Xi will be in the US from Feb 13 to 17 at the official invitation of US Vice-President Joe Biden. The purpose of the trip, one of the high-level exchanges planned between the two countries this year, is to follow up on the agreement reached by President Hu Jintao and President Barack Obama to promote the Sino-US cooperative partnership, Zhang said.

"Both sides attach great importance to the visit and preparations are going smoothly," he said. "I am confident that with the joint effort from both sides, the visit will be a great success."

The Chinese leader will arrive in Washington DC first to meet with Biden, Obama and other senior officials.

He will speak at a lunch on Wednesday hosted by the National Committee on US-China Relations and US-China Business Council before leaving for Iowa and California.

In Iowa, Xi will reunite with old friends who hosted him in 1985 in Muscatine, attend a dinner at the State Capitol in Des Moines and be present at the US-China Agriculture Symposium.

In Los Angeles, he will visit a Chinese company and speak at a lunch with the local business community.

This year is the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China and the signing of the Shanghai Communique, the agreement which outlined future Sino-US relations after Nixon's visit.

In the past four decades, the ambassador said, Sino-US relations have witnessed a steady development with great achievements, although both countries had different views on some issues.

In January last year, during Hu's state visit to the US, the two leaders reached agreement on the importance of building cooperation based on mutual respect and mutual benefits.

With deepening cooperation and partnership, both the US and China are finding more common ground.

"Both countries have the need and the ability to work together promoting domestic and world economy, as well as dealing with regional hotspots and global challenges," Zhang said.

In addition, the two sides need to handle the disputes and differences carefully.

"The key is to respect each other, especially each other's core interests and major concerns," he said. "At the same time, we should strengthen our dialogues and communication and enhance mutual trust to avoid miscalculation.

"This relationship is not a zero-sum game. China's development will bring more opportunities for cooperation."

Zhang stressed that China is still a developing country. It will continue to pursue a path of peaceful development, and has no intention of compromising another country's interests for its own benefit.

"There is every reason to believe that China and the United States can establish a new model of relationship under which two big countries can coexist peacefully and develop together," he said.

On Friday, top Obama aides also emphasized the significance of the trip. At a teleconference, Daniel Russel, special assistant to the president and senior director for Asian affairs, said getting US-China relationship right is central to Obama's Asia policy.

"That involves engaging China, especially engaging the Chinese leadership, increasing the quality of communication and better cooperation," he said.

Russel also described the visit as an important opportunity for Americans to learn more about Xi and to allow Xi to broaden his understanding of the US.

Michael Froman, assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for international economics, said the US and China have begun to make progress over the past two years on a range of issues, such as the exchange rate, trade surplus, market access and intellectual property rights.

Froman said there was still a lot to be done, and Xi's visit will give the leaders the opportunity to share perspectives and move forward.

Gui Zhen Tang, a pharmaceutical company that produces traditional Chinese medicine containing bear bile, has roiled the public after being spotted on an IPO application list published by China's securities regulator earlier this month.

The company, based in southeast China's Fujian province, harvests and processes bear bile for medicinal powders, capsules and other products. The company owns the largest black bear breeding center in south China.

Internet users and animal lovers have accused Gui Zhen Tang of animal cruelty in extracting the bile from live bears, despite the company's claims that it uses humane "no tube" drainage methods.

Gui Zhen Tang plans to use the raised capital to expand its annual output of bear bile powder to 4,000 kg, as well as to increase its breeding center's bear population from 400 to 1,200, according to Yu Ji Chun, the producer of a wildlife program on Southwest China's Yunnan TV network.

"If it really goes public, this year will mark doomsday for those bears," Yu said, posting a video depicting the bloody bile-milking process on Sina Weibo, a popular Chinese micro-blogging site.

Yu's micro blog post about the bears has been retweeted more than 8,000 times, and thousands of Weibo users have joined him in bashing the company and opposing its listing.

However, this is not the first time for Gui Zhen Tang to face a backlash over its IPO drive.

Last February, the company also became the target of online anger after local media reported it was planning to go public.

A British-based NGO, Animals Asia, headed the online protest and wrote to the Fujian branch of China's securities regulator to throttle the listing.

Under China's current IPO rules, after submitting an application, companies typically need to wait for six months until authorities approve the listing. But the process can be prolonged, depending on application quality and market conditions.

The Shanghai-based retailer was fined 1.33 million yuan ($211,777) by the city's industry and commerce bureau in December, months after it was found to have deceived customers about the origin of its products.

The company sold substandard furniture and those pieces of furniture would all be confiscated, the bureau said on December 23.

Da Vinci later said that it would not pay the bill and would lodge a complaint against the bureau.

However, the bureau said in a statement on Saturday that the company has paid its fine within the required time frame and it has not heard anything about the complaint yet.

An investigation was launched after media reports in July accused Da Vinci of lying about places of production and selling inferior-quality products at high prices.

The company claimed its furniture was made in Italy, but the furniture had actually been manufactured in Chinese factories, "exported" to the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Bonded Zone, and Da Vinci later "imported" and stored the products in its warehouses in Shanghai.

However, the industry and commerce bureau's punishment mostly focused on the company's substandard furniture. Investigation results have yet to be released by the customs department in charge of the "fake imports" claims.

The bureau has also ordered the company to replace nonstandard descriptions on labels such as "Famous American Brand" and "Global Purchase."

The company's advertising slogans, including "the biggest in Asia" and "with the highest quality," should not be used again, according to the bureau.

Hill is not the only pupil fascinated by the Chinese language at Stafford Primary School, which is the only school in Texas offering English-Chinese dual language classes to kindergarten and first-grade pupils.

As the world becomes more integrated and China emerges as an economic powerhouse, Stafford Primary, the small town's elementary school is ambitious to envisage its pupils a brighter future by teaching them one of the most widely spoken languages in the world.

"Bilingual education starts here," said Kim Vu, 43, principal of Stafford Primary School, who spearheaded the dual language classes in 2010 and implemented it last year.

The courses are "two-way classes so that English speakers can learn from native Chinese and Vietnamese speakers, and vice versa, " she said.

Pupils at Stafford Primary School come from Stafford and a half-dozen local school districts in suburbs and towns near Houston. Some are with Asian roots but most have no Asian branches on their family trees.

The dual Asian-English classes is the main reason children chose this school, Vu said.

During the courses, children recite the alphabet, sing counting songs, identify animals, food and colors and even ask their teacher for a hug in Chinese with enthusiasm.

Meihwa Yang is in her second year of teaching Chinese at the kindergarten-level classes at Stafford Primary School.

"We start from the basics, teaching the Chinese language, then math in Chinese. We spend half the day on Chinese, other days, social studies and science," said Yang, "They can say they want to go to the restroom, say to the teacher 'hug me' and 'I love you.'"

Students also keep journals of their lessons in Chinese or Vietnamese, which is the 7-year-old Sabrina Martinez's favorite part of the program.

"I like writing and learning new words," said Martinez, one of the program's pupils of Hispanic origin. "I knew English and a little bit of Spanish, but I wanted to learn different languages. I learn new words and write them."

The principal said not only does researches back the theory that early childhood is the best time to learn another language, but as one of the refugees from Vietnam in 1977 -- when she was seven years old -- her own story proved the theory.

Vu began learning English in an Arkansas refugee camp before taking English classes after her family settled down in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Because of its proximity with Mexico, Texas schools almost all have bilingual Spanish-English classes or English as a second language class for Spanish-speaking students.

So far, Stafford is the only school offering its four classes, 50 percent English and 50 percent Chinese and Vietnamese, at the primary level. The program has thrived so much and Vu now plans to increase the classes to other grade levels

Stafford may not keep its advantage long, Vu said, as there are visits from surrounding school districts and plans are being made to incorporate Chinese language classes in primary schools throughout the state.

"It's also been very positive, some of the notes parents have written, thankful that this is here," Vu said, "They know the importance of acquiring bilingual status in a global world."

