White-collar workers want to be "last one out" in China

Special Report:Global Financial

Crisis

By Wu Qi and Huang

Junfeng, Chinese media writers

SHANGHAI, Jan. 17 (Chinese media) -- As 2008 drew to an end,

the management at China HYDAC Technology (Shanghai) Ltd. put up a notice

reminding staff who had vacation time pending to submit their holiday leave

plans.

Yu Cheng, a white-collar employee who joined the

German-funded business here years ago, decided to waive his vacation time and

also stay late on many workdays.

"I like vacations, but I don't want to risk taking a

holiday during such uncertain times," he said.

As the global recession deepens, many white-collar

workers herein the country's eastern financial hub have a similar concern: that

taking a vacation could lead to losing their jobs.

China HYDAC, an electronic device producer, has been

seriously affected by the spreading financial crisis. Since the fourth quarter

of 2007, its position has gone from bad to worse. Managers hinted that year-end

bonuses might fall short of those promised for 2008.

Yu and his colleagues dared not slack off. Few

arrived late, and many tried to be last to leave.

"We all want to be the one to 'turn off the lights'

at night," he said.

The story is the same for many urban white-collar

workers in China now: they're putting in overtime to reduce the risk of being

laid off.

ALL IN THEIR

MINDS?

Certainly, workers are worried. But not everyone

agrees that these job fears amount to a collective psychological crisis.

In October, the World Health Organization warned that

the global financial crisis might lead to worsening mental health, with fear of

job loss becoming the biggest source of psychological pressure for China's

white-collar workers.

And according to the 2008 Finding Report on Chinese

Enterprise Employee Professional Mental Health Management, released Nov. 20 at

the 6th China Employee Assistance Program, nearly 70 percent of those surveyed

said the economic crisis had greatly affected their mental state. Nearly 10

percent respondents said they felt like they were "on thorns" over the

possibility of losing their jobs.

Not everyone in the mental health field thinks things

are so bad. Zhao Yinfen of the Shanghai SM Psych Counseling and Clinic, a

hotline, said: "There are not so many people obviously suffering from excessive

phobias over the economic crisis."

Zhao's service offered counseling to white-collar

workers in the city in recent months. But according to Zhao, the hotline hadn't

found that many people were overly concerned about losing their paychecks. Few

of their patients sought counseling exclusively for job fears.

STABILITY FIRST

Two months ago, the Shanghai Human Resources

Consulting Association (SHRCA) surveyed 7,000 foreign-funded enterprises in the

city and found that these businesses cut their staff by less than 0.8 percent.

Most of the lost jobs were in electronic communications, financial consulting,

trade and cargo transport machinery.

However, white-collar workers were less liable to

look for better jobs. Instead, they were more concerned with making sure they

kept their current positions.

"What will you do if a job-hopping opportunity is put

in front of you?" asked a survey by recruiting site 51job.com. More than

80percent of the 500 white-collar respondents said they would stay put, rather

than move for a more prestigious job or higher salary. Similar surveys in

previous years showed more than half of respondents would move.

On Jan. 6, the SHRCA promulgated the 2008 White Paper

on the Shanghai Human Resources Service Industry. It said that the human

resources service sector would be affected by the global financial crisis,

although the city had not yet seen large-scale job losses.

The impact was expected to be most notable from

February to July, when more people might lose jobs, fewer posts would be offered

and labor disputes were likely to rise subsequently.

The white paper also predicted hiring would pick up

in the second half.

SHRCA president Gu Jiadong said the total workforce

of the city's foreign-funded enterprises increased 13.4 percent year-on-year in

2008. Gu said the total would decline 0.5 percent in the first half and rebound

5.3 percent in the second half.

In comparison, employment in the city's state-owned

enterprises fell 2 percent in 2008. The total might rise 2.5 percent in the

first half and 1.8 percent in the second half.

Yu Cheng and white-collar workers like him don't want

to be among the layoff statistics. They see more than 6 million college

graduates looking for their own "rice bowls" and more overseas Chinese students

and scholars seeking jobs in China as the crisis spreads.

"If I can keep my job, I don't mind turning off the

lights at night," Yu said.

NATO chief praises China's participation in anti-piracy campaign off Somalia

BRUSSELS, Jan. 19 (Chinese media) -- The NATO secretary general on Monday praised the Chinese navy's anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia and indicated NATO's willingness to work with China on the issue.

A soldier of Chinese navy special force watches a seabird flying over him on destroyer "Wuhan", flagship of the Chinese naval fleet for an escort mission against piracy off Somali coast, in the Gulf of Aden, on Jan. 18, 2009. The Chinese naval fleet including two destroyers and a supply ship set off on Dec. 26, 2008 for waters off Somalia. (Chinese media/Li Zhen)
Photo Gallery

"I am applauding what is a rather unique position of

the Chinese navy participating in the anti-piracy (campaign)," Secretary General

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told Chinese journalists at a NATO New Year reception.

"I do not exclude, at a certain stage, that when the

United Nations would create a sort of roof under which these whole anti-piracy

operations take place, NATO and China will meet under that roof," he said.

The deployment of two warships in the Gulf of Aden

was the Chinese Navy's first expeditionary military mission.

"I welcome the engagement of China... It is a very

important contribution to anti-piracy operations," the secretary general said.

NATO deployed four warships off Somalia in October to

escort World Food Program food shipments to Somalia and to patrol the seas to

deter piracy. Its mission ended in December. But the alliance is considering a

long-term strategy on the piracy issue and stands ready to consider further

requests for the use of its naval assets in this regard.

China's railways carry 75 mln holiday passengers

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- China's railways carried

75.05 million passengers between Jan. 11-27, or in the first 17 days of the

40-day Spring Festival travel rush.

The figure represents a 17 percent increase from a

year earlier, the Ministry of Railways (MOR) said Wednesday.

The ministry has ordered to add more transport

capacity to provinces and municipalities including Sichuan, Chongqing, and

Jiangxi to brace for the post-holiday traffic rush. The regions are homes to the

largest number of migrant rural workers.

Hundreds of millions of Chinese went home for family

gatherings in the lunar new year holiday, the most important traditional one in

China, creating the world's largest population migration.

In addition, 114.7 million passengers have traveled

by road between Jan. 25-28, up 5.4 percent from the same period last year. Short

trips account for 80 percent of the total in the first four days of the

seven-day Spring Festival holiday.

China presents demining equipment to Sudan

KHARTOUM, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- Chinese government presented on Wednesday 20 sets of demining equipment to the Sudanese government.

At a ceremony held in the National Demining Center in Khartoum, Chinese Ambassador in Sudan Li Chengwen and Sudanese Deputy Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Charles Mayann signed the document on the delivery of the equipment.

Li noted that the large quantity of mines left behind by the north-south civil war in Sudan had constituted a major obstacle for the local residents to lead a normal life although a comprehensive peace agreement had been signed in 2005.

He hoped that the demining equipment presented by the Chinese government would play an important role in the efforts to realize a permanent peace in Sudan.

Mayann expressed thanks of his government for the concern and active participation of China in Sudan's economic and social developments.

He said that the equipment again demonstrated the sincere desire of the Chinese government for a quick recovery of Sudan from the civil war, which had devastated the country for more than20 years.

Panda cubs from China's quake-hit breeding base have first group show

CHENGDU, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- The 13 panda cubs from the Wolong panda breeding base of southwest China's Sichuan province born after the devastating earthquake had their first group show in front of visitors, said local sources on Wednesday.

"Currently the 13 cubs are all in good shape and growing healthily," said Li Desheng, vice director of the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Sichuan's Wolong nature reserve, extending his greetings to Chinese people on behalf of the center at the Spring Festival.

The Wolong base, only 30 km from the quake's epicenter of Wenchuan County, suffered severe damage in the "May 12" earthquake with the death of five staff and one panda. Fourteen of the 32 pens were destroyed. Pandas were later evacuated to other breeding bases.

The first post-quake panda twin cubs were born on July 6. To date, 15 cubs had been born since the disaster, among whom 13 survived.

The Wolong base now has more than 140 giant pandas, accounting for 60 percent of the bred pandas worldwide.

Chongqing official sentenced 19-year jail for gambling, corruption

CHONGQING, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- He Mingsheng, former

vice director of the Economic Commission of Fuling district, Chongqing

Municipality, was sentenced to a jail term of 19 years, according to local

authorities on Wednesday.

He, who fled after gambling away more than 900,000

yuan (132,000 U.S. dollars), was charged for embezzlement and taking bribes.

The Fuling district procuratorate found that from

2005 to 2007, he took away 460,000 yuan of public funds, embezzled another

260,000 yuan and took bribes of 90,000 yuan.

Authorities with the procuratorate said that He was

fond of gambling with high stakes at night and often slept at daytime during his

work.

