Main works of Three Gorges Project finished a year ahead of schedule

Workers check the generating unit 15 on

the right bank of the Three Gorges Project in central China's Hubei

Province Oct. 29, 2008. The last turbo-generator completed a 72-hour test

run at 9 a.m. Wednesday, and would be connected to the power grid. Main

works of the Three Gorges Project are a 185-meter-high dam, a five-tier

ship lock, and 26 hydropower turbo-generators. The dam has 14

turbo-generators on the left bank and 12 on the right. (Chinese media

Photo)
Photo

Gallery

YICHANG, Oct. 29 (Chinese media) -- With the last

turbo-generator in operation on the south bank of the Yangtze River at 9 a.m.

Wednesday, the Three Gorges Project looks set to be completed one year ahead of

construction schedule.

Generating unit 15, which had a 72-hour test run,

would be connected to the power grid on Thursday, said Cao Guangjing, deputy

general manager of China Three Gorges Project Corporation.

"More checks on unit 15 and other aspects concerning

the entire project, including final financial accounting are also be pending,"

said Cao.

Begun in 1993, the Three Gorges

Project was expected to be finished by November 2009.

This photo taken on Oct. 28, 2008 shows

the dam of the Three Gorges Project in central China's Hubei Province Oct.

29, 2008. (Chinese media Photo)
Photo Gallery

With a budget equivalent to 22.5 billion U.S.

dollars, the project is also a water control system for the upper and middle

reaches of the Yangtze, China's longest waterway. Its functions cover power

generation, flood control and navigation.

Main works of the project are a 185-meter-high dam, a

five-tier ship lock, and 26 hydropower turbo-generators. The dam has 14

turbo-generators on the left bank and 12 on the right.

Combined, they will produce 84.7 billion kw of

electricity annually, which would require 40 million to 50 million tonnes of

coal consumption for a coal-fired station to produce.

Plans were expanded further to include six more

turbines by 2012. A ship lift will be finished by 2015.

The project has produced 270 billion kwh of

electricity since July 2003, when the first generating unit began operation.

The electricity generated by the project supplies 15

provinces in central, eastern and southern China, easing a severe power shortage

in industrial regions.

As of June, 1.24 million residents had been relocated to make way for the construction.

This photo taken on Oct. 29, 2008 shows generating units on the right bank of the Three Gorges Project in central China's Hubei Province. (Chinese media Photo)
Photo Gallery

Law professor stabbed to death in Beijing classroom

BEIJING, Oct. 29 (Chinese media) -- Beijing police confirmed on Wednesday that a university law professor was stabbed to death by a student in a classroom.

Professor Cheng Chunming was murdered Tuesday night at the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL)in the city's Changping District.

A CUPL spokeswoman admitted that the killer was a student from the university's Political Science and Public Management School.

"The student, surnamed Fu, burst into the classroom, where Professor Cheng was about to begin his class, and attacked him," said spokeswoman Liu Changmin.

She said Fu, aged 22, was a forth-year student in the school.

He had been detained by police who said he used his own mobile phone to surrender himself after the killing.

"The motivation for the killing is still under investigation. The school has verified that 19 students need psychological counseling after the incident," Liu said.

The Beijing Youth Daily quoted witnesses as saying that the 43-year-old professor was talking with students when the killer walked in with a kitchen knife and then cut Cheng twice on the right side of his neck.

The Changping Chinese Medical Hospital said Cheng had both his carotid and cervical vertebra broken. He died of excessive blood loss before reaching the emergency room.

Yang Chenxing, a second-year student in the university, said she saw four to five students trying to help the injured teacher lie down on a chair as she was passing by the classroom.

"I was startled but not very scared by the scene. The school is offering free psychological counseling. I don't think I need it," she said.

She said Cheng was a popular professor among students. Many sent bouquets to the classroom in memory of their teacher. The university released a bulletin Wednesday on its website mourning Cheng.

A teacher from the university, named Ma Ai, left a message on the school's website, calling on students to keep faith.

"It was a sleepless night, but please don't lose faith in the laws, the school and yourself. Let's give each other strength, and help those who were hurt," the teacher wrote.

Cheng obtained his doctoral degree from the Law School of the Montpellier 1 University on Public Law and Political Science in France. He started his teaching career at the CUPL in 2000.

The Ministry of Education declined to comment on this specific murder case at CUPL. But an official from the ministry's basic education department, said at a regular news conference on Tuesday that all government departments as well as social and educational employees should work together to guarantee the security of teachers.

Wang Dinghua made the remark in regards to two other attacks on teachers which happened this month in Shanxi and Zhejiang provinces.

In one case, a 16-year-old middle school student killed his teacher, Hao Xudong, 23, with a knife. In the other case, a 16-year-old student strangled his teacher to death.

Wang said that the attacks on the teachers reflected a lack of moral education and psychological counseling.

NE China city blames chicken feed for tainted eggs

DALIAN, Oct. 29 (Chinese media) -- Authorities in northeast China say fresh eggs found to contain the industrial chemical melamine in Hong Kong might have been subject to feed contamination at mainland poultry farms.

Dalian City government on Wednesday issued a statement saying that eggs found with the chemical by the Center for Food Safety (CFS) in Hong Kong over the weekend were produced on Sept. 6 by Hanovo Foods Co. Ltd. in the city.

The tainted eggs, which had a best-by date of Oct. 25, came from a Hanovo-owned farm that produced exclusively for the Hong Kong market.

The city government said it had acted immediately after the quality supervision, inspection and quarantine bureau of Liaoning Province informed it of the contamination on Sept. 27.

It had ordered Hanovo, a privately-owned mainland firm, to recall all tainted eggs and suspended the company's exports.

The city quality supervision, inspection and quarantine bureau, in cooperation with other departments, had dispatched inspectors to farms owned by Hanovo and tested their eggs.

The bureau had also carried out sample tests of fresh eggs supplied to the city markets.

Altogether 72 batches of eggs had been inspected, but no further cases of contamination had been identified, said the statement.

Officials at Hanovo, which had already recalled seven containers of eggs in Hong Kong and had another two containers sealed by Oct.5, could not be reached for comment.

City authorities are continuing their investigation into the causes of the contamination.

Eleven dead in SW China crane accident

photo taken on Oct. 29, 2008 shows the Furongjiang Bridge construction site following an accident in Haokou Township of Wulong County, southwest China's Chongqing City. A crane container fell at the construction site on Tuesday night, killing eleven building workers and injuring 12 others.
(Chinese media Photo)
Photo

Gallery

CHONGQING, Oct. 29 (Chinese media) -- Eleven building

workers died and 12 were injured after a crane container fell at a bridge

construction site in southwest China.

The accident occurred in heavy rain at around 10 p.m.

on Tuesday on Furongjiang Bridge, which is under construction in a mountainous

area in Haokou Township of Wulong County, Chongqing City.

The steel cable, to which the container was attached,

broke and it plunged on to the deck of the bridge. Nine workers were declared

dead at the scene, and two died on the way to the hospital.

The 12 injured workers were taken to Wulong County

Hospital, where 11 of them were said to be in a serious condition.

A rescue headquarters has been set up swiftly by

security inspection staff, policemen, firefighters and sanitation workers of

Wulong County.

Liu Xuepu, vice mayor of Chongqing City, arrived at

the site in two and a half hours after the accident to oversee the rescue

process.

Work safety officials are investigating the cause of the accident.

This photo taken on Oct. 29, 2008 shows the Furongjiang Bridge construction site following an accident in Haokou Township of Wulong County, southwest China's Chongqing City. (Chinese media Photo)
Photo Gallery

Scandalized milk powder supplier said to resume production

BEIJING, Oct.29 (Chinese media) -- Sanlu Group, which is at the heart of the tainted-milk scandal, is ready to resume production, according to a senior official of the city where the dairy conglomerate is based.

Li Jinlu, executive vice-mayor of Shijiazhuang, was quoted by Wednesday's China Daily as saying that a factory wholly owned by Sanlu Group had completed procedures for restarting production.

Seven of its affiliate factories in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, have resumed production after changing their names, Li said. They include those producing milk under the Wahaha and Feihebrands.

Another, which does not use the Sanlu brand, has also resumed operations, Li said.

Of the seven other dairy firms in Shijiazhuang, three have also restarted operations, he added.

