17% of the 353.28 million internet domain names around the world.

Crackdown on Korean soaps
遏制韩国肥皂剧
Korean pop culture is catching on like wildfire in Taiwan, and authorities are taking steps to curb the "Korea wave." However, some experts are skeptical. Taiwan may be trying to cool down the wave of Korean pop culture imports, but in the end, the rampant copyright infringement in Asia might make the governments' attempts meaningless.

 

 

Choirs across the Straits sing together
两岸合唱团高歌迎新春
Photo by Zheng Xiaodong



On the evening of January 22, four choirs from Taiwan arrived in Xiamen and were welcomed by the Xiamen Xinghai Choir. 200 members of the five choirs expressed their best Chinese New Year wishes to each other by lighting up candles and singing songs.



Vocabulary
chat 聊天
sluggish 不景气的
fixture 固定物
firecracker 鞭炮
firework 烟花
inroad 侵袭
hospitalization 住院
choir 合唱团