Chinese, Japanese airlines sign code-sharing deal
China Eastern Airlines Co. and Japan Airlines signed an agreement in Shanghai on Monday to cooperate on code-sharing on air routes linking several major Chinese and Japanese cities.
Under the agreement, due to take effect on September 1, the two airlines will cooperate over code-sharing on the air routes linking Shanghai and Qingdao of China with Tokyo and Osaka of Japan.
The companies will also exchange an equal number of specified seats with each other on designated flights.
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Sand sculptures, wolfberries, rare stones to draw world attention
The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China is expected to be busy in August, when it will be holding three unique festivals.
The regional government intends to attract worldwide attention to its landlocked and once backward region and wants to become more open to the outside. It is doing this by organizing three festivals -- an international sand sculpture contest, a national wolfberry festival and an international rare stone festival and exhibition.
The sand sculpture co
China guards against entry of dengue fever
China said Tuesday it will take measures to prevent dengue fever and the more dangerous hemorrhagic type of the tropical disease from entering the country.
A State General Administration of Quality Supervision and Quarantine notice released Tuesday urged travelers from Honduras to report to quarantine officials any symptoms of the disease, including fever, headache, pain throughout the body, rashes and reddening of the face, neck and chest.
Anyone who has such symptoms after enteri
'Green Card' to Be Set up in China
China is speeding up preparations to set up a "green card" system by the end of next year in order to attract more overseas professionals and investors. The State Council recently issued a regulation to cut red tape relating to affairs of senior foreign experts and investors. The regulation was jointly drafted by nine ministries and administrations, including the Ministry of Public Security and the State Administration for Foreign Experts Affairs. According to the regulation, senior foreign expe
Personal Banking Savings Swell
China's outstanding personal banking savings topped 8 trillion yuan (US$960 million) during the first half of the year. The figure, which might look auspicious for Chinese who superstitiously love the figure 8, does not mean much in itself. Savings have swelled in line with economic growth and therefore reaching 8 trillion yuan (US$960 million) is not the major milestone it appears. But it is the recovery of the savings' growth rate that will catch the eye of economic observers and officials. St
Protection urged for rare Chinese antelope
A species of highland antelope native to China, Procapra Przewalskii, is close to extinction and must receive urgent protection, said two Chinese wildlife specialists.
"At present only about 300 Procapra Przewalskii still exist in the world," the pair reported after completing a special research project on the animal. The antelope were all concentrated in the Lake Qinghai area of northwest China.
Jiang Zhigang, a research fellow at the Institute of Zoology with the Chinese Academy
Plan to release endangered wild horses to nature postponed
Plans to release a second batch of an endangered specie of wild horse reared in captivity have been postponed, according to the Forestry Bureau of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China.
The second batch of the Xinjiang wild horses, or Przewalski's horses, was originally supposed to be returned to their original habitat around June and July this year.
But the horses will not be freed as scheduled because they are not strong enough to withstand harsh natural environment
China DNA testing Siberian tigers to avoid inbreeding
Chinese zoologists have begun massive DNA testing of Siberian tigers at the country's two largest breeding centers to sort out the cats' bloodlines and avoid inbreeding.
Zoologists from the Chinese Academy of Forestry Sciences and northeast China's Heilongjiang Province are set to test more than 200 tigers at the Northeast Tiger Park and the Hengdaohezi tiger breeding center.
"The move is aimed at sorting out the pedigrees of the tigers to avoid weakening the species by inbreeding,
Veteran US diplomat's tales of Shanghai
Veteran US diplomat Joseph J. Borich has two tales to tell about Shanghai, with more than 20 years between them.
Borich first came to Shanghai in 1978, when the city had no expressway or international airport. The few dozen foreigners living there could fit in any one of the banquet halls in the city's grand hotels today, he recalled.
"The tallest building back then was the 24-storey International Hotel," he said.
Borich, 58, is executive director of the Washington State --
Chinese scientists leave for Arctic expedition
A team of 16 Chinese scientists left Beijing recently for a month-long scientific research expedition to the Arctic.
The venture to Svalbard is part of a three-year program, to be finished next year, according to Gao Dengyi, captain of the team.
The program, organized by the China Association for Scientific Expeditions, aims to compare the ecological and environmental system in Svalbard with that of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in west China, China Daily reported recently.
A te
Ancient corpse discovered in downtown Guangzhou
A well-preserved ancient corpse of a woman was discovered recently in the center of Guangzhou City, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.
Experts excavated two coffins from a family tomb from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) on the eastern ring road and found that they held a married couple. The corpse of the wife remains intact from its appearance, while the husband's body has decomposed into bones.
The experts attributed the different conditions of the bodies to the different
Ancient tomb of a couple unearthed
Two weeks after their discovery of a 2,000-year-old, well-preserved female corpse, archeologists in the port city of Lianyungang in east China's Jiangsu province, have dug up another tomb -- this time holding the remains of a man and his wife.
Two caskets were found side by side in the newly excavated tomb, said Xiang Jianyun, an archeologist at the Liaoyungang Municipal Museum recently.
An intact jawbone, sword sheaths and a bronze mirror were found in one of the caskets, believed
China's cultural market flooded with foreign art
China's cultural market has flourished throughout July with a wide range of foreign art from the technology based to the wildly imaginative flooding into Beijing during the summer vacation.
"Star Wars Episode II - Attack of the Clones", a science fiction Hollywood movie like its predecessors is a box office record breaker. Staged in almost all the cinemas of Beijing, the country's capital, it has brought a three-day box office takings of 2.5 million yuan, exceeding the takings of "Harry P
Beijing needs large-scale exhibition centers
Beijing should fast-track the planning and building of two more large-scale exhibition centers to meet growing demand, according to a research study just released.
The report, issued by the Beijing Municipal People's Political Consultative Conference recently, said of the numerous conference and exhibition centers in Beijing, none possessed a space above 100,000 square meters. As a result, it was hard for some large-scale conferences and exhibitions to be arranged in the Chinese capital.<
Hong Kong airport sets tone for summer holidays
The Hong Kong Airport Authority (AA) has been launching a series of activities for passengers passing through the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) to greet the peak season of traveling this summer.
Cartoon figures dressed with costumes of clowns and rabbits were greeting the passengers at the departure terminal, giving mascots, plane models and candies to children.
AA staff were on the spot to take instant photos on request, while volunteers of the Hong Kong Federation of You
Olympic park to follow US firm's design
Top officials with the Beijing Municipal City Planning Committee has confirmed that the final layout of the Olympic Green will be based on the design of the US architecture company Sasaki Associates.
The US firm won first prize in the global design competition for the Beijing Olympics earlier this month, with more than 20,000 votes.
An expert group from Beijing's major architectural design think-tanks has begun to negotiate with Sasaki's partners to further improve the plan and inc
China to launch tourist air route to Moscow
A tourist air route linking Harbin City in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province with Moscow will be open between August 12 and October 5, with the approval of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
Taking off at 9:30 a.m. (Beijing Time) from Harbin's Taiping International Airport, the flight will take eight hours and arrivein Moscow in the afternoon of local time.
There will be altogether 10 charter flights to meet rising tourist demand during the bustling travel season.
The Shenyang Palace to apply for World Heritage status
The 377-year-old imperial palace of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in Shenyang, in northeast China's Liaoning Province, will soon join applications for World Cultural Heritage status.
The palace dates from the early Qing Dynasty. After the dynasty expanded southward, the Forbidden City in Beijing succeeded it as imperial palace.
"Although the Shenyang palace is smaller than the Forbidden City, it has unique features and special historical, artistic and scientific value," said Zhi Yun
Israeli Troops Tighten Closures
The Israeli army said yesterday it would further tighten its closure on five Palestinian cities in the West Bank after a series of attacks by Palestinian militants in which 13 people were killed. "Due to the last wave of attacks... it was decided to completely restrict Palestinian movement in the areas of Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarm, Qalqilya and Ramallah, with the exception of medical and humanitarian cases," the army said in a statement. Israel swept into seven West Bank cities in June following ba
China builds first coastal wetland museum
Construction began recently for China's first coastal wetland museum in Dongying city in east China's Shandong Province, center of the Yellow River Delta.
The nature museum is sited on the delta nature reserve containing estuarine areas and original water courses of the Yellow River. Covering 153,000 hectares, it has the largest and the most integrated wetland eco-system in the earth's warm temperate zones.
The nature reserve is also among 13 key globally-protected tracts of wetlan
Nature reserves woo tourists in northeast China
A three-month-long ecological tourism festival is underway in Baicheng City in northeast China's Jilin Province, an important wetland area included on the international wetland protection list.
Running from June 20 to October 1, Baicheng's third ecological tourism festival offers more than 20 different tours.
Located in the west part of Jilin, Baicheng has two national nature reserves, where many rare species of birds such as red-crowned cranes, white cranes and swans can be found.
Thirty-one km section completed on Qinghai-Tibet Railway
Approximately 31 kilometers of railline had been laid by July 24 on the Qinghai-Tibet railway, the world's highest, since its construction began June 29.
Construction has been going smoothly after a series of technical problems were solved such as high-altitude cold, water and oxygen shortages and frozen earth, according to construction department sources.
Rail-laying hit a record speed of 400 meters per hour without jeopardizing project quality and security, said the sources. The
Yellow River Delta attracts investors
The Yellow River Delta, located in east China's Shandong Province, has become a major magnet for investors.
Dongying, a city in the heartland of the delta, reported that outside capital has been used to fund more than 8,500 projects in the city since 1999. In the same period, outside investment on fixed assets exceeded 13.9 billion yuan (1.67 billion US dollars).
Major outside investors in Dongying include the Japanese firm Sanyo and other overseas companies.
Nowadays, proje
Chongqing city prepares for facelift
Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality is to invest 10 million yuan (1.2 million US dollars) in redesigning the central city, giving the country's largest municipality a facelift.
Chongqing is famous for its unique landscape, which includes mountains and the Yangtze River, Workers' Daily reports recently.
After nearly a decade of large-scale development, Chongqing now has over 200 skyscrapers within its 9.5-sq-km downtown area. Another 10 are currently being built.
However
Huge ancient pottery drum unearthed
Chinese archaeologists believe that an ancient pottery drum unearthed recently in Qianyang County, northwest China's Shannxi Province, is probably the largest one ever found.
The pottery drum, dating back over 4,000 years, was a kind of musical instrument representing sovereign power at ancient times, said Tian Yaqi, an expert with the Shaanxi Archaeology Institute.
The drum looks like a water vat, 48 centimeters in diameter at the top, 90 centimeters high, and 65 centimeters in di
Jinan to build world-class cargo center
Jinan City, capital city of east China's Shandong province, is to build a world-class cargo center in three years.
Plans for the overall logistics center, the Jinan Bridge Cargo Center, have been completed. And the first key phase of the project will require an investment of 100 billion yuan (1.2 billion US dollars).
The cargo center will be located where four expressways and four national highways meet. The site is only 15 kilometers from Yaoqiang International Airport in Jinan.
Shangri-La dream unites China's three western rivals
China's southwestern provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan and autonomous region of Tibet have signed a joint agreement pinpointing the site of the legendary Shangri-la which they will turn into a world-class tourist destination.
The location of the original Shangri-la in the area where the three regions converge, has long provoked heated arguments in Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet.
At an on-going western China economic coordination forum, the governments of the three regions released recentl
Xiangxi -- rising star in tourism
Xiangxi is becoming one of China's leading tourist areas because of its picturesque landscape,exotic customs and places of historical interest, Xiangxi Magistrate Wu Jihai said recently.
Located in northwest Hunan Province in central China, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture has a total population of 2.6million, of which 72 percent are minority ethnic groups, mainly Tujia and Miao nationalities.
"Our tours focus on the ancient city of Phoenix, as we are trying to make it
Olympic design finalists named
The final blueprint of the Wukesong Cultural and Sports Centre will be chosen from among several designs by the US architecture company Sasaki Associates and one design by Burckhard+Partner AG of Switzerland, a top official with the Beijing Municipal City Planning Committee announced recently.