Vu sees language classes especially Chinese integrated with math and other subjects as a preparation for her pupils to embrace the global future.

"More people speak Chinese than any other language in the whole world," Vu said, "School leaders are beginning to realize that to be able to equip our children for the 21st century."

Yang said it's not unusual for children to become so enthralled with the Chinese language that they become fascinated with Chinese culture.

"I have only one child from China. The rest are African American, Hispanic, all very diversified. Kids say 'I love Chinese. I want to be Chinese.'"

Jonathan Ochoa, 7, enjoys writing in Chinese characters in his journal and reading Chinese children's books or watching Chinese lessons on film in the classroom.

When asked who would be a teacher of Chinese language in the future,   Ochoa, Hill and Martinez all raised their hands eagerly saying "I am! I am!"

"Our program is five years, so the kids are constantly learning," said Yang. "They learn when it's set to music, when they write in their journal, at their work stations when they help each other. They get it."

In its recent work plan for the new semester which kicks off this month, the ministry asked schools and education authorities to abolish unauthorized charges and make items and standards of all fees public.

Schools and education authorities are forbidden to collect extra fees in the name of organizing interest groups, learning workshops, specialty training programs or parent-student groups, according to the work plan.

Chinese parents have complained about expensive fees charged by even public kindergartens as demand for preschool education has outpaced the development of kindergartens.

It was reported in 2010 that parents in major cities often stood in lines for days to get spots for their children.

In 2011, the central government budgeted 3 billion yuan ($476 million) for "supporting the development of rural preschool education in central and western regions and ethnic minority areas," according to the Ministry of Finance.

The Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens (CAZG) Saturday signed the deal with two Canadian zoos in Chongqing, a municipality in Southwest China.

The panda pair, both around five years old, will stay in the Toronto and Calgary zoos for five years each after they arrive in Canada early next year, according to the agreement.

The male panda, named "Er Shun," is from a zoo in Chongqing and the female - "Ji Li" lives in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, home of over 100 pandas in the neighboring Sichuan province.

Giant pandas are the world's most endangered species. About 300 of the animals have been bred in captivity and 1,596 others live in the wild, mostly in Sichuan.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper witnessed Saturday's signing ceremony during his visit to Chongqing.

"They will be the first pair of pandas to visit Canada since the 1980s," said Harper.

In his second visit to China, Harper came to Beijing on Tuesday for a five-day trip as a guest of Premier Wen Jiabao. The Canadian prime minister met and held talks with top Chinese leaders and witnessed the signing of several bilateral agreements regarding cooperation in trade, technology, education, forestry, energy and agriculture.

Harper also visited China's southern economic hub of Guangdong province before heading to Chongqing.

The Wuhan Maritime Court, which has the jurisdiction over the region, ordered to detain the cargo ship Gloria at Yangtze riverside city of Nantong and set a bail of 20.6 million yuan (3.3 million U.S. dollars), Bu Xiaofang, a spokesman of Zhenjiang municipal government, said late Saturday.

The government on Tuesday confirmed that phenol levels collected on February 3  in water samples in Zhenjiang were excessive, and the pollution caused tap water in some parts of the city to emit a pungent smell, sending panicked residents to stockpile bottled water from supermarkets.

An initial probe was conducted after authorities said they "highly suspect" a South Korea cargo ship that had docked at Zhenjiang spilled the chemical into the river.

"We have gathered evidence that the source of pollution was discharged from the pipe of Gloria," said Mao Desheng, deputy head of Zhenjiang's maritime bureau.

"I believe the cause of the spill will soon be verified and made public as the judicial procedure starts," he added.

Water samples of Zhenjiang and cities further downstream the Yangtze had not been detected with excessive phenol since February 4, officials said. The authorities have also ensured residents that the supply of purified bottled water is sufficient.

Phenol, also known as carbolic acid, is an organic compound that can irritate eyes and skin. Soluble in water, if absorbed in large amounts it can damage liver and kidney.

The Yangtze, spanning 3,219 km west to east across China, is the country's longest river. It disembogues into the East China Sea from Shanghai

The accident happened at about 2:45 pm on a highway in rural Lanzhou, the provincial capital, when a bus crashed into the back of a sedan, then drove out of the highway and eventually rolled over, police said.

The injured have been rushed to two hospitals in Lanzhou.

Reservoirs with a storage capacity between 100,000 cubic meters and 10 million cubic meters are categorized as "small" reservoirs in China.

The ministry said the reinforcement of reservoirs with a storage capacity between 1 and 10 million cubic meters will be finished by the end of 2012.

The rest of the small reservoirs included in the plan will all be reinforced by the end of 2013, the ministry said.

Since 2006, the central budget has allocated 59 billion yuan ($9.37 billion) in special funds to support the reinforcement of small reservoirs, the ministry said.

During the period, local governments also raised over 30 billion yuan to help cover costs, the ministry said.

The ministry's budget for the special fund increased to 16.8 billion yuan in 2011, compared with 3.2 billion yuan in 2007 when the fund was first set up, it said.

China has made great efforts to improve its underdeveloped water conservation system, as floods and droughts in recent years have exposed weaknesses in water conservancy infrastructure.

The figure marked an increase of 9.8 percent over the same period of last year, according to the Ministry of Transport.

A total of 35.89 million passenger trips were made via the country's waterway during the same period, the ministry said.

The Spring Festival travel season lasts 40 days, with hundreds of millions of people, mainly migrant workers and college students, heading home for the most important festival in China.

With rapid industrialization and urbanization, which have improved people's living standards, the country's food consumption level and structure have changed, posing increasing pressures on grain production,  said Li Jiayang, vice minister of agriculture.

Globally, the grain output also grew at a slower pace than that in population, Li said at a forum held in Haikou, capital of island province of Hainan.

The world's grain output rose at an annualized rate of 1.16 percent in the last 25 years, compared to 1.46 percent in population growth, Li said.

But the country's food security situation has been improved, Li said, noting that the grain output has increased fourfold since 1949, though planting areas almost stayed unchanged.

China's grain output rose 4.5 percent year-on-year to a record high of 571.21 million tonnes in 2011, marking eight consecutive years of growth.

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper pets a panda with his wife Laureen at a zoo in Chongqing Feb 11, 2012. Harper announced two giant pandas, Er Shun and Ji Li, will spend 10 years in two Canadian zoos. [Photo/Agencies]

BEIJING - Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper wrapped up a visit to China by announcing Saturday that Beijing will loan two of giant pandas to Canadian zoos. The pandas are the first to travel to Canada in more than two decades.

Harper visited a zoo in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality to say that the Chinese government is loaning the panda pair to Canada for the next 10 years, Harper's press secretary Carl Vallee said.

News photos showed Harper looking on as his wife carried a squirming baby panda.

The pandas are expected to arrive in Canada early next year and will go to the Toronto and Calgary zoos for five years each.

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper looks at a panda being held by his wife Laureen at a zoo in Chongqing Feb 11, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper looks at a panda being held by his wife Laureen at a zoo in Chongqing Feb 11, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

Giant panda Er Shun is pictured at the zoo in Chongqing Feb 11, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

BEIJING - The yuan rose to an 18-year-high on Friday, climbing as Vice-President Xi Jinping prepares to step onto a plane for his trip to the United States next week.

The People's Bank of China set the yuan's central parity rate against the US dollar at 6.2937 after the rate rose for two consecutive trading days, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System.

"The exchange rate will see more fluctuations, although the positive outlook for the Chinese economy has sparked expectations of a strengthening of the currency," said Zhuang Jian, senior economist with the Asian Development Bank.

Zhuang predicted the yuan may rise about 3 percent this year. However, that is slower than the 6 percent against the dollar in real terms last year.

Deputy Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said on Thursday that Xi's visit is an important opportunity to enhance mutual trust between China and the US.

Cui also expected the visit would help remove hurdles from Sino-US trade, including restrictions on US exports of certain high-tech products and obstacles to Chinese investment in the US.

