IN BRIEF (Page 2)

Safety

Building sites in the danger zone

Construction crews are still exposed to many dangers on work sites because safety measures are insufficient, work is poorly supervised and there is a lack of training, a study has found.

The study, by the China Labor Studies Center at Beijing Normal University, surveyed 311 construction workers in the capital. About a third said work-related deaths or injuries had occurred on building sites where they had worked in the previous year. Most of the accidents involved falls from high places.

The report said the industry has lost some of its appeal to young workers. Those who do go into the industry plan to quickly move on, so attach little importance to safety training and tend to lack the experience that would protect them from danger, it said.

Employment

First-tier cities still hold appeal

First-tier cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai continue to be the top drawers for university graduates, according to a recent employment survey.

The survey, by ChinaHR.com, a human resources service provider, polled about 32,000 university graduates nationwide. Sixty-three percent of respondents said they hope to stay in first-tier cities for at least a year, having graduated this year. The figure was 38 percent last year.

Among first-tier cities, Beijing was the most attractive to both nationwide and local university graduates. About 26 percent of respondents nationwide said they hope to seek a job in Beijing, and 72 who studied in the city said they hope to stay there having graduated.

Health

Pledge to upgrade hospital services

The country will firmly push forward reform programs at public hospitals, which provide more than 90 percent of the nation's medical care, the Minister of Health Chen Zhu says.

Chen told a news conference that there will be moderate development in public hospitals as more room is made for private investment in the sector. There are more than 13,000 public hospitals in China.

To date, reform programs have been launched in more than 2,000 public hospitals, mainly at the county level, and will expand into more than 300 additional counties within the year, he said.

Under the medical reforms launched by the central government in 2009, public hospital reform has long been considered the toughest task, experts said.

Energy

A lot more power in wind's sales

China's newly installed wind-power capacity will grow 15 to 18 gigawatts this year, after the country became the world's leading wind power producer last year, a report says.

The report on China's wind power outlook, jointly issued by the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association, the Global Wind Energy Council and Greenpeace, forecast that China's wind-power sector will maintain the steady growth of last year.

China installed 17.63 gW of new wind power capacity last year, accounting for 43 percent of the world's total, the report said.

Copyright

Writers win lawsuit against Baidu

One of the most-read writers in China has won a copyright infringement lawsuit against the search engine Baidu.

Han Han and two other writers had sued Baidu over its online library, Wenku, saying it offered their works without charge and without their permission.

Although judges at Haidian District People's Court supported their claim, the three received a total of just 145,000 yuan ($23,000, 17,600 euros) in damages, much less than they had sought.

The ruling said Baidu was at fault because it had waited for the authors to contact its staff about their work instead of taking measures to prevent piracy by users.

Tourism

China, US share in travel boom

China and the United States have become each other's fourth-largest tourist destinations, with nearly 3.5 million tourists traveling between the two countries last year, China's top tourism official says.

Shao Qiwei, head of the National Tourism Administration, said more than 1.36 million Chinese travelers visited the US last year, an increase of 17.6 percent on the previous year. More than 2.11 million traveled from the US to China last year.

Chinese tourists spent a total of $7.7 billion (5.9 billion euros) in the US, an average of $7,107 for each tourist, which helped create 210,000 jobs in the US, Shao said. Tourists from the US spent $3.3 billion in China, an average of $2,348 each.

China Daily

(China Daily 09/20/2012 page2)