Gong Li absent again

Film director Zhang Yimou and actress Gong Li have received criticism for failing to fulfil their political obligation, as both are absent from the ongoing Fourth Session of the 10th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. As members of the 157 delegates from the literary and art circles, Zhang and Gong were said to have asked for leave without compellingl reason. Zhang is busy with his latest movie while Gong is working on the dubbing of an American movie that marks her second consecutive absence from the conference.

Grandma gets grant

Impending financial pressure was relieved temporarily on March 11 when more than 30,000 yuan (US$3,703) public donation was given to Grandma Ding and the 165 abandoned cats she is now taking car of at her home in the Longjing hutong near the Houhai Lake area. The retired woman in her 70s is venerably referred to as Grandma Ding for her voluntary deeds of receiving abandoned, sick and crippled cats over past 10 years. Ding has spent all her pension on looking after the cats and is pressed by the increasing financial burden as she takes in more cats, although she says that she hopes to set up an animal hospital someday to take care of abandoned pets.

Firework smuggler in dock

Wang Changzheng from Shandong Province became the first person to be prosecuted for selling fireworks without obtaining the franchise permit as Beijing partly lifted the ban on fireworks this year. The prosecutor pointed out that Zhang is the first such conviction because he was caught smuggling more than 5,000 boxes of fireworks worth 189,300 yuan (US$23,370), from Hebei Province to Beijing during the Spring Festival. According to Chinese criminal laws, Zhang's deed was serious enough to distort the firework market order with such a large amount of illegal fireworks.

Brand investment

The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce will invest at least 20 million yuan (US$2.5 million) to rejuvenate the city's 300 old famous brands this year, revealed Cheng Hong, deputy director of the bureau on March 11. According to Cheng, Beijing will push to stimulate the development of the old established brands with proper regulation regarding the use of the investment, policy support and guidance.

IC card ticket on trial

Facilities for Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) were installed at the subway entrance of Xizhimen station on March 12, as Beijing plans to upgrade its ticket issuing and fare collection with the new system by 2008. More facilities will be installed at the entrances along subway line 1, 2 and the Batong line with deposit machines by March 15, followed by trial operation.

Cold air lingers

The municipal meteorological office has forecasted that Beijing will experience at least another two cold snaps later this week after the city saw an eight-degree plunge in temperature last week. Slight sleet with strong wind will likely cause dramatic temperature changes as the predicted highest temperature will be 16 degrees, while the lowest will be around 3 degrees by this weekend.

Dark days for MBAs

The job market for new MBA graduates in Beijing is fairly cold as graduates would agree with monthly salaries as low as 3,000 yuan (US$ 370) at the job fair held exclusively for them at the Capital University of Economics and Trade on March 12. The payment for MBAs this year will decrease from previous annual 100,000 yuan (US$ 12,345) to averagely 5,000 yuan (US$ 617) a month.

(China Daily 03/17/2006 page2)