On September 20, 2007, he asked for a leave from the

working unit, citing business trip, before his cell phone was turned off in the

following days. Several days later, someone went to the commission, saying that

He owed him money.

He Mingsheng was nabbed in December 2007 in Shaoxing,

east China's Zhejiang Province.

Interview: Assistant FM says China fully implements promises made at China-Africa Forum despite financial crisis

　By Xiong Sihao

ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- China will fully implement the eight measures for China-Africa practical cooperation agreed at the Beijing Summit of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation despite the ongoing global financial crisis, Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun said Thursday.

In an interview with Chinese media two days before the opening of the 12th African Union (AU) Summit to be held here, Zhai said even though China itself faced difficulties brought along by the financial meltdown, the Chinese government would make no compromise in regard to cooperation measures with Africa as promised at the Beijing Summit in 2006.

He noted that China's determination to strengthen practical cooperation and to promote the new type of strategic partnership between China and Africa remained unswerving.

"So long as China and Africa continue to support each other and make joint efforts, the Sino-African cooperation will certainly be able to overcome the impacts of the global financial crisis and keep the momentum of sound development," he said.

As the major achievements made at the Beijing Summit, the eight measures for China-Africa practical cooperation have been proved to be fruitful in the past two years under the close cooperation of both sides, Zhai said.

The assistant foreign minister added that China has increased aid to African countries, eliminated tariff for goods from some least developed Africa nations, canceled parts of the debts owed by African countries. He also mentioned that last December, China started construction work for building a conference hall for the AU.

He said China-Africa relations are in a new era of comprehensive and rapid development, and both sides have seen more frequent exchanges of visits by top leaders, higher trade volume and deeper political cooperation.

"China-Africa trade volume reached 106.8 billion U.S. dollars last year, up 45.1 percent year on year and achieved the 100 billion dollars target two years ahead of schedule," Zhai said.

Meanwhile, both sides have intensified personnel exchanges, stepped up cooperation in diseases control, agriculture technology promotion and coordination in major international or regional issues. The assistant foreign minister also thanked African countries for their support and help for the Beijing Olympic Games and the deadly earthquake in China's Sichuan Province last May.

Zhai expected another fruitful year between China and Africa in2009. Just after the New Year, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi paid a visit to Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi and South Africa. In2009, China will further push the exchanges of visits by senior officials between China and Africa, and in the later half of this year, the fourth ministerial meeting of the Sino-Africa Cooperation Forum will be held in Egypt, Zhai said.

When talking about cooperation in infrastructure, he said infrastructure building is a major concern of African nations, and also a sector needing much development. China has been mainly cooperating with African partners in this sector in the long term, and many infrastructure development projects that China helped to build have become symbols for Sino-Africa friendship.

In the past 50 years, China has helped Africa build more than 500 infrastructure projects, including roads, railways, sports stadiums and others. Those projects have promoted local economic and social development, increased employment and tax revenue in respective countries, he said.

Besides the aid, Chinese enterprises have also actively participated in the cooperation with their African counterparts in housing, transportation, telecommunication, and many other industries, helping local people to improve their living conditions, he added.

The theme of this African Union Summit is "Infrastructure Development," which fully reveals the urge and high concern of African nations toward infrastructure building.

China will further increase aid and support to Africa's infrastructure construction in the future, and encourage as always various kinds of cooperation between Chinese enterprises and the African counterparts in this sector, the Chinese official said.

Interview: Veteran diplomat: Deng's U.S. visit "a historic decision"

Special

Report:30th Anniversary of Sino-U.S. Diplomatic

Relations

by Chinese media writer Wang Jiangang

NEW YORK, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- On Jan. 28, 1979, Deng Xiaoping, then vice

premier of the People's Republic of China, flew across the Pacific Ocean to kick

off his 9-day historic visit to the United States.

A tall, middle-aged Chinese interpreter accompanied Deng all the way

through the journey, as recorded in historical photos and videos. He was Ji

Chaozhu, who earned fame for interpreting for many Chinese leaders and later

became under secretary-general of the United Nations.

"It was a historic decision for Deng to visit the United States," recalled

Ji in an exclusive interview with Chinese media in New York, as both countries are

marking the 30th anniversary of the visit.

"Deng's visit helped the world to have a better and clear understanding of

the upbeat, vigorous and peace-loving new China," he said, calling it "one of

the greatest achievements" of the visit.

Many people have witnessed the development of China-U.S. relations, but

those who have the chance to witness the process at "zero distance" are one in a

million -- and Ji is one of them.

Born in north China's Shanxi Province in 1929, Ji came with his family to

the United States and spent his teenage years here. He also attended Harvard,

before making the decision, as did many others of his generation, to return to

his motherland and serve New China after its founding in 1949.

[1] [2] [3] [4]

Since then, he had served in the Chinese

Foreign Ministry for many years, interpreting for China's top leaders and

bearing witness to many significant events in Chinese diplomacy.

"Deng's visit was extraordinary from the very beginning," a smiling Ji told

Chinese media. "Disregarding all conventional protocol practices, U.S. Vice President

Mondale and Secretary of State Vance met Deng at the airport."

U.S. presidents, vice presidents and secretaries of state rarely meet or

see guests off at the airport, but for Deng, it was an exception, Ji explained.

"(I felt) The Chinese people have stood up," Ji said of what came up to his

mind at that time.

In his long career, Ji's intimate knowledge of American culture made him a

valuable member of the Chinese diplomatic corps, especially when Henry Kissinger

made his now-famous secret visit to Beijing in 1971 to pave the way for the

Nixon visit.

In 1973, then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai chose Ji to lead the first

diplomatic mission to the United States, to establish the country's first

liaison office in Washington. He was assigned to the Chinese embassy in

Washington after full diplomatic relations was established between the two

countries.

The New York Times noted that at the time from the Nixon visit to China

through Deng's visit to the U.S., Ji was the only person on either side capable

of interpreting from English to Chinese. The newspaper dubbed him "The

Indispensable Mr. Chi (a different pronunciation for Ji)."

Ji was held in such high regard by U.S. diplomats that Alexander Haig, as

Secretary of State under newly-elected President Ronald Reagan, in 1981

requested that China send Ji to meet with Reagan to try to defuse tensions over

Reagan's plan to sell sophisticated weapons to Taiwan. Ji has had the privilege

to meet with every U.S. president from Nixon to Clinton.

[1] [2] [3] [4]

China adds funds to treat salinization of inland fresh water lake

URUMQI, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- A government fund of 75 million yuan (11 million U.S. dollars) will be in place this year to treat salinization of China's largest inland fresh water lake of Bagrax (Bosten) in northwestern Xinjiang.

The regional government said the biological restoration plan for the lake will take years of efforts .

Xinjiang started to treat the salinization of the 972-sq km lake in 2006, when more than 487 million tons of untreated agricultural, industrial and household waste water carried more than 700,000 tons of salt into the lake a year.

The pollution discharge has endangered the key water source in the arid Xinjiang.

Four waste water processing works were built by the lake with a loan of 4.95 million euros from the Austrian government and the local government funding from 2006 to 2008.

The regional government has planned to continue to return cultivated farm land to grassland and reeds wetland in the comprehensive biological restoration of the lake.

China's Hu holds phone talks with Obama over ties

Special Report:30th

Anniversary of Sino-U.S. Diplomatic Relations

Special Report:

Barack Obama: The 44th U.S.

President

BEIJING, Jan. 31

(Chinese media) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao held a telephone conversation with his

U.S. counterpart Barack Obama on bilateral ties Friday, with both sides

expressing the willingness to further the ties.

The Chinese president said China is ready to

strengthen dialogue, promote mutual trust and expand cooperation with the United

States in a bid to confront various global challenges together and push forward

a stable development of the Sino-U.S. relationship.

Hu said the core interest of either country should be

respected by each other and taken into consideration.

As the contagious financial crisis is still producing

severe influence to national economies and people's lives, the international

community should strengthen coordination and promote closer cooperation to stand

up to the challenge, Hu said.

Describing the Sino-U.S. ties as the most important

bilateral relations for both sides, Obama said enhancing bilateral constructive

dialogue and cooperation is in the interest of not only the two countries

themselves, but the world at large.

The U.S. side is expecting closer cooperation with

China on major international and regional issues, he said, adding that the U.S.

government is willing to join hands with China to develop a more active and

constructive bilateral relationship.

Hu Jintao said China acknowledged U.S. efforts in

stabilizing the financial market and stimulating the economy, adding that China

is willing to further strengthen communication and coordination with the U.S.

side in macroeconomic policies, and firmly oppose trade and investment

protectionism.

Hu said China will join hands with the United States

to work toward fruitful achievements in April's Group of 20 (G20) summit in

London and promote healthy and stable development of the world economy and

finance.

Obama said it is crucial for the United States and

China, the two most important economies, to enhance cooperation.