"Our guidelines are that (city) dairy companies resume operations before restructuring," Li said.

All 16 dairy companies in the city were ordered shut after the scandal involving melamine-laced milk surfaced.

Sanlu products were found to contain the industrial chemical - used to increase the appearance of protein in milk - whose use is restricted in milk.

Children can develop kidney stones after drinking melamine-contaminated milk. The Ministry of Health said last Wednesday that almost 50,000 children were found to have kidney stones, of whom 3,650 were still in hospital.

The Shijiazhuang government has set up a restructuring team headed by a vice-mayor to talk with major players interested in buying Sanlu - Wandashan and Sanyuan.

"We have an open attitude to strategic investors and we hope we can contribute to the rebirth of Sanlu," he said.

Sanlu is one of the largest companies in Shijiazhuang, employing almost 10,000.

The government earlier said 15,870 tons of dairy products contaminated with melamine have been destroyed.

The government also decreed that by June next year, all cows be raised in designated areas which will be monitored by government officials and quality inspectors.

Guo Xinnian, deputy chief of Shijiazhuang police, told China Central Television yesterday that 43 suspects have been arrested in the province, of whom 27 have been charged in court.

City says tainted egg under investigation, vows punishment

DALIAN, Oct. 29 (Chinese media) -- China's Dalian city government said Wednesday morning investigation of tainted eggs produced by a local company is under way and vowed severe punishment of persons responsible for the incident according to law.

The city government said in a notice that tainted eggs found in Hong Kong were produced by a local company on September 6.

Confucius' 77th main-line descendant dies in Taiwan

TAIPEI, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- Kung Te-cheng, the 77th generation main-line descendant of Confucius, has died in Taiwan at 89, local media reported.

Kung died of heart and respiratory failure on Tuesday in a local hospital. He acquired pneumonia and Sepsis when he was sent to the emergency department of the hospital on Oct. 20.

Kung was born in Qufu in the eastern Shandong Province, and appointed Duke Yansheng soon after his birth in accordance with an imperial tradition dating back to 1055 of bestowing the title on the eldest male in each generation of the main line of descent.

Since 1950, he had been acting as the Sacrificial Official to Confucius, leading the annual official ceremony honoring the sage on his birthday on the island.

He was also head of Taiwan's Examination Yuan and a university professor.

Confucius (551 B.C.-479 B.C.) was a great thinker and educationist in ancient China, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced the Chinese and east Asians.

China says latest-tested milk powder safe

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- The latest test found

that Chinese baby formula milk and other milk powder products met the new

temporary restrictions on melamine, the country's top quality control agency

said on Tuesday.

It was the 12th test on the industrial chemical

following the tainted baby formula scandal that killed at least three infants

and sickened more than 50,000 others, according to the General Administration of

Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

The latest test covered 68 batches of baby formula

milk powder from 14 brands in seven major cities nationwide, and 237 batches of

other milk powder products from 50 brands in 13 cities, the agency said.

At present, 1,276 batches of baby formula from 72

brands and 1,867 batches of other milk powder from 174 brands produced after

Sept. 14 were tested and all were in line with the limit, it added.

Melamine, often used in the manufacturing of

plastics, was added to sub-standard or diluted milk to make the protein levels

appear higher.

China set temporary limits on melamine content in

dairy products earlier this month. The limits were a maximum of 1 mg of melamine

per kg of infant formula and a maximum 2.5 mg per kg for liquid milk, milk

powder and food products containing at least 15 percent milk.

Taiwan industrial associations welcome ARATS chief's visit

TAIPEI, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- Seven industrial and commercial associations in Taiwan on Tuesday voiced support and welcome for the visit of mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) president Chen Yunlin.

The associations said in a joint statement that although different parties on the island hold different opinions about Chen's visit, the associations, concerned about Taiwan's economic development, want to express support to the authority's invitation of Chen to have dialogue.

The statement said only through dialogue could the two sides find a practical solution to the complicated cross-Strait relations, and the associations welcome Chen's visit so that the two sides could reach agreements on issues of mutual concern.

The practical measures taken by the new Taiwan authority since May 20, including weekend charter flights and allowing mainland tourists to visit Taiwan, have eased tensions in cross-Strait ties and promoted economic and trade development.

Facing an unfavorable global financial and economic situation, Taiwan should consider how to strengthen the cross-Strait trade and economic cooperation to alleviate its impact on the island.

They urged all sides to rationally view Chen's visit at such a moment, and have consultations with the mainland in the best interests of Taiwan.

The food safety issue on the mainland has created uneasiness on the island, and Taiwan should take advantage of Chen's visit to consult and make an agreement on food safety cooperation to safeguard Taiwan's interests, the statement said.

China to examine payrolls of state company staff amid complaints

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- Starting this year, China would carry out an

annual survey on payrolls of staff with 146 centrally-administered state owned

enterprises (SOEs) amid public complaints that they were getting unreasonably

high pay, the state assets watchdog has said.

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Management Commission (SASAC) said

it would gather the salary information on general posts such as accounting,

administration and IT support.

The survey would cover employees in the SOEs' headquarters and secondary

subsidiaries. The 146 SOEs were required to report the information to the SASAC

before Dec. 20. Results of the survey would be publicized within these SOEs

later.

The SASAC did not say when the results would be publicized to the general

public.

There have been complaints on high incomes of SOE employees, garnered from

profits made from government subsidies, unilaterally-imposed fees and charges,

and substandard services.

China's military exercise Vanguard-2008 concludes

ZHENGZHOU, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- A military exercise code-named

"Vanguard-2008" that partly opened to foreign students studying at China's

military academies concluded in the central Henan Province on Tuesday, winning

applause from the foreign observers.

The week-long exercise was performed by a 2,200-strong armored brigade from

the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Jinan Military Area Command, whose armaments

are said to be among the best in the PLA land forces.

Armed with equipment including armored cars, armed helicopters and

transport helicopters, the brigade fought fictitious "Blue Army" targets on a

mountainous island with live ammunition.

The brigade fired at nearly 70 targets with more than 7,000 rounds of

various ammunitions during the exercise, according to brigade commander Zhang

Jianfeng.

"We can see from the military exercise the commanders not only have the

idea of a plan, but also they can implement the designs, "said Frouarl Loic

Roger Horst, a French colonel who studies at China's University of National

Defense.

"China is an important force for peace-keeping in the world. The exercise

shows that we can cooperate more. We can deploy more people on the peace-keeping

operation together," he added.

Army Major Siew Ha Chean from Malaysia, the only female in the 179-member

foreign student group, said she was impressed by the use of combined armies of

different services during the exercise, "that is the something very new to me

because it's my first time to see it on the spot."

Maj Zahid Hamid Kiani, group captain of Pakistani air force, said with the

exercise partly open to foreigners, China has sent a signal of peace-loving to

the rest of the world.

The 179 foreigners, from 67 countries, are mostly first year students at

the Beijing-based University of National Defense and the Nanjing Army Command

College in eastern Jiangsu Province.

It is the largest group of foreign military students to observe a military

exercise of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

The annual drill is divided into four stages -- change of combat readiness,

long-distance maneuvers, strategy planning, and combat. It is designed to test

the capacity of the brigade on carrying out joint action with different arms of

services in mountainous areas.

China allocates 2 billion yuan to subsidize school heating

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- China's Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday it

would allocate 2.06 billion yuan (294 million U.S. dollars) to subsidize school

heating in the country's northern rural areas.

The money would go to primary and middle schools in rural areas of 13

provincial regions including Inner Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang. The subsidies

would also cover those in the northern part of Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Shaanxi

provinces.

The ministry urged local departments to make the subsidies available to

schools as soon as possible and plan more money for small-size ones and those in

the high-cold land.

It required departments at all levels to keep a close eye over the

management of the subsidies and help schools fix solar heating systems and

renovate walls of schoolhouses to make sure teachers and students would be

protected from the harsh winter.

Well-off Chinese peasants find delight in sports

By Sportswriter Wu Junkuan

QUANZHOU, Southeast China, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- Shaohui, a poor village in

China's Fujian Province on the west coast of Taiwan Straits 30 years ago, now

boasts four light basketball courts and four outdoor body-building areas as the

average annual income of some 3,600 villagers reaches 9,000 yuan (about 1,300

U.S. dollars).