The two companies tied for second prize on July 14 in the global design competition for the Wukesong Centre. First prize was not awarded as no design was deemed good enough for the top prize.
Datong city to host tourism festival
The Third China Datong Yungang Tourism Festival will be held in Datong, Shanxi Province, from Aug.18-28, says Ji Mingde, a vice mayor of this north China city.
The gala is co-sponsored by the provincial tourism administration and the Datong city government.
During the festival, tourists can visit the Yungang Grottoes, one of the largest in China and a World Heritage site, a number of Buddhist temples, a section of the ancient Great Wall plus areas of natural scenery.
A cerem
Tourist spot tickets see price hike
Five scenic spots in Beijing of special interest - the Imperial Palace Museum, Beihai Park, the Fragrant Hills Park, Beijing Zoo, and the Lama Temple - raised their ticket prices on August 1 to cash in on the busy tourist season.
The increased income from the price hike will be used to maintain and protect these famous heritage sites and improve their facilities, according to the city's price bureau.
The Imperial Palace Museum, a famous world heritage site with a ticket price of 40
CAAC to Crack Down on Illegal Air Ticket Discounts
CAAC, China's aviation administration, reiterated its determination to curb the widespread sale of illegal air tickets yesterday, saying a nationwide ticket market investigation would take place this month and run into early September. Before setting up this investigation, CAAC (the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China), had asked domestic airlines to conduct their own investigation of their ticket agents who might have violated ticket sales policies. CAAC sources said ticket agents
CAAC to Crack Down on Illegal Air Ticket Discounts
CAAC, China's aviation administration, reiterated its determination to curb the widespread sale of illegal air tickets yesterday, saying a nationwide ticket market investigation would take place this month and run into early September. Before setting up this investigation, CAAC (the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China), had asked domestic airlines to conduct their own investigation of their ticket agents who might have violated ticket sales policies. CAAC sources said ticket agents
CAAC to Crack Down on Illegal Air Ticket Discounts
CAAC, China's aviation administration, reiterated its determination to curb the widespread sale of illegal air tickets yesterday, saying a nationwide ticket market investigation would take place this month and run into early September. Before setting up this investigation, CAAC (the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China), had asked domestic airlines to conduct their own investigation of their ticket agents who might have violated ticket sales policies. CAAC sources said ticket agents
Sharon Plays Waiting Game After Attacks
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faced new pressure this week to launch a fierce military response after a wave of Palestinian attacks, but political and international constraints make it unlikely he will do so. Right-wing Israeli politicians and several newspaper editorials demanded tough action following a Palestinian suicide bombing that killed nine people on a bus in northern Israel on Sunday and consequent attacks in which four Israelis have been killed. But political analysts say Sharon
Dinosaur skeleton reconstruction in northeast China
Chinese experts and scientists from the United States have begun to reconstruct a dinosaur skeleton following the establishment of a laboratory to assemble fossils of ancient vertebrates in northeast China's Jilin Province.
Mason Jane Milam, an expert on fossil restoration from Harvard and a professor of paleontology at Providence College, will work together with Doctor Zan Shuqin from Jilin University to build up the skeleton from fossilized dinosaur bones. They will also bring together
Discovery supports bird evolution theory
A fossil discovery in China is shaking up the scientific world by providing new evidence that suggests birds evolved from dinosaurs.
Chinese scientists announced recently they had unearthed the fossil of a previously unknown avian "dinosaur" with the ability to fly.
This is the first time in China that the fossils of a flying avian "dinosaur" have been found - and the second time in the world these kinds of fossil have been discovered.
Ji Qiang, a professor with the Institut
Fossil of flying "dinosaur" found in China
Chinese scientists announced recently the discovery of a flying theropod dinosaur fossil in northeast China, the only parallel to the archaeopteryx, the most primitive avialae bird found in Germany in 1860.
Doctor Ji Qiang with the Institute of Geology of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences said that the fossil named Shenzhouraptor Sinensis was discovered this May in an Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation in Yixian County in Liaoning Province.
Characterized by a lack of tee
Expert: China leads world in ethnic culture study
The world's longest epic poem, 'The Life of King Gesar', is created by Tibetans in China, and the world's largest study of ethnic literature is also underway in China.
Professor Liang Tingwang, deputy president of the China Ethnic Literature Association, and former vice-president of the Central University for Nationalities (CUN), was speaking to Xinhua at the Working Conference on China Ethnic Education held in Beijing recently.
Liang was one of CUN's first ethnic scholars to speci
Macao passport holders to get visa-free access to Thailand
Holders of China's Macao Special Administrative Region passport will hopefully enjoy visa-free access to Thailand as of October.
The general consul of Thailand in Hong Kong was quoted by Macao Daily News as saying that "now the two sides are negotiating the date to sign an official agreement on mutual exemption of visa requirements."
The articles in the to-be-cemented agreement have already been set and the Thai side is "very supportive" for the issue, the source said.
The m
Nearly half of Beijing is in green
A high precision survey has found that nearly a half of the Chinese capital Beijing is in green.
A recent survey using remote sensing technologies shows Beijing's forests and green belts have totaled 7,529.3 square kilometers,44.8 percent of its entire area, Beijing Daily reported recently.
Hills in the outskirts are the greenest parts of the city: over 6,023 square kilometers, or 57.8 percent of Beijing's hills are covered with trees.
The green coverage in Beijing's plain a
Mass grave site found in central Beijing
Workers in Beijing have stumbled on a mass grave site in the city center, believed to be the final resting place of soldiers from both Chinese and Japanese armies during the last World War, state press reported recently.
The "pit of 10,000 corpses" -- the non-literal Chinese name for a mass grave -- is believed to be mostly of Japanese soldiers, but could also contain soldiers of China's Nationalist Army and some local civilians, the Beijing Morning Post said on its website.
Worker
Talented young American-Chinese visit China
More than 20 talented young Americans of Chinese origin began a 10-day visit to China on August 2, at the invitation of the Office of Overseas Chinese Affairs of the State Council and the China Overseas Exchanges Association.
Each of these high school graduates has won top-level academic awards in the United States. They will tour the cities of Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai and Hangzhou. In Beijing they will visit Beijing and Qinghua universities and research institutes, and hold discussions w
Beijing restores cultural heritage for Olympiad
The Chinese capital has another major surprise up its sleeve for athletes and tourists worldwide who will be pouring in for the Olympic Games in 2008.
Ancient buildings in former imperial gardens, residences of the nobility and a number of imperial tombs will be restored over the next five years to treat visitors to more examples of the city's glorious culture and long history, Beijing Morning Post reported recently.
Yuanmingyuan, a former imperial garden in northwestern Beijing, w
Int'l sand sculpture contest due in NW China
A seven-day international sand sculpture contest is scheduled to begin on Aug. 11 in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, northwest China.
A spokesman for the organizing committee said about 20 sand sculptors from 11 countries would take part in the contest. Its theme was wonders of the Silk Road, an ancient trade route linking Asia and Europe that runs through Ningxia.
The sculptors are top prize winners from a number of international sand sculpture competitions.
The World Sa
Piano islet to hold tourism fair in Xiamen city
A tourism fair is to be held on Gulangyu, an islet well known for its large number of amateur piano players in this city of Xiamen,Fujian province, from August 8 to 31.
Guo Yuanming, director of the local tourism administration, said that tourists could visit well-known scenic spots during the fair and enjoy wonderful shopping at the islet's newly-completed flagship business center.
Cultural activities, such as artistic performances and a photography competition, are also expected
Beer gala in Beijing's busiest shopping center-Wangfujing St.
An international beer festival is underway in the Wangfujing Street area, the busiest shopping center in Beijing.
The Third Beijing Wangfujing International Beer Plaza Event features a dozen pavilions exhibiting top brands from home and abroad.
Wangfujing receives up to 400,000 visitors daily on average, but the number of shoppers and tourists often hits up to 800,000 in holidays and festivals. The yearly sales of goods in the area exceeds 3 billion yuan (360 million US dollars).
China's Great Wall to be protected by specific law
The Great Wall is expected to be protected by a specific law, says Dong Yaohui, secretary-general of the China Great Wall Society.
The Beijing Bureau of Cultural Relics is soliciting expert advice over the drafting of a law to protect the Great Wall, a famous landmark of China, Dong says.
The law will focus on protecting the Great Wall, its attached buildings and surrounding environment in the Beijing sections, according to Dong.
The Great Wall, about 6,700 km long, was list
Macao selects travel agencies to host inlanders: CNTA
A total of 77 Macao-based tourist services have been designated by the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) as agencies to host tourists from China's inland, the Macao Government Tourist Office told Xinhua on August 1.
The so-called "ground-receiving" travel agencies will join hands with as many as 528 inland tourist services in operating tours to Macao.
In a move to promote inlanders visiting Macao, safeguard legal interests and rights of inland tourists and upgrade Macao'
Shanghai Has Direct Air Link to Ho Chi Minh City
Shanghai Airlines will start flying a direct route from Shanghai to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam from Thursday. This is the third air route to Vietnam opened by Chinese airlines after China Southern Airlines opened routes from Guangzhou to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Travelers will be able to get from Shanghai to Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam's largest economic center, in just four hours. With the fast-growing economic cooperation between the two cities, about 20,000 passengers travel on business betw
Students Show Off with Their Spending
Expensive brands of make-up like Shieseido foundation, Loreal lip-stick and Christian Dior perfume are not usually thought of as student necessities. But there they are: right in a third-year Hangzhou university student's cosmetics bag. The luxury items, costing more than 1,000 yuan, seem shockingly decadent for a dependent student. Liu, a third-year Hangzhou university student, explains: "I don't want to be looked down upon. Decent make-up could increase my chances of being employed." Liu is no
Zhang Yunbo: People's Loyal Guard
On January 22, 2002, Zhang Yunbo, a member of the Chinese armed police belonging to the Yi ethnic group, received the glorious title of "Guard of the Yun Mountain" (a mountain in the west of Yunnan Province in southwest China) from the local authorities of Yunnan Province. The 33-year-old Zhang is the political instructor of the Ruili Squadron, Dehong Detachment, under the Yunnan General Unit of the Chinese Armed Police Force. During this year's Water-splashing Festival, Meiyong, a 30-year-old l
Wild at Heart
Unwilling to abide the strict itineraries of organized tours, a new breed of traveler is emerging in China: the backpacker. Once viewed with disdain, camping out is in with the new middle-class. Herded on and off an air-conditioned tour buses, dragged around as many pyramids, parthenons and pagodas as possible, has left many a tourist in a foul mood. But some have seen the light, and are seeking alternatives to traditional tour groups. "We want time to meet the locals. To savor the places we vis
Zhang Yunbo: People's Loyal Guard
On January 22, 2002, Zhang Yunbo, a member of the Chinese armed police belonging to the Yi ethnic group, received the glorious title of "Guard of the Yun Mountain" (a mountain in the west of Yunnan Province in southwest China) from the local authorities of Yunnan Province. The 33-year-old Zhang is the political instructor of the Ruili Squadron, Dehong Detachment, under the Yunnan General Unit of the Chinese Armed Police Force. During this year's Water-splashing Festival, Meiyong, a 30-year-old l
Ancient music applies for world intangible heritage
Nanyin, a kind of Chinese music which has existed for more than 1,000 years, is being applied for an honor as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.
In June and July this year, Xiamen and Quanzhou cities in southeastern China's Fujian Province respectively made application to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Nanyin, which means Southern Music, is a long-established ancient Chinese music popular in Fujian and Taiw
China set to preserve intangible heritage
As the world celebrates the millenary of the world's longest epic poem, "King Gesser", the story of a Tibetan hero, China is making a list of music, art and artifacts that have been handed down in its history of many thousands of years.
On top of the list are the ancient Chinese zither, paper-cuts, the 800-year-old Ragoin school of Tibetan religious art, Sichuan opera and Yunjin brocade originating in Nanjing, capital city of Jiangsu Province.
The five artistic forms have also been
Yellow River water to flow into cities
Work on a water transfer project is expected to begin soon in Shandong Province to move
Yellow River water annually to the cities of Qingdao, Yantai and Weihai.