Xi is scheduled to visit the US next week, where he will meet President Barack Obama and other high-level leaders.

"The rise largely reflects market supply and demand," said Zhang Jianping, senior economist with the Institute for International Economics Research under the National Development and Reform Commission.

He said the market expects the Chinese currency to rise because the economy remains positive and the government has adopted a rather tight monetary policy.

Il Houng Lee, senior resident representative at the Beijing office of the International Monetary Fund, said the currency will go forward over the medium term but in the short term it will see more ups and downs.

A report released by the IMF's Beijing office on Monday said upward pressures on the currency have diminished recently.

However, as the current account still has a sizable surplus of US dollars, and foreign direct investment remains strong, China is supposed to resume the strong pace of accumulation of foreign-exchange reserves, according to the report.

The country's foreign-exchange reserves increased by $11.7 billion between October and December, regardless of changes in the exchange rate and asset prices, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said on Friday.

China's capital and financial account suffered a deficit of $47.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, from a surplus of $66.2 billion in the third, indicating net capital outflows. Analysts said the exchange-rate fluctuations are closely connected with the crisis-affected economic scenario overseas and with speculative activities.

Three sedans piled up at a crossing on the Nanliu Road in Pudong District at 3:50 pm One of the cars caught fire after the crash, police said.

Police are stilling probing the cause of the accident.

The scare was triggered by recent media reports in Harbin that stated that some of the beverage's ingredients are not registered with the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) and are not approved for vitamin functional beverages.

The ingredients include sodium benzoate, a preservative that, when combined with caffeine, may produce a substance considered an A-class drug for psychiatric treatment.

An overdose of the substance could cause headaches, stress, anxiety, tinnitus and addiction, said Dr. Zhang Jing from the First Hospital affiliated with the Harbin University of Medical Science.

Other additives found in Red Bull products, including sodium citrate, citric acid, carmine pigment and tartrazine, are also not registered with the SFDA, according to a list of Red Bull ingredients posted on the SFDA's website.

The SFDA and its provincial bureaus have launched an investigation, but have not ordered removal of the drinks as of Saturday.

Although Red Bull posted a statement on its website on Friday that insists its products are "safe" and "free of any banned additives," supermarkets in major Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, have pulled the drinks out of safety concerns.

A shelf that previously held cans of Red Bull was completely empty at a Tesco convenience store outlet on Shanghai's North Zhongshan Road, with only the price tags remaining.

A spokesman from Carrefour's Shanghai regional headquarters confirmed the retail giant has removed all Red Bull products from its shelves for safety reasons.

The government of Wuhu, a city in eastern Anhui province with 1.5 million residents, announced Thursday that it will grant subsidies and deed tax exemptions to first-home purchasers in 2012.

The measures, which made Wuhu the first Chinese city to boost home sales since 2010, triggered speculation that authorities may lift curbs on the real estate sector, as the market has cooled since the introduction of tightening measures last year.

However, the Wuhu city government rebuffed bailout speculation on Friday, saying the policies are intended to meet consumers' rigid demands for home purchases and attract talented people to work in Wuhu.

"The essence of these measures is to curb the property market, clamp down on speculation and satisfy the home-buying demands of those with low incomes and new residents, as well as give a boost to affordable housing projects," Hong Jianping, the city's deputy major, said at a press conference.

Under Wuhu's new policies, the local government will offer subsidies ranging from 50 to 150 yuan ($7.9 to 23.8) per square meter for purchases of first homes no larger than 90 square meters.

Home buyers with more extensive educational backgrounds or professional certificates are entitled higher subsidies, a policy that the government has cited as a method to attract more talented workers.

But analysts have argued that Wuhu's subsiding polices are intended to bail out the sagging property market, warning that more local governments may follow suit.

Housing prices in Wuhu dipped for the eighth straight month in January, with the average price standing at 5,567 yuan per square meter, down 5.68 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the China Index Academy (CIA), a leading property research institute.

"Wuhu is the first city in China to waive deed taxes and grant housing subsidies. It is really hard to convince people that they're not just trying to rescue the market," Zhang Dawei, chief analyst at Centaline Property, was quoted as saying by the 21st Century Business Herald.

Since 2010, China has introduced a series of tightening measures to cool down the runaway property market, including bank lending restrictions, a ban on third-home purchases and trial property taxes in the cities of Chongqing and Shanghai.

The policies will be maintained in 2012 to bring housing prices to a reasonable level, authorities said following China's central economic work conference last December.

Housing inventories in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai have piled up to a record high, according to 5i5j Real Estate Service Co, one of the country's largest real estate agents.

Average property prices in China declined for the fifth consecutive month in January, a sign that efforts to crack down on speculation are working, the CIA said.

Including the four 700,000-kilowatt power units starting to generate electricity last year, the six units are situated inside the mountain on the right side of the river bank.

Construction on the underground hydropower station in central China's Hubei province began in July 2001 to harness the power of the water discharged during flood season on the Yangtze River, China's longest waterway.

The Three Gorges Project, launched in 1993 with a budget equivalent to $22.5 billion, consists of a dam, a five-tier ship dock and a total of 32 hydropower turbo-generators.

The 26 generators on the two sides of the dam had gone into operation as of October 2008, with each unit having a generation capacity of 700,000 kw.

The project generates electricity, controls flooding by providing storage space and adjusts shipping capacity on the river.

Last year, it generated 78.29 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.

It also withstood three major floods last summer, taking the edge off the fierce flows by holding back the majority of the flood water in its reservoir to ease the flood's impact on the river's lower reaches.

The dam reservoir releases water in the dry season to ease droughts, particularly in downstream rice-growing areas.

Most of the accidents were pileups or rear-end collisions reported around 8:20 am on an expressway between the city of Changzhou and the provincial capital of Nanjing, according to a traffic officer in Nanjing who participated in rescue efforts.

The road is part of an interprovincial expressway that links Changchun in Northeast China's Jilin province with Shenzhen, a southern boom city bordering Hong Kong.

The officer said four of the injured are under medical observation, while the other two suffered slight injuries and have been allowed to leave the hospital.

A witness who declined to be named said heavy fog reduced visibility to around 20 meters on the expressway Saturday morning.

"Traffic was at a standstill and vehicles lined up for several hundred meters along the expressway," the witness said.

As of midday, traffic had resumed on two of the expressway's four lanes, while police are still working to open the other two.

The accident happened around 10 am in the city of Qingzhen, located about 22 km from the provincial capital of Guiyang, the Qingzhen municipal government said in a press release.

Rescuers are searching for signs of life in the debris and medical workers are standing by to provide first aid.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.

A poisoned white swan floats on the water at a wetland in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, Feb 8, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

Bags containing Carbofuran, one of the most toxic carbamate pesticides, were found lying around the bodies at an islet used as as rest stop by thousands of birds who fly from the north to the wetland every winter, suggesting the cause of their tragic deaths.

Dozens more were stranded along a lakeside beach in the vicinity of the islet – they were stuck in bird traps that had been set up by unknown sources.

The wetland management performance has been inadequate in recent years, said the newspaper.

The local forestry department launched a probe into the birds' death on Thursday.

White swans are under national second class protection in China.

Bags containing Carbofuran, one of the most toxic carbamate pesticides, which are suspected to have killed dozens of migrating birds, are found at a wetland in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, Feb 8, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

A bird trap is found at a wetland in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, Feb 8, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

The allowances were granted to ensure that each member of the clergy at Tsurpu Monastery can have a minimum monthly income of 360 yuan ($57.2), equivalent to the per capita subsistence allowance for Lhasa's citizens, said Chungkyi, chief of civil affairs in Todlung Dechen county, located 70 km from Lhasa's city center.

"A total of 223 monks and nuns at Tsurpu Monastery received their allowances for the first quarter on Friday," said Chungkyi.

