THIS WEEK

GREEN HOPE

Tourists visit the main exhibition hall of the Ninth China (Beijing) International Garden Expo on its opening day May 18. The event is being held in the capital’s southwestern Fengtai District and will last until November 18. Garden designs from 69 Chinese cities and 29 countries will be displayed.

Calling for Peace

Liu Yunshan (right), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Choe Ryong Hae, special envoy to the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un, in Beijing on May 23.

The senior Chinese leader called on parties concerned to take steps to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula and restart the suspended six-party talks,which involve China, the DPRK, the United States, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan, as soon as possible.

Choe said the DPRK is willing to accept advice from the Chinese side and carry out dialogue with other parties.

Tensions have been running high on the peninsula since the DPRK conducted its third nuclear test in February.

Education Support

China on May 22 unveiled a plan to support universities in its less developed central and western regions.

The ministries of education and finance, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top planning agency, jointly issued the plan designed to train faculties and improve facilities of universities in central and west China before 2020.

Zhang Daliang, Director of the Higher Education Department under the Ministry of Education, said at a press conference that the weakness of these universities has hindered local higher education development.

The Central Government plans to inject 10 billion yuan ($1.62 billion)between 2012 and 2015 into 100 higher education institutions in central and west China where bachelor’s degree programs are available,according to the official document.

Currently, the number of oncampus students studying for bachelor’s degrees or junior college qualifications in central and west China account for 65.5 percent of the total nationwide.

JOYFUL FESTIVAL

Residents in Macao celebrate the Drunken Dragon Festival, a unique local tradition on the birthday of the Buddha observed on May 17

Wildlife Survey

A wildlife field survey is under way in southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, local forestry authorities said on May 20.

The four-year survey will focus on the distribution, habitats and populations of wildlife in Tibet, as well as habitat protection and wildlife breeding. It will create a database and enable a comprehensive evaluation of the region’s wildlife resources.

Survey experts have divided the region into 19 geographical units consisting of all wildlife and their habitats, which include forests,grasslands, meadows, wetlands and deserts.

The survey is the second of its kind conducted in Tibet. The first one was conducted from 1998 to 2001.

Tibet has 795 species of vertebrates, of which 141 are under nationalor regional-level protection.

State Compensation

The Supreme People’s Procuratorate,China’s highest procuratorial organ,on May 17 increased the compensation standard for individuals whose personal rights have been infringed upon by the state.

The new standard is set at 182.35 yuan ($29.7) per day, 9.7 yuan ($1.58)more than the 2012 standard, said a statement published by the procuratorate.

The adjustment of the standard was based on the increase in the average salary of state employees in 2012, which stood at 47,593 yuan($7,753) last year.

According to the Law on State Compensation, where the personal rights of a citizen are infringed upon,the amount of money for compensation per day shall be calculated according to the average salary per day of the staff of the state in the preceding year.

4D SPACE FUN

A visitor poses at a multidimensionalartwork exhibition in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, on May 18

Female Oceanauts

Female oceanauts are being considered to steer China’s record-breaking submersible Jiaolong, officials have announced.

The National Deep Sea Center in east China’s Shandong Province will train a second group of six oceanauts, including two women, for the sub’s future missions, said Liu Feng,Director of the center, on May 21.

The training is expected to start in September or October and will last one or two years, according to Liu.

The Jiaolong set a new national dive record after reaching 7,062 meters deep in the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench in June 2012, allowing China to theoretically conduct deep-sea scientific research and resource exploration in 99.8 percent of the world’s oceans.

Disability Prevention

The China Disabled Persons’Federation on May 17 established a center for disability prevention,control and research.

The center will focus on preventing disabilities, distributing recovery information, building a database for the disabled and conducting policy research, as well as preventing disability-related complications and reducing degrees of disability, said Director Li Jianjun.

China has more than 85 million disabled people. The number is expected to exceed 160 million by 2050, according to the center.

Bowel Transplant

A hospital in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province announced on May 21 that Asia’s first small bowel transplant operation between twins was successful.