The 50-year-old villager Hong Woyi told Chinese media on Tuesday that the on-going

National Peasants' Games in Quanzhou reminds him the importance of doing

exercises.

"As the life becomes better and better, I get more weights due to lack of

field working. Suffering from hypertension and glycemia, I even think I am not a

real peasant," Hong said.

Now, Hong practices Taiji, a special form of the Chinese martial arts,

every morning and then does exercises in an outdoor body-building area near a

lighting basketball court.

Thirty years ago, the scene was totally different. The villagers struggled

day and night in their lean field, hoping to make ends meet.

"At that time, there were no sports facilities in the whole village, and

the field work was in a sense the only 'sport' for us. We were even nicknamed

'mud legs' because of the long-time field work," said Hong, who is now wearing a

pair of decent leather shoes and working in an air-conditioned office.

Hong said,"The village has two basketball teams -- a workers team and a

juniors team. Both teams regularly take part in friendly tournaments with teams

from neighboring villages. And thetrophy and award are all sponsored by village

factories."

The Shaohui village is near Jinjiang, an affiliated town to Quanzhou city.

Quanzhou, which is hosting the largest-ever Chinese National Peasants' Games,

has become a sports equipment production base in China.

Shaohui is just an epitome of the peasants' life and the development of

sports in China's rural areas. According to the Jinjiang Sports and Culture

Administration, there are more than 800 lighting basketball courts scattering

over 300 villages around the town and the outdoor body-building areas exist in

every single village. The Jinjiang Peasants' Sports Association was also

established last year to guide grass-roots sports development.

Yang Chunyan, a dragon-boating athlete in the Peasants' Games said, "In

recent years, all kinds of private enterprises sprang up in Chinese rural areas.

Many of my fellow villagers have already worked in these enterprises, and some

even hunt jobs in cities. We do not need to work in the field all the time, but

we still need exercise to keep fit."

In the cycling events of the ongoing Peasants' Games, most audience went to

watch the game by motorbike. Although China is called the "Bike Kingdom" because

of its enormous bike output and possession rate, many peasants now consider bike

riding as a recreation, other than popular means of transportation any more.

According to Wang Fulai, the secretary general of Chinese National

Peasants' Sports Association, every China's province, autonomous region or

municipality has its own Peasants' Sports Association now. More than 20,000

towns in China have established sports organizations, which is leading to a

systematic network.

"After the sixth National Games of Peasants, we will send some athletes to

compete and perform in grass-roots areas. And we believe the Chinese peasants'

interests and enthusiasm for sports will be further increased by this move,"

said a determined Wang.

Deep-water port opens in China's Yangtze River Delta

NANJING, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- A deep-water port in east China's Jiangsu

Province opened to ships and traffic on Tuesday.

The Yangkou Port is built on a man-made island on the Yellow Sea and is

connected to the mainland by a 13-km vehicular bridge which is now open to

traffic.

So far, only one berth at the port is operational for ships weighing 10,000

tons or less.

Once construction on the rest of the project is complete, the port is

expected to help handle massive amounts of cargo flowing in the bustling Yangtze

River Delta region which sees more than 40percent of China's port transportation

volume, according to statistics from the Ministry of Transportation.

Based on the port's construction plan, it will be able to dock ocean-going

ships weighing 300,000 tons by 2013, said Yuan Xin'an,deputy head of the

management board of the Yangkou Development Zone.

The port will be able to accommodate heavy cargo such as containers, crude

oil, iron ore and LNG, according to the port's developer, the Yangkou Port

Development and Investment Co. Ltd.

Before the Yangkou Port, there was no major port on the 1,000-km coastline

between Shanghai and Lianyungang Port in Jiangsu.

PetroChina, China's largest oil producer, kicked off its liquefied natural

gas (LNG) receiving station project at the port in May, taking advantage of the

port's prospective transportation capacity.

Yuan said that the 8 billion yuan (1.2 billion U.S. dollars) LNG project is

scheduled to be completed by 2011. The station will have an annual handling

capacity of 3.5 million tons of LNG, making it an important energy backup source

for Shanghai and Nanjing, provincial capital of Jiangsu.

China marks Men's Health Day, targeting migrant workers

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- Chinese men embraced the country's ninth Men's

Health Day on Tuesday as an on-going national women's congress vowed to further

boost women's involvement in social and economic development and their

participation in state affairs.

A variety of activities was held in cities across China to mark the special

occasion.

At the Beijing West Railway Station, the National Population and Family

Planning Commission launched a campaign to publicize health knowledge,

especially for male migrant workers.

Passengers thronged to consultation desks to seek doctors' advice about

their health, and get free medical pamphlets.

"This is very useful," said Chen Beihe, a migrant worker from central Henan

Province, at the station, holding two books in his hand. "We can do nothing

without a sound physical condition."

Lectures, consultations, exhibitions, medical examinations and various

other activities were staged across the country to promote care for men's

health, which has long been neglected.

China named Oct. 28 Men's Health Day in 2000. The theme of this year's

Men's Health Day focused on providing scientific health guidance for men to help

them lead a harmonious life.

The commission's deputy director Wang Pei'an said there are more than 100

million Chinese who are working outside their hometown for better payment.

"They have made great contributions to urban construction, but they are, at

the same time, encountering many difficulties and problems in life and work," he

said. "They deserve more public attention."

According to Wang, a new department to offer service and management for

migrant workers was set up under the commission earlier this year.

The department would work to ensure orderly migration and reasonable layout

of the group, to provide better reproduction service, and to gradually improve a

legal system for migrant worker management, he said.

Impotence and andrology diseases are growing among men because of

increasing stress from work and family, unhealthy lifestyle, worsening

environment, and men's reluctance to see a doctor.

Statistics from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention

showed, one in four men in China suffered from sexual dysfunction, and 6.5

percent of male adults have venereal disease.

China to subsidize college grads opting for village jobs

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- China would give financial subsidy to college graduates who opted to work as village administrators, ministries announced here Tuesday.

The Organization Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the Finance Ministry said in a joint circular that the money, including life subsidy and settlement fees, was earmarked from the central budget to provide the graduates "necessary working and living conditions to facilitate their work in the villages."

The circular, however, failed to disclose how much money will be allocated to each of the graduates.

It urged provinces to submit the name lists of the graduates as soon as possible and once the money was allocated, distribute to them at an early date.

Aside from the one-off central subsidy, local governments should give them monthly subsidy until the contract concludes. Those working in remote and harsh areas would be given a monthly special subsidy as well.

The circular said no delay in payment or embezzlement of the money would be allowed and those found violating the rules would be severely punished.

In March this year, the government launched a five-year project to have 100,000 college students work in villages. They would be responsible for helping farmers with agricultural technology, raising health awareness and skills, promoting cultural activities and researching farmers' complaints.

The project is in smooth progress as many college graduates have volunteered for the jobs and most provinces have finished selecting the candidates, according to the circular.

Guangdong issues wanted warrant for Hong Kong drug lord

GUANGZHOU, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- A warrant was issued globally for the arrest

of Chung Kwan Shing, a Hong Kong citizen suspected of manufacturing and

trafficking methamphetamine "ice" on the Chinese mainland, the Public Security

Bureau of south China's Guangdong Province said on Tuesday.

Chung, together with other associates, was suspected of having manufactured

and trafficked tonnes of "ice" in Guangzhou and Huizhou cities of Guangdong, and

Zhumadian city of central Henan Province from 1999 to 2003, with four tonnes of

"ice" intercepted by the police.

The police also found Chung involved in several heroin trafficking cases.

Chung has been on the run and harbored in Hong Kong and other regions, said

police.

Police said that Chung, born in 1956, was 174 cm tall and weighed 75 kg,

with black hair and eyes.

Aid flows to quake survivors as snowstorm hits Tibet

LHASA, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- The worst snowy weather

that has gripped the eastern part of Tibet Autonomous Region since Sunday has

worsened the situation in the October quake zones, but aid has been flowing into

the region.

Temperature in Damxung, an outer county in Lhasa, the

regional capital, and also the worst hit area by the 6.6-magnitude quake

ofOct.6, has dropped below zero degrees centigrade, after snow started to fall

Sunday.