Tsurpu is a major monastery for the Karma Kagyupa, or "White Hat Sect," of Tibetan Buddhism. It has more than 300 registered clergy people.

"With this allowance, we can buy new clothing for the coming Tibetan New Year," said monk Dradul.

Tibetan New Year's Day falls on Feb 22 this year.

Monk Dechen Rabten said the allowance will ease his cash shortage and allow him to concentrate on studying sutras.

Clergy at Tsurpu Monastery were among the first to receive the subsistence allowances, which will also be granted to other needy monks and nuns at monasteries across the plateau region, Chungkyi said.

Tibet has more than 1,700 religious sites, with more than 40,000 monks and nuns in total.

The allowances are part of a set of new policies introduced by the regional government this year to improve living conditions and social security for religious professionals.

The new policies also include pensions and medical insurance for all monks and nuns.

According to the regional finance department, Tibet has earmarked about 800 million yuan this year for the purpose of improving its citizens' livelihoods.

Temperatures will continue to rise in central and eastern China after climbing 2 to 4 degrees Celsius on Friday, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said, warning that big temperature difference between day and night could affect people's health.

However, rain and snow will return in most parts of the country in the coming week.

The NMC forecasted that rains will linger in South China from Monday to Thursday, while snow flurries and occasional snow showers will blanket the eastern parts of northwestern regions, western parts of North China, northeastern regions as well as the Yellow River-Huaihe River area.

Meanwhile, the weather agency warned again about forest fire risks in parts of Southwest China's Sichuan and Yunnan provinces which have received little precipitation amid higher than usual temperatures.

Lawmakers in the landlocked province decided to draft the new law at the provincial legislature's annual session last month, Gansu's environmental protection department said in a press release.

The home to China's earliest nuclear test base, Gansu now has nearly 2,900 radioactive sources, more than 1,000 sets of radioactive facilities and a rapidly increasing exposure to electro-magnetic radiation.

"It is therefore essential to step up legislation and lay out stricter standards on the treatment of radioactive waste to prevent potentially hazardous pollution," the document said.

It is not immediately clear when the new law will be enacted.

The environmental protection department said it will take the opportunity to propose another set of regulations to ensure that the electro-magnetic radiation from mobile phones, towers and other equipment across the province are within prescribed limits.

"Some small and medium-sized slaughterhouses and processors that have the proper authorization now fail to meet the standards for meat processing, and that has raised great potential risks for the country's meat supply," Jiang Zengwei, deputy minister of commerce, said at a news conference held by nine government departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The departments will begin a four-month campaign in March to improve standards at plants where pigs are slaughtered and processed. They will work to ensure the conditions at such places are sanitary, that proper quarantine measures are being taken and that the environment is being protected.

The campaign will look at the 18,150 authorized slaughterhouses and processors in China. Its goal will be to prevent water-injected meat, meat from sick animals or other substandard products from reaching the market, he said.

Jiang called on the ministry's local branches to use the campaign to clean up substandard slaughterhouses and processors, saying "they are the biggest obstacles to ensuring the safety of meat".

Meat slaughtering and processing that has not received official approvals is illegal in China, the only exception being that rural residents are allowed to slaughter their own livestock.

Pork makes up more than 60 percent of the meat the Chinese eat every year, according to official figures.

Many in the public became concerned about meat safety after reports came out alleging that the illegal feed additive clenbuterol had been used by farmers in Henan province in March 2011.

Clenbuterol, better known as "lean meat powder", can cause pigs to build muscle and burn fat faster, resulting in leaner pork.

The drug can cause dizziness and heart palpitations among people who eat meat that has been treated with it, and China prohibits its use as an additive in pigs feed.

The growth of the slaughtering industry, meanwhile, has led to environmental pollution.

To meet the demand for meat in 2011, about 210 million pigs were slaughtered, producing 100 million tons of wastewater along the way, Li Ganjie, deputy minister of environmental protection, said at the conference.

"Starting this year, the ministry will use its website to blacklist slaughterhouses and processors that have been found to be violating the law, and it will also regulate the approval of new slaughterhouses in the future," Jiang said.

Liang Haoyi, a senior researcher at the China Animal Agriculture Association, said on Friday that the pig-farming and meat-slaughtering industries in China must ever contend with greater and greater obstacles as they try to protect the public's health.

"Government authorities should take measures to prevent sick animals from being sold for slaughter," he said. "And there is a need for harsher punishment to be imposed on those who trade sick animals."

The victim, who is surnamed Li and comes from Tianhe district of Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong province, received a parcel on Monday from a sender identifying itself as a BMW 4S dealership. 4S stands for sale, spare parts, service and survey.

Li Bingke, injured by a parcel bomb, is wheeled into a hospital operating room in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Wednesday. Li's family is seeking legal action against the suspect and express delivery company in the case. Sun Junbin/for China Daily

The contents of the package were marked as being perfume. In truth, though, a home-made bomb lay hidden inside. It exploded when Li opened the parcel, injuring him seriously.

"We will sue the express company and the 4S store for their roles in indirectly causing this injury," said Li's younger brother, who declined to be named.

The brother said on Friday that his family has asked for help from local lawyers.

"The express company should be partly responsible for this atrocity because it did not check the parcel before it was delivered to my brother," he said.

"And the 4S store might have leaked my brother's home address to the suspect because the information on the delivery sheet was completely in accordance with what my brother had given the store."

Both the delivery company and the BMW 4S store declined to comment on the case, saying they will cooperate with police as they investigate it.

The 38-year-old suspect, who is surnamed Zheng and hails from Central China's Henan province, was detained on Wednesday at a rental house in Guangzhou's Panyu district.

Sources with the Guangzhou police said Li had had a romantic relationship with the suspect's ex-girlfriend and that the suspect harbored a grudge against him because of that.

In a telephone interview, Li's brother said the victim, who works as a tutor at a training company, only had a work relationship with the suspect's ex-girlfriend.

The explosion seriously injured Li, rupturing one of his eyeballs. Doctors at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University said they may not be able to restore his eyesight.

Police sources said they will continue investigating the case.

The attack has raised concerns about safety in the delivery industry. Insiders saying parcels must be strictly checked before being delivered.

"Delivery workers seldom ask us to open the parcel, let alone to conduct a security check," said Wang Xiuqing, a Guangzhou resident who runs an online shop.

Even so, some express companies said customers are rarely willing to let their parcels be checked before they are delivered.

"We will often ask customers about what is inside the parcels," said a delivery worker surnamed Chen. "But they are unwilling to let us check the goods because they are concerned about protecting privacy."

There are now no regulations that require delivery companies to use X-ray equipment to conduct checks on parcels that are to be sent out.

While pledging to further improve laws and regulations concerning government procurement, China will respond actively to negotiations for entry to the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), according to a MOF document that outlines the procurement work for 2012.

The GPA is a voluntary pact within the World Trade Organization that allows member countries to bid for public contracts in each other's markets.

China entered its first offer to join the pact in 2007, but it was turned down as the offer did not include local governments' spending.

Meanwhile, the document said the year's key procurement projects will include the nutrition improvement in rural areas and the purchase of school buses, which have triggered nationwide concerns.

It also vowed to place an emphasis on emission reductions and environmental protection in the purchases.

Regarding the purchase process, the ministry said it will strengthen management by strictly laying out the budget and stipulating the standards.

FUZHOU - A pharmaceutical company in Fujian province that makes medicines from bear bile has again been targeted by animal rights activists as it makes a second attempt to become publicly listed.

Guizhentang Pharmaceuticals, founded in 2000, extracts bile from captive bears to make traditional Chinese medicines. The company keeps 470 bears and hopes to increase the number to 1,200, according to its website.

Bai Yipeng, founder of China SOS Help, a non-government organization whose activities include advocating for animal rights, said on Wednesday he had formed an alliance with others to buy shares of the drug company in order to stop it from going public.