Provincial planning committee sources say that the 143 million cubic metres of water to be annually involved will be for individual and industrial usage, with a part of it for agriculture.
The project is expected to cost 2.76 billion yuan (US$333.7 million), with the province providing 1.37 billion yuan (US$165 milli
Conference on modernization of traditional medicine
The 2002 International Conference on the Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) will be held from November 3 to 5 in this capital city of Southwest China's Sichuan Province.
It will be the highest-level international conference on TCM ever held after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, according to the conference's organizing committee.
The conference is sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Health, the State Drug Admi
Chinese man collects 700 relics of Anti-Japanese War
A Chinese man has collected more than 700 items left from the War Against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945).
Duan Shengkui, 37, an employee with an agricultural bank in Tengchong County in southwest China's Yunnan Province, spent 20 years collecting war relics to enrich his private war piece collection.
His relics cover three categories: utensils of Japanese soldiers; mementos of Chinese soldiers; and items used by the British and American armed forces.
The items in the first
Ancient Xi'an City Intensifies Efforts to Clean Air
The ancient city of Xi'an, capital of northwestern Shaanxi Province,has beefed up its efforts to control air pollution.
The city government has recently issued a notice requiring the renovation of 432 coal-burning boilers that have long polluted the city be completed before October 31this year.
These coal-burning boilers will be rebuilt so as to enable them to use clean energy such as electricity or natural gas.
The notice also calls for the closure of all smaller boilers in
Ferry ready for Hainan crossing
Yuehai Railway 1, the first Chinese-made train ferry, hit the water in Shanghai's Jiangnan Shipyard at the weekend, marking a milestone in the construction of the Yuehai
Passage that will link Hainan and Guangdong provinces.
Hainan Province Vice-Governor Wu Changyuan said: "We Hainan people are eagerly looking forward to the operation of this carrier because it will link us with the mainland's railway network."
The 12.5-nautical-mile Qiongzhou Straits has been a bottleneck b
Chinese Children's Song and Dance Festival to be held in Xiamen
The Chinese Children's Song and Dance Festival will be held from August 16 to 23 in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, to promote Chinese traditional culture and children's performing arts, sources from the Chinese Ministry of Culture (MOC) said here Tuesday.
The festival's major sponsor is the Center of International Culture Exchange under the MOC.
The week-long festival has the theme "happiness, friendship and future". More than 100 performances will be given by 27 artist
Harbin summer music festival opens
The 26th Harbin Summer Music Festival, featuring performers from home and abroad, opened Tuesday in the capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
The festival is jointly organized by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and the Harbin City Government. During the 10-day festival, more than 80 concerts and dance and drama shows will be staged with performances by artists from Austria, Britain, Poland and other nations.
The beautiful summer city of Harbin has become one of the ma
Gold Lion Chinese youth acrobatics contest to be held in Zunyi, Guizhou
The fourth "Gold Lion" Chinese Youth Acrobatics Competition will be held from August 18 to 24 in Zunyi city, in southwest China's Guizhou province, the Ministry of Culture (MOC) announced in Beijing Tuesday.
A total of 41 acrobatic troupes with nearly 800 performers will stage 64 events, competing for 10 prizes in various fields, including directing, performing, composing, and scenery.
The competition, held every four years, will be co-sponsored by the MOC and the local government
Shanghai has direct air link to Ho Chi Minh City
Shanghai Airlines will start flying a direct route from Shanghai to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnamfrom on August 8.
This is the third air route to Vietnam opened by Chinese airlines after China Southern Airlines opened routes from Guangzhou to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
Travelers will be able to get from Shanghai to Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam's largest economic center, in just four hours.
With the fast-growing economic cooperation between the two cities, about 20,000 passengers
Beijing to hold international fashion show in Tian'an Men Square
Top fashion designers from France, Italy, Denmark and other parts of the world will gather in Tian'an Men Square in Beijing on August 23 to present a fashion show together with Chinese counterparts, marking the beginning of the "2002 Vogue Beijing" campaign.
According to the organizer, it will be the first fashion show ever held in Tian'an Men Square, the heart of Beijing, Chinese capital. Three Chinese firms, including the China Garment Group Corporation, the China National Culture & Art
China sets safety distances to prevent air collisions
China's military and civil aviation sectors introduce a unified regulation on distances between flights as of August 1, 2002, in a bid to prevent midair collisions, air traffic control authorities said recently.
Sources with the East China Air Traffic Control Bureau said the new regulation set out systematic distance standards for aircraft.
The standards cover vertical distance, and horizontal distances between aircraft flying in the same direction, altitude and speed, distances be
Green card system to attract foreign professionals
China is speeding up preparations to set up a "green card" system by the end of next year in order to attract more overseas professionals and investors.
The State Council recently issued a regulation to cut red tape relating to affairs of senior foreign experts and investors, China Daily reports on August 3.
According to the regulation, which was jointly drafted by nine ministries and administrations, senior foreign experts and investors who want to enter China frequently can be gi
Pilgrimage to Mecca of Kung Fu
Fans of pin-up kung fu stars like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan will find a visit to the world famous Shaolin Temple an absolute eye-opener. The Shaolin Temple is tucked away near Mount Songshan, which is nicknamed the Central Sacred Mountain, in the city of Dengfeng, in Central China's Henan Province. What appeals to sightseers from home and abroad is the temple's special status on China's list of renowned scenic spots. It is home to hundreds of Buddhist monks, who are best known for practising mar
Pilgrimage to Mecca of Kung Fu
Fans of pin-up kung fu stars like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan will find a visit to the world famous Shaolin Temple an absolute eye-opener. The Shaolin Temple is tucked away near Mount Songshan, which is nicknamed the Central Sacred Mountain, in the city of Dengfeng, in Central China's Henan Province. What appeals to sightseers from home and abroad is the temple's special status on China's list of renowned scenic spots. It is home to hundreds of Buddhist monks, who are best known for practising mar
Macao's Economy to Grow Fast in 2002
Macao's economy will hopefully expand on a fast track this year on the back of robust tourism business, rise of tax revenues from casinos and picking-up exports, economists and government authorities have agreed. The gross domestic product (GDP) of Macao is expected to grow 5 percent or more in 2002 in an optimistic estimate from Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah, who is now visiting Inner Mongolia. Ho noted there that "Macao's economy has entered a period of embryonic recovery, compared with ne
Middle East Violence Continues While CIA-Palestinian Meeting in Progress
A Palestinian gunman killed an Israeli woman and seriously wounded her husband in the West Bank late on Saturday, while in Washington the head of the CIA and the Palestinian interior minister discussed security reforms. Earlier, Israeli troops reported killing a gunman who had tried to enter the Israeli town of Nir Am in the Gaza Strip. Troops also shot dead a 53-year-old Palestinian municipal worker going about his duties in the West Bank town of Nablus. An Israeli army spokeswoman said the wom
US Airways Files Chapter 11
US Airways Group Inc. sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday, in the first bankruptcy filing by a major air carrier since the Sept. 11 attacks triggered a financial crisis in the airline industry. The sixth-largest US airline, which is desperately trying to win labor and other cost concessions to obtain a federal loan guarantee, said the filing would allow it to complete restructuring and continue flights without interruption. The Arlington, Virginia-based carrier filed in US Bankrupt
City Moves to Spread Scientific Knowledge
Shanghai residents will soon find it easier to pursue their scientific interests, as the city authorities have decided to work to give the public wider access to local popular science education facilities. Starting from the end of this month, a total of 114 such facilities will be opened fully to the public, which means that people will be able to access quite a number of unexplored places, especially university laboratories and research institutes, to extend their grasp of scientific knowledge,
Blood-sweating horse sparks Chinese equestrian interest
A fabulous horse famed for its peculiar blood-colored sweat has triggered a wave of enthusiasm among Chinese experts, media and the masses recently.
Specialists from across China gathered in Urumqi, capital city of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Friday for an intensive seminar on the mysterious "blood-sweating" purebred.
After discussing academic issues relating to the horse, some scholars concluded that the red sweat was a rare disease caused by parasites fo
Seminar may unveil mystery of blood-sweating horse
Horse experts nationwide will gather in Urumqi, capital city of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in early August for an intensive study on the Akhal-Teke horse, a mysterious "blood-sweating" purebred.
Scholars attending the seminar will discuss the history of the horse, its habitat, current research findings and most importantly,why it sweats a blood-like fluid as it gallops along -- a phenomenon that has triggered heated debate worldwide among horse experts.
Som
Prehistoric Chinese city brought to light
Chinese archeologists have brought to light ruins of an ancient city dating back 5,500 years, the earliest ever found in China's prolonged, agricultural-dominant history.
After several rounds of excavations, archeologists are able to confirm that the Lingjiatan relic site in east China's Anhui province was once a bustling city with booming art handicrafts, textile and processing industries.
The site had been lying beneath an expanse of rice paddies and vegetable plots in the Chaohu
More oracle bones unearthed in central China
Chinese archaeological workers have unearthed over 200 pieces of oracle bones from four newly discovered pits in Anyang City of central China's Henan Province, the Beijing Morning Post reported on July 29.
Oracle bones, or inscribed animal bones and tortoise shells, were used for divination by kings of the Shang Dynasty (16th Century BC-11th Century BC).
The four newly discovered pits are situated within the ruins of Yin Xu, the site of the capital of the Shang Dynasty and are clos
Macao's historic site to become public square soon
Work is well under way on a public square being built on the site witnessing the handover ceremony of Macao's return to the motherland.
Builders told Xinhua recently that the 16,500-square-meter project, which can accommodate 4,000 to 5,000 people, is scheduled to open to the public at the end of September.
The square site has been enclosed and workers have been seen leveling the ground for a period of time. It will be paved with cheese-colored cobbles in a Portuguese style, with c
Macao has more group tourists in first half of this year
Tourist arrivals in Macao by group soared a year-on-year 48 percent in the first half of this year, rising on the bulky increase of tourists from China's inland.
The Statistics and Census Services announced Wednesday that the Special Administrative Region (SAR) had 1.08 million group tourists in the six months.
In June, 84,700 inland tourists visited Macao, jumping 24.8 percent from a year earlier and bringing the total for Macao to 137,500. Other major tourist sources for the city
Expert warns exotic species may threaten ecology
A Chinese expert has warned that foreign aquatic species could seriously endanger China's ecology if they are released into the wild.
The warning comes after a farmer named Xiao Chunsheng, from Central China's Hubei Province, caught a strange fish in the Hanjiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze, as he was swimming in the river recently.
The fish was described as having flowing black stripes down the length of its body, with the mouth bigger on the lower side of its head, and with
Frescos at Dunhuang protected by copies
Chinese researchers have copied frescos in 10 Buddhist caves at the Dunhuang grottos in an effort to protect the valuable cultural relics.
The three-year project was considered the largest fresco-copying scheme ever held at Dunhuang.
The 10 Buddhist caves, where the frescos were copied, were built in the dynasties of Yuan (1271-1368), Tang (618-907), Western Wei (535-556) and Sui (581-618).
The artworks came to light in 1900, when a Taoist named Wang Yuanlu discovered nearly
Mystery of Dunhuang Grottoes unveiled
Chinese experts hold that the world-famous Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, in northwest China's Gansu province, reflect varied construction styles used by people in three different social strata.
The experts, who have long been immersed in Dunhuang studies, reached the conclusion through studying captions, scriptures and other literary documents in the grottoes.
According to these experts, the three classes of people were the grotto owners, benefactors, including the investors and fore
Guilin man-made waterfall makes Guinness record
A man-made waterfall in Guilin, one of the most popular tourist resorts in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, was recently listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for its size.
The Guinness record was recently confirmed by the Shanghai Office of the Guinness Book of World Records.
The waterfall is 72 meters wide and 45 meters high. It flows from top of the Lijiang-waterfall Hotel to a pool on the ground below and spills 2,560 cubic meters of water per hour.
Ancient Yunju temple eyes world heritage title
Beijing began efforts on August 8 to have the ancient Yunju Temple, in the southern suburbs of the capital city, listed as a world heritage site.