Tibetan women receive relief zanba (roasted highland barley flour) from a

neighborhood committee of Lhasa in snow-covered Damxung County, southwest China's

Tibet Autonomous Region, Oct. 28, 2008.The worst snowy weather that has gripped

the eastern part of Tibet Autonomous Region since Sunday has worsened the

situation in the October quake zones, but aid has been flowing into the

region.(Chinese media Photo)
Photo Gallery

And it started to snow in Yangyi Village, a village

in Damxung of where nine residents died, 18 injured and 171 homes were destroyed

in Oct.6 quake, early Monday, and by late night the snow was four centimeters

deep.

"There is no doubt quake survivors in Yangyi will

pass a warm winter: there is ample supply of necessities for life, alongside a

good stock of fodders for sheep and cattle in winter, and of firewood and cow

dung for making fire and keeping warmth," said Zhang Yiquan, deputy chief of

Damxung County Government.

Civil affairs departments in the plateau region were

busy sending relief materials such as tents and foodstuffs to quake zones in

Lhasa, as well as those in Xigaze and Shannan, two other areas bordering Lhasa,

to make sure that quake survivors could spend the winter with places to live,

and food to eat and clothes to wear, said Ren Hongru, an official with the

relief operation section of the civil affairs bureau of Tibet.

Tibetan men clean up the snow around

relief tents in the snow-covered Damxung County, southwest China's Tibet

Autonomous Region, Oct. 28, 2008. (Chinese media Photo)
Photo Gallery

According to Ren, Tibet Autonomous Regional

Government has allocated 9.2 million yuan (about 1.31 million U.S. dollars) in

emergency relief fund for quake survivors in Tibet to well spend the winter.

Relief materials sent to quake zones in Lhasa, Xigaze

and Shannan include 2,430 tents and 2,120 cotton quilts, said Ren.

"Local civil affairs departments were told to pay

close attention to disasters caused by the snowstorm, especially damage

situation in quake zones, and to do a good job of storing up and transferring

work so that relief materials could reach victims once disasters do occur," said

Ren.

Tibet autonomous regional weather observatory claimed Tuesday the snowstorm that started to affect parts of Tibet Sunday was the worst of the kind since the plateau began to take weather records.

A Tibetan man cleans up the snow around relief tent in the snow-covered Damxung County, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Oct. 28, 2008.(Chinese media Photo)
Photo Gallery

The snowy weather will continue in most parts of

Tibet, but it will be on the wane from Thursday on, according to a forecast

given by the regional weather observatory Tuesday.

The heavy snow has left two people missing and

blocked roads in many places in Tibet. Armed police are struggling to clear

roads to restore traffic.

An avalanche, plus a landslide occurred again at 10 a.m. Tuesday on the Sichuan-Tibet road which had 160 km of sections covered with snow as of 9 p.m. Monday, according to Chen Jun, a leading armed police officer who was at site to oversee the work for restoring traffic on the trunk road to Tibet.

A bulldozer tries to clear the mud-rock

flow on the Sichuan-Tibet road in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous

Region, Oct. 28, 2008. At round 10:00 a.m. on Oct. 28, a snowslide hit the

Ranwugou section of Sichuan-Tibet road which has already been blocked due

to heavy snow, causing land collapse. No casualties have been reported.

(Chinese media Photo)
Photo Gallery

China launches official social welfare website

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- China's Ministry of Civil Affairs has opened a

social welfare website where the public can book places in care homes, ask

questions and file complaints.

The website, which also featured welfare policies, was expected to offer,

in three to four months, more specific services concerning the elderly, the

disabled and orphans, said Feng Xiaoli, director of the ministry's social

welfare center.

The center would recommend through the website care service products, Feng

said.

Visitors could also book places in care homes. "For example, if elderly

people from the north want to spend winter in warmer southern areas or those

from the south want a cooler summer in the north, they can do that," she said.

Visitors could also ask questions and discuss problems, and the ministry

would organize experts to respond, she said.

According to the ministry, China has 42,057 welfare

facilities.

Lawsuit ramps up pressure over Microsoft's "black screen" anti-piracy move

by Cheng Zhiliang

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- Public pressure on

Microsoft over its controversial anti-piracy campaign in China has been stepped

up with news that a Beijing man is taking the software giant to court to uphold

the principle of the integrity of his computer.

The man, surnamed Liu, said he was not seeking

damages, but just demanding that Microsoft remove a notice that he has been the

victim of software piracy from his desktop.

The court has yet to announce whether it will hear

the case, which could set a precedent for thousands of other Chinese computer

owners to demand the restoration of their software.

"Microsoft has no right to judge whether the

installed software is pirated or not. It has no right to penalize users by

intruding on their computers," said Liu, who lodged his suit at Haidian District

People's Court.

Meanwhile, the China Computer Federation has issued a

public statement condemning the Microsoft moves, which include a program that

blacks out the desktop window if it detects pirated software and permanent

warnings on screens.

The federation statement said the company breached

the basic ethics of software developers with the unsolicited remote control of

computers.

"If a company believes others have infringed their

intellectual property rights, it can collect evidence and take judicial measures

to deal with the infringement according to Chinese law," the statement said.

"It is improper to take illegal measures to deal with

(piracy), and the public will not accept the black screen move."

The federation suggested that the government order

Microsoft to stop the screen black-outs and investigate foreign monopolies in

China's software market. It warned that national security was threatened if the

country lacked its own computer operating systems and office applications.

Meanwhile, Dong Zhengwei, a 35-year-old Beijing

lawyer, has made a submission to the State Administration for Industry and

Commerce suggesting a fine of 1 billion U.S. dollars for Microsoft.

He also asked anti-monopoly authorities to

investigate the "black screen" move and order the company to desist, after

complaining to the Ministry of Public Security that the Microsoft move was the

"biggest hacking activity in China infringing on privacy and damaging

information security".

A source from the administration said it would look

into the application, without giving more information.

A Microsoft spokesman said the company, according to

its practice, would not comment on lawsuits.

Microsoft launched the "Windows Genuine Advantage"

(WGA) and "Office Genuine Advantage" (OGA) tools last week to test the

legitimacy of the software in China's computers. Those whose software failed the

tests would see a black desktop or a permanent warning of pirated Office

software.

Although the company repeated it would not collect

personal information with the tools, which would not affect computer use,

controversy over the move has escalated.

The headline-hitting incident also triggered on-line

surveys on almost every major portal website. The majority of respondents said

they were unhappy with the move.

Ni Guangnan, a researcher at the Institute of

Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of

Engineering academician, said, "Now people understand why China needs its own

software, especially basic programs ... Aren't worse things likely to happen in

the future?".

National Copyright Administration vice-director Yan

Xiaohong told Chinese media on Monday, "The administration understands and supports the

rights-protection moves taken by institutions, including Microsoft."

But he pointed out that they should "pay attention to

the methods".

"Whether the 'black-out' method should be adopted is

open to question. Measures for safeguarding rights need to be appropriate, We've

paid great attention to the 'black-out' issue, so do many experts," he

said.

Macao's unemployment rate exceeds 3% in Q3

MACAO, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- Macao's unemployment rate for the third quarter

of 2008 stood at 3.1 percent, which remained unchanged over the same period of

last year, according to the latest results of the Employment Survey Tuesday

released by the city's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

In the third quarter, Macao's total labor force reached 337,400, with labor

force participation rate standing at 70.7 percent, up by 0.3 percentage point

year-on-year, according to the survey results.

The unemployed population was 10,500, with 24.6 percent of the total

searching for their first job, during the period of July to September. In

addition, the unemployment rate of local residents (excluding non-resident

workers) stood at four percent for the third quarter, and the respective labor

force participation rate was 64 percent.

China launches training course to help retired athletes for new careers

CHANGCHUN, Northeast China, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- Training Course in New Career for Retired Athletes was launched in this capital city of Northeast China's Jilin Province on Tuesday.

It is the first time for China to hold such a training course to assist retired players in getting new jobs.

Zhao Fengpei, director general of the Jilin Sports Bureau, said that the training course would last 11 days and 75 retired athletes would be trained.

According to officials, there are many retired professional players who have problems in getting employment for the lack of skills except from sport in China.

Former Beijing vice mayor appeals against suspended death penalty

BEIJING, Oct.28 (Chinese media) -- Former Beijing vice mayor Liu Zhihua has lodged

an appeal against his death sentence with a two-year reprieve after being

convicted on corruption charges, one-day before the appeal deadline, said his

lawyer Mo Shaoping on Tuesday.