Guizhentang could raise up to 120 million yuan ($19 million) with the initial public offering, Bai said, more than twice the estimated value of its first IPO attempt - 50 million yuan - last year, according to China Securities Journal.

On Feb 1, the China Securities Regulatory Commission released a list of 220 companies awaiting approval by the Growth Enterprise Board to trade on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Guizhentang was one of them.

"Our social morality has come to a crossroads. Whether the company goes public or not is a matter of life and death for the suffering bears," Bai said on his micro blog on Wednesday. He added that the fundraising would help the company expand its farm where the bears are kept and increase the number of bears in captivity.

Bai said he had sent the tender offer to three big investors in the drug company, and it might be received in one or two days. He hoped those shareholders would make the "right" decision by accepting the offer within 10 days.

"If we succeed in buying enough shares as a large shareholder with a right to veto business decisions, we will strategically make the drug company diversified in its production and abolish bile extraction from bears," he said.

The company said it hasn't got the offering proposal from any individuals or activist groups yet.

"So far we haven't received documentation from Mr Bai about the proposal to buy shares," said an employee surnamed Xu in the company's administrative office.

Xu said he couldn't say whether opponents will stop the company's IPO plan or not, and that he would need permission from the company's senior executives, who can't immediately be reached for comment.

Guizhentang's attempt to go public last year triggered furious protests from animal rights groups and netizens who accused it of cruelty in the captive breeding of bears and method of bile extraction. The company argued that the method was legal and has replaced the traditional method, which was to first kill the bears.

On its website, Guizhentang says it can collect bile in five to eight minutes without causing the bears pain.

The company is expected to use the funds raised by the IPO to expand the size of its farm and the number of its bears to 1,200.

Guizhentang is not the only drug company extracting bear bile for medicines. Another such pharmaceutical company, Kaibao Pharma Co in Shanghai, was listed in January 2010.

"The company's move got the attention of animal activists several months later. There were not so many people concerned about the practice of extracting bear bile at the time," said Zhang Xiaohai, director of external affairs of Animals Asia Foundation's China Office, which is based in Hong Kong.

"But now, we (the foundation) are inspired, because more people are concerned not only about the cruelty, but also related industries," he said.

Bear bile has been used in traditional medicine in China and other Asian countries because it is thought to have benefits, such as detoxification, cleansing the liver and improving vision.

In the 1980s, captive breeding replaced the original method of killing wild black bears to get the bile.

By 2006, China had 68 registered bear farms where about 7,000 black bears were kept for bile extraction, according to the State Forestry Administration.

The number of bear farms increased to 98 in 2011.

Bear farms can now be found in 11 provinces, such as Jilin, Heilongjiang, Sichuan, and Yunnan, according to the foundation.

Medical professionals say bears are subjected to crude surgery that leaves permanent wounds in the abdominal wall and their gall bladders, causing serious diseases and even killing many of the animals.

As parts of its efforts to end bear farming in China, the foundation has rescued 277 black bears from farms in the past 10 years.

As of January, 111 of the rescued bears had later died, and 38 percent of those from liver cancer, according to the foundation.

"The bile extracted from the sick black bears is very likely to carry a cancer cell, which could trigger health risks when ingested by humans," said Wang Shengxian, head of the pathology department at Chengdu Military General Hospital.

"Years of research showed that we can produce drugs with substitutes that have the same properties as the drugs with bear bile," said Jiang Qi, former vice-president of Shenyang Pharmaceutical University.

So far, government authorities have not approved the substitute drugs for sale on the market, Jiang said.

The 11-article explanation, to be effective on February 15, 2012, requires courts to date claimants' applications and abandon lengthy application standards in a bid to ensure their cases are handled in a timely fashion.

China adopted amendments to the State Compensation Law on April 30, 2010. The amendments, which took effect on December 1, 2010, allow a citizen to seek state compensation if his interests are harmed through state negligence.

In the previous law, state compensation would only be granted when state organs violated the law, excluding cases of negligence.

Zhang Gang, a lawyer at the Beijing-based law firm Haodong, said in an interview on April 30, 2010 that state negligence is a major defense for administrative and judicial organs to deny liability and prevent victims from obtaining compensation.

Many lawyers in China say state compensation cases are difficult because of complicated procedures. In 2009, Chinese courts dealt with 1,840 such cases, of which less than one third received compensation.

The new service to the financial center of Switzerland is anticipated to commence on Feb 12, which marks an expansion of services for the burgeoning Chinese market. In May 2008, SWISS already started direct flights to Shanghai.

The first flight to Europe has a special price of 2,680 yuan, which does not include taxes and fuel surcharges.

"I am delighted the airlines of Switzerland can contribute to growing economic ties between the two countries with new daily flights scheduled," says SWISS CEO Harry Hohmeister.

"We are witnessing a growing demand for tourist travel in both directions."

Apart from Shanghai and Hong Kong, Beijing will be the third Chinese destination for SWISS.

The new route marks a return to Beijing for SWISS: The airlines previously flew to the Chinese capital as late as June 2003.

SWISS will initially operate its new daily non-stop Beijing-Zurich flights with an Airbus A340-300 (219 seats) and Airbus A330-300 (236 seats) aircrafts that provide three-class cabins and a state-of-the-art business class.

The modern SWISS business class offers optimum comforts since the seats can be reclined into a two-meter-long bed.

Seating firmness and softness can be adjusted thanks to integrated pneumatic air cushions.

With the introduction of the new SWISS service from Beijing, the Lufthansa Group Airlines may attract more Chinese customers when traveling to Europe.

SWISS, Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines already connect to five Chinese cities with Europe and beyond.

This airlines group is the leading European airlines network in the Chinese market.

In the summer of 2011, the Lufthansa Group operated 78 weekly flights from China including Hong Kong to Europe.

The airlines embody the classic values of "Swiss hospitality", "quality in every detail" and "personal attention and care": anyone flying SWISS should feel at home.

SWISS has been committed to a long-term strategy to spare an over-use of natural resources and maintain a cleaner environment as the cornerstone of its corporate culture.

SWISS is part of the Lufthansa Group as well as a member of the Star Alliance, the world's biggest airlines grouping.

For more information please call the service line: 400-882-0880

Or visit the web: http://swiss.com/

WUHAN - More than 90 million people will benefit from comprehensive business cooperation jointly launched by Hubei, Jiangxi and Hunan provinces, Li Hongzhong, Party chief of Hubei province, said on Friday.

Addressing a conference in Hubei's provincial capital Wuhan, Li said the agreement reached by leaders of the three provinces is a sign that cooperative efforts to establish a new urban hub in Central China have officially begun.

According to Li, the blueprint will strengthen business cooperation between three capital cities - Wuhan, Changsha and Nanchang - which form a natural triangle where more than 90 million people live, nearly 8 percent of China's population.

The zone had a total economic output of 2.5 trillion yuan ($397 billion) and maintained 7.3 percent of the country's gross domestic product in 2010.

More than 129 of the top 500 global companies have either investments or offices in the region, he said.

"The three provinces will work together to build a new urban hub, which will play a significant role in optimizing the region's productive forces," said Lu Xinshe, governor of Jiangxi.

Their cooperation "will greatly promote the economic development of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River", Lu said.

Wang Yuqi, director of the Jiangxi Academy of Social Sciences, said at the conference that the cooperation is expected to build a fourth significant urban hub in China, after the Bohai-Rim Economic Circle (Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan); Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai-Nanjing-Hangzhou), and Pearl River Delta (Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Zhuhai).

"It can be estimated that competition among urban hubs will become more evident," said Wang.

The idea of building an economic zone in Central China was first raised in 2003 by Qin Zunwen, a professor of economics from the Hubei Academy of Social Sciences. "As long as the three provinces work together, a competitive urban hub is well in sight," Qin said.

In 2010, the State Council issued a regulation on the importance of developing urban hubs in the three provinces, providing a foundation for the close cooperation among the provinces.

Hunan and Hubei both contributed more than 1.9 trillion yuan in gross provincial product last year, according to provincial data, both overtaking Shanghai.