The transplanted intestine has regained its digestive function, and the 45-year-old patient is expected to be discharged on May 22 after two-and-a-half weeks of observation, said a spokesman for Xijing Hospital in the provincial capital of Xi’an.

The small intestine transplant is among the most difficult large organ transplants because it can trigger stronger immune responses.The latest small intestine transplant between twins was the fifth case in the world after four similar ones in the United States, Britain and Switzerland, of which three succeeded.

Orphanage Regulations

The Chinese Government released a draft of basic requirements for orphanages on May 17 in order to standardize their practices and close safety loopholes.

The draft, released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs for public opinion, clar ifies standard practices related to hygiene, medical care,education and safety measures in orphanages.

Figures from the Ministry of Civil Affairs show China has about 615,000 orphans. Just 109,000 of them live in government-funded agencies, while the rest are cared for by relatives or private orphanages.

Currently, 878 non-government-affiliated agencies are housing 9,394 orphans, according to the ministry.

Hi-Tech Show

The 2013 National Science and Technology Week kicks off on May 19 with a science fair in Beijing.

This year, more than 16,000 science events, road shows and lectures were launched nationwide to raise public awareness of science and technology.

E-CAR RENTAL

An electric vehicle (EV) is charging at a newly opened rental station at the Tsinghua University Science Park, the first of its kind in Beijing,which has 15 EVs for rent.

Power Price Cut

Electricity prices for all businesses in agricultural production and logistics will be cut from June 1, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced.

Pork and vegetable producers will enjoy the same electricity prices as other agricultural businesses,which are already benefiting from preferential costs.

Agricultural wholesale and farm produce markets, as well as refrigerator storage facilities will be charged the same for electricity as industrial producers.

The move will save 500 million yuan ($80.78 million) annually in the agricultural production and logistics sector. A farm with about 30,000 pigs will save 100,000 yuan ($16,300) on electricity each year.

The move is expected to reduce soaring costs in logistics and further stabilize farm produce prices.

Express Route

Staff sit in a train carriage on the Hangzhou-Ningbo high-speed line on May 22. The 150-km route linking the two hub cities in east China’s Zhejiang Province is expected to open in July

Outbound M&A

The total value of China’s outbound mergers and acquisitions(M&As) in 2012 reached a record high of $65.2 billion, marking a five-fold increase from 2008, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)report said.

Since 2009, China has been leading the trend among emerging markets in carrying out M&As in the markets of developed countries,accounting for nearly 70 percent of the total M&A transaction value, said the report.

M&As of China’s state-owned enterprises were mostly concentrated in the energy sector, while privately owned enterprises in China invested $25.5 billion in outbound M&As in 2012 in the industrial technology and consumer goods sectors, seven times the investment seen in 2008.

“Chinese enterprises have started to discover a long-term investment mode through M&A, as they aim to incorporate production capacity and upgrade industrial structures to increase their international competitiveness,” said a PwC consultant on Chinese overseas investment.

T-Bond Issuance

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) sold 30 billion yuan ($4.8 billion) in 10-year book-entry treasury bonds from May 23 to 27. The issuance is the MOF’s 11th batch of book-entry treasury bonds this year.

The interest rate for the bonds is fixed at 3.38 percent. lnterest will be paid every half year, with the last interest and the principal paid upon maturity on May 23, 2023.

The bonds will become tradable on exchange markets starting on May 29, according to the MOF.

HARVEST FUN

Farmers harvest blueberries in the Yongchuan District of southwest China’s Chongqing. Blueberry production in the village reached 10,000 kg in 2012, a value of more than 2 million yuan ($320,000)

Service Outsourcing Up

Chinese companies took service outsourcing orders of $11.7 billion in the first quarter of the year, up 43.6 percent year on year, said an official from the Ministry of Commerce at a forum held in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China’s Fujian Province.

The country’s offshore service outsourcing businesses reached $8.1 billion in the first three months, up 42 percent year on year, said the official.

As of March, China’s service outsourcing industry had 4.46 million employees. Some 67.7 percent of them had college education backgrounds.

The orders of offshore service outsourcing by Chinese enterprises increased to $33.6 billion in 2012,compared with $4.69 billion in 2008.