Liu, 59, was convicted and sentenced at Hengshui Intermediate People's

Court, in Hebei Province neighboring Beijing, on Oct. 18 and he lodged his

appeal at the same court on Monday.

He was found guilty of taking bribes totaling 6.97 million yuan (1.02

million U.S. dollars) when he was vice mayor and director of the management

committee of Zhongguancun Science Park from 1999 to2006.

In his appeal statement, Liu claimed that as the former construction

director of the 2008 Olympic projects, his useful advice on their planning and

construction was a "contribution" to the Olympics, and thus grounds for

leniency.

He claimed the confiscation of all his personal assets, including a bank

account with 200,000 yuan and his apartment, was improper as they were lawfully

earned.

The court ruling said Liu and his mistress Wang Jianrui had accepted bribes

offered in return for contracts, loans and promotions, which Liu had the

authority to grant.

Liu was removed from the post of Beijing vice mayor in June 2006 and

expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) six months later.

He had been head of the Beijing labor bureau, secretary of the CPC

Committee of Xicheng District and secretary general of the municipal government.

In 1999, he was elected vice mayor, with authority over construction, real

estate, sport and transport projects.

China's sports authorities clear diving manager's name

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- Chinese sports authorities have cleared their Olympic diving team manager of embezzlement charges.

Zhou Jihong, China's first Olympic diving champion who has been the administrator of the star-studded Chinese team since 2000, was accused of embezzling several million yuan of prize money which was supposed to go to coaches.

Yu Fen, a Tsinghua University diving coach, tipped off the China State General Administration of Sport (GASC) on Jan. 30, 2008 for Zhou's alleged embezzlement.

The GASC's discipline bureau said they found no wrongdoing in the Chinese team's distribution of prize money.

Yu, a vocal critic of Zhou's management, has churned out a dozen of Olympic and world champions, including Fu Mingxia and Guo Jingjing, first as a Chinese national team coach and then as head coach of the prestigious Tsinghua University.

"My students have won numerous gold and silver medals in international and domestic competitions in the past decade," Yu told Xi'an Evening News. "I was supposed to collect several million yuan from the Chinese team as bonuses for my efforts. As amatter of fact, I have only got 157,000 yuan (23,000 US. dollars)."

China to launch safety checkup of oil production enterprises

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Chinese media) -- China will launch a nationwide safety examination of domestic oil production enterprises, said the safe production commission under the State Council, or the country's Cabinet, on Monday.

The checkup is scheduled to begin November and last for two months, according to the commission.

The move aims to make clear the number, scale and production situation of domestic oil enterprises, based on which a data base of the country's oil enterprise will be set up, according to the commission.

The move also aims to dig out hidden risks and problems and work out feasible resolutions.

The government also ordered local production safety supervision organs to enhance monitoring and take effective measures to tackle problems.

China says latest-tested liquid milk safe

BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Chinese media) -- The latest tests have found that Chinese liquid milk met the new temporary restrictions on melamine, the country's top quality control agency said on Monday.

It was the 17th test on the industrial chemical following the tainted baby formula scandal that killed at least three infants and sickened more than 50,000 others, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

The latest test covered 548 batches of liquid milk from 65 brands in 22 major cities nationwide, the agency said.

At present, 8,317 batches of liquid milk from 147 brands in 34 cities produced after Sept. 14 were tested and all were in line with the limit, it added.

Melamine, often used in the manufacturing of plastics, was added to sub-standard or diluted milk to make the protein levels appear higher.

China set temporary limits on melamine content in dairy products earlier this month. The limits were a maximum of 1 mg of melamine per kg of infant formula and a maximum 2.5 mg per kg for liquid milk, milk powder and food products containing at least 15 percent milk.

Record number of Chinese vie for gov't posts

BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Chinese media) -- Government jobs have

become increasingly popular in China as the latest figures showed a record 1.05

million people applied to take part in an upcoming nationwide government

recruitment exam, well surpassing last year's 800,000.

Online applications for the 2009 national civil

servant recruitment exam ended over the weekend, with the most popular position,

a post with the China Disabled Persons' Federation, attracting 4,723 applicants,

the people.com.cn revealed on Monday.

On average, 77 applicants would compete for each

government - last year it was 60 to 1.

There are 40 hottest posts each with more than 1,000

applicants.

The fiercest competitions are for posts with the

taxation and customs bureaus, with 17 of them on the top-40 list.

A post in the local earthquake bureau in Chongqing,

one of the regions affected by the devastating May 12 quake, has unexpectedly

fought its way into the list, with more than 2,000 applicants.

China's central organs including the National

Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Health, as well as the

General Office, the Publicity Department, and the United Front Work Department

of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), also have posts

on the list.

However, not all of the government posts are desired

by job-hunters. A total of 87 posts ended up with no applicants.

The weather bureau remained in deep freeze, with

posts in Hebei,Gansu and Jiangxi provinces as well as Ningxia Hui autonomous

region attracting no comers.

Meanwhile, some posts at the audit administration,

the local bureau of civil aviation and the marine board also had no applicants.

Although the most popular post varies year by year,

they shared common features such as a lower threshold for application and better

payment and welfare, said Zhou Ying, former leader of the group who programmed

test questions for the exam.

A total of 13,566 positions in central government

were open for public competition this year.

The written test scheduled for Nov. 30 this year

includes two sessions, the administrative aptitude test (AAT) in the morning and

the essay test in the afternoon, before a more competitive interview at the

beginning of 2009.

In a cut-throat employment market, the civil service

has become one of the most popular professions of the country because it offers

a stable income, social status and excellent welfare

insurance.

Chinese magazine chooses most influential overseas experts

BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Chinese media) -- A Chinese government magazine has started a

campaign to list the 15 most influential overseas specialists in the country's

development over the last three decades.

International Talent magazine, published by the State Administration of

Foreign Experts Affairs, has invited a panel of 38 judges to select the 15

experts from a short-list of 29 candidates.

The list includes Chinese-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei, who designed

the Fragrant Hill Hotel on the outskirts of Beijing and the Bank of China

building in Hong Kong in the 1980s, and the bank's Beijing headquarters in 1995.

In 2004, he designed the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C.

Also listed are Chinese American Nobel physics laureates Yang Chen-ning and

Lee Tsung-dao and China women's hockey coach Kim Chang-back, from the Republic

of Korea, who helped the team win silver at the Beijing Olympics.

The finalists are to be announced at the opening of an international talent

forum of the 2008 Conference on International Exchange of Professionals on Nov.

29 in Shenzhen.

The judging panel comprises experts from the China International Publishing

Group, China Personnel Newspaper, Beijing University, Shenzhen General Chamber

of Commerce, China Society for Research on International Exchange and Personnel

Development and senior experts with long experience of introducing overseas

talent to the mainland.

An organizing committee official said the move was aimed at raising

awareness of overseas experts. They would be appraised according to their

contributions and influence.

Most of the candidates were winners of the Friendship Award, the top honor

awarded by the Chinese government to foreign experts who make outstanding

contributions to China's economic construction and social development, and the

China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award.

Chinese octogenarian marries Internet lover

BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Chinese media) -- An 81-year-old Beijing man on Monday married a

woman he met and wooed over the Internet, a Beijing newspaper reported.

"The Internet does not just belong to the young," said groom WuJieqin, a

retired art professor.

"There's no rule saying the elderly can't find love on the Internet," said

Wu, after kissing his bride to long applause, Jiang Xiaohui, 58, at the wedding,

said the Beijing News.

Wu proposed on bended knee to the woman who answered his personal ad on a

matchmaking website.

He met Jiang after a series of other virtual dates.

"I was smitten when I first saw her photo," said Wu. The couplechatted

on-line before Wu traveled to the southwestern Sichuan Province to meet Jiang in

person.

Jiang said she was attracted by Wu's optimism and passion. "He is

romantic," she said.

However, Jiang had to overcome strong opposition to the union from her

parents, who are aged 85 and 86.

"It was his talent and sincerity that touched me," she said.

Wu said they will settle down in Jiang's hometown in Sichuan. Enditem

Police say 15 injured, eight arrested after east China riot

TONGGU, Jiangxi Province, Oct. 27 (Chinese media) -- Police in east China said they have arrested eight forestry security guards and are seeking others after a riot involving almost 200 people last week left 15 injured.