The temple is famous for its collection of 14,278 stone tablets carrying Buddhism scriptures, the biggest collection in China.
The stone tablets were inscribed over six dynasties, namely, from Sui Dynasty (AD 581-618) to Ming Dynasty ( AD 1368-1644). The whole process lasted 1,039 years.
Seven towers from the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-9
China Northern Airlines adds new flight
A new China Northern Airlines flight between Shenyang and Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning Province commenced on August 9.
The new flight, no 6691/2, has been introduced because the Shenyang-Dalian expressway is currently being repaired.
It will fly on both August 9 and 10, and will operate every Monday and Thursday after August 11.
The airplane departs from Shenyang at 8:05 a.m. and arrives in Dalian at 8:55 a.m. The return flight leaves Dalian at 9:45 a.m., and arrives
Thousand-year-old pagoda being rebuilt in Hangzhou
Workers in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, have almost completed the reconstruction of a thousand-year-old pagoda with national fame, which collapsed 78 years ago.
The pagoda is expected to be open to the public on September 25 this year, the anniversary of its collapse, local authorities announced.
The Leifeng Pagoda, first built in A.D. 976 on the south bank of the world famous West Lake, is almost a household name in China thanks to the popular folk tale, "T
Pollution Cloud Threatens Millions, Warns UN Study
A 3-kilometer thick cloud of pollution shrouding southern Asia is threatening the lives of millions of people in the region and could have an impact much further afield, according to a United Nations-sponsored study. The study said the cloud -- a toxic cocktail of ash, acids, aerosols and other particles -- was damaging agriculture and changing rainfall patterns across the region, which stretches from Afghanistan to Sri Lanka. The lives of millions of people were at risk from drought and floodin
China discovers official documents of 2,200 years ago
The 20,000 bamboo slips unearthed in central China's Hunan Province in June have been identified as official documents from the government of the Qin Dynasty (221-206BC), archeologists said.
The 2,200-year-old bamboo slips were found in an ancient well in Liye, a city in Hunan's Longshan County, after archeologists began inspecting the city in April before a hydropower station is built in the area.
According to the experts, the bamboo slips record various aspects of Qin history, in
Ancient bamboo slips show evolution of Chinese calligraphy
The 200,000-strong characters written on the newly-discovered ancient bamboo slips in south China's Hunan Province will provide vital clues for the study of the evolutionary process of Chinese calligraphy, Chinese experts said.
The 20,000 bamboo slips, which belonged to the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), were unearthed on June 4 from a well at Liye Village, Longshan County, Hunan. Some Chinese archaeologists said this could turn out to be one of the most significant archaeological discoveries
Cleaned ancient bamboo slips shed light on Qin study
People living under China's first feudal empire, the Qin (221- 207 BC), may have been forced into hard, penal servitude for failing to pay their debts, but they also had a mail service, probably including express delivery.
Ancient bamboo slips unearthed in central-south China's Hunan province have revealed numerous valuable clues in the study of the imperial Qin dynasty from its postal service to administrative set-up.
Bundle after bundle of slips, found in early June from layers o
Sex education books debut in Beijing
Young people in the Chinese capital are opening up to discussion of sex, drugs and contraception, with the publication of sex education books for middle school students.
Haidian District in Beijing's western district, home to a host of prestigious universities, will take the lead in introducing the textbooks, the first of their kind in Beijing, to its middle schools when the new semester begins in September, the Beijing- based Star Daily reported.
The books break new ground in teac
China's largest indoor ski field opens
China's largest indoor ski field recently officially opened in Chengde City, Hebei Province, north China, about 100 km northeast of Beijing, the national capital.
The indoor ski field, which cost over 20 million yuan (2.4 million US dollars) and began trial operations on May 1, 2002, is in a man-made cave, covering an area of 5,000 sq. m.
The ski lane is 120 meters long, 14 meters wide and 7 meters high with an elevation of eight degrees.
In addition to skiing, there are als
Shenzhen to become world's seventh largest container port
Shenzhen Port, south China's Guangdong Province, is expected to surpass Los Angeles to become the world's seventh biggest container port this year.
Wang Xinjian, head of the Communications Bureau of Shenzhen City, said the port handled over 5 million TEU of containers last year. In the first half of the year, the port city handled 3.23 million TEU of containers, up 49.7 percent from the same period last year.
During the same period, Shenzhen handled 40.04 million tons of cargo, up
Elephant fossil unearthed in SW China
Archeologists in southwest China's Yunnan Province have recently unearthed a fossilized skeleton of an elephant believed to have lived two million years ago.
"Except for minor damage to its backbone, the skeleton is almost complete, with a skull, a jawbone and four limbs," said Ji Xueping, a research fellow with the provincial archeological institute.
Because of its 2.4-meter-long tusk and the number of ridges on the teeth in its lower jaw, Ji said the animal was a middle-aged xiph
China sets new records for breeding Japanese Crested Ibis
Five Japanese Crested Ibis chicks were born following natural incubation at a research center in the northwestern Shaanxi Province.
Two ibis pairs, selected from a colony of 60 ibises raised in the provincial research center for wild animal breeding and rescue, hatched five of seven eggs laid, setting a new record for natural incubation of the ibis in captivity.
Experts at the center also created another record by allowing several pairs of ibises to hatch fledglings in one bird cag
26,000 artificially-bred animals put into wild in south China
More than 26,000 artificially-bred wild animals were recently released into the wild in Nanhai City of Guangdong Province.
It was the first time such a large number of artificially-bred animals had been freed in Guangdong, said Professor Jiang Haisheng, of the South China Research Institute for Endangered Species.
The freed animals include 20,000 tiger frogs, an endangered species under second-grade state protection, and about 6,000 rare birds such as turtledoves, mannikins and thr
Kunming-Bangkok highway project makes new progress
China will put US$360 million to renovate a stretch of its section of the transnational highway linking China's Kunming City with Bangkok of Thailand, Chinese official sources said.
Running through a mountainous area, the stretch covers 97 km between Simao and Xiaomengyang in Yunnan Province. Construction will begin at the end of this year and a four-lane express highway will be built.
At present there is only a rough road, according to Li Yuguang, director of the Yunnan Provincial
Subway extension for Beijing development zone
Beijing will build a subway to link its economic and technological development zone to the planned No.5 subway line, Li Fengling, director with the administration committee of the zone, said on August 8.
The subway would be about 10.5 kilometers, while the No. 5 subway would be 27.6 kilometers running north to south.
The railway will greatly shorten traveling times between the zone and other parts of the city.
The development zone, founded in 1992, has turned out to be a maj
CAAC to crack down on illegal air ticket discounts
CAAC, China's aviation administration, reiterated its determination to curb the widespread sale of illegal air tickets on August 6, saying a nationwide ticket market investigation would take place this month and run into early September.
Before setting up this investigation, CAAC (the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China), had asked domestic airlines to conduct their own investigation of their ticket agents who might have violated ticket sales policies.
CAAC sources sa
China to host Three Gorges tourism festival
Yichang City, the site of China's gigantic Three Gorges Project, will host the third international tourism festival this fall.
Vice Mayor Liao Dafeng said recently the October 1-7 festival would feature 20 events to showcase the emerging world-class hydro-power city and its unique scenery and cultural heritage.
They include a tour of the picturesque Three Gorges, a large fireworks party, tour of Three Kingdoms (220-285) relics, and a dragon boat contest.
The Three Gorges wat
China's hotels graded by environmental standard
The benchmark of eco-efficient hotels are under way in China and the first group of green hotels and restaurants with eco logo will receive their certification this September, China Daily reported Monday.
Five grades have been set up from one A to five As, according to the new category adopted by the China Hotel Association in this June.
The classification for green hotels or eco-efficient hotels provides a benchmark on hotel's environmental performance rather than their facilities
Where is the Punching Bag? Survey Tells
Our rapidly changing modern society exposes us to unprecedented levels of stress and a variety of ways to cope have been developed. There is a special restaurant in France where people can relieve their stress levels by breaking up the tables and chairs. After September 11, some Americans turned to comfort eating to reduce anxiety. A foreign company in China has a corner in the office filled with various kinds of Marshimaro rabbit toys for its staff members to hit. Do you feel stress in your lif
Beijingers working to overcome chronic diseases
Hypertension, diseases of the blood vessels in the heart and brain, malignant tumors and diabetes have become the four major chronic diseases afflicting Beijingers, according to the municipal public health department.
"The city spends as much as 2 billion yuan (241 million US dollars) annually on medical costs for 1.8 million people covered by public medical care, of which about 75 percent goes on treating the four conditions," said Tian Xiangyang, deputy director of the Health Education
Poorest protected by medical subsidy
About 167,000 impoverished people in Chengdu have been relieved of exorbitant medical charges, after the local government decided to subsidize their medical costs.
According to a regulation going into effect on Sept. 1, the capital city of Sichuan Province, southwest China, will earmark 16.83 million yuan (2 million US dollars) this year to easing the plight of people who cannot afford to see doctors.
Those qualified to take advantage of the policy will be subsidized to different d
HK-donated mobile eye-hospital to help Xinjiang patients
A mobile hospital donated by Hong Kong citizens will start touring northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in mid August to help local patients suffering from eye diseases, particularly those with cataracts, the regional government announced recently.
The hospital on wheels, dubbed "Health Express" and built at a cost of about 100 million RMB yuan (about 12.5 million US dollars),will perform free surgery on a total of 1,000 patients in Kashi City and Aksu Prefecture in southern
Solar energy lights up roof of the world
With the last batch of solar power panels installed, all herdsmen and farmers in the Ali prefecture of China's Tibet Autonomous Region now have access to electricity made from solar energy.
Ali prefecture is the only region in China with no stable power supply, and locals have used ghee, a clarified butter, for lighting in their homes and temples handed down from their ancestors over the past 10 centuries.
But now, the prefecture has become the first region in Tibet where all the p
Chinese student sells future service for 100,000 yuan
Chen Long, a Chinese college student bound for Germany to further study, has been given 100,000 yuan RMB (125,000 US dollars) by a company in northeast China's Dalian on the condition he work for them after graduation.
Chen Long is one of 15 students in his university who have been admitted to a German university, according to the Beijing Morning Post. The newspaper didn't give the name of the Chinese university where Chen Long studied.
From a poor farming family, Chen Long was wor
Shanghai to host international fireworks show
The third Shanghai International Music Fireworks Festival will be staged in the city's Pudong New Development Area in early October, local organizers have announced.
The world's leading music fireworks manufacturers from Spain, the Netherlands, Canada and China will attend the show with their latest developments, say the organizers.
Nearly 10 countries including Japan, France, Portugal, Australia and Italy have participated in previous shows since they began in 2000, said Dao Shumi
China to host environmental protection expo
An environmental protection exposition will be held from September 5 to 7 in Dalian, a port city in northeast China's Liaoning Province.
According to the organizing committee, the exposition will have nearly 700 booths covering 14,000 square meters and will show the progress in environmental protection, equipment and technology and environmentally friendly products.
The exposition, known as the 2002 China Environmental Protection Expo, is jointly sponsored by the State Environmenta
Doline mountain set to become tourist spot in NW China
An imposing mountain pitted with more than 150 huge dales could become a new scenic attraction in Northwest China's Shaanxi province.
The depressions are known to locals in Liuba county as dolines, unique geological formations found in karst regions, formed by repeated cave-ins on the top of underground caves. They are common in China, Mexico and Papua New Guinea.
The dolines in Liuba county, a typical marvelous spectacle, stretch over 30 kilometers on the top of Zibai Mountain, on
Video e-mails link world heritage sites of China, Switzerland
Two world-famous mountains in China and Switzerland, both listed as United Nations world heritage sites, have been connected through the Internet as part of their efforts to promote tourism.
Ogi Adolf, head of a visiting Swiss delegation, recently sent a video e-mail from the Huangshan Mountain in east China's Anhui Province to Jungfrau Mountain in the hinterland of Switzerland, launching the e-links between the two mountains.