Talks Collapse

First-round negotiations designed to ease the current solar panel trade spat between China and the European Union (EU) have failed,Chinese trade body sources involved in the talks said on May 22.

China and the EU had agreed that talks on such “price undertaking”would be held between representatives of the Chinese solar sector and the EU, said Wang Guiqing, deputy head of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products.

At the EU’s invitation, the chamber sent a negotiation team and put forward pragmatic price undertaking plans, but the EU side turned them down flat, refusing to answer questions from the Chinese side, he said.

The EU backed a proposal in early May to impose punitive import duties on solar panels from China in order to prevent what it called the “dumping” of Chinese panel products in the European market.

Bird Flu Fears Wane

(Top) Customers queue in front of a roast chicken store in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, on May 20.

(Bottom) The same store is void of customers during the initial outbreak one month earlier.

No new cases of H7N9 bird flu were reported on the Chinese mainland during the week of May 13 to 19.

Numbers

5,000

Number of users China Mobile in Shanghai will invite to test its latest 4G products

142

Number of new ships Greece has recently ordered from Chinese shipbuilders

53 tons

Reserves of gold found in a mine in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

5.3%

Pro fit growth of stateowned enterprises in the first four months of the year, a drop from the 7.7 percent seen in the first three months

SRI LANKA

An Air Force paratrooper performs during the Victory Day parade in Colombo on May 18. The event marked the fourth anniversary of the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels after years of civil war

THE UNITED STATES

Volunteers help clean out a mobile home after it was overturned by a tornado on May 20 near Shawnee, Oklahoma. A series of strong tornados moved across central Oklahoma,killing more than 20 people

SOUTH KOREA

A model poses with a 55-inch curved organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV from LG Electronics during a consumer electronics show in Seoul on May 21. OLED technology allows for thinner and moreflexible screens

SINGAPORE

Divers get a close-up look of sea creatures at the Marine Life Park at Resorts World Sentosa on May 21

PORTUGAL

A demonstrator shouts slogans at a protest in Lisbon on May 20. Protesters believe the latest round of austerity measures to shore up the Portuguese economy will worsen matters

FRANCE

Visitors roll the Newspapers Sphere,a giant ball of newspapers made by Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto,in front of the Louvre Museum in Paris on May 18 during the 2013 European Night of Museums

“Stricter oversight of the elevator industry is needed. Otherwise it won’t be surprising if there are more fatal accidents.”

Xu Ronggen, Secretary General of Beijing Chamber of Elevator Commerce, responding on May 15 to an accident that killed a 24-year-old woman in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province

“A clear and comprehensive food safety standard is needed to pave the way for promoting insects as food.”

Gao Xiwu, an entomologist at the Chinese Agricultural University who specializes in the economic value of insects, on May 16

“In China, the breast-feeding rate in the past decade has dropped by 20 percent, which has posed great difficulties in promoting the development of breast milk banks.”

Hu Min, Secretary General of the Ningbo Breastfeeding Association, an NGO that tried in vain to establish China’s first breast milk bank in 2008,on May 15

“Beijing has the best medical and academic resources compared with other cities, but it’s not necessarily the most habitable.”

Huang Hui, a 27-year-old software engineer from Beijing, responding to a report released by the National Academy of Economic Strategy on May 19 that found most first-tier cities in China to be barely suitable for living due to their poor environmental track record

GRAND SLAM

Li Xiaoxia, a Chinese table tennis player, recently won both the women’s singles and doubles events at the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships in Paris, recording a grand slam.Li won the women’s singles at the 2008 World Table Tennis Championships and the 2012 Olympic Games.She also championed the table tennis team event at the 2012 Olympics.

Born in 1988 in northeast China’s Liaoning Province, Li started to play table tennis at 8.

ROCK CLIMBER

Jean-Michel Casanova, a rock climber from France scaled the 172-meter-tall metal elevator frame in Zhangjiajie, a scenic spot in central China’s Hunan Province, on May 18.Casanova climbed the structure in 68 minutes equipped with only hiking shoes and a waist pack containing climbing chalk. The structure is the highest outdoor sightseeing elevator in the world.

Casanova was a stunt double for the flim Iron Man 3.