Police also denied reports of deaths in the riot, which broke out just before midnight on Thursday in a dispute over land-use rents paid by a privately owned forestry company in Jiangxi Province.

Twelve villagers were injured, three of them seriously, after about 150 residents of Shuanghong Village, Daduan Town in Tonggu County, confronted around 30 company security guards, said police.

The villagers attacked the offices of the Luhai Wood Industry Company Ltd., destroying or taking away computers, air-conditioners and desks, said police.

About 100 public security bureau police were dispatched to the site and three of them were injured, one seriously, as they tried to restore order, said police. Four police cars were overturned, but they denied reports that any of them were set alight.

All of the injured were being treated in hospital, a police spokesman said.

"The security guards were vicious -- they hit anyone they saw," said Chen Shilin, 57, the most seriously injured. He suffered three knife wounds on his back, four on his head and a broken rib,a doctor said.

Police had posted notices in public places and made appeals on television and radio for the public to come forward with any information on the incident and on any of the security guards who had since disappeared. They said they were seeking no villagers in connection with the violence.

Local government officials had also launched an investigation into the causes of the villagers' grievances and dispatched a medical team to the area, said a county government official.

"Conflicts had happened before when peasants were caught illegally felling trees because they were dissatisfied with the company payments," said Ye Chirong, leader of the firm's 17-strongeastern security squad.

The company had hired about 30 guards altogether and the conflict had involved the western security squad, he said.

Ye said members of his squad had blackmailed villagers who werecaught illegally felling trees when they should have reported the offences to the police according to the law.

The Luhai company leased more than 100,000 mu (6,700 hectares) of forest in 2004, paying the peasants 80 yuan for each mu.

Shuanghong was a mountainous village where most of the population of 2,000 rely on forestry for a living, a county government official said.

The villagers became unhappy with the contracted rents and began felling trees after reforms of forest property rights and looser tax policies increased land values, the official said.

After government mediation, the company paid a further 6 yuan (76 U.S. cents) per mu, the official said.

On Monday, the area appeared quiet and the damage had all been cleared up. Part of the plant was preparing to resume production. More than 100 pieces of lost facilities had been returned to the company by villagers.

Three men arrested in south China CPPCC official murder probe

GUANGZHOU, Oct. 27 (Chinese media) -- Police in south China's Guangdong Province on Monday announced the arrests of three young men in connection with the murder of a senior local government political advisor last week.

The men were identified to be Li Zhongyan, Chen Pixing and RuanYuming, all natives of Lianjiang, a small city in Zhanjiang on thesouth China coast. All three were unemployed, said a Lianjiang City Government official.

Huang Zhaoluan, vice-chairman of the Lianjiang City Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and principal of a local middle school, was attacked by three assailants in the street about 100 meters from his home at 6:24 a.m. on Oct.20, said a police spokesman.

Huang suffered stab wounds to his entire body, and later died in hospital from blood loss from severed arteries in his thighs.

Police in Lianjiang began searching for the three men shortly after the attack. Two of them were arrested in Bose, in neighboring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on Friday and were brought to Liangjiang early Sunday.

The third man was arrested on Saturday in Heliao, Lianjiang, where he was staying with his girlfriend.

A police spokesman said the murder was a "revenge attack", but refused to provide more details.

Police are continuing the investigation.

The three have been referred to the People's Procuratorate of Lianjiang City, but a trial date has not been set.

China convicts 4,525 civil servants above county level in five years

BEIJING, Oct. 26 (Chinese media) -- Chinese courts at all levels had convicted 4,525 civil servants above the level of county head in the recent five years, Wang Shengjun, president of the Supreme People's Court, said on Sunday.

In a report on maintaining judicatory fairness delivered by the supreme court to the National People's Congress Standing Committee, Wang said that the number of convicted civil servants above the level of county head from 2003 to June 2008 had increased by 77.52 percent compared with those in the previous five years.

According to Wang, criminal cases and offenders which seriously jeopardized social orders in the five years were 1.2 million and 1.6 million, up 27.41 percent and 32.82 percent respectively over the previous five years.

Six dead, 24 injured in SW China bus accident

KUNMING, Oct. 26 (Chinese media) -- Six died and 24 were injured after a bus ran off an expressway and fell down onto a riverside in southwest China's Yunnan Province, local traffic police said on Sunday.

The bus with 30 aboard hit guardrails and ran off the expressway in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture at around 3:35 a.m. Sunday, Dali's traffic police said.

Five people died on the spot. One died in hospital. All the injured, including one seriously, have been sent to hospital.

The cause of the accident was being investigated.

Funeral for renowned Chinese film director Xie Jin held in Shanghai

SHANGHAI, Oct. 26 (Chinese media) -- A funeral for Xie Jin, a

well-known Chinese director whose movies have won popularity among generations,

was held Sunday afternoon in Shanghai.

More than 10,000 people, including film stars and ordinary

citizens from across the country, came to the Longhua Funeral Hometo mourn

for the filmmaker who died on Oct. 18 in Shangyu, eastern Zhejiang

Province.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and other top Chinese

leaders also expressed their mourning for Xie in different ways.

Xie, born in 1923, died of an illness in the early

hours on Oct. 18 in his hotel room in Shangyu. He was there attending the 100th

anniversary of his middle school.

Xie, who made his film directing debut in 1957 with

the acclaimed "Woman Basketball Player No. 5," went on to create other popular

features such as "The Red Detachment of Women," "The Herdsman," "Legend of

Tianyun Mountain," "The Opium War" and "Hibiscus Town." He was active in

directing until 2001 with his last film "Woman Soccer Player No. 9."

The Herdsman, shown in 1982, registered a record 150

million spectators. Three times his films won the Golden Rooster, a top award in

the Chinese film industry.

"Xie Jin is irreplaceable! The Chinese film industry

dims with the departure of him," said Professor Zheng Dongtian of Beijing Film

Academy.

China expects good rice harvest

BEIJING, Oct. 26 (Chinese media) -- China's Ministry of Agriculture said on Sunday the country was expecting a good late rice harvest.

An official with the ministry said the output in the southern regions was set to exceed that of last year. He attributed the increase to elevated subsidies to farmers.

He said in the beginning of this year, the country raised the subsidies for farmers who planted the late rice from 8 yuan per mu to 15 yuan. This had encouraged more farmers to plant the second rice.

Meanwhile, the ministry had organized experts to help farmers solve technical problems and answer their questions. Agricultural departments at all levels also contributed to the bumper harvest by guiding farmers to prevent losses from natural disasters such as typhoons, he added. (one mu equals to 0.0667 hectares)

Sichuan to absorb 9.4 bln yuan to save quake-threatened Qiang culture

CHENGDU, Oct. 26 (Chinese media) -- The quake-hit Sichuan Province would seek investment worth 9.4 billion yuan (1.4 billion U.S. dollars) to save the threatened culture of the Qiang people, local authorities said on Sunday.

A total of 7.9 billion yuan would be absorbed to assist the Qiang culture protection and tourism in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture and Mianyang City where most of the Qiang people lived.

The information was listed on a handbook distributed at the on-going international cooperation conference held in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province.

"Sichuan would attract investment of more than 600 billion yuanfrom home and abroad to reconstruct the quake-hit zones in the province, said Huang Xiaoxiang, Sichuan deputy governor, at the conference which attracted commerce representatives and businessmen from more than 20 countries.

The worst-hit Beichuan County also planned to attract 1.5 billion yuan to boost its tourism.

Part of the 9.4-billion-yuan fund would be used to build an education center to preserve documents and where Qiang cultural masters would have a larger stage to pass on traditions and festivals of their people.

Sichuan would restore and build the cultural facilities, villages, ancient castles and gardens featuring the Qiang ethnic culture. The fund would also go to the exploration and developmentof the skills of tailoring, the arts and cooking, according to thehandbook.

The Qiang people, with a history of at least 3,000 years, were famous for their unique language, customs, arts and religious beliefs. They were also known for the stone castles they live in, often three or four stories tall.

It has a population of 300,000 people, 80 percent of whom are in quake-hit areas of Maoxian, Wenchuan, and Beichuan counties.

The culture of the Qiang nationality suffered a near fatal blow from the earthquake on May 12. All the houses in Luobo village, the most ancient Qiang village of Wenchuan County, were toppled. The same tragedy also befell hundreds of typical Qiang houses, buildings and bridges in Beichuan, Maoxian, Lixian counties.