One of the most beautiful mountains in China, the 1,864
China to turn site of KMT military academy into tourist spot
A famous military academy run by the Kuomintang regime in May of 1924 to become a tourist attraction featuring "military culture".
Huangpu District of Guangzhou city, in south China's Guangdong province, is to "invest a great deal" to build a "military culture garden" around the site of the Whampoa (Huangpu) Military Academy, which is expected to be completed by 2006, government sources said.
Founded by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, forerunner of China's democratic revolution and founder of the
Full operation of Beijing's light rail system postponed
The full operation of Chinese capital Beijing's 40-km light rail system has been postponed from the year end to late January next year, the Beijing Star Daily reported recently.
The report quoted sources with the contractor as saying that the postponement was personally decided by Beijing Mayor Liu Qi during his visit recently to the construction site of Dongzhimen light rail station.
Under the original plan, the light rail train will not stop at the Dongzhimen station when the sys
Smallest ethnic group hosts tourist festival
The Hezhe People, one of the smallest ethnic groups in China, have held a tourist festival in Tongjiang city, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
Over 10,000 tourists, some Russian, took part in the three-day festival activities beginning on Aug. 8, including artistic performances, canoe racing, and other traditional sports of the Hezhe People.
They also visited the museum showing the history of the Hezhe and a village with a display of their cultural customs.
The Hezhe
Guilin to host Boao Forum for Asia Tourism Conference:CNTA
The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Tourism Conference is to be held from Nov. 10 to 13 this year in Guilin, a well-known scenic city in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
This was jointly announced in Beijing Monday by the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and the BFA Secretariat. The theme of the conference will be " Prospects for the Asian Tourism Sector and Measures to Promote them," said Yao Wang, executive director of BFA Secretariat.
In line with the theme,
Bankruptcy Hint by United Airlines
United Airlines, the No. 2 US carrier, said on Wednesday it may file for bankruptcy this fall if it cannot dramatically cut costs, its first such admission since losing record amounts of money after the Sept. 11 attacks. United said in a regulatory filing it plans to refile an application with the Air Transportation Stabilization Board for $1.8 billion in federal loan guarantees, which will include a new business model. But the carrier said there can be no assurances it will win such backing for
Overseas Chinese Seek Roots
Inside the well-lit hall of a private school in the suburbs of Beijing, a sea of yellow T-shirts filled all the seats. But when the amplifiers belted songs that usually accompany kung fu movies, the crowd could no longer stay seated. They wanted to stand to catch a glimpse of what was happening on the stage. They were young people from different parts of the world, but they were of the same color, as their yellow T-shirts suggested. A showcase of wushu (martial arts) and Chinese folk dancing per
Kashgar and the Western Imagination
Much is written in guidebooks and travelogues about Kashgar Sunday Market. "Vibrant" is the term often used. Or "joyously vibrant". Or "joyously, vibrantly alive". Orally, too, European and American visitors are exultant. "The Sunday Market is fresh and vital, with a kaleidoscope of colours. There is a wonderful profusion of ethnicities," says one tourist. "The Market is vibrant, pulsing, almost unbearably joyous. In the West we have lost the heart to do this," says another. "I want to have an o
Getting High on the Rocks at Yangshuo
Hailing from a land where I can jog down the road and see great big men like Russell Crowe punching each other while balanced on their surfboards, I knew full well what was going on when I found myself perched on a fiberglass rock, gazing at the reflection of my high-rise apartment block in a 10cm deep, chlorinated "stream". I'd gone soft. I needed air, I needed nature, I needed adrenaline, and I needed sport. Yangshuo has it all. On the recommendation of friends, I went on a package trip with A
Iranian Cyclists Pedal Message of World Peace
Two Iranian students took a message of international peace and friendship to the United Nations on Tuesday as part of an around-the-world goodwill bicycle trip. "Our message is peace and friendship for all nations of the world," said Hassan Alizadeh, 31, who studies English at Tehran's Azad University. Alizadeh is from Ardebil in northwestern Iran. His friend Amir Ahmadi is the same age and comes from Tehran, where he is studying electrical engineering at Azad University. Two years into their ma
Chinese language getting popular in world
A total of 2,027 universities from 85 countries around the world offer Chinese language courses nowadays, according to sources from the international forum on Chinese language teaching held in Shanghai.
Chinese was considered an increasingly important international language because of China's successful Olympic bidding and last year's entry to the World Trade Organization (WT0), experts said.
About 25 million people all over the world are learning Chinese, statistics from the forum
China to use artificial reefs to boost fishery resources
China plans to set up 20 artificial reefs stocked with 50,000 porgy (or sea bream) fry offshore from Sanya City, in Hainan Province, to protect and boost local fishery resources.
According to the island's marine and fishing departments, the measure will improve the local marine environment and make it more suitable for the breeding of fish.
They said that the reefs would not only provide better shelter and food for fish but could also reduce the practice of trawling.
Made of
China breeds first endangered hornbills using artificial nests
China has made a breakthrough in breeding two endangered Malabar Pied Hornbills at Nanning Zoo in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, south China.
Zhi Bingsheng, assistant engineer in charge of the breeding project in Nanning, capital of Guangxi, said the five-week-old birds, each weighing over 200 grams and about 50 cm long, were able to fly to and from their nests. It was the first time the zoo had used man-made nests.
The birds, called lovebirds in China due to their loyalty to th
Chinese archaeologists to reconstruct Homo erectus fossil skulls
Chinese archaeologists expect to complete the reconstruction of two fossil human skulls dating back 730,000 years by the end of the year.
Archaeologists have measured accurately the brain size of the two fossil skulls of Yunxian man, confirmed to belong to Homo erectus, and the thickness of the cranial wall.
According to their measurements, the brain volume of Yunxian man was 1,064 ml and the skull thickness at the bregma, at the front of the skull, is 10.41 mm, compared with 7 to
China's island province to build wharf for super-yachts
The construction of a wharf catering for super-yachts is expected to begin in October in Haikou, capital of China's southernmost island province of Hainan.
The planned wharf will be 260 meters long with exclusive berths10.5 meters deep.
The whole project is expected to cost 40 million yuan (4.8 million US dollars).
At present, international yachts sailing to and from the island have to berth at a wharf for cargo ships.
With its coastline of pristine beaches, the beaut
New evidence of Japanese crimes in World War II
New evidence was revealed on August 13 which shows the Japanese troops carried out frostbite tests on live Chinese people during World War II.
Jin Chengmin, a researcher on germ and gas warfare of Japanese troops, found the evidence in a Tokyo library in 2001.
Jin said the experiments were documented in 1941 as "research results" with about 100,000 words, over 20 photographs and 100 diagrams. The document included descriptions of specific experiments, the names, genders and ages of
China trials free choice of car license plate numbers
Car owners in the four Chinese cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Hangzhou and Shenzhen are allowed a free choice of license plate numbers, the China Youth Daily reports on Tuesday.
According to traffic administration sources, car owners are free to choose any sequence or combination of letters and numbers,except "CHN" and any three consecutive identical letters or numbers.
A Mr. Zan, who works in a second-hand car market, became the first person in Beijing allocated his chosen license pl
City building infrastructure for second Bo'ao Forum
Qionghai city China's southern most Hainan province, which hosted the first annual conference of the Bo'ao Forum for Asia (BFA) in April this year, is beefing up infrastructure development, in preparation for next April's meeting.
This year, the city will invest more than one billion yuan (120million US dollars) in a number of major projects, including a convention center, comprising a multifunction conference room, a recreation center, two five-star hotels, a golf course and the office b
Unrecorded Great Wall beacon tower ruins found in NW. China
Chinese archeologists have discovered the ruins of 30 unrecorded Great Wall beacon towers, two fortified castles and two auxiliary buildings during a recent field study in northwest China's Gansu Province.
From its starting point at Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu to Shanhaiguan Pass on the shores of Bohai Bay at the eastern end, the Great Wall stretches for 6,000 kilometers, rising and falling, twisting and turning along the ridges of the Yanshan and Yinshan mountain ranges, crossing Gansu, Ning
International liquor and acrobatics festival opens in Guizhou
The China International Liquor Festival opens on August 18 in Zunyi, southwest China's Guizhou Province.
It is jointly sponsored by the China Federation of Light Industries and the provincial government of Guizhou.
The province has its national brand of distilled spirit Maotai,as famous as France's brandy, Britain's whisky and Russia's vodka.
During the festival, the four international distilled spirits' producers will hold an international spirit forum to discuss closer exc
China's pharmaceutical industry boosts new drug development
China's pharmaceutical industry is moving to sharpen its competitive edge as more effort and money are put into the development of new patented drugs.
The Ministry of Science and Technology has just launched a dozen research and development projects in the hope of making significant technological breakthroughs and setting up new industries in three to five years.
Developing new drugs and modernizing the production of traditional Chinese medicines are among the ambitious programs.
Space seeds flourishing on the ground
Herbs grown from over 30 kinds of seeds that have been sent into space are flourishing in the city of An'guo, in North China's Hebei Province.
Chen Miaozeng, who looks after plants at the Kewei Space Plant Propagation Base in An'guo, said the plants grown from seeds that have been in orbit have demonstrated obvious ecological advantages over ordinary plants.
The space plants have larger leaves and stronger stems and are more resistant to insect pests, he said.
Kewei workers
Medicinal herbs make north China city prosper
Local farmers in Anguo cityin north China's Hebei Province have made their fortune by growing medicinal herbs.
Anguo has been known as China's "medicinal herbs capital" for over 1,000 years.
Thanks to the encouragement of the local government, over 70,000 rural families are engaged in planting and processing the herbs, bringing an annual income of 36.64 million yuan (about 4.40million US dollars).
Meanwhile, local experts have been employed in improving the quality of the he
Violinist Itzhak Perlman Opens Graduate Program in Shanghai
Scores of young gifted instrumentalists gathered in the Shanghai Conservatory of Music to attend the long-awaited graduate program offered by the Israeli classical violinist Itzhak Perlman. The Shanghai program is the first established outside New York, where the 56-year-old virtuoso's music school is based. This year's program attracted 68 students, 28 of whom are from countries other than China, and all of whom were hand-selected by Perlman. Wearing T-shirts with the logo, "beautiful music", t
Chinese Kids Prefer Foreign Cartoon
A closely fought cat-and-mouse game is going on between domestic and foreign cartoon products, and a recent survey has only contributed to the animated debate.
The survey conducted by the Beijing-based China Mainland Marketing Research Company found th
Vietnam opens visa office in Kunming
Vietnam opened a visa office on August 16 in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, in a bid to forge closer ties between the two neighboring countries.
The office will directly issue visas to Chinese travelers destined to Vietnam, who in the past had to go to Beijing or southern China's Guangzhou City for visa application.
Bui Hong Phuc, Vietnam's ambassador to China, said on the office's inaugural ceremony that Vietnam and China have been good neighbors, partners,
China to build international media center
China will start work on an international media center, a landmark building for various media organizations, in central Beijing this year.
The center, with a total floor space of 130,000 square meters, will mainly serve as an office building for the over 100 foreign media organizations in Beijing, the Beijing Morning Post reported recently.
The media center, to be completed within 32 months, will be equipped with state-of-the-art satellite communication and fiber optical devices to
China's first local regulation to protect fossils in Guizhou
Special regulations were issued recently in Guanling county in southwest China's Guizhou province, to protect its abundant heritage sites and ancient fossils.
Some of Guanling county's ancient fossils date back 230 million years ago making them of great importance to research and highly valued.
Since 1997, some of these fossils have been smuggled out of the province and in some cases, out of the country.
The new regulation will be enacted on October 1 this year. Its aims are
Ancient graves discovered in central China
While Greek sculptors made the legendary Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, one of the world's Seven Wonders, in Turkey over 2,300 years ago, Chinese aristocrats were building hundreds of tombs in this ancient capital of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 B.C.).
Up to 279 tombs and 10 sacrificial pits for horses and horse-drawn vehicles of the time have been found lying within a mere 6,000 sq. m. area in Luoyang city in central China's Henan Province.Historians believe the mausoleum was destroyed
Beijing expend hugely in renovating religious venues
The Beijing municipal government has allocated 120 million yuan altogether in recent years to return its churches to full working order.
