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Xi's trade route plan spurs new scholarship

China plans to set up a scholarship designed exclusively for students from nations involved in Beijing's initiatives to build the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

An official from the Ministry of Education confirmed the "One Belt, One Road" scholarship plan on March 24. It will be used to support students studying in China.

"We are negotiating with the Ministry of Finance on establishing scholarship programs under the plan to provide more support to students from those countries," said Tian Lulu, an official with the Education Ministry's Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges, at an international education forum in Beijing.

Conservation blueprint backed by leaders

China's top leadership backed a policy philosophy based on conservation on March 24 and adopted the concept of what it called "greenization" for the first time.

The decision was made at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

So-called conservation culture will now be considered in all aspects of government work - economic, political, social and cultural - in pursuit of "industrialization, urbanization, informationization, agricultural modernization and greenization".

The meeting, presided over by CPC Central Committee General Secretary Xi Jinping, approved a policy guideline that calls for lowering the consumption of resources, boosting green industries and promoting low-carbon, thrifty lifestyles.

Leaders discussed conservation concerns regarding sustainable development and how to meet the demands for a better environment. They stressed the need for optimal land development and more recycling.

IOC 'impressed' with Beijing's Olympics bid

Beijing's bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics has reportedly impressed a visiting International Olympic Committee team.

On March 24, the IOC Evaluation Commission began a five-day inspection tour of Beijing and Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, to inspect proposed venues and assess their ability to jointly host the winter showpiece.

The commission is chaired by Russian IOC member Alexander Zhukov. He said the commission was impressed by Beijing's bid.

"We are glad to note that (China has) already incorporated some of the Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms into (its) Games concept," he said. "China has maximized the use of existing world-class sports venues, taken advantage of its experience in hosting major international events and identified clear legacy goals," he said.

According to Beijing's candidacy application, submitted in January to the IOC, the city will use 11 existing venues in its downtown areas for the ice events and will upgrade the skiing resorts in Zhangjiakou's Chongli county for the snow events if the bid is successful.

More Chinese students to study in Australia

Australia will see a rise in the number of Chinese middle and high school students in the country, overseas studies insiders said. In March of last year, Australia opened its middle schools, beginning from the seventh grade, to Chinese students.

"In an era when more Chinese students are going to study overseas at a younger age, the opening of Australian middle schools offers Chinese students and their parents one more good option," said Tian Litie, director of the Australian Department of Chivast Education International, a Beijing-based consulting agency. Tian cited two reasons for the increase: lower admission requirements and affordable tuition fees because of a favorable exchange rate.

"The exchange rate of the Australian dollar to renminbi is currently below 5.0, which means fees are lower than it is for Chinese students studying at middle and high schools in other hot destinations, such as Britain and the United States," said Tian.

Stolen mummy possibly discovered in exhibit

A 1,000-year-old Buddhist statue containing a mummified monk that was on display in Hungary may have been stolen from a village in China, the Fujian Administration of Cultural Heritage said on March 22.

Investigators from the administration have gone to the village and acquired photos, genealogy records and other materials that could support the conclusion, Xinhua News Agency reported.

More evidence is being sought, and if confirmed, the Fujian administration will ask the State Administration of Cultural Heritage to retrieve the artifact.

The statue, presented in the Mummy World Exhibition at the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest, has been removed from the exhibit, which runs until May. The display, on loan from a Dutch museum, is from China's Song Dynasty (960-1279).

Too much water is being taken from rivers

Water resources in a number of rivers in North and Northwest China are being overexploited, and total consumption across the country is already nearing 2020 forecast levels, officials said.

Water in the Haihe, Yellow and Liaohe rivers and other waterways is being consumed at a rate that is close to - or even greater than - the rate to replenish them, the Ministry of Water Resources said on Sunday, World Water Day.

The State Council forecast that total water consumption would reach 670 billion metric tons in 2020. The consumption rate in 2013 was 618 billion metric tons.

(China Daily European Weekly 03/27/2015 page2)