News in review

Monday____February 5

Plan released to improve rural living environment

China unveiled a three-year action plan for improving the rural living environment.

"Although progress has been made, the living environment in rural China is very unbalanced with many areas in the grip of dirtiness and disorder. It falls short of people's expectations by far and marks a key weakness of social and economic development," the plan said.

To reverse that, the country aims to make major improvements in the rural living environment by 2020. Villages should be clean and tidy, and villagers should have enhanced hygiene and health awareness, according to the plan.

It is highly relevant for the country to accomplish its goal of building a moderately prosperous society by 2020, according to the document, and it has great significance on the well-being of farmers and harmony of rural society.

The plan was jointly released by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council.

Mobile gaming gets bigger in China

Mobile gaming is growing stronger in China as the millennials' purchasing power increases, according to a report.

The gaming market grew by 23 percent year-on-year to $32.2 billion in China in 2017, said a survey report by the Game Publishers Association Publications Committee, also known as the GPC.

The report noted that mobile gaming accounted for 57 percent of the total game sales in 2017. This suggests the mobile gaming segment will gradually play a more important role in the overall gaming market.

Currently, China has 583 million gaming players, mostly those born in the 1990s and 2000s, a group referred to as millennials. As of 2016, nearly 10 percent of mobile gaming players were teenagers born in the 2000s.

High-definition smartphone displays, innovative mobile internet technologies and software make on-screen watching and playing more convenient and pleasurable. (Photo 1)

Tuesday____February 6

Banking sector to be opened more for foreign investors

China will further open up its banking sector to foreign investments. It will ease restrictions on foreign banks so they can have easier access to the local market and start business operations in the country, according to the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

The nation's top banking regulator said it will launch various policies and scrap others toward this end. The requirement that foreign banks should operate for more than one year before they seek to conduct renminbi business will be abolished.

By lowering the threshold for foreign banks to start renminbi business, China will take a step forward to promote the international use of its currency, said a foreign bank executive who sought anonymity because he is not authorized to speak on record. (Photo 2)

JD plans to take on Amazon in Europe, US

JD, one of China's leading online retailers, will challenge Amazon in Europe by 2019 and is preparing to operate in the US by the end of the year, according to its founder and CEO.

Liu Qiangdong told the Financial Times that the company will launch its first European e-commerce platform and delivery services in France, with plans to roll out to the UK and Germany.

JD, which was valued at $68 billion by Bloomberg in January, is also preparing to, start in Los Angeles by the end of the year, he said.

Liu said that the company wants to ensure 50 percent of its profits come from outside China within 10 years.

Wednesday____February 7

City to hire foreigners in government positions

The eastern Chinese coastal city Qingdao plans to hire foreign employees in government departments and public institutions this year, according to the city's human resource and social security bureau.

A published guideline gave the green light to state-owned enterprises and institutions as well as government departments under the city's administrative regions to recruit qualified foreigners in permanent or short-term job positions or hire them as technical directors or consultants.

An official said Qingdao is seeking strategic scientists who have the capability to attain major scientific breakthroughs or scientists engaged in research of frontier issues or cross-discipline studies.

China may overtake UK in wine consumption

China is likely to displace Britain as the world's second largest wine consumer, in terms of value, by 2021, according to research from Vinexpo, one of the largest exhibitions for wine and spirits professionals globally, and the UK-based International Wine and Spirit Research.

The growth rate of the Chinese wine market is estimated to exceed 30 percent over the next five years, starting from 2017 onward, and attain a size of $23 billion in 2021, second only to the US.

"The growth of value (in China) is mainly led by the increase of volume," said Guillaume Deglise, CEO of Bordeaux, Francebased Vinexpo.

Wine priced between $5 and $20 per bottle remains the dominant choice of Chinese consumers. The premium sector, which means wine priced at $10 to $20 per bottle, saw yearon-year growth of 11.4 percent in China during 2017, while the super-premium, meaning those priced over $20, increased by 1.8 percent only. (Photo 3)

Thursday____February 8

China to ban initial coin offerings

More regulatory measures to ban initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrency exchanges, especially via overseas platforms, are on the way after some illegal activities were unearthed by regulators following the ban on trading of the products on domestic platforms last year.

A source close to the matter told China Daily that a package of measures to further restrict ICOs, an activity to raise funds akin to an initial public offering, and cryptocurrency trading both domestic and overseas, is being prepared by the People's Bank of China, the central bank, and other financial regulators. It is expected to be launched when "conditions are ripe".

Yang Dong, director of the Fintech and Internet Security Research Center at Renmin University of China, said that the potential measures may include tighter supervision on cryptocurrency accounts.

Apple to build another data center in China

Apple Inc, the US tech giant, will build a data center in Ulanqab city in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, after its first data center in southwestern Guizhou province, the local government has announced.

As Apple's first data center in North China, it will be put into operation in 2020 and offer iCloud services on the Chinese mainland, according to the city government.

The project will use 100 percent renewable energy sources, according to the cooperation agreement between the city government and the company.

Inner Mongolia was listed as one of the country's big data development zones in 2016, and Ulanqab is home to a big data center of Chinese technology giant Huawei.

In July 2017, Apple announced plans to build its first Chinese data center in Guizhou. The project will also be put into operation in 2020.

Friday____February 9

'Robocops' help patrol railway station

Automated police robots, or "robocops", are helping local police oversee a railway station during the Spring Festival travel rush.

Police activated 20 robocops at Shenzhen North Railway Station in Guangdong province to help them with a heavy workload in recent days. Some 776,000 passengers have departed from it over the last six days.

Using facial recognition technology, the robocops can sweep through the station to search for suspects among a large fl ow of people and report to a command center once discovered. Five of them are equipped with stun guns.

They can help travelers by checking ticket information, destination weather, tourist sights and give basic directions. Users can interact with them through voice command or touch their "screen face".

Shenzhen police said this team of police robots is still undergoing a test trial phase. (Photo 4)

Thousands of pediatricians added across China

Nearly 35,000 pediatricians have been added to hospitals and clinics across China in the past three years to meet demand for healthcare services for children, a leading health authority said.

This helped the number of pediatricians in China increase to 154,000 by the end of last year, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

A report released by the Chinese Medical Doctor Association in 2016 said that 86,000 more pediatricians are needed in China.

Zhu Chunmei, a pediatrician at the Capital Institute of Pediatrics in Beijing, said multiple factors are behind the shortage of pediatricians in China's hospitals over the years, including inadequate supply of talent and that many comprehensive hospitals fail to place equal importance on pediatrics as it brings in less revenue.