More than 30,000 Qiang people died in the quake, 40 of whom were cultural masters and experts.

Infant dies after vaccination in east China

JINAN, Oct. 26 (Chinese media) -- A four-month-old baby died after receiving a pneumonia and meningitis vaccine in east China's Shandong Province, an official with the local health bureau said on Sunday.

The baby was vaccinated against Haemophilus influenza type B, or Hib, on Oct. 19 at the Chinese Medicine Hospital in Liaocheng City.

"His mouth turned blue and his face turned pale several minutes after we left the hospital," said the baby's father, Yu Jingkuan. "He also had diarrhea. Then that afternoon, the baby looked normal."

However, Yu said his child suffered the same symptoms the next day.

"Doctors suggested the infant be transferred to another hospital for treatment, but my child died on the way." he said.

The vaccine was produced by Wosen Biotechnology Co. Ltd. in Yuxi City of the southwestern Yunnan Province. The company has sent staff to Liaocheng to investigate the death.

In the meantime, Liaocheng's health bureau ordered all hospitals in the city to suspend use of the vaccines.

According to the World Health Organization's (WHO) website, Hib is a bacteria that causes meningitis or pneumonia. It is estimated to be responsible for some three million serious illnesses and about 386,000 deaths per year. Almost all victims are children under the age of five,

WHO recommends the Hib vaccine as part of regular immunizations.

Chinese courts handle over 4 million cases since 2003

BEIJING, Oct. 26 (Chinese media) -- Chinese courts have handled a

total of 4.24 million cases since 2003, an annual increase of 2.75percent on

average, the Supreme People's Court said Sunday.

Wang Shengjun, president of the Supreme People's

Court, submitted a report for review to the fifth session of the Standing

Committee of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature,

attended by top legislator Wu Bangguo.

The crack down on criminal activities, ranging from

murders to corruption, helped safeguard the national security and social

stability, he said, adding that 4.184 million criminals were punished over the

past five years.

In his report submitted to the session, Cao Jianming,

procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said his department

had also enhanced supervision over the courts' ruling on criminal cases.

Between January 2003 to August this year, the

procuratorial offices of various levels lodged 17,104 appeals for criminal

retrial, which helped safeguard judicial justice, he said.

Association: Lawyers play bigger role

in China's politics

BEIJING, Oct. 26 (Chinese media) -- Law practitioners are

playing a bigger role in China's political life as more are becoming legislators

and political advisors.

While the first lawyer was elected deputy to the

National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature, in 1988, China has now

519 lawyers as deputies to the People's Congress of various levels, and 2,845 as

members of various levels of the Chinese People's Political Consultative

Conference (CPPCC), a political advisory body, said Yu Ning, head of the

All-China Lawyers Association (ACLA). Full story

Survey: 25% Beijing babies consumed tainted milk powder

BEIJING, Oct. 26 (Chinese media) -- A community screening has found nearly one quarter of the 300,000-strong babies in the Chinese capital once consumed tainted milk powder.

The door-to-door survey among the city's 307,779 families with infants under age 3 found 75,474, or 24.52 percent of the babies were fed with the contaminated formula.

The large-scale community screening, the first of its kind in China, lasted from Sept. 20- Oct. 24.

China's contaminated dairy product scandal was exposed on July 16 after 16 babies, who were fed milk made from powder produced by Sanlu Group, developed kidney stones.

In the scandal, melamine, often used in the manufacture of plastics, was added to substandard or diluted milk to make protein levels appear higher. At least three infants died and more than 50,000 were sickened after prolonged drinking the contaminated milk.

Mystery shrouds university student death after postmortem

HARBIN, Oct. 26 (Chinese media) -- Forensic experts and doctors performed a postmortem on the body of 22-year-old university student who was suspected to have been beaten to death by policemen in a nightclub fight, but they didn't reach any immediate conclusions on the direct cause of the death.

The victim, Lin Songling, and his friends got in a quarrel with six cops in front of a nightclub on Oct. 11 in the Harbin City, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. Lin had allegedly chided one of the police officers for speed driving, the city police bureau official told Chinese media last week.

Lin was later found dead at the scene and several others from both sides were injured, the official said.

The six policemen, aged between 28 and 31, drove two cars to the bar after a private get-together and were not wearing police uniforms. All of them were taken into custody to be questioned within 12 hours after the fight, he said.

On Saturday, seven forensic experts and doctors, including three invited by the dead man's family, spent four hours examining the bodies, said Lu Hongxi, deputy city police chief.

Lu said the examiners were cautious and meticulous and didn't provide immediate conclusions on what immediately led to the death. The samples will be sent to a lab in Shanghai for further test.

The police authorities had hoped to have postmortem completed immediately after the Lin's death, but his family insisted to hold it until they found their own experts to participate "to ensure the justice of the test", he said.

The police have promised impartial handling of the incident.

HK finds egg, biscuit samples tainted with melamine

HONG KONG, Oct. 25 (Chinese media) -- Two food products for

sale in Hong Kong, including eggs produced on a Chinese mainland farm and

biscuits produced by a Philippine firm, have been found contaminated with

melamine, local food safety watchdog said Saturday.

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) said the sample of

the Select Fresh Brown Eggs (Extra Large), produced by mainland-based Dalian

Hanwei Chicken Farming Limited and sold in 6-piece packs, was found to contain

4.7 ppm (part per million) of melamine.

Under the Harmful Substances in Food (Amendment)

Regulation 2008 of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the

legal limit for melamine in food is 2.5 ppm.

The other unsatisfactory sample was the Croley Foods

Sunflower Crackers Blueberry Cream Sandwich, sold in big packs each containing

ten small individual packs with an expiry date of Dec. 5, 2008. The level of

melamine detected was 3.2 ppm.

The website of the producer Croley Foods suggests it

is based in the Philippines.

The Center for Food Safety said the two

unsatisfactory samples were among 77 samples tested, which included milk, eggs,

biscuits, cakes and cake mixes. The results, available on Saturday showed that

the rest 75 were all satisfactory.

"We have informed the food trade of the test results

and asked them to stop selling the products with unsatisfactory results. We have

also sent warning letters to the retailers and the importers concerned," the CFS

said in a statement, adding that it would " take out prosecution if there is

sufficient evidence."

The center will continue to collect samples of dairy

products and products with dairy ingredients for testing. Egg samples will also

be collected, with the tests on mainland eggs expected to be completed within

next week, the statement said.

Officials, managers from China's fatal landslide detained

LOUFAN, Oct. 25 (Chinese media) -- Six officials and managers, allegedly responsible for a fatal landslide in north Shanxi Province in August, have been detained by police, a spokesman from the investigation team said on Saturday.

The six include Yan Quewa, head of a local iron mine and that mine's chief engineer, Wang Jianzhong. Authorities say some technicians from the mine were also detained.

Wang Xuede, who is heading up the landslide investigation, said his team would "thoroughly investigate" the accident.

Wang blamed human errors for the landslide, which toppled a waste dump of the mine and buried Sigou Village of Loufan County in the suburbs of the provincial capital Taiyuan on Aug. 1.

The local government was blamed by Wang for inadequate safety supervision and mine authorities for overloading the dump site, which is on loose earth and topples easily under the weight of the waste.

The waste dump, within 200 meters from the village, belongs to Jianshan Iron Mine. It was operated by Taiyuan Iron and Steel (Group) Company Ltd.

Chinese law states, such dumps should be at least 500 meters from residential areas and should have embankments or walls to contain dust or prevent landslides. The dump near Sigou, however, had none.

Rescue work has now ended and the final death toll stands at 44,with one injury, the Taiyuan city government said.

Death toll reaches 11 from SW China bus plunge

GUIYANG, Oct. 24 (Chinese media) -- A person injured after a bus plunged off a cliff in Liupanshui City on Friday has died, bringing the death toll from the accident to 11, local authorities said on Saturday.

Twelve others were injured, five of whom remain in serious condition. The mid-sized bus was carrying 23 passengers when it fell about 70meters down a cliff Friday afternoon.

It was traveling from Guiyang, the provincial capital, to Weining County, an autonomous area inhabited by ethnic Yi, Hui and Miao people.

