From our archives

September 7, 1983

First science palace for China

A group of gleaming white halls will rise in the northeastern suburbs of Beijing as the nation's first science and technology palace, according to the China Association for Science and Technology.

The center with a floor space of 66,000 sq m, upon completion, will receive an estimated 10,000 visitors - mostly youngsters - every day.

The first stage of construction, consisting of the service building, short-term exhibition building and film-lecture hall, is expected to be completed by the end of 1985 with an investment of 22 million yuan.

Light industry benefits from foreign joint ventures

The China Light Industrial Corporation for Foreign Economic and Technical Cooperation (CLETC) is expected to net a profit of 3 million yuan from transactions worth 80 million yuan this year.

The CLETC coordinates various Chinese establishments seeking foreign funds and technology, or provides foreign companies with needed labor, and has recently signed 61 contracts involving 11 exchanges in nine countries, said general manager Hu Zongyuan.

For example, a joint venture between the US-based Gillete Company and Shengyang Daily Chemical Company has produced high-quality razor blades with the US technology.

Abundant harvest also causes problems

Feidong county, Anhui province, one of the earliest counties to practice the agricultural production responsibility system, has been yielding bumper harvests these years. However, farmers there face new problems such as fall in prices of agricultural products and price increase on tools and fertilizer.

Statistics shows that in these years the county's grain and oil crops output rose from about 330 million kg and 24 million kg to 425 million kg and 69 million kg respectively, but these increasing amounts also brought down the price of rice from about 0.6 yuan per kg to 0.42 yuan and that of rapeseed oil from 3.6 yuan per kg to about one yuan.

In view of these problems, farmers call for introduction of economic methods such as pricing and purchasing contract to guide production, and greater efforts to improve allocation and transportation of grain and oil.

(China Daily 09/11/2008 page9)