Wang Xiang, 29, a real estate project manager in Wuhan, said based on his experience, the investment environment in the city still needs improvement, compared with that in eastern coastal cities.

Wang Yan, 23, a Jiangxi woman who is studying in Wuhan, said that the transport system between the two regions is convenient. "We can travel back and forth within a day."

But some people say the initiative needs further discussion and study.

"Regional development should be in line with national strategy, so we support further discussion (about the cooperation)," said Fan Hengshan, director of the National Development and Reform Commission's regional economy department.

"The central cities are finally getting their chance," said Ye Yonggang, a professor of finance from Wuhan University. "But the success of the plan still depends on different factors."

Ye said effective cooperation is based on more than just an announcement. "The most important job is working out how to have each party get real benefit from the cooperation."

"The Party secretary made and ate a dinner with us, chatted and said Happy New Year to us with a toast," recalled the 42-year-old Zhang, who lived in Bixi village in Mojiang Hani autonomous county. "He even stayed at my home for a night and paid me a fee."

Many other villagers gathered at his home after hearing that the top official of the province was paying a visit. "All of us were so glad," Zhang said.

The Party secretary of Yunnan province, Qin Guangrong, asked about how the villagers make their livings and about their dealings with officials, Zhang said.

Party chief of Yunnan province Qin Guangrong dines with a family in Bixi village in the Mojiang Hani autonomous county. Yang Zheng / for China Daily

With the government's help, the village of 47 households was moved in 2010 from a previous location where it had been vulnerable to landslides.

"The new practice - the one that the provincial government started and that encourages direct contact between officials and residents - is really helpful," Zhang told Qin, showing him a card bearing the telephone numbers of prominent county officials.

The cards have helped alleviate various concerns in the villages, Zhang said. In one instance, they played a role in getting a wooden bridge replaced.

"The old wooden bridge was very dangerous and a villager once fell off it ... and was drowned," Zhang said.

Zhang said the head of the village used the card to get in touch with officials. That led to the plan to build a new bridge.

Feng Liyin, head of the village, said the 8-meter bridge cost 120,000 yuan ($19,000), an amount paid by the township government. The project is expected to be finished by April.

"Once the bridge is finished, I'm not going to worry about floods any more," Zhang said.

For all their benefits, the closer relations with villagers have also placed pressure on local officials, said Chen Jiaxing, Party chief of Lianzhu town, which administers Bixi village.

"Each official in our town is responsible for staying in touch with three to four families who can call them for anything they want," he said. "All of us have to keep our mobile phones on 24 hours a day, as some villagers may call at night."

He said officials will work to resolve issues that they can and will enlist the help of higher authorities on those that they can't.

"Although we are now much busier, we are glad to see the villagers are happier," he said.

Qin also applauded the new practices.

"Troubles can be solved a lot more easily if officials are more active," he said. "We should continue with these practices and never forget the folks living out in the countryside."

"We will continue to try to establish the favorable conditions needed to speed up the development of rural areas and improve the lives of our people."

The harmony that exists between Bixi village residents and officials results from the local government's resolve to keep the people's needs in mind, a resolve that only became stronger following a recent period of tension.

In July 2008, a violent clash broke out in Yunnan province's Menglian county. The trouble began when farmers complained that their land rights had been violated by a local rubber company. They asked both the company and the government for redress and, not receiving a response they deemed satisfactory, clashed with police.

The outbreak brought relations between farmers and officials to a nadir, said Yan Bodan, a villager in Menglian county who, during the clash, had led his fellow villagers to smash police cars and use knives to fell trees that were then set up as roadblocks.

"Villagers blocked the road leading to the village to stop government officials from entering, and the ID cards of some of the ones who had entered the village were snatched away," Yan recalled.

After the incident, the Menglian government changed its manner of governing, working harder to protect residents' interests. Several measures were taken to deal better with residents' concerns and maintain closer relations between government officials and residents.

The work has helped to change opinions. "We used to hate officials," said Yan, who has joined the Party and become a village official. "But now we get along as brothers."

"Without the support of the people, it will be impossible for Yunnan to meet its goal for better development," Qin said.

Wang Xiaodong contributed to this story.

The crackdown, meant to create a favorable market environment and maintain normal market order, is urgent because the province is in a critical period transforming and upgrading its economy, said Wang Yang, Party chief of Guangdong.

"Monopolizing, counterfeiting and commercial bribery are the 'cancer' of the economy," Wang said, adding that the criminal activity damages social stability, threatens people's lives and property and is hated by the public.

The conference also focused on establishing a credit system and a market supervision system.

Enterprises in South China's economic powerhouse Guangdong face challenges from the complex domestic and global economic situations this year. According to Wang, the crackdown on economic crime and establishing the market supervision and credit systems will help enterprises overcome the challenges by reducing the cost of transactions.

Guangdong Governor Zhu Xiaodan advised the government to strike hard on big cases first, to deter others. Zhu also asked all departments of the government and the public to support the crackdown.

Public security agencies in Guangdong launched a campaign against counterfeiting and violations of intellectual property in October 2010.

By October 31, 2011, more than 2,000 cases of counterfeiting had been solved, 2,511 counterfeiting operations destroyed and 70 websites for selling counterfeits shut down. Authorities broke up 618 gangs and arrested 2,429 people across the province.

Now a restaurant chain is serving up video hotpot.

Workers at a Haidilao hotpot restaurant in Beijing test the video connection with workers at a restaurant in Shanghai. Jiang Dong / China Daily

Instead of making the 1,500-km trip to Shanghai for his friend's birthday, Chen Yufei popped into a Beijing restaurant where a special video room is set up.

His friend in Shanghai did the same in his city.

When Chen sat down at the table, his friend was in front of him on a high-definition screen.

"How fancy is this!" 31-year-old Chen said to China Daily as he was taking photos of the screens with his colleagues from Shanghai.

"I think it's very impressive to have a birthday party like this," he said.

The video feast is on the menu of the famous Haidilao hotpot chain in China's two biggest cities.

"The fresh idea flashed in our boss's mind," said Zhong Weijian, a technical officer in the Beijing branch.

"Customers book the room mainly for family reunions and business negotiations," Zhong said. "We'll call the Shanghai branch when we receive a reservation and make sure customers in both cities can be seated at the same time."

Currently, the chain has two video hotpot rooms, one at the Wangfujing branch in Beijing and one on Shanghai's Changshou Road.

The video rooms have been open since Feb 2.

If successful, the chain hopes to expand the service to other provinces, or even other countries.

In addition to the food, customers pay 200 yuan ($31.75) per hour for using the room.

"The video room has been fully booked in February," said Chen Yu, manager of the Wangfujing branch.

The video room in Beijing is about 30 square meters and large enough for six customers.

"Many customers prefer to use the room for dinners rather than lunch," Zhong said, adding the average age of customers who booked the video hotpot is about 30.

"The whole process is very smooth. The image and the voice transmission are as good as those of video conferencing at work," said one of Chen's colleagues surnamed Luo.

"I have a lot of friends in Beijing, whom I haven't met for a long time because of being busy at work," said a woman surnamed Yu who is having dinner with her husband at Haidilao.

"The new service gives us a chance to have a dinner together without traveling. I would like to give it a try."

The video hotpot also helped establish a friendship between waitresses in the two cities.

Zhao Huanhuan, in her 20s, who is specially trained for serving in the video room in Shanghai, struck up a friendship with a waitress named Lu Ke in the Beijing branch.

"What a fantastic experience!" Zhao said excitedly.

"It was too amazing to believe. I'm so interested in using the special room and enjoy serving people there," she said. "I also talked about some interesting interactive games with Lu before guests come for dinner."

Lu said they provided riddles for a family of seven who had dinner on the eve of the Lantern Festival.

Five members, including a child and his parents, were in the capital, while the child's grandparents were in Shanghai.