Both sides exchanged visit invitations. The two

leaders agreed to meet in the Group of 20 (G20) summit slated for April in

London.

Chinese FM, U.S. Secretary of State

talk ties on phone

BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Chinese media) -- Chinese Foreign Minister

Yang Jiechi and new U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a telephone

conversation Friday on relations between their two countries and major

international issues of common concern.

In the phone call, Yang expressed appreciation to

Clinton for attaching great importance to China-U.S. relations and her

willingness to establish positive relations of cooperation with China, and once

again, on behalf of the Chinese government, extended congratulations for the

inauguration of new U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration. Full story

Chinese ambassador: China-U.S. ties at

new historic starting point

NEW YORK, Jan. 22 (Chinese media) -- The China-U.S.

relationship is now at a new historic starting point, Chinese Ambassador to the

United States Zhou Wenzhong said here Thursday.

"It is the common aspiration of the Chinese and

American peoples, and it serves our fundamental interests, to ensure healthy and

steady development of the China-U.S. relationship in the coming years and

beyond," Zhou said in an address at New York University. Full story

Escorts of Chinese naval task force earn gratitude from ministry

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Chinese media) -- China's Ministry of Transport has praised the task force of the Chinese navy for its escorting of 24 merchant vessels in 10 missions through the Gulf of Aden.

Since arriving in the gulf on Jan. 6, the task force has escorted both Chinese and foreign vessels.

The latest mission, unscheduled though, was a Jan. 29 rescue for a Greek vessel Elenig in an answer to its random emergency call.

The Ministry of Transport said on its website that the naval deployment was "an effective deterrence to pirates" and "played a decisive role in safeguarding lives and properties of Chinese shipping companies."

Before the task force was deployed, 1,265 Chinese merchant ships have passed through the Gulf of Aden in 2008, with seven being attacked. One fishing ship and its 18 crew members are still being held by pirates.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) dispatched the task force of two destroyers and one supply vessel on Dec. 26, to fend off pirates attack ships off the coast of Somalia.

China withdraws Xinhua's administration on news release by foreign agencies

BEIJING, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- China's State Council, or the Cabinet, withdrew the administrative right over the release of financial and other news and information in China by foreign news agencies from Chinese media News Agency.

The entitlement is now given to the State Council Information Office, according to a decree signed by Premier Wen Jiabao, which was announced Friday.

Chinese media News Agency, as China's state news agency, became a legally authorized institution to exercise unified administration over the release of news and information in China by foreign news agencies in 2004. The agency obtained the authorization of administrating economic information release in China by foreign agencies in 1996.

The new decree went into effect immediately.

China to begin sunset review of anti-dumping duties on imported phenol

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Chinese media) -- China's Ministry of Commerce said Saturday it

will start a sunset review of its five-year anti-dumping duties on phenol

imports from Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States and Taiwan.

The review, beginning Sunday, will evaluate the effectiveness and continued

need for duties on imports of phenol, also known as carbolic acid, which is

chiefly used as a disinfectant or an antiseptic and in organic synthesis.

The ministry would continue to impose anti-dumping duties on the imports

until the review ended on Feb. 1, 2010, said the ministry in a statement posted

on its website.

A "sunset review" is obligatory under the World Trade Organization

Anti-dumping Agreement and generally implemented by WTO members.

If the review confirms the cancellation of anti-dumping measures will

result in further dumping and damages, trade institutions may decide to renew

the anti-dumping measures for another five years.

Airbus to set up joint venture for A350 in NE China

Special Report: Premier Wen's "trip of Confidence" to Europe

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Chinese media) -- The Aviation Industry Corporatio

The agreement was signed in Madrid on Friday between Airbus China and Harbin Aircraft Industry (Group) Co. (HAIG), a company under AVIC, in the presence of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

The Chinese side would have an 80-percent stake in the new plant in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province, and the other 20 percent would be held by Airbus, said Beijing-based AVIC.

The 80-percent stake would be divided, with HAIC holding 50 percent and Hafei Aviation Industry Company Limited, Avicchina Industry and Technology Company Ltd and Harbin Development Zone Heli Infrastructure Development Company Ltd each holding 10 percent.

The plant would be completed at the end of 2010, according to AVIC.

The joint venture was part of a 5-percent work package of A350 jets that Airbus had promised for Chinese manufacturers.

On Nov. 26, 2007, Airbus signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Development and Reform Commission of China to formalize a commitment to allocate 5 percent of the A350 airframe to the Chinese aviation industry.

China offers incentives to stimulate hybrid cars

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Chinese media) -- China is to offer policy incentives to speed up spread of energy-saving cars in 13 pilot cities.

The ministries of finance and science and technology jointly issued a circular on providing subsidies to users of hybrid, electric and fuel cell cars in Beijing, Shanghai and another 11 major cities, the Ministry of Finance said on its website on Sunday.

Public transport, taxi companies, post services and public offices were encouraged to use more energy-saving vehicles, the circular said.

The government promised to give companies and institutions, which purchase and use such vehicles, lump sum subsidies to offset their extra cost on fuelling efficient cars than ordinary ones.

Meanwhile, the central government urged local governments to subsidize the development and maintenance of energy-friendly cars.

This is considered the boldest measure the central government has ever taken to stimulate promotion of hybrid cars although the subsidies have yet to extend to private car users.

Due to much higher price tags on them, hybrid cars encountered cold shoulders in thriving domestic car market over the past few years.

While introducing mature hybrid products into the public transportation sector before the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, China also adjusted its research and development plans as well as car industry policies in terms of spreading fuel-efficient engines and vehicles.

Long trained as a technologist in a German auto company, Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang is an avid advocate for hybrid cars, and his ministry plays a key role in technological upgrading.

7 Chinese tourists killed, 9 others injured in bus accident near Las Vegas

An official works at the scene of a fatal tour bus accident that left seven Chinese tourists dead on US-93 near Dolan Springs, Arizona Jan. 30, 2009. The bus packed with Chinese tourists rolled on a highway near the Hoover Dam on Friday killing seven passengers and injuring 9, an Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman said. (Chinese media/Reuters Photo)
Photo Gallery

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- Seven Chinese

tourists died and nine others injured Friday after their tour bus traveling to

Las Vegas crashed on a highway south of the Hoover Dam in Arizona, authorities

said.

Six people died at the scene when the accident occurred at about 3:04 p.m. local time (2304 GMT), but the death toll climbed after one person died later at a Las Vegas hospital, the Las Vegas Sun daily reported.

Officials work at the scene of the tour bus accident that left seven Chinese tourists dead on US-93 near Dolan Springs, Arizona Jan. 30, 2009.
(Chinese media/Reuters Photo)
Photo Gallery

A spokesman of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles

told Chinese media that his office is still trying to contact with the U.S. authorities

on the accident and is yet to confirm the reported deaths of Chinese

tourists.

Chinese premier pledges balanced trade with Spain

Special Report: Premier Wen's "trip of Confidence" to Europe

MADRID, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- China will take active steps to seek a balanced growth in bilateral trade with Spain as part of its efforts in promoting all-around China-Spain cooperation, visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Friday.

China and Spain have planned to increase bilateral trade volume to 40 billion U.S. dollars by 2011, Wen said at a meeting with his Spanish counterpart Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

To reach this objective, China will send a purchasing group to Spain so as to expand its product and equipment imports from the country, said Wen, who is on an official visit to Spain.

During the meeting, the two sides pledged joint efforts in enhancing comprehensive bilateral cooperation and exchanges.

They agreed to expand two-way investment, particularly in the areas of telecommunication, infrastructure construction, auto industry and logistics.

Spanish enterprises are welcomed to explore markets in China's middle and western regions, while Spain looks forward to receiving more investment from China.

Cooperation between the two countries' small- and medium-sized enterprises is also encouraged, Wen said.

The two sides also pledged to enhance cooperation in science and technology, and to carry out joint research and development in such fields as renewable energy, ecological environment and recyclable economy.

"At present, China and Spain should join hands in tackling the financial crisis, and the primary task for us is to boost economic growth," said Wen.

After the meeting, Wen and Zapatero attended a signing ceremony for a number of documents on the two countries' cooperation in finance, aviation, energy and telecommunication.

China and Spain also issued a joint statement on further strengthening their comprehensive strategic partnership.

Wen arrived in the Spanish capital of Madrid Friday for an official visit, aimed at further bolstering bilateral ties and cultural exchanges.

Spain is the fourth leg of Wen's week-long Europe tour, which began Tuesday and has already taken him to Switzerland, Germany and the European Union headquarters in Brussels.

On Saturday, he will fly to Britain, the last leg of his trip.

British PM: Britain-China ties never been better

Special Report: Premier Wen's "trip of Confidence" to Europe

LONDON, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- The Britain-China ties

have never been better, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday in a

written interview with Chinese media.

