NORTH

Beijing speeds up revamping hutongs
首都改造旧胡同
Beijing is speeding up efforts to revamp centuries-old historic sites and the city's symbolic hutongs in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games. A short inauguration ceremony was held on August 4 to mark the start of a one-year project to restore the 600-year-old Imperial Ancestral Temple, adjacent to the well-known Tian'anmen Rostrum in the west. Beijing has already begun restoration projects for 13 historical sites this year.

Railway cuts journey by half
新高速铁路连线北京深圳
Work has begun on an RMB 220 billion (USD 25 billion) passenger-only rail link between Beijing and Shenzhen. The new line, expected to be completed in 2010, will reduce the 2,300 kilometer trip from the current 24 hours to 10 hours. The new line will run parallel with the existing Beijing-Guangzhou railway, one of the busiest lines in China, which has been operating beyond capacity.

Buddhist festival begins
五台山佛教大会即将开幕
The third Mount Wutai Buddhist Festival will open on August 27, and it is to last for one month. The organizer said during the festival there will be a grand prayer in the name of world peace and a forum to be attended by Buddhist monks and scholars from home and abroad. The festival promotes international exchange and cooperation in the fields of Buddhist culture and arts.

 

 

WEST

Dispatcher receives 1, 000 calls a day
青藏铁路调度员"日理千机"
Xia Shengyan, a dispatcher from the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Dispatch and Command Center, spends at least 12 hours a day at work. After the Qinghai-Tibet Railway opened on July 1, he has become used to such a busy life that he receives about 1,000 dispatch telephone calls from train drivers every day.

Over 2 million people lack water
四川200万人翘首待水
The disaster relief office in Sichuan said on August 6 that 2.39 million people and 3.04 million livestock are facing a shortage of drinking water due to drought. Most parts of the Sichuan Basin have reported high temperatures and low precipitation since the beginning of this year, sources with the office said. The provincial government has spent RMB 94.6 million (USD 11.8 million) and dispatched equipment to fight the drought.

Yellow river race kicks off
数百游泳高手"抢渡"黄河
Hundreds of participants will swim across the Yellow River, China's second longest river, as the second Qinghai International Yellow River Crossing Challenge started on August 5. There are 31 domestic teams and 11 international teams consisting of 300 swimmers from China, America, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the Netherlands, Canada, South Africa, France, Malaysia and Indonesia. The routes are 600 to 800 meters long.

 

 

MIDDLE

1000 year old pillar re-headed
千年石柱找回"帽子"
Experts have retrieved the capital of a 1100-year-old religious stone pillar inscribed with Buddhist incantations and inscriptions, which was discovered in Henan. The eight-square stone top fits the pillar trunk, engraved during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and re-discovered in June in Anle town, Henan, where the top was also found, experts say. They are now repairing and studying the stone pillar, which will be exhibited to the public soon.

 

 

EAST

Shanghai shuts down illegal clinics
上海打压黑诊所
Shanghai health authorities will beef up inspections in the second half of this year to uncover unlicensed medical clinics and doctors performing procedures they aren't licensed to do. It will also issue guidelines on which medical facilities are allowed to perform several complex procedures. In order to ensure that patients receive high quality treatment, the city will issue a list of requirements a medical facility must meet in order to perform 10 major operations, such as organ transplants and a major plastic surgery.



City kills rabid dogs
山东济宁大肆捕杀"狂犬"
After 16 local residents died of rabies this year, Jining, a city in Shandong, on August 3 began killing dogs and adopted coercive measures to have others vaccinated. The city, with some 500,000 dogs, ordered that all dogs within five kilometres of the 16 affected villages be killed, while dogs living within five to 10 kilometres should be taken to veterinary stations for vaccination. The city is not alone in being threathened by rabies. A county in Yunnan was plagued by a similar problem at the end of last month.

 

 

SOUTH

HK counts down to 2008 Olympics
香港进入奥运倒计时
Hong Kong began a series of activities on August 8 to mark the two-year countdown to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The events were organized by the Home Affairs Bureau of the HKSAR and the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong. They had a two-fold purpose: to welcome Beijing's hosting of the Olympics and to celebrate Hong Kong's role in staging the Games' equestrian event.

HK passes surveillance bill
香港通过通信监控法案
After five consecutive days of deliberation, the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on August passed the Interception of Communications and Surveillance Bill, a new law to regulate phone tapping and other surveillance measures. The 32-0 passage of the bill ended the marathon debate that lasted for five months in the Legislative Council, which resumed their second reading of the bill on August 2.

 

 

Electronic newspapers around the corner
电子报纸时代即将来临

A subway passenger scans an electronic newspaper in the form of a thin, foldable video screen with constantly changing text. This may seem like science fiction now, but it could be the norm in China's near future. In the guidelines to the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) for China's Press Industry, unveiled on August 4, "digital printing" is seen as the future of print media. The country's traditional print media are encouraged to develop digital products such as e-newspapers and provide value-added information services according to the guidelines set out by the General Administration of Press and Publications. The administration also plans to start an experimental program for e-newspapers to test the technology and platforms for digital publishing, with the participation of print media, IT companies and mobile service providers. Lin Jiang, deputy director of the administration's newspaper and periodical management department, said at the 3rd Annual Conference on the Competitive Edge of China's Press Industry that the changes would be "revolutionary".

Vocabulary
revamp 改造
vaccination 打疫苗
precipitation 降雨
rabies 狂犬病
surveillance 监控
veterinary 兽医的
equestrian 骑马的
dispatcher 调度员