"I prepared some jokes with Zhao through the video before they came and our ideas made the family have a good time that night," Lu said.

Although Lu felt a little bit nervous when she first served in front of the screens, she said the new mode of communication also encouraged her to supply better services for customers.

"It's like a service competition. We saw each other through video and I could learn from Zhao's serving," Lu said, adding she will visit Zhao if she goes to Shanghai.

It seems that video hotpot doesn't satisfy everyone's palate, however.

Jiang Yan, a 30-year-old customer who tried the video hotpot, paid nearly 600 yuan for a dinner in the room, including the 200-yuan room expense, and said the price was a little bit high.

"The lamps in the room are too bright, which may not be suitable for enjoying a dinner with friends," he said. "The video can't replace a real close family reunion sitting around the hotpot."

Now a restaurant chain is serving up video hotpot.

Workers at a Haidilao hotpot restaurant in Beijing test the video connection with workers at a restaurant in Shanghai. Jiang Dong / China Daily

Instead of making the 1,500-km trip to Shanghai for his friend's birthday, Chen Yufei popped into a Beijing restaurant where a special video room is set up.

His friend in Shanghai did the same in his city.

When Chen sat down at the table, his friend was in front of him on a high-definition screen.

"How fancy is this!" 31-year-old Chen said to China Daily as he was taking photos of the screens with his colleagues from Shanghai.

"I think it's very impressive to have a birthday party like this," he said.

The video feast is on the menu of the famous Haidilao hotpot chain in China's two biggest cities.

"The fresh idea flashed in our boss's mind," said Zhong Weijian, a technical officer in the Beijing branch.

"Customers book the room mainly for family reunions and business negotiations," Zhong said. "We'll call the Shanghai branch when we receive a reservation and make sure customers in both cities can be seated at the same time."

Currently, the chain has two video hotpot rooms, one at the Wangfujing branch in Beijing and one on Shanghai's Changshou Road.

The video rooms have been open since Feb 2.

If successful, the chain hopes to expand the service to other provinces, or even other countries.

In addition to the food, customers pay 200 yuan ($31.75) per hour for using the room.

"The video room has been fully booked in February," said Chen Yu, manager of the Wangfujing branch.

The video room in Beijing is about 30 square meters and large enough for six customers.

"Many customers prefer to use the room for dinners rather than lunch," Zhong said, adding the average age of customers who booked the video hotpot is about 30.

"The whole process is very smooth. The image and the voice transmission are as good as those of video conferencing at work," said one of Chen's colleagues surnamed Luo.

"I have a lot of friends in Beijing, whom I haven't met for a long time because of being busy at work," said a woman surnamed Yu who is having dinner with her husband at Haidilao.

"The new service gives us a chance to have a dinner together without traveling. I would like to give it a try."

The video hotpot also helped establish a friendship between waitresses in the two cities.

Zhao Huanhuan, in her 20s, who is specially trained for serving in the video room in Shanghai, struck up a friendship with a waitress named Lu Ke in the Beijing branch.

"What a fantastic experience!" Zhao said excitedly.

"It was too amazing to believe. I'm so interested in using the special room and enjoy serving people there," she said. "I also talked about some interesting interactive games with Lu before guests come for dinner."

Lu said they provided riddles for a family of seven who had dinner on the eve of the Lantern Festival.

Five members, including a child and his parents, were in the capital, while the child's grandparents were in Shanghai.

"I prepared some jokes with Zhao through the video before they came and our ideas made the family have a good time that night," Lu said.

Although Lu felt a little bit nervous when she first served in front of the screens, she said the new mode of communication also encouraged her to supply better services for customers.

"It's like a service competition. We saw each other through video and I could learn from Zhao's serving," Lu said, adding she will visit Zhao if she goes to Shanghai.

It seems that video hotpot doesn't satisfy everyone's palate, however.

Jiang Yan, a 30-year-old customer who tried the video hotpot, paid nearly 600 yuan for a dinner in the room, including the 200-yuan room expense, and said the price was a little bit high.

"The lamps in the room are too bright, which may not be suitable for enjoying a dinner with friends," he said. "The video can't replace a real close family reunion sitting around the hotpot."

The expanded requirements will extend earthquake protection to the one-fifth of the mainland previously not mandated to do so, said senior seismologist Gao Mengtan with China Earthquake Administration.

"It is the first time in half a century that China has put prevention of collapse at the core of its national seismic provisions for structures," said Gao, deputy chief of the agency's Institute of Geophysics.

"It is also the first time such a compulsory standard will cover the entire mainland."

The expanded requirements are part of a new national seismic zone map that will become the minimum requirements for the design and construction of buildings, said Du Wei, a division director of the China Earthquake Administration.

China publishes a seismic zone map roughly every decade, and the new one is scheduled for release by June, Du said.

Until the new standard was set, buildings in about 21 percent of China's land area, or 15 percent of all cities above county level, were not required to be designed with earthquakes in mind, Gao said.

They lie mainly in the country's central and eastern areas, such as some districts in Hubei and Jiangxi provinces, where major tremors are considered unlikely to occur.

"There aren't even earthquake agencies in those districts," he said.

But with the accumulation of information gathered from the ever-improving national network of digital earthquake monitoring stations, subterranean exploration and earthquake safety evaluation, authorities have decided to change the situation.

"In the 2012 seismic zone map, there will be no area on the mainland where structural fortification against earthquakes is not required," Gao said.

The seismic map details what levels of seismic intensity different areas are prone to experience. Unlike the Richter scale, which measures the strength of an earthquake, seismic intensity - usually on a scale of 12 - measures the amount of shaking at the Earth's surface.

So, for instance, during a magnitude-7 earthquake, seismic intensity may vary from place to place from 5 to 10 degrees.

On the 2001 map, the area prone to earthquakes of seismic intensity 7 accounts for 49 percent of the mainland's total. That will expand to 58 percent on the 2012 map, according to Gao.

Nearly all Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have been rocked by earthquakes above magnitude 6, according to Gao.

In the 2012 map, 18 percent of the mainland is required to have their structures engineered to resist quakes with seismic intensity above 8. In 2001, the percentage was 12, Gao said.

The new seismic provisions stipulate that a building will be able to be repaired to its full function in the event of moderate ground shaking. It must be reinforced so as not to collapse during very rare, extreme ground shaking, Gao said.

Structural collapses cause most earthquake injuries and deaths, and countries and regions with well-developed building codes can usually reduce casualties to a minimum, he said.

"In Japan and the United States, where structures are better prepared for disasters, an earthquake up to magnitude 6 often wreaks no havoc to society," Gao said. However, a magnitude-5.7 tremor on Nov 26, 2005 in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, led to the death of 13 people, and sent 400,000 residents to the streets, Gao said.

Nearly 60 percent of the 660,000 people killed in earthquakes in China in the last century lived in rural areas, meaning it is extremely important to reinforce residential and public buildings in counties, he said.

Wang Yayong, former director of the Institute of Earthquake Engineering under China Academy of Building Research, said he believed losses from earthquakes will be drastically reduced if the seismic provisions for structures are implemented throughout the country.

"Of course the cost for building a house or high-rise will increase, but the increase will not be that much, especially compared with lives and other damage that will be spared," Wang said.

The 11th Panchen Lama presents a hada, a piece of silk used as a greeting gift for Tibetans, to Premier Wen Jiabao during their meeting in Beijing on Friday. Wen pledged that ethnic autonomy in Tibet will continue, while greater efforts will be made to improve the lives of Tibetan people. Photo by Li Tao / Xinhua

During the meeting, Wen, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee's Political Bureau, offered his well-wishes to the Panchen Lama and all Tibetan compatriots in advance of Tibetan New Year, which will fall on Feb 22.

The premier heard a report by the Panchen Lama on his life and work since he was enthroned 17 years ago. Wen congratulated the Panchen Lama on the marked progress he has made on Buddhist research and cultural aspects, noting that the Panchen Lama has done well as a Living Buddha of the Tibetan Buddhism.

