CHINESE OFFICIAL ELECTED HEAD OF FAO

Qu Dongyu， Chinas Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs， was elected director-general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization （FAO） on June 23， becoming the fi rst Chinese national to assume the post.

Qu was chosen during the ongoing 41st Session of the FAO Conference， the highest governing body of the Rome-based agency.

Born in central Chinas Hunan Province in 1963， Qu graduated with a bachelors degree from Hunan Agricultural College in 1983， and obtained a masters degree in plant breeding and genetics from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences（CAAS）. He received his PhD in agriculture and environmental sciences from Wageningen University in the Netherlands in 1996.

Before taking his position with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in June 2015， he served as Director General of the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers of the CAAS between 2000 and 2002， and as Vice President of the CAAS between 2001 and 2008. From 2008 to June 2015， he was assistant chairman and then chairman of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Say No to Tobacco

Beijing Youth Daily June 24

The Chinese Association on Tobacco Control released the monitoring results of scenes from last years popular domestic fi lms and TV dramas where characters are seen smoking on June 21. The fi lms Dying to Survive and Hidden Man and the TV drama The Drug Hunter were“awarded” the Dirty Ashtray Prize for containing too many smoking scenes. The association also called for the regulation of smoking scenes in fi lms and TV dramas and the denial of the right to run for awards for works with too many smoking scenes.

A survey showed that teenagers will be three times more likely to try smoking after watching smoking scenes in films and TV dramas and 16 times more likely to recognize the act of smoking if their idols smoke in these works.

Although the Dirty Ashtray Prize has been in existence since 2011， it has no binding force. Many directors have overlooked the prize because they dont realize the harm smoking scenes may do to the public. In their view， smoking exists in real life and art comes from life， therefore， its appropriate to represent smoking in their work. Some directors even rely on smoking to represent characters emotions.

Once smoking is adopted by a character， its nature as a dangerous habit will be disregarded， which， in turn， will mislead audiences.

To solve the problem， film and TV drama directors should explore alternative ways of representation to make their works tobacco free.

Garden City

China Newsweek June 27

Although the concept of “garden city”remains unclear and national standards havent been formulated， it is still becoming a buzzword in China as enthusiasm for the new phenomenon surges. From southeast Chinas Fujian Province to northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region， local governments and media are talking about it and looking forward to its rise， with some cities already developing plans for building a garden city.

Although theres no definition， experts agree it should not be judged by the number of parks built or characterized by the massive construction of parks. Rather， such a city should aim to fi nd a balance between economic development and ecological protection， which will have a positive impact on improving the living environment and quality of urban life.

If parks were isolated islands previously， a garden city is a big system covering a whole city where groups of buildings emerge from parks and gardens. The idea is not to build parks in cities but to turn the whole city into a huge garden.

Currently， the most important thing is not to change the structure of a city or carry out massive greenbelt and park construction， but to activate existing resources by opening up small green spaces to the public. The biggest diffi culty in city construction will be managing green land resources under the jurisdiction of different departments.

In addition， the construction of a garden city should consider different cities conditions instead of adopting a onesize-fi ts-all model. Moreover， it should be built step by step rather than blindly following the trend. Otherwise， massive tree planting may lead to excessive greening which will be another way of destroying the ecosystem.

Public Interest Litigation

Peoples Daily June 25

The trial of the fi rst public interest litigation case of its kind which deals with the death of 32 pangolins started in Nanning City of south Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region， bringing public interest litigation into the spotlight once again. The case shows that the litigation system is playing an increasingly important role in safeguarding public interests.

In 2018， Chinas procuratorate departments handled over 110，000 public interest litigation cases. Prominent problems involving environmental protection， resource conservation and food and drug safety have been addressed.

Compared to traditional litigation， public interest litigation emphasizes public interests and deals with issues of pressing concern to the public. The 10 typical cases of public interest litigation published by the Supreme Peoples Procuratorate last year， including fake medical advertisements and crank calls， all focused on issues people are most concerned with， which were hard to crack.

Chinas public interest litigation system has been set up to promote the modernization of national governance through legal means. However， it has no set model to follow. Only by expanding the scope of public interest litigation to improve its role in protecting public interests can the system contribute more to social governance.

WOMAN BASKETBALL PLAYER WINS FIBA TITLE

Basketball player Wu Di claimed Chinas fi rst FIBA Womens 3x3 World Cup 2019 title along with Jiang Jiayin， Li Yingyun and Zhang Zhiting on June 23.

The team beat Hungary 19-13 in the final and qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games.

Born in a village in Dandong City in northeast Chinas Liaoning Province， the 26-year-old started playing basketball at an early age. In 2011， she was admitted to Tianjin University of Finance and Economics and helped it win the Chinese University Basketball Association title in 2014. Wu led her university team to win the International University Sports Federation World University League 3x3 Basketball Championsh ips in 2015 and joined the national team the same year. She also took part in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.

“China has witnessed a drop in both the number of arrests approved by procuratorial organs in drug-related criminal cases and the number of such cases prosecuted since last year.”

Chen Guoqing， Deputy Procurator General of the Supreme Peoples Procuratorate， announcing on June 25 that the high incidence of drug-related crimes has been curbed with a 9.69-percent decrease year on year from 2018 to 2019

“The sheer size of the Chinese economy and its restored quality of competitiveness played a role in stabilizing the Asian economy... The economic growth of Asian countries can be seen with the growth of China.”

Lee Hee-ok， a professor of political science at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul， the Republic of Korea， in an interview with Xinhua News Agency ahead of the G20 Summit in Osaka， Japan

“Certainly the tourism between China and Europe will continue to grow， both for business travel， including those based on the Belt and Road Initiative， and leisure tourism based on the huge number of cultural and natural treasures both areas offer.”

Wolfgang Georg Arlt， Director of the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute， a leading independent organization based in Germany and China， in response to the opening of a new direct fl ight between the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu and the Italian capital of Rome on June 25

“Chinas poverty reduction success lies in basic education， vocational education and higher education.”

Shang Haiming， a researcher from the Human Rights Institute at the Southwest University of Political Science and Law， in his speech at the 41st Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on June 25