Ji Wenyuan, deputy director of the Beijing Administration of Religious Affairs, told Xinhua that the number of religious venues operating in Beijing had increased from four twenty years ago to the present 105, included Catholic and other Christian churches, Buddhist and Taoist temples and Islamic mosques.
In recent years, Beijing has expended 31 m
MTRC's sixth line opens to traffic in HK
The 12.5-km-long Tseung Kwan O Line, the sixth operating railway line of the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Corporation(MTRC), was open to traffic here on August 18 with Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa officiating at the opening ceremony.
The line, commenced in late 1998 and completed its construction four months ahead of schedule, reaches seven stations and a total population of 300,000 residents.
MTRC's Chairman Jack C K So said that after the Tseung Kwan O Line, MTRC would activel
China's first part-private airline to take off
China begins to experiment with its nationwide civil aviation reform by announcing that its first airline company partly funded with private investment was set up.
The newly-founded company called China Eastern Airlines Wuhan Co Ltd (CEAW) has a registered capital of 600 million yuan (72.6 million US dollars), 18 percent of which comes from the Shanghai Junyao Group Company, a private firm with assets of more than one billion yuan (120 million US dollars), according to Monday's China Dail
China to name historical, cultural towns and villages
The Chinese government will designate towns and villages nationwide of high historical and cultural value, sources with the Ministry of Construction said recently.
Adding to China's 101 historical and cultural cities, the government will choose towns or villages with obvious historical and cultural sites, in a move to protect their relics.
Any town or village of a specific size with abundant historical buildings and examples of cultural heritage that illustrate some period of histo
Air China accomplishes Beijing-New York polar route test flight
Air China successfully finished a polar route test flight from Beijing to New York by using the aircraft B747-400 over the North Pole, from August 16 to 19, sources said with Air China here Monday.
Air China is the first Chinese airlines to operate Beijing-New York nonstop two-way flights via polar route, which cuts the one-way flying time down to 13 hours from the original 17 hours. In addition, the flight will be more comfortable due to reduced turbulence in the atmosphere above the Nor
Green corridor runs parallel to China's first desert expressway
The makers of China's first desert expressway in the country's northwest Shaanxi province are also creating a parallel corridor - not with sand, stone and asphalt but with trees and grass.
The green corridor is serving as a barrier to ward off sand encroaching from the desert the 116-kilometer expressway runs through.
Over 60 percent of the expressway between Yulin and Jingbian, two northern cities in the province, lies in the Muus Desert, which mainly covers parts of the Inner Mon
Rainforest protected in south China island
China has set up a national nature reserve to protect rainforest in Hainan, the country's second largest island surrounded by the South China Sea.
The largest and best preserved tropical rainforest in China is found in the reserve covering 20,000 hectares in total.
About 2,800 plants grow in the reserve, 31 of which are rare and endangered species. Vegetation is divided into seven categories, ranging from plants at beach level to those growing on the reserve's highest mountain at 1
China's man-made forests largest in the world
China's efforts in afforestation have increased forested areas, the percentage of land they cover and have made the country an international leader in the field, an official in charge of the state's forestry said here recently.
Addressing a forestry training program in the Tibet Autonomous Region, Li Yucai, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration (SFA), said China's 46.7 million hectares of man-made forests make up one-third of the world total.
Li noted that the affore
When the Hill Meets the Sea ...
A two-day trip to the countryside around Ningbo, a coastal city in East China's Zhejiang Province, impressed me deeply with its clear skies, ocean beaches and stretches of hills with rich foliage. When the bus went further into Ningbo, more hills emerged along the road. A pure green colour, like a flawless carpet, covers almost every corner of the hills. Plants on the hills prosper on both the southern and northern sides. Around my hometown, the southern sides of hills always boast much denser f
Porters' Life in Chongqing Wharf
Why is Chongqing, in southwest China, the only city in the country with no bicycles? Who are the people with poles, carrying luggage from the wharf? Let's discover the life of porters in the inland river port of Chongqing. B: Cheng Hao, you know that bicycles are very popular in China. You see them everywhere in almost every city and town, except for one. Can you guess which one it is? A: Well, it may be a difficult question for overseas visitors, but not for me. It's the city of Chongqing, isn'
Enjoying the Sea at Shengsi
A gentle breeze cools your brow, waves lap softly at your feet and wonderfully shaped rocks are scattered on the shore. You are enjoying some of the beautiful scenery at Shengsi in the summer sun. Shengsi is not to be missed by anyone needing a break from the pressures of city life. Dabei Mountain In Zhejiang Province, Sheng Si is known as the "Fairyland of the Sea", with more than 400 islands dotting the ocean for sightseeing expeditions and providing a variety of seafood to satisfy any appetit
Enjoying the Sea at Shengsi
A gentle breeze cools your brow, waves lap softly at your feet and wonderfully shaped rocks are scattered on the shore. You are enjoying some of the beautiful scenery at Shengsi in the summer sun. Shengsi is not to be missed by anyone needing a break from the pressures of city life. Dabei Mountain In Zhejiang Province, Sheng Si is known as the "Fairyland of the Sea", with more than 400 islands dotting the ocean for sightseeing expeditions and providing a variety of seafood to satisfy any appetit
Flood Emergency Declared in Hunan
An official flood emergency has been declared in China's flood-hit central province of Hunan, where millions of people are threatened by surging water levels. Officials said water levels could match those of 1998 when serious flooding caused widespread damage and economic loss. Pang Daomu, vice-governor of Hunan, said the entire province was put on a state of emergency at midday Wednesday. Heavy rain since August 11 has led to soaring water levels in the province's two rivers -- Zishui and Xiang
Flood Emergency Declared in Central China
An official flood emergency has been declared in China's flood-hit central province of Hunan, where millions of people are threatened by surging water levels. Officials said water levels could match those of 1998 when serious flooding caused widespread damage and economic loss. Pang Daomu, vice-governor of Hunan, said the entire province was put on a state of emergency at midday Wednesday. Heavy rain since August 11 has led to soaring water levels in the province's two rivers -- Zishui and Xiang
When the Hill Meets the Sea ...
A two-day trip to the countryside around Ningbo, a coastal city in East China's Zhejiang Province, impressed me deeply with its clear skies, ocean beaches and stretches of hills with rich foliage. When the bus went further into Ningbo, more hills emerged along the road. A pure green colour, like a flawless carpet, covers almost every corner of the hills. Plants on the hills prosper on both the southern and northern sides. Around my hometown, the southern sides of hills always boast much denser f
Sino-Russian Trade to See New High
Bilateral trade between Russia and China could reach a new high of more than US$11 billion this year, visiting Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said Wednesday.
"Russia is now China's eighth largest trade partner and China is Russia's sixth large
Macao reports rosy tourism business
Macao reported a double-digit growth in the number of tourist arrivals from January to July, led by huge influx of visitors from China's other areas.
According to the latest figures from the Statistics and Census Services, tourist arrivals in the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) jumped 10.8 percent to 6.49 million in the first seven months of this year.
Hong Kong remained the largest tourist source for Macao, sending 3.02 million visitors to the city, but the figure fell 1
Isle lures bird lovers from home, abroad
Beidaihe, in Hebei Province, is one of the best summer resorts in north China, but now more and more people from home and abroad are visiting Puti, a small island 30 km away from Beidaihe.
These people are not holiday-makers but bird lovers who are interested in the 420 kinds of birds living on the 2.09-square-kilometer island.
Puti Island is named after the banyan tree, also known as the bodhi tree or tree of Buddha, which grows widely on the island. The tropical species comes fro
Stephen Hawking to lecture in east China university
Stephen Hawking, the world-renowned physicist, gave a lecture at Zhejiang University in east China to explain some of his key doctrines.
Hawking, who is almost totally paralyzed except for three fingers, is in China for the upcoming International Congress of Mathematicians 2002.
He told the press recently that he didn't know a great deal about Chinese universities, but he added, "Some of them are world class, or soon will be."
What the scientist found most impressive during
Wonder willow walks 150 meters in 200 years
A miraculous old willow in north China's Hebei Province has walked 150 meters from where it first took root over 200 years ago.
The wandering willow, found in Xiaozhapagou village of Longhua County, was washed more than 70 meters down a hillside to the riverbank by a flood about 200 years ago, villagers say.
The tree was then lying horizontally on the riverbank with its roots mostly exposed but it refused to die.
As hanging branches began to take root in the silt, they gradu
Pre-historic stone tool found in central China revises history
The excavation of a stone tool has put back the date for human activity to as early as 200,000 years ago in the Xiangjiang River valley, a major tributary of the Yangtze River, in central China.
Previous archaeological findings indicated that human activity in the region began only some seven or eight thousand years ago, during the Neolithic Age, or New Stone Age. This period which began around 10,000 B.C., featured the development of agriculture and the making of polished stone implement
2000-year-old aristocrat's tomb unearthed in northwest China
A 2,000-year-old tomb believed to be that of a feudal prince, has been unearthed in northwest China.
The tomb is the largest found in the region, and from the quality of the burial articles, experts assume that it belongs to Shangluo Marquis from the Eastern Han Dynasty (24 BC - 220 AD).
The brick tomb on Donglong Mountain in Shangluo City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, has four chambers and a hall.
The double parallel tunnels, both 32 meters long and connecting the ch
Canadian wire-walking hero eager to sky walk over China's Great Wall
Canadian wire-walking genius Jay Cochrane has expressed his strong willingness to do skywalk over China's Great Wall for a children's hospital charity of Beijing and the protection of the world cultural heritage.
The organizers of "Mid Autumn Festival 2008 Walk Across The Great Wall" event told Xinhua recently that Cochrane had sent them a letter in which he said, "I am glad to present a skywalk for the Chinese people again."
Cochrane spent 55 minutes performing a 640.75 meters sky
WWF says Africa under threat from carbon pollution
Millions of people and animals in Africa will be under serious threat unless governments at the UN Earth Summit in Johannesburg next week pledge to stem carbon pollution, the conservation body WWF warned on Tuesday.
The WWF urged more than 60 world leaders due to meet at the August 26-September 4 summit to take new steps to curb pollution linked to carbon dioxide and shift to using renewable, non-polluting fuels like solar power.
In a report on climate change in Africa, the WWF sai
China insurers promote travel accident policies
Chinese insurance companies are promoting new transport accident policies to satisfy the demands of growing numbers of tourists.
The China Ping An Insurance Company is promoting its travel policy offering "100 yuan (US$12) for all-year accident air insurance". The China Pacific Life Insurance Company is also promoting a transport accident card. Customers can spend 50 yuan annually (US$6) to get 250,000 yuan (US$31,250) in air accident compensation, 100,000 yuan (US$12,500) for a rail acci
China guards against possible arrival of cholera
China has announced it is taking measures against the possible arrival of cholera from Cote d' Ivoire in Africa.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of July 14,a total of 581 cases of cholera had been reported and 19 victims had died with a fatality rate of 3.27 percent. The officials added
that the case rate has been growing since July.
A recent announcement from the State Administration of Quality Supervision and Quarantine requested that passengers arrivi
Backgrounder: International Congress of Mathematicians
The 24th International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) opened in Beijing Tuesday.
This is the first time for China, a developing country, to host such congress.
The ICM, supported and assisted by International Mathematics Union (IMU), has a history of over 100 years. The first ICM was held in 1897 in Zurich, Switzerland. Since the 1900 ICM in Paris, it has been held every four years except during the two world wars.Now it has become the most authoritative academic meeting in its f
First mathematics hall built in Tianjin
China's first mathematics hall, set up in Tianjin Science and Technology Museum, was opened to the public on August 18 after two years of construction.
The new hall, with a total floor space of 1,100 square meters, is divided into the preface hall, the mathematics history gallery, and areas highlighting modern mathematics, classic mathematics, interactive mathematics, and computer and mathematics applications.