Developing Shale Gas

Outlook Weekly

May 20

With the increase of green gas emissions, combating climate change has become a common concern across the world. Upping the levels of natural gas in terms of global energy consumption is essential to realize a low-carbon future.For China, developing shale gas is mandatory in this process.

According to British Petroleum predictions,global energy demand will grow by 36 percent from 2013 to 2030, mostly from emerging economies, with China and India accounting for a half. The company also predicts that by 2030, the overall need for natural gas will grow faster than that for other fossil fuels. Thus,developing shale gas can guarantee a nation’s energy safety.

The United States has already achieved success in developing its own gas reserves,impacting geopolitics and the global economic order. China should follow suit to safeguard against the lack of energy resources.

In developing shale gas, China can learn from the United States, but instead of relying on foreign technology, equipment and services, the country should work to realize its own breakthroughs and establish a development model fit for its local conditions.

Addicted to IPads

People’s Daily

May 22

While the advance of technology makes people’s lives more convenient, it also produces new problems. For example, various touch screen products have extremely addictive qualities, especially for children.

It was recently reported that a British girl aged 4 is the youngest-known iPad addict. She is so obsessed with playing games on her tablet computer that she requires therapy for compulsive behavior. The news triggered concern among parents over the negative effects of such devices on kids. Experts have warned that parents who allow babies and toddlers access to tablet computers and smart phones for several hours a day are in danger of causing “dangerous” long-term effects.

An increasing number of people are worried that new technology might damage traditions.Unlike their fathers and mothers, children today are growing up in a digital age, having access to the Internet almost from birth. Some are adept at using computers, but completely unable to make something like a simple paper model.

However, it’s difficult to stop children from using smart devices to play games. In the future, information technology stands to become an essential skill, but if left unchecked, the technology might have harmful effects on future generations.

Side Effects of Medicine

The Procuratorate Daily

May 22

Tongrentang, a Beijing-based century-old pharmacy, recently got itself into trouble for selling heavy metal contaminated medicine.

On May 7, the Department of Health of Hong Kong ordered a licensed wholesaler of proprietary Chinese medicine,Beijing Tongrentang Hong Kong Medicine Management Ltd., to recall a batch of medicine that was found to contain excessive mercury.Later, another two medicines were also found to exceed heavy metal registration criteria set out by the Chinese Medicines Board of the Chinese Medicine Council of Hong Kong.

It is not rare that mercury is used as ingredient in Chinese medicine. For example, cinnabar,which contains mercury, is widely used as a tranquilizer. Excessive mercury can have toxic side effects on patients, however.

Generally speaking, all medicine has some side effects on the human body. The key is to get the dosage balance right. The proportion of ingredients of Chinese medicines depends on the accumulated experience of pharmacists rather than precise scientific research.

Some pharmacies are also found to conceal the side effects of certain ingredients,such as heavy metals, to consumers. Doctor Zhong Nanshan, consultant of Chinese Medical Association, has warned that a few Chinese medicines on the market have side effects on the liver and kidneys, and using them for a long term would be very dangerous. Apparently,many pharmacies deliberately ignore their duties of informing patients about the potential risks of taking certain types of medicine.Patients have the right to know about the side effects of medicine.

Leading With Innovation

Caixin

May 13

Compared to state-owned company leaders who work at grassroots level before being promoted to their current positions, Ning Gaoning’s path to becoming chairman of China National Cereal,Oils and Foodstuffs Corp.(COFCO) is different. He majored in economics at university and received his MBA from the University of Pittsburgh, among the first ones to earn such a degree since China’s reform and opening up. Ning is candid and direct in answering questions, unlike many other officials.

He became chairman of COFCO in 2004, after working with China Resources, which had nothing to do with the food trade. Nevertheless, Ning had to assume the task of reforming the former’s management system and adjusting strategies.

In recent years, COFCO expanded its business by purchasing a series of agricultural product processing and food producing companies.

How the company positions itself, what role it should take as a state-owned enterprise, which policies and fundraising initiatives it should follow and whether it should compete with other firms are all questions Ning is tasked with answering during his stint as the leader of COFCO.