Testing times stymie student hopefuls

Chinese citizens living overseas are finding their path to higher education blocked in their ancestral homeland, and a measure that was specifically designed to meet their needs is the biggest stumbling block to academic success.

Non-international status hampers search for schools

Chinese students who return to the country after residing overseas quickly learn two things: not only is their choice of colleges and universities limited, but it's also far tougher to gain access to graduate schools.

Woman keeps alive memory of martyrs

Every year during the run-up to Qingming Festival, a stooped, gray-haired woman can be found on a ladder cleaning monuments in the martyrs' cemetery at Yichang, Hubei province, with a toothbrush.

Around China

Beijing

MERS deals travel agents blow

As the number of cases - and deaths - from Middle East respiratory syndrome continues to rise in South Korea, travel agencies in China are facing increasing numbers of customers who want to cancel their trips there.

Too-cheap tours spark abuses, watchdog says

Tourists' don't like being forced to shop after going on inexpensive tours, the top tourism watchdog said about the No 1 complaint it received last month.

A host of new measures will aid startups

China has announced nearly 100 measures to help grass-roots entrepreneurs get more loans, pay less tax and even receive free psychological counseling when their startups fail, top officials said on Friday.

China, Europe to send a SMILE into space

A new satellite will soon tell the Earth to "Say 'cheese'!" And the Earth will respond with a SMILE.

IN BRIEF (Page 4)

Spread of MERS is low, thanks to disease controls

With tight disease control, the risk of MERS - Middle East respiratory syndrome - being spread in China remains low, although the outbreak in South Korea has been rapidly worsening in the past two weeks, according to the Guangdong provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Opposition lawmakers wooed to keep reform on track; 5 votes needed

Hong Kong's chief executive and constitutional affairs officials have stepped up attempts to gain the support of a handful of opposition lawmakers needed to ensure that the city's constitutional reform process stays on track.

Test centers set stage for smooth gaokao

Measures are being taken across the country to ensure that students taking the national college entrance exam, or gaokao, have an appropriate environment for the test that determines university placement for 9.42 million students across China.