The hall has 40 displays with pictures and essays, from which visitors c
Math toy exhibition highlights China's ancient math history
Math toys dating back hundreds - even thousands - of years on display at a math toy exhibition in Beijing are attracting the attention of many visitors, as well as foreign mathematicians.
Participants in the International Congress of Mathematicians have crowded the "China's Ancient Mathematical Toys Exhibition" which features such ancient games as the nine-ring puzzle, Tangram, Hua Rong Trail, Lu Ban Lock and Sixiren.
The exhibition which started on Monday runs to next Tuesday.
Circle of Faith
At age 74, Guru, a herdsman from Naqu in northern Tibet, is making his first pilgrimage to the Kangrin Poche, known as Mt Kailash to westerners. It is situated in Ngari, 1,700 km west of Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region. He and dozens of his native folks will travel for five days by truck to pay their respects to the summit of the Gangdise Range. Despite the dust, gale-force winds, biting cold and other trying elements on the "roof of the world," Guru is in high spirits. "It is my lifel
Realising the Dream of Private Car Travel
Zhou Shaolin, a 38-year-old editor of a Jinan newspaper, took his family in his own car to the beach some 400 kilometers from home for a ten-day vacation in early August. He bought his secondhand Ford by borrowing 100,000 yuan (12,091U.S. dollars) from the bank last year. Usually he drives it to work. For an ordinary Chinese family traveling in their own car used to be a distant dream but this summer things are changing. Another family drove all the way from Tianjin Municipality in north China t
Inland Tourists Most Willing to Spend Money in Macao
China's inlanders were again the most generous tourists in Macao with per capita spending in the special administrative region (SAR) amounting to 2,605 patacas (325.63 US dollars) in the second quarter. The figure nearly doubled the average for all visitors to the city, which stood at 1,370 patacas (171.25 dollars), the Statistics and Census Services said Tuesday. Visitors from Hong Kong, the largest tourist provider for Macao,spent a paltry 910 patacas (120.25 dollars) each on average, the leas
Foreign Trade Booming Since WTO Entry
Turn on a TV, browse a website or pick up a newspaper and one word will leap at you: WTO (World Trade Organization). It has dominated media reports since December 11 when China secured accession after years of preparation. And the half-yearly report makes good reading. China has no reason to be dissatisfied with its performance in carrying out its commitments to the WTO. The government has issued more than six laws and regulations on imports since January, and about seven on the access of foreig
Inland Tourists Most Willing to Spend Money in Macao ?
China's inlanders were again the most generous tourists in Macao with per capita spending in the special administrative region (SAR) amounting to 2,605 patacas (325.63 US dollars) in the second quarter. The figure nearly doubled the average for all visitors to the city, which stood at 1,370 patacas (171.25 dollars), the Statistics and Census Services said Tuesday. Visitors from Hong Kong, the largest tourist provider for Macao,spent a paltry 910 patacas (120.25 dollars) each on average, the leas
HK to issue stamp sheetlet on Chinese mainland scenery
Hong Kong Postmaster General LukPing-chuen announced recently the launch of a new series of definitive stamp sheetlets by Hongkong Post to portray some of the most spectacular sceneries in China.
The first of this series depicting Hukou Waterfall of the Huang He (Yellow River) will be issued on September 7, 2002. This stamp sheetlet features magnificent scenes of the Hukou Waterfall: the greatest yellow waterfall in the world.
The stamp sheetlet is designed by Arde Lam and printed
Evidence of seas and forests found in western Xinjiang
Geologists have evidence that one of China's most arid areas was once covered by a sea with land areas of dense forests.
A geological survey has discovered large amounts of fossils of marine life and silicon wood in the Tianshan Valley in western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
"The discovery proves that the region used to be a vast sea with land areas of dense forest some 130 million years ago," a geologist attending the field survey said.
The fossils are scattered in an
Strange dinosaur eggs spotted in east China
Eight dinosaur egg fossils were found imbedded in a large rock in the shape of "a blooming lotus" recently, according to archeologists from east China's Jiangxi Province.
The big stone was discovered by local people on Aug. 1 after it fell from a mountain near Changxi Village in Pingxiang City.
The eggs were about 20 centimeters long and covered with lines and worm trails.
Experts confirmed the fossils to be 65 million years old.
China is famous for yielding various f
Ancient palace discovered in central China
Archaeologists have discovered what is believed to have been the largest palace of the ancient Shang Dynasty (c.1500 BC - c.1000 BC) at Anyang, in central China's Henan province.
The ruins were found near the site of the ruins of Shang's capital, Yin Ruins.
The rectangular building, measuring 173 meters long and 90 meters wide, is the biggest pre-Qin Dynasty building ever found. Corridors and doorways of the main hall indicate the building once housed royalty.
But burned flo
China to repair ancient suspended coffins
China's cultural relics department has decided to renovate the ancient suspended coffins in Gongxian County of southwest China's Sichuan Province.
The coffins contain the remains of the extinct Bo ethnic people.The Bo set up an ancient State of Bo in what is now Yibin City. On death, their bodies would be put into a coffin which then was laid by a cliff. The Bo are believed to be the pioneers of the Silk Road leading to southeast Asian countries.
To date, suspended coffins have bee
Protection for Peking Man site boosted
World Heritage Site, the Zhoukoudian Peking Man Ruins will be co-managed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Beijing municipal government in a bid to boost protection.
The site where the first skull of Peking Man dating back 500,000 years ago was discovered, last year was reported to be at risk of being damaged.
The deterioration was blamed on lack of maintenance funds and inadequate management by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under CAS
International trade fair to benefit coastal Fujian
East China's Fujian Province is preparing to benefit even more from the Sixth China
International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT).
The event takes place in Xiamen from September 8 to 12 each year. It is the largest investment expo in Asia, and is sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation.
"CIFIT is one of the top brand names from Fujian, which has drawn the attention of the world," said Xi Jinping, governor of Fujian Province. "We must make e
China plans to build world's longest bridge
Zhejiang, one of the most developed provinces in east China, is planning to build the world's longest bridge, a 36 kilometer structure to cross the Hangzhou Bay.
Once the bridge is built, the distance between Ningbo, a port city and major industrial base in Zhejiang, and Shanghai, the country's largest economic powerhouse, will be cut by 120 kilometers.
The project has been approved by the State Planning Commission and is now in its preparation stage.
Ningbo City will contri
Extinction of Tibetan antelopes "very possible" if poaching persists: expert
Tibetan antelopes on the verge of extinction are still threatened by poaching and habitat damage despite the progress in anti-poaching campaigns in China, according to Chinese wild animal protection authorities.
They cited new research as a warning that if illegal hunting persists, the highly-endangered species could disappear from the Earth in a short period.
Over the past five years, a group of Chinese and American researching the antelope's birthing and breeding behaviors have d
Tibetan antelope on rise
The survival rate of newborn Tibetan antelopes in the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve, northwest China's Qinghai province, has reached an all-time high of 87 percent thanks to efforts to protect the endangered animal.
Not a single case of poaching has been recorded at the reserve this year and numbers of Tibetan antelope, which tops the government protection list, surpassed 70,000.
By June this year, more than 30,000 female antelopes had migrated to Zhuonai and Taiyang Lakes in Qinghai Prov
China Pledges to Further Develop Ties with Morocco
Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji on Tuesday hailed the time-honored friendship between China and Morocco and pledged to advance bilateral ties in the future. During talks with his Moroccan counterpart, Abderrahmane Youssoufi, Zhu said China and Morocco enjoy a long history of friendly exchanges, and have sympathized with and supported each other in their struggles for national independence and liberation decades ago. Political ties between the two sides have been healthy since the establishment of dip
China's Science Center Popular
Thousands of Chinese flock to China Science and Technology Exhibition Center to catch up with the latest sci-tech development, outnumbering travelers to famous scenic spots, reported Tuesday's Beijing Youth Daily. Statistics cited by the newspaper show the number of visitors to the Beijing-based center amounted to 1.4 million last year since the second phase of the center was completed. The figure surged to 610,000 in the first half of this year. The record high came on July 20 when it registere
Palestinian Parliament to Convene
Israel would allow the Palestinian parliament to convene a special session to set a date for elections and discuss political reforms, the government said Tuesday. Another official statement, however, harshly criticized the Palestinian leadership. The conflicting statements reflected the divisions in Israel's center-right government, and came as the Palestinians discussed new U.S. demands for reforms that would sideline Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The Palestinians have tentatively set parli
Many Chinese students return home after studying abroad
The majority of overseas students from the Chinese mainland prefer returning to China after completing their studies abroad, reported a commentary in the HongKong Economic Journal recently.
"Most of the students who plan to study overseas aim to gain knowledge these days, particularly those who finance their own studies themselves. These students are bent on developing their career on the Chinese mainland rather than working abroad in due course," it said.
The current situation is
Star graduates of private universities rewarded
Ten star graduates from private universities and colleges have been honored with a merit award, "Excellent Graduate of a Private University", at a recent ceremony held in the Chinese capital of Beijing.
The graduates were selected from among 80 nominees out of 321 candidates from 86 eminent private universities.
The ceremony was sponsored jointly by China Youth Daily and the information consultancy and employment agencies under the Ministry of Education and the school run by Commun
Private colleges carve a niche
Private universities in China have been attracting an increasing number of young people since the country launched its reform and opening-up campaign in 1978.
Wu Nan - a second-year student with the School of Information Technology at Beijing's Haidian University, one of the oldest private universities in China - said: "If I had another chance, I would choose Haidian University again rather than a public university."
For a population of over 1.2 billion, China has only about 1,000
China to step up education for ethnic groups
The State Council, China's cabinet, has issued a circular calling for local governments and departments to strengthen education for ethnic groups.
The State Council points out that though remarkable progress has been made in education in ethnic minority areas over the past 50 years, authorities in these areas must help extend the nine-year compulsory education to 95 percent of the areas by 2005.
By 2010, the nine-year compulsory education should be popularized in all the areas, ill
Pearl River valley boasts world's largest sturgeon population
Chinese environmentalists this summer have released another 23,380 artificially bred sturgeons into the Pearl River in south China's Guangdong Province.
The Chinese sturgeon, known as a living fossil as it is one of the oldest vertebrates in the world, has existed for more than 200 million years. But it has become one of the most endangered fish species because of environmental degradation.
According to statistics, more than 200,000 sturgeon have been released into the Pearl River,
Ancient pottery unearthed in east China
About 300 pieces of pottery dating from the Warring States period (476 BC - 221 BC) have been unearthed at a construction site in Xintai city, east China's Shandong Province.
All the pottery, with clear and intact inscriptions on 100 pieces, was used for official measurements in the craft industry, Chinese archaeologists said.
The pottery belonged to Qi, a state in the Warring States period.
Since the late Qing Dynasty, the last feudal dynasty, China has only discovered abou
S. China city to protect unique "Qilou" houses
Guangzhou, the capital of south China's Guangdong Province, has worked out plans to protect its "Qilou" houses, a kind of multi-story building integrating Chinese and European architectural styles.
"Qilou" houses, which are popular in Guangdong and Fujian provinces, were built by Chinese businessmen who returned from Southeast Asia in the early 20th century.
According to local experts, "Qilou" buildings are based on traditional houses in south China with features added in such west
China attracts the most ROK visitors: ROK Ambassador to China
China has attracted the most visitors from the Republic of Korea (ROK), since ranking as the second target country for ROK investment, ROK Ambassador to China Kim Ha Joong said recently.
Addressing a China-Korea women seminar opened in Beijing recently, Kim said that over 1.67 million ROK people visited China in 2001. And the figure topped 970,000 during the first six months of this year.
The year 2002 marks the ten anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic ties between Ch
Old Beijing retail zone to retain flavor in renovation
While centuries-old crowded and shabby residences will be gone forever, the Qianmen district, one of the last remnants of old Beijing, will keep its unique cultural flavor after the upcoming urban renovation.
Recent China Daily, a leading Chinese English newspaper, quoted the Beijing Municipal Development Planning Commission as saying that the renovation expected to start later this year will make it a priority to maintain the area's well-known cultural heritage of quadrangles, lanes and
Huge market for general aviation in China
China's general aviation industry is in urgent need of development to support the country's rapid economic growth, according to experts.