Just one day before Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao

arrives in London for an official visit, Brown said that Wen and he launched a

"new stage of this partnership" in Beijing last January, and the year since then

has been a "momentous one" in bilateral relations.

"Our bilateral engagement, and our cooperation on

issues of international concern, have deepened throughout the year with new

mechanisms established on foreign policy and economic cooperation," said Brown.

"The mutual respect and confidence we have developed

enable us to address difficult issues constructively," he said.

The British leader hoped that in 2009 the two

countries "can build on the strong foundations established so far -- through our

response to the global economic crisis, our cooperation in the G20, and our

approach to the crucial climate change negotiations in Copenhagen at the end of

the year."

"I believe we should set our joint ambitions high and

work tirelessly to achieve them," he said.

Brown said he would discuss global financial crisis

with Wen during his visit, noting that it would be "vital" for Britain and

China, two of the world's leading economies, to work together to tackle the

issue.

"Economic and financial ties between our countries

have never been stronger," hailed the British head of government, mentioning the

fact that Britain is the EU's largest investor in China and there are over 380

Chinese companies operating in Britain.

As for the upcoming financial summit scheduled for

April in London, Brown said that China and other major emerging economies would

play an "integral role" in "identifying the actions that will resolve the global

crisis and lay the foundations for stable growth for the 21st century."

"We must work together to strengthen our financial

sectors and international institutions to respond to this crisis and prevent

future ones," he called.

Brown also urged the world to support free trade,

noting "maintaining support for open markets will be vital to restoring the

health of the world economy."

"Protectionism is the wrong response to the current

crisis; turning inwards will harm our economies and delay the global return to

higher growth," he warned.

"Open markets are in all our interests including the

EU's and China's," he said. "We must stay dedicated to them," he

said.

Beijing reports record "blue days" in January

　BEIJING, Jan.31 (Chinese media) -- Beijing saw 24 official "blue sky" days, or days with fairly good air quality, in January, which city authorities have hailed as a sign that years of anti-pollution efforts are paying off.

The number of blue sky days was two more than January last year, and a 10-year high, said the Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection.

Meanwhile, major pollution indices, including concentrations of sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter in the air, continued to drop markedly, said the bureau.

The number of blue sky days rose to 274 last year from 100 in 1998, when the capital launched the blue sky drive.

National Ballet entertains migrant workers and farmers for free

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Chinese media) -- The National Ballet of China is staging free shows in response to a government call for quality entertainment for people on low incomes and in remote areas.

The troupe wound up Thursday two free performances in Beijing for poorer families and migrant workers who stayed in the city during the Spring Festival holiday and poorer families.

They will be followed by free shows on Feb. 1 in Tianjin and Feb. 2 in Bazhou, Hebei Province, the Ministry of Culture said on its website.

The ministry has mobilized nine major performance troupes to visit 19 provinces and municipalities during the Spring Festival holiday, which started from the Lunar New Year Eve on Jan. 25.

The troupes, which include the National Ballet and China National Symphony Orchestra, will stage 130 performances in ethnic minority regions, border areas and poverty-stricken places, the ministry said.

Feng Ying, a leading ballerina and deputy director of the National Ballet, said both the Ballet and the audience benefited from the drive to popularize ballet among ordinary people.

Shanghai moves to identify victims in fatal traffic accident in U.S.

SHANGHAI, Jan. 31 (Chinese media) -- The Shanghai municipal government has asked a travel agency in the United States to help identify the victims of a fatal road accident involving a Chinese tour group bus.

Seven people died and 10 were injured when the bus carrying 15 of a 20-member tour group crashed en route from Las Vegas to take a trip to the Hoover Dam in Arizona.

The Shanghai tourism bureau has asked the U.S.-based Galaxy Travel Agency to escort the five people who abstained from the trip to a Las Vegas hospital to identify the injured and the dead tourists.

Six Chinese tourists and a travel guide died and 10 others, including the driver, were injured when the bus crashed on a highway south of the Hoover Dam at about 3:04 p.m. local time Friday.

Six people died at the scene and one other died later at a Las Vegas hospital. Two of the injured have been discharged from the hospital.

Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng Saturday instructed the local tourism bureau to keep contacts with the travel group and ascertain more information.

The bureau is to set up a work team with the two tour organizers -- the Shanghai Donghu Travel Agency and Galaxy Travel Agency. Galaxy will send staff to the hospital, and establish contact with Chinese and U.S. insurance agents.

The Shanghai government is still waiting for further reports from the U.S. authorities.

Economic downturn provides benefits for some on Chinese New Year

Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009

NINGBO, Jan. 31 (Chinese media) -- Feng Yaling hopes for a bullish stock market this year, the year of the ox, because "niu", the Chinese word for "ox", suggests upward or robust.

Feng, 54, is a local government worker in Ningbo, in eastern Zhejiang Province. Last year's surging stock market persuaded her to invest about 150,000 yuan (21,943 U.S. dollars) in March, which she had planned to use for her daughter's wedding.

The stock market exceeded 6,000 points in October, but like other investors, Feng missed the best chance to sell. She didn't expect the market to tumble below 2,000 points in 2008, leaving her 10,000 yuan down.

The financial crisis has spread from equity markets to real economies across the world. China, the world's third largest economy, saw its stock market shrinking more than 60 percent last year.

But Feng is optimistic because she believes that the government's 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package and other plans will help boost the economy.

She is among numerous Chinese who believe the fundamental factor of the economy remained good. A survey by the National Bureau of Statistics found 80.9 percent of respondents believed China would see healthy and relatively fast economic growth in coming years despite the global financial crisis.

"I see my investment in the stock market as a deposit without interest. Confidence matters most. I am sure the stock market will revive soon," Feng said.

Her loss failed to dampen her celebration of the lunar New Year which fell on Jan. 26. The weeklong holiday is a peak shopping season in China.

Feng started her New Year shopping a week earlier and spent more than last year. "I bought more fireworks to make this New Year more joyful."

Most shoppers shared the same view. Figures from the Ministry of Commerce showed, sales of major retailers on Jan. 25, the lunar New Year's eve, hit 2.9 billion yuan, up 16.5 percent from the same day of last year.

Huang Li, public relations manager of Wal-mart in Beijing, said the number of shoppers per day increased by 10 percent to 15 percent.

Wal-mart launched a promotion campaign and extended opening hours throughout the country. Almost 100 products were priced at 8.8 yuan.

"Daily necessities such as rice, flour, edible oil and dry goods sold well," she said. "We will definitely have a better sales value this year."

The economic turmoil compelled airlines to cut fares, while restaurants and tourist sites provided discounts, said Qi, head of marketing section of China International Travel Service. The prices of long-haul domestic tours were cut by 5 percent to 20 percent, he said.

"Domestic travel during the holiday is much more robust than the same period last year. Tours from Beijing to the southern provinces of Hainan, Yunnan and Guangxi are popular," Qi said.

Travel peak on last day of festival holidays in Shanghai

Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009

Travelers leave the train at the

Shanghai Railway Station in Shanghai, China, Jan. 31, 2009. Millions of

people are on the move, heading back to their working places on Saturday,

the last day of the spring festival holidays. About 180,000 people will

reach or leave Shanghai by train on Saturday. (Chinese media/Pei

Xin)
Photo

Gallery

[1] [2] [3] [4]

Travelers leave the train at the

Shanghai Railway Station in Shanghai, China, Jan. 31, 2009. Millions of

people are on the move, heading back to their working places on Saturday,

the last day of the spring festival holidays. About 180,000 people will

reach or leave Shanghai by train on Saturday. (Chinese media/Pei

Xin)
Photo

Gallery

[1] [2] [3] [4]

Leading Chinese climate scientist honored French medal

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Chinese media) -- A leading Chinese climate scientist has

received a prestigious French medal for promoting research cooperation between

China and France.

Qin Dahe, a Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) member and a leading figure

on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has been awarded the

Grenoble Medal by the government of Grenoble City, the CAS announced on its

website.

Previous Grenoble Medal recipients include Nobel Prize winners Claude

Cohen-Tannoudji and Paul Crutzen, glaciologist Claude Lorius and European Space

Agency astronaut Jean-Jacques Favier.

Cooperating with the Laboratory of Glaciology and Geophysics of the

Environment at Joseph Fourier University in France, Qin led research teams to

discover new data on climate change in the SouthPole and the Himalayas.

Qin, 61, was the first Chinese to cross the South Pole.

Flute dancing gala in Rongshui Miao Autonomous County

A brightly-attired boy of the ethnic

Miao group absorbs in blowing the Luseng flute during a frolic of Luseng

(a reed-pipe Bamboo-cluster flute) dance of hall-stepping, a gala drawing

many little boys of the ethnic Miao group to bring forth their skillful

Luseng flute dancing, at Sirong Township, Rongshui Miao Autonomous County,

southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Jan. 29, 2009.

