From our archives

March 8, 1984

Brisk trade between China and West Europe

Trade between China and Western European countries increased markedly in 1983.

Total trade reached $6.69 billion, 20.7 percent more than in 1982. China's imports from Western Europe were valued at $4.09 billion, up 37.5 percent on the year before. Exports to the region were $2.6 billion, up more than 1 percent from 1982.

The increase in imports were attributed to China's effort to purchase as much as possible from Western Europe, including steel, motor vehicles, machinery, grain and sugar.

Banking women prosper

Zhang Xiao, 47, was appointed a vice president of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) three months ago and is fascinated by her new job.

The ICBC handles all of China's industrial and commercial loans. As a key executive, Zhang's signature authorizes hundreds of millions of Yuan in credit.

She said she has never faced any antagonism because she is a woman. Other women bank executives share her opinion.

Health checkup saves lives of 850 women

Health statistics show that Beijing women have benefited from regular medical examinations for women's diseases including cervical carcinoma.

The examinations have saved the lives of 850 women by detecting the cancer at an early stage.

Incidence of the cancer has dropped dramatically at least in the city's four urban districts: in 1974 111 women out of every 100,000 were found to have the cancer, while in 1982 the figure was 16 out of 100,000.

(China Daily 03/18/2009 page9)