General aviation refers to all civil aviation activities except scheduled passenger flights, and mainly involves agricultural flights, emergency rescue, cultural and sports activities, ocean and environment exploration and business flights.
China's general aviation for the development of agriculture, industry, forestry and energy resources is in t
Largest insurance deal signed for 2002 Air Show China
Insurance for 66.5 billion yuan (about 8 billion US dollars) has been agreed for China's Fourth International Air Show in November, said sources with the board chairman of the Zhuhai Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition Co. Ltd.
China's largest insurance deal was signed solely by Zhuhai Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition Co. Ltd with China Pacific Insurance Company (CPIC), which has insured the former three Air Shows.
The insurance cover include items such as airframes, air show perfor
Int'l education exchange event to be held in Beijing
The 2002 International Education Cooperation Week (IECW), the largest international education cooperation and exchange event ever to be hosted in China since its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), will take place in Beijing from Sept. 24 to 30.
The event will kick off with the Sino-US Education Cooperation Forum on Sept. 25, followed by the International Education Exposition on Sept. 28.
During the three-day forum, Chinese and foreign officials and experts will discuss
Northeast China's main expressway completed
An expressway from Benxi to Dandong, both cities in northeastern Liaoning Province, was completed Monday, connecting the northeast and northwest sections of the country's main expressway.
Neighboring the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Dandong is China's largest border city. The road is also the first of its kind in China to run to the banks of the Yalu River, shared by both countries.
By connecting 14 cities within the province, it is expected the expressway will ben
Mystery of Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum revealed
Archeologists have unraveled the mysterious plan of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, the 2,200-year-old structure which is famous as the home of 7,000 terracotta horses and warriors.
Located in Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum is the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC) and also of China.
Covering 2.13 square kilometers, the four-layered mausoleum, like a well-structured city, includes an underground pa
Jiuzhaigou, Fairyland in Heavens
Beijing fed up with the madding crowd in one of the country's most populous cities, I wanted to get closer to nature. So, I was happy when two friends from Beijing asked me to go with them to Jiuzhaigou earlier this month. Located in Jiuzhaigou County in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jiuzhaigou is close to the border of Northwest China's Gansu Province. It is about 480 kilometres north of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu. Jiuzhaigou i
Jiuzhaigou, Fairyland in Heavens
Beijing fed up with the madding crowd in one of the country's most populous cities, I wanted to get closer to nature. So, I was happy when two friends from Beijing asked me to go with them to Jiuzhaigou earlier this month. Located in Jiuzhaigou County in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jiuzhaigou is close to the border of Northwest China's Gansu Province. It is about 480 kilometres north of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu. Jiuzhaigou i
Feature: 'Seeing' Sculptures with Fingers
Some 20 visually impaired people Wednesday came to Wangfujing Avenue, the capital's busiest downtown commercial street, to "see" a sculpture exhibition with their fingers. "It's a corn cob, I think. It's so real," Zhao Jinfeng, 37, murmured to herself in an animated tone as she carefully ran her fingers over an exhibit displayed in the ongoing exhibition, "Windfrom Western China", which was opened here on August 18. "Touch this. It's a scarf. They wear it on their heads to keep out wind and sand
Jiuzhaigou, Fairyland in Heavens
Beijing fed up with the madding crowd in one of the country's most populous cities, I wanted to get closer to nature. So, I was happy when two friends from Beijing asked me to go with them to Jiuzhaigou earlier this month. Located in Jiuzhaigou County in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jiuzhaigou is close to the border of Northwest China's Gansu Province. It is about 480 kilometres north of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu. Jiuzhaigou i
Volunteer Project Benefits All
Now I understand what 'seeing is believing' really means, said Hannah Alexander, a college student and international youth volunteer from the United States, of her first journey to China. Alexander flew back to the state of New York last Saturday. The 20-year-old British-born American said that with the brief but informative and touching journey she has realized her long-time dream of connecting with China, the home country of her grandfather and her mother. On August 13, she joined 20 other stu
Enjoying the Sea at Shengsi
A gentle breeze cools your brow, waves lap softly at your feet and wonderfully shaped rocks are scattered on the shore. You are enjoying some of the beautiful scenery at Shengsi in the summer sun. Shengsi is not to be missed by anyone needing a break from the pressures of city life. Dabei Mountain In Zhejiang Province, Sheng Si is known as the "Fairyland of the Sea", with more than 400 islands dotting the ocean for sightseeing expeditions and providing a variety of seafood to satisfy any appetit
Jiuzhaigou, Fairyland in Heavens
Beijing fed up with the madding crowd in one of the country's most populous cities, I wanted to get closer to nature. So, I was happy when two friends from Beijing asked me to go with them to Jiuzhaigou earlier this month. Located in Jiuzhaigou County in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jiuzhaigou is close to the border of Northwest China's Gansu Province. It is about 480 kilometres north of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu. Jiuzhaigou i
Airline to Beat Deadline
China Eastern Airlines Corp. expects to complete its purchase of the assets of Yunnan Airlines Co. and China Northwest Airlines Co. from their parents, which will increase its fleet by two-thirds, within 18 months. "We don't need two years, which is required by the authorities, to acquire the assets," Ye Yigan, chairman of China's third-biggest airline, said in an interview. "We plan to do it within one-and-a-half years." The holding company for the new group, which was to be formed in July, wil
Passport Application Reform Under Testing
Officials are looking at cutting red tape to enable people in medium and large cities to travel abroad more freely. Masterminding the reform is the Ministry of Public Security, with a deadline of 2005 set for the introduction of any changes. It will run a pilot program in Shanghai on Sunday where citizens can receive passports just by showing their ID cards or residence booklets. It marks a sea change in procedure. Applicants previously had to submit written documents together with permission fr
Nadam Fair Held in Inner Mongolia
The Hulunbuir grasslands in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region were overrun with locals and tourists for the traditional Nadam Fair held on August 17. The usually silent grasslands were thronged with festive crowds that came to participate in and enjoy the varied and intense competitions. In Mongolian, "nadam" means "play" or "entertainment." It is said that Genghis Khan, a Mongolian monarch who succeeded in conquering vast areas of Asia and establishing a unified regime in 1209, hel
Green Cards in Use This Year
China's "green card" system will be put into practice by the end of this year, said a senior Chinese police officer in charge of exit-entry administration here Thursday. The "green card" regulations have been revised several times, said Hao Chiyong, head of the exit-entry administration of the Ministry of Public Security, adding that "relevant preparations have been done." The "green card" will be granted to foreigners with senior management or technological expertise, and foreigners who have in
Gallants Vie on Grasslands
The Hulunbuir grass lands in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region were overrun with locals and tourists for the traditional Nadam Fair, held on August 17. The usually silent grasslands were thronged with festive crowds that came to participate in and enjoy the varied and intense competitions. In Mongolian, "nadam" means "play" or "entertainment." It is said that Genghis Khan, a Mongolian monarch who succeeded in conquering vast areas of Asia and establishing a unified regime in 1209, h
Gallants Vie on Grasslands
The Hulunbuir grasslands in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region were overrun with locals and tourists for the traditional Nadam Fair held on August 17. The usually silent grasslands were thronged with festive crowds that came to participate in and enjoy the varied and intense competitions. In Mongolian, "nadam" means "play" or "entertainment." It is said that Genghis Khan, a Mongolian monarch who succeeded in conquering vast areas of Asia and establishing a unified regime in 1209, hel
Green Cards in Use This Year
China's "green card" system will be put into practice by the end of this year, said a senior Chinese police officer in charge of exit-entry administration here Thursday. The "green card" regulations have been revised several times, said Hao Chiyong, head of the exit-entry administration of the Ministry of Public Security, adding that "relevant preparations have been done." The "green card" will be granted to foreigners with senior management or technological expertise, and foreigners who have in
Passport Application Reform to Undergo Testing
Officials are looking at cutting red tape to enable people in medium and large cities to travel abroad more freely. Masterminding the reform is the Ministry of Public Security, with a deadline of 2005 set for the introduction of any changes. It will run a pilot programme in Shanghai on Sunday where citizens can receive passports just by showing their ID cards or residence booklets. It marks a sea change in procedure. Applicants previously had to submit written documents together with permission
Passport Application Reform to Undergo Testing
Officials are looking at cutting red tape to enable people in medium and large cities to travel abroad more freely. Masterminding the reform is the Ministry of Public Security, with a deadline of 2005 set for the introduction of any changes. It will run a pilot program in Shanghai on Sunday where citizens can receive passports just by showing their ID cards or residence booklets. It marks a sea change in procedure. Applicants previously had to submit written documents together with permission fr
Brave new world of Chinese science fiction
Chinese bookworms, used to learning from the country's 5,000-year-old civilization and its ancient literary traditions, are opening up to the worlds of the future in the burgeoning new science fiction culture.
The monthly circulation of Science Fiction World, one of China's most popular magazines, has exceeded 500,000, dwarfing all international counterparts.
Yang Xiao, head of the magazine's editorial board, said 70 percent of its readers were students who shared single copies of
Art of Nudity photographing emerges in China
Standing beside a nude photograph of herself, a 23-year-old model of only four months' experience, Yang Li, does not look as relaxed as the person posed in the photograph.
The photo of Yang Li was awarded first prize in a competition in south China's Guangdong province to find the best nudity photographs. The contest, which began at the end of July, drew more than 2,000 entrants.
Yang was asked to have a picture taken by the photo of herself by visitors to the show of the photograp
Chinese shadow play, precursor of modern cinema, experiences a revival
Known as the "magic of the East" among Europeans, Chinese shadow play, a precursor of modern cinema, is experiencing a revival following a period of marked decline.
Shadow play is a kind of drama in which silhouettes made of hard paper and hide are projected onto a white screen. The performer manipulates the characters behind the screen while singing the libretto to tell the story. The story-telling is accompanied by music.
Chinese shadow play, which came into being during the Han
Qianmen plans minding history
While centuries-old crowded and shabby residences will be gone for ever, sources say Qianmen district - one of the last remnants of old Beijing - will keep its unique cultural flavour after the coming urban renovation.
Sources with the Beijing Municipal Development Planning Commission confirmed recently that the renovation, expected to start later this year, will make it a priority to maintain the area's well-known cultural heritage of quadrangles, lanes and the ancient retail centre of D
Signs to be added for disappearing Beijing relics
Signs and signposts are planned to be erected in the urban Xuanwu District of the Chinese capital to mark the site of 30 of its valuable ancient relics before the few remaining sank into oblivion and even disappeared by rapid urbanization.
"We want to use the signs to remind people of Beijing's long-standing, glorious history," said Wang Shiren, a prestigious archeologist from Beijing.
Xuanwu district in the city's southern part is where the city of Beijing was first built over 3,0
China Southern Airlines Adds New Planes
The first of 20 new-generation Boeing 737-800 planes ordered by China Southern Airlines (CSA) flew into the Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, Monday from Seattle in the United States.
CSA placed the orders for 20 new Boeing 737-800 planes with the Boeing Company last year. The new planes will be used to replace those now in operation, said corporate sources from CSA.
According to these sources, nine new aircraft, including the one just received, will be
First air link between China, Kagoshima launched
A China Eastern Airlines (CEA) passenger airplane made its inaugural flight Wednesday from Shanghai to Kagoshima, Japan.
Flight A319, which will fly on every Wednesday and Saturday, was the first in China to link with Kagoshima and the 10th CEA air link to Japan.
The flight departs from Shanghai at 10:10 a.m. and arrives in Kagoshima at 11:40 a.m. The return flight leaves Kagoshima at 12:30 p.m. and arrives at Shanghai at 2:00 p.m..
Kagoshima, on the southernmost tip of Kyus
National certification board set up
A national body for the approval of organizations offering certification services was set up in Beijing recently.
Officials described the establishment of the China National Accreditation Board for Conformity Assessment as a milestone, indicating the nation had finished its unified certification system.
"It is another achievement in providing product certifications following China's entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO)," said Wang Fengqing, director of the China National Reg