(Chinese media/Long Tao)
Photo Gallery

A brightly-attired boy of the ethnic

Miao group flutes and dances during a frolic of Luseng (a reed-pipe

Bamboo-cluster flute) dance of hall-stepping, a gala drawing many little

boys of the ethnic Miao group to bring forth their skillful Luseng flute

dancing, at Sirong Township, Rongshui Miao Autonomous County, southwest

China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Jan. 29, 2009. (Chinese media/Long

Tao)
Photo

Gallery

Mainland tourists celebrate first lunar New Year in Taiwan

Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009

TAIPEI, Jan. 31 (Chinese media) -- Thousands of Chinese mainland tourists have

enjoyed their first Spring Festival holiday in Taiwan this year, thanks to the

warming ties between the two sides in the past year.

More than 10,000 tourists had arrived in Taiwan from Sunday to Thursday,

the first five days of the Chinese lunar New Year vacation, according to the

Taiwan tourism department.

The arrivals peaked on Monday, the first day of the lunar New Year, when

more than 3,000 mainland tourists landed on the island.

"I was moved by the kindness of local people," said Yu, a tourist from

Beijing who declined to give her full name. She arrived on the lunar New Year's

eve together with her 80-year-old father and teenage daughter.

Like many others arriving on the same day, they were greeted with a banquet

dinner and a party organized by local travel agencies.

"I feel comfortable as the customs and foods here are quite the same as we

have in Beijing," she said.

Taipei's "National Palace Museum", home to about 600,000 items of cultural

relics taken from Beijing's Forbidden City in 1949, was often the first stop on

the agenda of mainland tourists.

"They were obviously absorbed by the collections here. They stayed much

longer than we expected," said Gu, a tourist guide of the local Far Step Travel

Service who led a group of 22 Beijing tourists.

Many mainland tourists also came to meet family and friends.

"About 20 percent of our clients went to Taiwan for family reunions," said

Liu Xiaojun, spokesman of the Shanghai CYTS Tours Corporation which organized

travel for about 400 Shanghai people during the vacation.

Lo Sheng-lai, a pastry chef from Taiwan who works in Shanghai, sent his son

and daughter with a tour group.

"This is their first Spring Festival with grandma and grandpa in Taiwan,"

he said. "For years, I had thought of taking them to see where I grew up, but it

was too much trouble for my family to travel across the Straits because my wife

is not a Taiwan resident."

Improving cross-Straits relations and key policy changes in the past year

facilitated reunions and the booming tourism business.

At a historic meeting between the mainland's Association for Relations

Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF)

in June last year, Taiwan agreed to open to mainland tourists in July. They can

stay in Taiwan for 15 days.

At the meeting, the mainland agreed to allow residents from 13 provinces

and municipalities to tour Taiwan. On Jan. 20, it extended the arrangement to

another 12 provinces.

The two sides also worked to improve air services.

Before last July, charter flights were only available during four major

traditional Chinese festivals and flights had to cross the Straits by way of

Hong Kong airspace.

The two sides added the charter flights at weekends in July and then daily

in December.

Also in December, flights were allowed to directly cross the Straits for

the first time since 1949.

A direct flight from Taipei to Shanghai is only about 80 minutes, down from

two hours and 42 minutes for the Hong Kong route.

"More than 95 percent of our seats to Taiwan were booked," said a clerk

with the Shanghai Airlines. The company operated eight return flights to Taiwan

daily during the Spring Festival vacation.

The Taiwan tourism department expected about 14,000 mainland tourists to

come to Taiwan from Jan. 24 to Feb. 1.

"If every mainland tourist spends about 290 U.S. dollars a day in Taiwan

for seven days, they will bring about 28.4 million dollars of revenue," said

Chen Jaw-ming, a senior official with the Taipei Association of Travel Agents.

"We had made careful preparation for the first high season travel by

mainland tourists," Yao Ta-kuang, chairman of the Taiwan Travel Agent

Association, told Chinese media.

The association sent staff to airports and main tourist sites and assist

local travel agencies to receive mainland visitors and solve potential conflicts

between the two sides, he said.

"Judging from the feedback we received so far, mainland tourists are

spending a happy Spring Festival on the island. There was no problem."

Police shoot man dead after killing spree in central China

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Chinese media) -- Police in central China shot and killed a man who is believed to have murdered five people on Thursday.

Liu Fangjun, 38, is thought to have stabbed his wife, his parents-in-law, a doctor and his ambulance driver son to death in a village of Taojiang county, Hunan Province, said an officer with the provincial public security bureau.

Liu Fangjun had suspected his wife Liu Fenghua of having affairs with other men, said his neighbor Liu Aixun.

"The tragedy occurred at about 9 p.m. when I heard a woman scream in Fangjun's house," said Liu Aixun. He said he found Liu Fangjun standing in the guest room, with a bloodied knife in his hand.

Villagers found the bodies of Liu's wife and parents-in-law Liu Dihe and Wang Shulan on the second floor of the house, and called for an ambulance at the county clinic.

The 52-year-old doctor Cao Fangming saw Liu Fangjun, and shouted: "The murderer is still here. Tie him up." Liu is then believed to have killed the doctor and his son, ambulance driver Cao Lin.

Police arrived and fired warning shots, telling Liu Fangjun to lay down his knife. When he refused police shot and killed him.

Liu's six-year-old son survived the incident unharmed. Nurses of the Taojiang county clinic took care of him.

Police are continuing to investigate the deaths, and are expected to provide more details later Saturday.

China embraces post-festival travel peak amid lingering fog, haze in east

Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Chinese media) -- Heavy fog on Saturday

forced flights and expressways to close in east and central China, delaying the

return of thousands of people at the end of the weeklong Spring Festival break.

Millions are on the move, heading back to their

places of work on the last day of a Lunar New Year holiday, but the National

Meteorological Center (NMC) said fog and haze would continue to blanket parts of

Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, and Chongqing.

Heavy fog covers the buildings in

Wuchang district of Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province, Jan.

31, 2009. (Chinese media/Chen Yehua)
Photo Gallery

The fog would reduce the visibility to less than

1,000 meters in some regions, and even to less than 200 meters in some areas, it

added.

The Shandong provincial observatory issued a heavy

fog warning (with visibility below 500 meters) at 8:40 a.m. and forecast the

conditions would continue for 12 hours, mainly in central and southern Shandong.

The inter-provincial expressways within Shandong were

closed. All 118 outbound flights from Qingdao International Airport and

98outbound flights from Jinan International Airport were delayed.

The heavy fog also shrouded six cities in central

Hubei Province, with visibility down to 100 meters, said Huang Zhiyong, the

chief weatherman of the observatory of Wuhan, the provincial capital.

He said rain, high humidity and temperature drops at

night caused the fog, which was forecast to last to Sunday.

The estimated number of travelers on the first post-festival travel peak is not available, but it is expected to surpass Thursday's 4.24 million rail passengers, the latest official figure, and 47.6 million road travelers and 1.23 million waterway tourists on Friday.

A migrant worker, with luggages on his shoulder, walks out of Hangzhou Railway Station in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Jan. 30, 2009. (Chinese media/Hu Guanhua)
Photo Gallery

China Central Television (CCTV) said at noon that an

estimated 4.9 million passengers were expected to travel by train and 56 million

people would embark on road trips Saturday.

The number of air passengers was still being compiled

by the civil aviation administration. An estimated 660,000 people traveled by

air on the last day of Spring Festival holiday in 2008.

The NMC said light or moderate snow would hit parts

of Xinjiang,Tibet, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi on Saturday evening, while

moderate rain was expected in Henan, Hubei, Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou and

Guangdong.

The NMC urged transport departments to take

precautions to ensure an orderly peak travel period.

The authorities are seeking to avoid traffic

disruption that would lead to thousands of stranded passengers, which happened

during last year's Spring Festival rush as a result of rare snow and ice in

south China.

In order to meet rising travel demand, the Ministry

of Railways said Friday it would arrange more trains in provinces such as

Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi, where migrant workers are expected to swarm

on to trains heading to coastal regions in the hope of finding jobs.

Fog to continue in east, central

China

BEIJING, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- Foggy weather will continue

in most of east and central China in the coming three days and is likely to

affect the travel rush after the Spring Festival, said the National

Meteorological Center (NMC) on Friday.

Light fog will cover many parts of east and central

China, causing visibility to decrease to within 200 meters in some areas, said

the NMC. Full story

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Heavy fog covers the flyover in Jinan,

capital of east China's Shandong province, Jan. 31, 2009. (Chinese media/Zhu

Zheng)
Photo

Gallery

Heavy fog covers the buildings in

Wuchang district of Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province, Jan.

