Xiamen projects seek partners
厦门团258项目找到"婆家"
Photo by Wang Xieyun



The 4th China (Fujian) Technology & Projects Fair opened in Fuzhou on June 18. At the fair, Xiamen unveiled more than 400 potential partnership projects, and over 600 Xiamen businesspeople came to explore opportunities. Xiamen is expected to achieve better results in linking up with Fuzhou this year than last year. On the first day alone, 258 cooperation agreements were clinched by Xiamen businesses.

 

 

Big numbers

70 vegetable safety administrators
70名蔬菜生产管理员受聘
The Fuzhou Municipal Government has hired 70 basic agricultural technicians and technology savvy vegetable farmers to serve as vegetable safety administrators. They will be posted at major vegetable farms in Fuzhou to provide guidance on vegetable production, ensuring that vegetables which end up on dinning tables are chemical-free.

100 blood donors per day
厦门岛内日均百人无偿献血
Xiamen instituted its free blood donation program in 1992. Since 1998, all blood used for clinical purposes in Xiamen has been from volunteer donations. Currently, an average of 100 people on Xiamen island donate blood every day. Only five percent of blood collected in the municipality comes from areas off the island, though these areas consume one third of the total.

3, 000 applicants
3000多人报考外国语学校
More than 3,000 primary school graduates have applied for the 450 places available at the Xiamen Foreign Languages School junior middle school. The applicants took a foreign language proficiency test on June 18, and will attend interviews on June 23 at the school.

 

 

Society

More Taiwan flights
两岸增加节日包机
China's General Administration of Civil Aviation (CAAC) has announced that the mainland and Taiwan have agreed on a framework for chartered flights at festivals and other special occasions. Chartered flights will operate during Qingming (tomb-sweeping festival), the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival in addition to the Chinese lunar New Year season. The flights will be between Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen on the mainland, and Taipei and Kaohsiung in Taiwan.

Cross-Strait Youth Forum opens
第四届海峡青年论坛开幕
The 4th Cross-Strait Youth Forum opened in Fuzhou on June 16, attended by over 500 representatives from 16 mainland provinces and cities, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Under the theme of "Joining Hands to Create the Future", the Forum discussed a number of topics, including young peoples' business startups, venture capital, cooperation in agricultural industrialization and youth exchanges.

Shao Jianghai wins top drama prize
《邵江海》获曹禹戏剧文学奖
Shao Jianghai, a Gezai opera composed by young Xiamen playwright Zeng Xuewen, has received China's most prestigious drama award, the Cao Yu Award for Dramatic Literature. This is the first time a Xiamen stage writer has won a national award, showing the continued improvement in Xiamen's arts scene.

Green community initiative
闽开展绿色社区资源回收
Fujian provincial environmental protection authorities have launched a recycling initiative in Fuzhou Rongqiao Jinjiang Residential Community. Parents and children display toys, ornaments, cushions and other household items made with discarded cans, cloth and waste materials. It is hoped that the display will promote awareness of recycling at home.

Big brother watches internet cafes
网吧配置视频监控系统
Fuzhou police are currently installing CCTV monitoring systems in all downtown internet cafes. The systems will provide comprehensive monitoring of internet usage. Police plan to post a security guard at each of the nearly 1,000 internet cafes currently in operation in the city. The security guards will assist the police in supervising the internet cafes.

 

 

Education

Measures strengthened against unsafe schools
校园安全实行"一票否决制"
The Fujian Education Department has enacted a new regulation requiring schools to guarantee the safety of their students as a precondition of operation. Under the new regulation, schools found to have unsafe conditions will be forced to reduce or suspend enrollment; school departments and officials will be held accountable for safety issues; and safety will be taken into consideration when evaluating the performance of schools and their officials.

Dehua school student counseling praised
德化一中心理辅教受表彰
In China's first nationwide evaluation of psychological counseling provision in schools, Dehua No. 1 Middle School has been named one of the best in the country. The school was recognized for its efforts in providing counseling in a way that the students can accept and in helping students to build and maintain a positive attitude. A total of 145 schools across the country were praised in the study.

Haicang builds rural education network
海沧建成农村教育信息网
The Haicang District Education Information Network has recently been completed, allowing teachers and students in 20 primary schools in the district to surf the internet at school. The network also provides educational video-on-demand services and teaching and research video-conferencing. Haicang District is the first in Fujian to link up rural schools with an internet network.

 

 

Economics

Big orders for XMU student software
厦大学生自创软件走俏日本市场
ATSU CAD, a computer program for designing tombstones developed by students at the Software College at Xiamen University, has been snapped up by buyers in Japan after it was demonstrated at a software exhibition on May 23. Orders for the program worth nearly JPY 20 million (about RMB 1.38m) have already been taken. The program took four software majors Ding Xueqing, Chen Yun, Chen Xiaojun and Huang Yonggang a year to design and was completed last July.

House prices bust RMB 6, 000/m2
商品住宅均价首破6000元
Xiamen's average house price unexpectedly rose to RMB 6,047/m2 in May, breaking the RMB 6,000 mark for the first time. The May figure is a hefty RMB 424 increase over the April average of RMB 5,623/m2.

 

Vocabulary
CCTV 闭路电视 (Closed Circuit Television)
chartered flight 包机