All tainted dairy products destroyed in core province of milk scandal

SHIJIAZHUANG, Oct. 25 (Chinese media) -- All the tainted dairy products would be destroyed in north China's Hebei Province, the core province of milk scandal, on Saturday, local authorities said.

A total of 32,200 tons of tainted dairy products would be destroyed by Saturday, a government the spokesman said.

China started to review the draft law on food safety on Thursday, which sets stricter food quality standards and demands greater government responsibility.

The draft would ban all chemicals and materials other than authorized additives in food production.

In the tainted dairy products scandal, melamine, often used in the manufacture of plastics, was added to substandard or diluted milk to make protein levels appear higher.

More than 3,000 infants nationwide were still receiving hospital treatment for kidney diseases caused by tainted powdered milk, three were in serious condition, China's Ministry of Health said on Wednesday on its website.

Algae affects water supply in central China cities

CHANGSHA, Oct. 24 (Chinese media) -- Yellow algae emerged in

a major river in central China after days of lower than normal water levels due

to less rainfall recently and affected water supply in at least two cities.

The large amount of algae began to emerge in

filtering ponds of three plants of the state-owned Zhonghuan Water Company. The

buildup led to frequent blockages in the ponds, according to the Xiangtan

City-based company in Hunan Province.

Usually, the filtering ponds were washed every 24 to

36 hours. At present, they had to be washed each two hours in the most serious

situation, said Yuan Cheng, Zhonghuan Water deputy general manger.

Large areas of algae could be seen in the section of

the Xiangjiang River passing through Xiangtan.

Yuan said the city was experiencing water shortage

and its urban Hedong District only had a supply volume half its usual amount.

Apartments in high-rise buildings were suffering from low pumping pressure.

Hunan's main Xiangjiang River saw its water level hit

a record low 26.82 meters at 8 a.m. on Friday in Xiangtan, 0.04 meter below the

previous low.

The combination of the low water level, its high

content of ammonia and nitrogen, and the high temperatures of recent days had

contributed to the algae outbreak, according to experts.

After the summer flooding season, the river drainage

area only had precipitation of 16 mm, 64 percent less than the average in the

same period in recent years, according to the provincial hydrological resource

bureau.

Algae was also affecting water supply in Zhuzhou City

downstream. Monitoring by local environmental authorities showed the amount of

algae was 10 times greater than usual, affecting the city's water clarifying

plants in different degrees.

The plants had increased the amount of chlorine put

into the water to clean it before the filtering process, a Zhuzhou Tap Water

Company official said.

Polluting factories along the river were being closed

in such cities as Changsha, the provincial capital, to reduce pollution.

Two hydroelectric facilities, one upstream and the

other midstream, began to discharge more water downstream at 8 a.m. on Friday,

according the Hunan Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

Workers injured in scuffle over back pay in Shenzhen

SHENZHEN, Oct. 24 (Chinese media) -- Four workers were injured in a scuffle with security guards when they took to the Shenzhen streets demanding back wages from an appliance maker in China's southern Guangdong Province, the local government said on Friday.

More than 500 workers gathered at the gate of the Shunyi Appliance Factory, a Taiwan-funded business in the Hong Kong border city's Bao'an District, on Friday morning, a local government official told Chinese media.

The company had seen its profit drop due to declining in exports and owed more than 2 million yuan (292,179 U.S. dollars) in wages to its workers. The boss and four executives had not been seen for the last few days, the official said.

The angry workers got into conflicts with dozens of community security guards who were sent in to maintain order. Four workers suffered minor injuries.

The district court has confiscated the plant's assets and set up an official panel to investigate.

The southern part of the country, where most Chinese exporters are based, has seen a growing number of labor disputes as the rising value of the yuan, spiraling costs and eroding orders have driven businesses into bankruptcy.

In response to the fleeing company executives, the Shenzhen Labor and Social Security Bureau on Tuesday publicized the names of 30 companies that owed a combined 12 million yuan in back pay to workers. It demanded the executives report to the local labor authorities within 30 days.

China to enhance credit support to post-quake rural house reconstruction

BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Chinese media) -- Chinese lenders are urged to beef up credit support for farmers hit by the May 12 earthquake to rebuild their homes, according to a joint statement by the People's Bank of China, the central bank, and the China Banking Regulatory Commission on Friday.

The central bank reiterated the floor for mortgage interest rates would remain at 60 percent of its benchmark rate to facilitate loans to rural residents left homeless by the 8.0 magnitude earthquake centered in the southwestern Sichuan Province.

A wide range of issues, including a debtor's income history, revenue expectancy and family workforce, should be taken into account when financial institutions set up loan quotas and expiration periods, according to the statement.

Lenders are encouraged to broaden the channels for loan repayment to lessen pressure on debtors. In the meantime, they were urged to remain alert against bad loans.

The devastating Sichuan quake left more than 80,000 dead and millions homeless. Direct losses exceeded 845.1 billion yuan (124 billion U.S. dollars). The unprecedented housing reconstruction was confounded as most victims were cash-strapped rural residents.

Commercial lenders were told earlier to cut mortgage down payments for home buyers in quake regions to 10 percent, lower than the 20 percent standard elsewhere around the country.

10 die in SW China bus plunge

GUIYANG, Oct. 24 (Chinese media) -- At least 10 people died and 13 others were injured on Friday when a bus plunged off a cliff in Liupanshui City in southwestern China's Guizhou Province.

The accident occurred at 3:40 p.m. when the mid-sized bus drove from Guiyang, the provincial capital, to Weining County, an autonomous area inhabited by ethnic Yi, Hui and Miao people.

The bus, carrying 23 passengers, fell about 70 meters from the cliff, tearing its roof off in the process.

The 13 injured were treated at a nearby hospital, but five remained in serious condition, rescuers said.

Thirty-five confirmed dead in concealed north China mine accident

SHIJIAZHUANG, Oct. 24 (Chinese media) -- Thirty-five people have been confirmed dead in a notorious coal mine accident in north China's Hebei Province that was covered up for almost three months, the local government said on Friday.

The accident happened at 8:30 a.m. on July 14 at Lijiawa Coal Mine in Yuxian County, when explosives illegally stored in the pit ignited, killing 34 miners and a rescue worker.

Most of the victims were migrants from Chongqing Municipality and Sichuan Province in the southwest, investigators said.

The mine owners hid the bodies and silenced the next of kin with cash compensation and threats. Some village and county officials also collaborated with the mine owners to cover up the tragedy, said Hu Chunhua, acting governor of Hebei Province.

The cover-up infuriated witnesses and the victims' families, some of whom filed complaints to the State Administration of Work Safety and sought justice by posting the truth on the Internet.

Their complaints prompted the central government to investigate the accident, which was revealed to the public on Oct. 7.

Hu said 25 officials had been sacked for the cover-up, including three top officials in Yuxian County, local work safety chief, village heads and police officers who harbored the mine owners. Twenty-two of them were prosecuted.

Police have also detained the mine owners, three brothers named Li Chengkui, Li Xiangkui and Li Fakui.

Investigators said the mine had been operating for years without any license, and was just one of the illegal mines owned by the Li brothers.

Taiwan military recovers flight recorder

TAIPEI, Oct. 24 (Chinese media) -- Days after a Taiwanese military plane crashed, the in-flight recorder, or black box, has been recovered, local media reported Thursday.

It was found Thursday off the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait, where an Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) jet went down.

According to media reports, it has been sent to professionals who are investigating the crash.

Altogether, 75 objects such as ejector seats, life vests, unopened parachutes and helmets of the pilots have been found. The military is still looking for the pilot's remains.

The aircraft went missing Monday morning during a routine training flight near the Penghu islands. It lost contact with ground control 30 minutes after taking off from the Chingchuankang air force base near Taichung at 9:15 a.m..

The two pilots aboard the aircraft have been identified as 29-year-old Ku Chih-pin and 31-year-old Chen Chien-ting.

Meanwhile, rescuers are still searching for a Taiwanese naval helicopter which crashed Tuesday off Hualian.

One crew member aboard the anti-submarine S70-C helicopter was confirmed dead. Two others were found with injuries and another two people are still missing.

Chen Chao-min, chief of the defense department of the Taiwan authority, has apologized for the crashes, and banned all military aircraft, except for those on regular patrol and rescue missions, from flying for three days until special inspections are done.