31, 2009. (Chinese media/Chen Yehua)
Photo Gallery

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Beijing considers charging emission fees on vehicles

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Chinese media) -- Beijing's environmental watchdog said it considered charging emission fees on vehicles in order to improve air quality and curb rapid car growth.

An official with the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau blamed vehicles for emitting particul

Statistics from Sunday's Beijing Youth Daily showed Beijing had more than 3.5 million registered vehicles by the end of 2008.

The municipal government was thinking of charging emission fees in accordance with air displacement of vehicle engines and respective emission standards.

However, charging of emission fees should be approved by the government, the official said, adding that a public hearing might be held before the measure is implemented, the paper said.

Beijing takes a temporary restriction on vehicle running in the city. One fifth of the vehicles, mostly private cars, are banned to run on road each day.

Starting from 1998, three Chinese cities, Hangzhou, Zhengzhou and Jilin, introduced the vehicle emission charges on a trial basis. The practice ended in 2003, yielding satisfying results.

Beijing expects 300,000 train passengers on last spring festival

Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Chinese media) -- Railway stations in the Chinese capital

anticipates another travel peak as the weeklong Spring Festival ends on

Saturday.

About 300,000 people are expected to arrive in Beijing by train on

Saturday, according to the municipal transport authorities.

The number of in-bound train passengers reached the climax on Friday, and

is expected to last for about at least a week, Saturday's "Beijing Times" quoted

the municipal railway bureau as saying.

The west railway station received 140,000 passengers on Friday, 20,000 more

than the same day of last year, and the number is to hit 160,000 on Saturday,

said Jin Long, deputy party secretary of the station.

The station will add 40 pairs of temporary passenger trains on Saturday,

said Jin, who admitted that the transport pressure will continue until Feb. 9,

or the Chinese Lantern Festival, as the flow of migrant workers and university

students will be subdued by then.

The station will also add about 20 to 30 temporary passenger trains a day

from Sunday on.

The Beijing railway station has seen steady passenger inflows in the past

few days, while the south railway station witnessed a sharp increase in

short-haul passengers which numbered 35,000 on Friday.

Woman, child killed in traffic accident in SW China

GUIYANG, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- A woman and a 6-year-old boy were killed in a traffic crash Friday in Guizhou Province, southwest China.

The accident took place at about 6:30 a.m. at a section of a highway linking Guiyang, the provincial capital, to Zunyi city when a minibus carrying nine people was in collision with the rear of a truck, said the highway traffic police in Zunyi.

The woman and the boy died at the scene. The minibus driver and another passenger suffered minor injuries, rescuers said.

Traffic police are investigating the accident with the help of the truck driver.

An initial investigation found heavy fog at the time of the accident had reduced visibility at the section of the highway to just 10 meters.

Three people died in a pile-up involving about 20 vehicles in heavy fog on the same highway on Sunday.

China grants more patents in 2008

BEIJING, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- China granted 412,000 patent rights in 2008, up 17.1 percent over the previous year, patent authorities reported on Friday.

These included more than 352,000 domestic applications and 60,000 from abroad, according to the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO).

The office also revealed it received over 828,000 patent applications last year, an increase of 19.4 percent year-on-year.

A spokesman for the SIPO said the office did not compile statistics on the number of applications rejected.

Yin Xintian, another spokesman with SIPO, said, "Patent grants in high-tech fields, such as audio-visual, optical and semiconductor technologies, still far behind foreign countries".

Each application took one to three years to be processed, depending on their complexity.

China has granted 2.5 million patent rights since 1997.

Five rescued after boat capsizes off south China

GUANGZHOU, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- Five people were rescued after their fishing boat capsized in South China Sea on Thursday, the local maritime authority said Friday.

Four men and a woman were fishing for whelks off the city of Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, at about 5:30 p.m. when their boat ran out of oil and capsized amid high waves and strong winds, throwing all five into the sea near Guishan Island.

The cargo ship, "Tran Shelf", which was passing nearby rescued them and reported the incident to the Maritime Bureau of Guangzhou, the provincial capital.

By 7:40 p.m., the five, natives of Hunan Province in central China, were taken to the island by a patrol ship dispatched by the bureau. Their conditions were said to be stable.

The bureau said its crew failed to identify the nationality of the foreign ship.

The local maritime authorities warned fishing people to beware of weather conditions and reinforced patrols and surveillance.

SW China province to relocate 69 schools under geological threat

GUIYANG, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- Southwestern Guizhou

Province has allocated 423 million yuan (61.8 million U.S. dollars) to relocate

69 rural schools with some 53,300 students and teachers, which are under the

threat of possible geological disasters.

According to the provincial land and resources

authorities, these primary and middle schools in 30 counties are facing

immediate threat of geological disasters or other potential safety risks due to

a series of natural disasters last year.

According to schedule, relocation of the 69 schools

will be completed before the end of April.

The provincial land and resources authorities carried

out a safety checkup last year in areas affected by the severe winter weather

early last year, the 8.0-magnitude earthquake that jolted Sichuan Province and

neighboring regions in May, and seasonal and unexpected floods.

The authorities also found that 75 other rural

primary and middle schools with 26,700 students and teachers were facing minor

safety risks. These schools will also be relocated to safe places

gradually.

Cigarettes as gifts undermines China's anti-smoking

BEIJING, Jan. 30 (Chinese media) -- Despite knowing all the harms of smoking, Li Pingping, who lives in Shanghai, still decided to buy two cartons of cigarettes as presents for her father back in southwest China's Chongqing.

"When you pick up gifts for the elders during festivals or annive

Li will take the cigarettes with her on the three-hour-flight to her hometown Chongqing Municipality.

It's Chinese tradition to give cigarettes when meeting new friends or visiting relatives, either to show friendliness or respect.

But the tradition has long stood in the way of the government's and anti-smoking organization's efforts to discourage smoking.

Xu Guihua, deputy director of Chinese Association on Tobacco Control (CATC), said "the lack of understanding and support" has made their job difficult.

The truth is, in China, not only are the smokers exchanging cigarettes as gifts, nonsmokers are also fanning the flame by buying cigarettes for their friends and family and are unwittingly exposing themselves to second-hand smoke.

Li Pingping said her father is the only smoker in the family off our, but no one minds him smoking when they spend time together, nor do they mind when he meets with chain-smoking guests in their apartment.

"I always buy cigarettes for elders, they could send those cigarettes to their friends even when they quit smoking. It is a practical gift and, most often, they like it," she said.

But it is not easy to break the habit of smoking.

Yang Xu, doctor at the Cardiovascular Institute of Fuwai Hospital, said, "A small percentage of heavy smokers face the potential danger of sudden death as abrupt smoking cessation can cause many health disorders."

The Chinese anti-smoking authorities are aware of this problem.

Yang Gonghuan, director of the National Tobacco Control Office, has called for more effective publicity to help people understand the hazards of smoking.

And just days ahead of the Spring Festival, the Ministry of Health(MOH), the World Health Organization, and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention jointly launched a program to distribute 200,000 anti-smoking posters across the country.

"You have sent your friends both blessings and respiratory problems such as lung caner; you have sent your colleagues both respect and cardio vascular diseases such as heart disorders and stroke; you have sent your family love, care and death," a poster reads.

Non-governmental organizations and individuals are also joining the fight against smoking advertising campaigns.

Wu Yiqun, deputy director of the Think tank Research Center for Health Development, a Beijing-based non-governmental organization, often asks anti-smoking experts to write complaint letters to health authorities.

His proposals included banning tobacco companies' sponsorship in Shanghai's Formula One, smoking scenes in the popular TV series the Shanghai Grand, accentuating warning signs on cigarette packs and dissuading tobacco companies from attending quake relief charity awards.

In spite of all the endeavors made, the result is far from satisfactory.

According to the annual smoking control report by MOH, the number of young smokers are on the rise.

MOH statistics show that about 350 million people smoke in China, or almost 36 percent of the population aged above 15, and about one million die of smoking-related ailments annually.

The number of young smokers aged from 13 to 18 has hit 130 million in China.

The tobacco control difficulty is that "a nonsmoking, no cigarette-distributing and no cigarettes as gifts has not emerged in the society," said Yang Gonghuan.

"It's part of the Chinese custom to send cigarettes as gifts. Sending cigarettes is, in fact, planting dangers," he said.

Chen Wei, 36, a primary school teacher who has smoked for 20 years, is fully aware of the hazards of smoking and has heard all the discouragement from health organizations.

But he still expects his friends to send him cigarettes.

"I would still buy cigarettes anyway. And if someone gave me cigarettes as a gift, I would save some money on that."

"A lot of guys smoke around me, and it's impolite if I don't get a pack ready to give them or not to receive my friends' or relatives' cigarettes when they want to show some closeness," he said.

China Enterprises Index surges 5.12%

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

HONG KONG, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index surged 340.77 points, or 5.12 percent, to close at 7,002.70 on Thursday.

The H-shares index, initiated in August 1994 and readjusted on March 10, 2008, tracks the overall performance of 42 Chinese mainland state-owned enterprises listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Hang Seng China H-Financials Index also added 5.13 percent to close at 9,050.84.

The H-Financials Index, initiated on Nov. 27, 2006, readjusted on Sept. 10, 2007, tracks the performance of nine major banks and insurers of the Chinese mainland.

Hang Seng Mainland Composite Index was up 4.22 percent at 2,403.94.

Introduced on Oct. 3, 2001 with the latest readjustment effective on Oct. 29, 2008, Hang Seng Mainland Composite Index gauges the performance of 131 Hong Kong-listed companies with principal places of business in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.

Hang Seng China-Affiliated Corporations Index went up 99.19 points, or 3.45 percent, to close at 2,972.61.

The index tracks the performance of 33 locally listed companies with a significant equity interest held by entities in the Chinese mainland.

Bank deposits in Macao up 0.3% in November 2008

MACAO, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- Macao's total bank deposits, including those of the residents and the non-residents, slightly increased by 0.3 percent month-to-month to 252 billion patacas (31.9 billion U.S. dollars) in November 2008, according to the figures released on Thursday by the Monetary Authority of the Special Administration Region (SAR).

The figures showed that resident and non-resident deposits amounted to 180.7 billion patacas (22.9 billion U.S. dollars) and 71.2 billion patacas (9 billion U.S. dollars) respectively in November 2008. The shares of pataca and HKD in total deposits were 20.5 percent and 46.7 percent.

Attributed to the faster decline in resident deposits, the loan-to-deposit ratio for the resident sector at end-November 2008 rose by 0.4 percentage points month-to-month to 47.9 percent while the ratio for both residents and non-residents stood at 57.6 percent, down 2.5 percentage points.

Domestic credit to the private sector shrank 1.3 percent month-to-month to 92 billion patacas (11.6 billion U.S. dollars), among which 18.4 billion patacas (2.3 billion U.S. dollars) was Pataca-denominated and 66.2 billion patacas (8.4 billion U.S. dollars) was denominated in HKD, representing 20 percent and 71.9 percent respectively of the total, according to the figures.

Meanwhile, external credit also saw a decline by 7.3 percent to 55.9 billion patacas (7.08 billion U.S. dollars), of which credit denominated in pataca and HKD accounted for 1.8 percent and 47.3 percent respectively of the total, the Authority said.

China, Germany vow to strengthen strategic partnership, cooperation in face of global economic crisis

BERLIN, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- China and Germany have agreed to enhance their comprehensive strategic partnership and cooperation in jointly dealing with the global economic crisis, visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said here Thursday.

The strengthened Sino-German cooperation is of special significance in the context of the current global economic downturn, Wen told a press conference following a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The two nations should strengthen cooperation in various fields and press ahead with their comprehensive strategic partnership, which bears global responsibility amid an ailing global economy, the Chinese premier said.

The two countries should also work together with the international community to jointly tide over difficulties arising from the current economic crisis, Wen said.

The Chinese premier noted that, through their talks, the two nations have further consolidated confidence in overcoming the crisis.

Their confidence comes from the remarkable achievements China and Germany have made in developing their friendly relationship as well as the great potential for bilateral cooperation, he said.

Trade value between the two countries totaled 115 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, the Chinese premier added.

Echoing Wen's remarks on bilateral cooperation, Merkel said his visit has further promoted German-Chinese cooperation in such fields as politics, economy and culture.

Germany is ready to promote bilateral cooperation in improving energy efficiency, environmental protection and intellectual property protection, she said.

Merkel also called on the two nations to further enhance bilateral trade and economic relations despite the harsh economic environment.

Wen, who arrived here late Wednesday, will attend a forum on China-Germany economic and technological cooperation later Thursday.

Germany is the second leg of Wen's weeklong European tour following Switzerland, where he attended the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

The trip will also take him to the European Union headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, as well as Spain and Britain.

Special Report: Premier Wen's "trip of Confidence" to Europe

China's Spring Festival tourism remains hot amid economic downturn

BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- Despite the economic downturn, more Chinese choose to spend on traveling during the seven-day Chinese Lunar New Year holiday.

According to the office in charge of ministry-level coordination on tourism during national holidays, five days into the Spring Festival holiday, the number of tourists are still rising in many cities and travel spots across the country.

Statistics show that, as of Thursday, travel agencies in the Guangzhou city of south China's economic powerhouse in Guangdong province had organized 123,900 city residents for travel, up 39.45percent year on year.

Sanya of south China's Hainan Province remains a hot spot for travelers as an average of 96.18 percent of hotel rooms in the city were booked. The hotel reservation in Haikou, capital of Hainan, also reached 81.83 percent.

The office calls on related organizations at all levels to strengthen the security services and regulate market order to ensure the smooth run of golden-week travel.

Besides domestic boom, more Chinese choose to travel abroad.

Earlier reports said a total of 39,377 people in Shanghai, the country's economic hub, would travel abroad between Jan. 21 to Feb. 1, up 5.26 percent year on year, as predicted by the municipal holiday travel office.

The number of people heading for Europe and Australia soared by30 percent to 40 percent year on year during the holiday, according to the Shanghai Spring International Travel Agency.

Shopping overseas has become more attractive with the appreciation of the Chinese currency yuan and the drop of commodity price overseas, it said.

Olympic venues popular among tourists during Chinese lunar new year

BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- The main Olympic venues of Bird's Nest and Water Cube remained their charm to tourists during the first four days of the Chinese lunar new year holidays, the city's tourism authority said Thursday.

Approximately 80,000 people visited the two sites, officially known as the National Stadium and the National Aquatic Center, respectively, between Monday to Thursday, the first four days of the week-long holiday.

The Bird's Nest opened to the public from Oct.1. The stadium attracted 60,000 tourists on its opening day, and an average of 20,000 to 30,000 visitors every day since then.

Other Olympic sites and the National Center for the Performing arts of China, formerly known as the National Grand Theater that opened in December last year, were also popular tourist attractions during the holidays.

Clear weather boosts panda fever in Taiwan

Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009

A pair of giant pandas walk in the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan Province Dec. 23, 2008. The 4-year-old giant pandas, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan offered by the Chinese mainland arrived in Taiwan by air on Dec. 23, 2008. (Chinese media photo)
Photo Gallery

TAIPEI, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- The giant panda fever continues in Taiwan as the number of visitors again reached the designated daily quota of 22,000 as of Thursday noon, according to the Taipei zoo.

The panda house opened to Taiwan public on Jan. 26,

the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays. As the local weather

finally changed from rainy to clear on Wednesday, the number of visitors soared

in the last two days from the 18,899 on Tuesday.

The family that led the long queue came from central

island's Zhanghua county. They said they arrived here as early as 4:30 a.m.

In addition to hot ticket sales, the zoo saw a daily

turnover of more than one million New Taiwan dollars (about 29,800 US dollars)

for souvenir selling on Wednesday, the best in the zoo's history.

The two giant pandas, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan,

arrived at the zoo on Dec. 23 last year as presents offered by the mainland.

The zoo limits visitors to 22,000 each day so as to

prevent the pandas from too much disturbances.

The mainland announced in May 2005 that it would give

two giant pandas to Taiwan as a gesture of goodwill. Their departure was delayed

for more than three years. Improved cross-Strait ties made their journey to

Taiwan possible.

A zoo official said earlier that the two pandas

adapted quite well to their new home on the island and they ate about 30 kg of

local bamboos a day and slept around ten hours a day.

Trade Unions prepare migrant workers for job market chills

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- Trade unions at all levels are striving to

help return migrant workers to locate new jobs by providing them with training

courses, small loans and guidance for job hunting, according to the All-China

Federation of Trade Unions.

Fang Bin, a young man from Weixian County in northern Hebei Province used

to be a migrant worker in the eastern city of Suzhou. But he had to close his

small business and return home last December when he found his market shrank due

to the financial crisis.

The trade union in his hometown came to his aid and invited him to several

seminars on starting new businesses. It provided him with the idea of opening a

rural supermarket in his village, using the 300,000 yuan (42,000 U.S. dollars)

he had saved from his business in Suzhou.

Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture indicated that from July to

December 2008, 7.8 million of the 130 million migrant workers returned home due

to the drying job market.

Trade unions in Xinyang City in central Henan Province trained about 37,000

out-of-work migrant workers, and recommended about two-thirds of them to new

jobs in the urban area.

Trade unions in Tongling City in eastern Anhui Province planned to add

400,000 yuan (57,000 U.S. dollars) in small loans this year to help migrant

workers start small businesses.

The Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions opened employment agencies

especially for migrant and laid-off workers. 280 enterprises registered for

2,200 positions. More than 1,500 people who sought jobs in those agencies signed

contracts with their employers, according to the All-China Federation of Trade

Unions.

China's software industry posts 29% revenue growth for 2008

BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- China's software industry reported a

29-percent revenue growth for 2008 from a year earlier, according to the

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Specifically, sales of software technology services and embedded software

products rose by 40 percent and 17 percent respectively.

An official with the MIIT said high-tech industries had developed fast and

steadily last year. The output of state-owned high-tech companies and private

ones each with an annual sales revenue of more than five million yuan (about

714,290 U.S. dollars) was up 14 percent from the previous year.

Production of high-end products such as the laptop and LCD TV also rose by

more than 20 percent.

The software sector generated 580 billion yuan in revenue in 2007, up 20.8

percent year-on-year.

Sea level along coastal China to rise 0.13 meter in 30 years

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- The sea level along China's coastal areas will rise 0.13 meter in the next three decades, according to a report by the State Oceanic Administration (SOA).

The average increase in sea level has been about 2.6 millimeter per year in the past 30 years, 0.8 millimeter higher than the world's average, according to the administration's report of China's sea level changes.

The report said among all the coastal seas, the East China Sea saw the fastest rise in sea level, with an annual increase of 2.9 millimeter over the past three decades.

Li Xiaoming, director of the department of oceanic protection of the SOA, said global warming, earth subsidence and unusual climate phenomena all attributed to the rise of sea level.

SOA statistics show that over the past 30 years, air and sea temperatures along China's coastal areas rose 1.1 Celsius and 0.9 Celsius respectively.

Li said the rise of sea level could add to damage caused by marine disasters such as storm tides, coast erosion, sea water encroachment and soil salinization.

The Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Yellow River Delta and coastal areas of Tianjin -- regions located along the coast with the country's most developed economy -- are the key areas that will suffer the impacts of a rise in sea level, Li said.

The SOA has suggested governments of coastal cities improve sea level monitoring and take the impact of sea level rise into consideration when making economic development plans, according to the report.

The SOA has also asked the governments to control groundwater exploitation, reinforce dikes and improve protection of coastal wetlands.

Police in NW China seize 16 foreign drug dealers in 2008

URUMQI, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- Police in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region seized 16 foreign drug dealers last year as drug trafficking from the Golden Crescent has become a growing threat, local police have said.

Xinjiang police cracked 25 drug trafficking cases involving 95.74 kg of heroin from the Golden Crescent region last year, nearly double the number of such cases in the previous year, according to Jin Peng, head of the drug control brigade of the Xinjiang regional department of public security.

The seized drugs from the Golden Crescent accounted for two thirds of all the drugs confiscated in the region, Jin said.

Most of the seized foreign drug dealers were from the bordering areas in Afghanistan and Pakistan, he added.

Heroin has been hidden in very fine plastic tubes woven into wool carpets and shipped into China. On March 18, Xinjiang police seized 47.8 kg of heroin hidden in carpets in a single case at the Urumqi airport.

The Golden Crescent encompasses Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, whose mountain peripheries define the crescent. The region has emerged as one of the world's two biggest sources of opium, which, for several years, even surpassed the infamous Golden Triangle.

Xinjiang, with many entry points bordering the Golden Crescent, has been used by international drug dealers as a prime trade route.

Students from quake-hit Sichuan mingle with sea animals at Beijing Aquarium

Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009

BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- Xu Jiao, a 15-year-old girl from Qingchuan county in southwestern Sichuan Province received a "welcoming kiss" from sea lion Max at the Beijing Aquarium on Wednesday.

She was among the 36 middle school pupils who came to the aquarium for a Spring Festival celebration. The pupils came to study in Beijing last autumn after their school was destroyed by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake in May.

Xu and other two students were invited to the stage. They received sea lions' affectionate touches and danced with the dolphins.

"It was a bit frightening. I had never seen a sea lion before," said Xu. But after a shaky moment, she admitted that it was "fun".

Xu and her companions then moved to the Panda House at the Beijing Zoo to see the eight pandas which were transported from Sichuan for the Beijing Olympics in August.

The China Youth Development Foundation planned to take Xu and her fellows home by coach before the Spring Festival. But the snow in their hometown made it unsafe to drive. So they planned a special Lunar New Year vacation for them in Beijing.

More than 300 people volunteered to keep the children accompanied during the Spring Festival," said Cai Peng, an official with the foundation. He said 18 families registered to invite them for dinner at their homes in the week of official new year's holidays from Jan. 25-31.

"It's so different to celebrate new year in Beijing. Everything is novel," said Xu Jiao.

Spring Festival revelers urged to embrace green lifestyle

Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009

BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- For more 1.3 billion Chinese, Spring Festival, or the Lunar New Year, usually offers an irresistible excuse to revel, dine, travel and exchange gifts, with the belief that a prosperous beginning marks happiness for a whole year.

But for those who become increasingly conscious of environmental protection, following such traditions may bring concerns that excessive revelry might not be green, or environmental friendly, enough.

An environment-related educational campaign in China has launched an action called "Green Spring Festival," urging the public to save energy, reduce pollution, and prevent wasting during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, the country's most important festival.

Its Web site, the 20 Ways to 20% (www.20to20.org) offers 20 tips to holiday-goers on energy saving, such as spending more time with family members and friends in stead of watching TV, avoiding throwaway wooden chopsticks in restaurants, and using less fireworks and firecrackers.

The public is also encouraged not to purchase gifts with excessive packaging, and to be environmentally savvy during traveling by turning off lights in hotel rooms and re-using bath towels and bed sheets.

"Spring Festival is a joyful time for family reunions, but it's also a peak period of energy consumption because of frequent celebrations, big food and gift purchases, and more trips," said Cai Tao, a media officer with the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF's) China office.

WWF launched the "20 Ways to 20%" campaign in China two years ago to promote public awareness of and engagement in energy conservation.

China hopes to lower its energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent by 2010. "But this goal can not be achieved easily," said Cai.

"This means that saving energy in everyday living will be vital to reaching China's energy efficiency goal," he said. "At the beginning of 2009, we should start from a low-carbon holiday."

Almost 4,300 people across the country have signed up on www.20to20.org to demonstrate their support to "low-carbon" Spring Festival since the activity was launched 20 days ago.

"WWF hopes about 20,000 people will be involved in the campaign by the end of February," Cai told Chinese media in a telephone interview.

A total of 20,000 postcards carrying energy-saving messages and made from recycled paper were sent to 100 colleges and universities in 12 Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Wuhan, Chongqing and Nanchang, earlier this month.

"We hope young students to bring these messages to their family members and friends when they go home to celebrate the Spring Festival. Young people can be very influential if they become more environmentally conscious," Cai said.

Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009

BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Chinese media) -- For more 1.3 billion Chinese, Spring Festival, or the Lunar New Year, usually offers an irresistible excuse to revel, dine, travel and exchange gifts, with the belief that a prosperous beginning marks happiness for a whole year.

But for those who become increasingly conscious of environmental protection, following such traditions may bring concerns that excessive revelry might not be green, or environmental friendly, enough.

An environment-related educational campaign in China has launched an action called "Green Spring Festival," urging the public to save energy, reduce pollution, and prevent wasting during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, the country's most important festival.

Its Web site, the 20 Ways to 20% (www.20to20.org) offers 20 tips to holiday-goers on energy saving, such as spending more time with family members and friends in stead of watching TV, avoiding throwaway wooden chopsticks in restaurants, and using less fireworks and firecrackers.

The public is also encouraged not to purchase gifts with excessive packaging, and to be environmentally savvy during traveling by turning off lights in hotel rooms and re-using bath towels and bed sheets.

"Spring Festival is a joyful time for family reunions, but it's also a peak period of energy consumption because of frequent celebrations, big food and gift purchases, and more trips," said Cai Tao, a media officer with the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF's) China office.

WWF launched the "20 Ways to 20%" campaign in China two years ago to promote public awareness of and engagement in energy conservation.

China hopes to lower its energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent by 2010. "But this goal can not be achieved easily," said Cai.

"This means that saving energy in everyday living will be vital to reaching China's energy efficiency goal," he said. "At the beginning of 2009, we should start from a low-carbon holiday."

Almost 4,300 people across the country have signed up on www.20to20.org to demonstrate their support to "low-carbon" Spring Festival since the activity was launched 20 days ago.

"WWF hopes about 20,000 people will be involved in the campaign by the end of February," Cai told Chinese media in a telephone interview.

A total of 20,000 postcards carrying energy-saving messages and made from recycled paper were sent to 100 colleges and universities in 12 Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Wuhan, Chongqing and Nanchang, earlier this month.

"We hope young students to bring these messages to their family members and friends when they go home to celebrate the Spring Festival. Young people can be very influential if they become more environmentally conscious," Cai said.