Last year was the 60th anniversary of the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, and over the past six decades, Tibet has undergone enormous changes as a result of leadership by the Party and the government, assistance from peoples of all nationalities and the hard work and continuous efforts made by the different ethnic groups within Tibet, Wen said.

Talking to the Panchen Lama, the premier pledged that ethnic autonomy will continue in the region and that greater efforts will be made to improve the lives of Tibetan compatriots, as well as protect the environment, the region's cultural traditions and the religious freedom of the Tibetan people.

Wen asked the Panchen Lama to deepen his research on academic works on Buddhist doctrines in an effort to ascertain positive thoughts from Tibetan Buddhist doctrines.

He also asked the Panchen Lama to lead Buddhist lamas and followers in loving the country, abiding by laws and abiding by Buddhist commandments.

He also called on the Panchen Lama to play an even greater role in safeguarding national unification and the unity of all ethnic groups.

Present at the meeting was Du Qinglin, a vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee.

Xinhua

The National Bureau of Corruption Prevention(NBCP) said Friday in its annual agenda that it will set about tackling prominent illegalities and malpractice in those institutions and invite the public to engage with the country's anti-corruption campaign.

Graft in charity organizations came into spotlight and sparked public debate in 2011 after the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) became the focus of a major scandal involving a young woman calling herself "Guo Meimei."

Guo claimed to be a general manager for "Red Cross Commerce," an organization that doesn't exist, according to the RCSC. The woman posted photos detailing her lavish lifestyle online, leading Internet users to speculate that she might have funded her extravagant purchases by embezzling money from the RCSC. Although there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the RCSC, the strong perception of wrongdoing persists among the public.

In its efforts to stem corruption in 2012, the NBCP has pledged it will make public the affairs of government organs, judicial bodies, public institutions as well as companies.

The assets seized in lawsuits will be auctioned through an electronic transaction platform instead of "clinching a deal by striking a hammer," according to a statement from the SPC at an ongoing conference that started here Wednesday.

The bidding statistics and results will be publicized on the website http://rmfysszc.gov.cn to ensure a fair process, said the statement.

Shen Deyong, executive vice president of the SPC, said at the conference that the judicial auction marks a new phase, and going forward auctions conducted by people's courts at all levels will be available on the website.

Judicial auctions had been precarious matters with unspoken rules, backdoor deals, and susceptible to corruption by judges, the statement said.

In the past 20 years, China has continually worked to reform the judicial auction system, said the statement.

A series of measures, including enhanced transparency of bidding information and improvements for selecting auction agencies, have been worked out, it said.

According to the statement, the online transaction platform will be managed by the SPC, and all superior courts will be responsible for building and managing their own subsites for auctions.

The "1992 Consensus" is an agreement reached between the mainland and Taiwan in 1992 which states that both sides adhere to the one-China principle. The consensus has served as a political foundation for cross-strait dialogues over the past three years.

At the gala, Wang also praised the contributions made by Taiwanese business people to mainland's economic progress as well as the improvement of cross-Strait relations.

The mechanism, established by the Foreign Ministry and relevant parties, is aimed at handling the increasing security risks faced by overseas citizens and companies, said the statement.

In the recent case of the Chinese workers kidnapped in Sudan, such a joint mechanism was applied, the statement said.

The Foreign Ministry rapidly launched an emergency mechanism following the event under the guidance of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee and the State Council, as Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun made arrangements, and Vice Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng conferred with representations on the Sudanese side.

With the support of the center of consular protection of the Foreign Ministry, the ministry worked with relevant departments and companies to guide the negotiations.

In the meantime, the working group sent by Chinese government traveled to Sudan, South Sudan and Kenya to bring and escort the kidnapped workers to a safe area.

The diplomatic missions based in relevant countries and the United Nations and Geneva maintained close contact with related countries, organizations and people, so as to create conditions for the release of the workers, said the statement.

The Foreign Ministry Department of Consular Affairs also called on overseas citizens and companies to strengthen their capabilities of self-protection and to avoid various kinds of security risks.

In the last five years, the Foreign Ministry and other departments handled more than 120,000 cases concerning consular protection and implemented over ten expatriate evacuations.

Under to the plan, China aims to keep population growth rates within 0.8 percent in key poverty-relief counties by 2015, a move that it hopes will see people's living standards improved. By 2020, birth rates in these counties should be kept low and steady.

The plan was jointly issued by the National Population and Family Planning Commission and the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.

"China's population development is in a significant changing period and affected by population structure and quality. And the large population and rapid growth also leads to regional poverty," it said.

While calling for the promotion of free pre-pregnancy examinations in key counties, the plan requires local authorities to integrate resources based on local realities and transform economic development to safeguard and promote people's well-being.

"The birth rate in poverty stricken areas has been steadily reducing and population growth effectively curbed," the plan said.

In addition, the size of the poor population has been reduced in rural areas and the income level raised, according to the plan.

The State Food and Drug Administration issued a circular asking provincial-level authorities to check food safety in school canteens, especially in rural primary and middle schools.

The key aspects to be scrutinized include catering licensing, hygiene, food processing, materials storage, purchase records, sterilization and water use.

The circular stressed that any elements posing potential threats to food safety should be handled appropriately, calling for every measure to prevent food poisoning.

China reported 46 food poisoning incidents during the period of October to December last year. Nine of these stemmed from school canteens and sickened 688 people, according to latest health ministry figures.

In a statement publicized last week, the Ministry of Health cited microorganism contamination and inappropriately-treated snap beans as two major causes of school food poisoning incidents during the period.

"These people are not refugees and are far fewer in number than has been reported by the media", said spokesman Liu Weimin at a regular press briefing.

He explained that some Myanmar border residents traveled into China temporarily because of safety concerns fuelled by occasional conflicts between the Myanmar government's army and local ethnic armed forces.

"They go back to Myanmar immediately after the conflicts cease", Liu added.

Liu said that China and Myanmar are friendly neighbors and the Chinese side has handled the issue with a humanitarian spirit and offered life essentials to these Myanmar border dwellers.

He also noted that conflict between the Myanmar government and local ethnic armed forces has long been an issue, but that it remains remains one to be dealt with by Myanmar internally.

China has been urging concerned parties in Myanmar to resolve the issue through peaceful negotiation and consultation in an aim to safeguard regional peace and stability, Liu said.

Addressing a conference in Hubei's provincial capital Wuhan, Li said the agreement reached by leaders of the three is a sign that cooperative efforts to establish a new urban hub in Central China have officially begun.

According to Li, the blueprint will enhance business cooperation between three capital cities — Wuhan, Changsha and Nanchang — which form a natural triangle where more than 90 million people live, nearly 8 percent of China’s population.

The zone had a total economic output of 2.5 trillion yuan ($397 billion) and maintained 7.3 percent of the country's gross domestic product in 2010.

More than 129 of the top 500 global companies either have investments or offices in the region, he said.

"The three provinces will work together to build a new urban hub, which will play a significant role in optimizing Central China's productive forces," said Lu Xinshe, governor of Jiangxi.

Their cooperation "ill greatly promote the economic development of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River," Lu said.

Wang Yuqi, director of the Jiangxi Academy of Social Sciences, said at the conference that the cooperation is expected to build a fourth significant urban hub in China, after the Bohai-Rim Economic Circle (Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan); Pearl River Delta (Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Zhuhai), and Yangtze River Delta (-- Shanghai-Nanjing-Hangzhou).

During the meeting, Wen, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee's Political Bureau, congratulated the Panchen Lama, as well as all Tibetan compatriots, on the forthcoming Tibetan New Year, which falls on February 22.

The premiere heard a report by the Panchen Lama on his life and work since he was enthroned 17 years ago. Wen praised and congratulated the Panchen Lama on his marked progress in Buddhist research and cultural and ethic aspects, noting that the Panchen Lama has behaved in a good style as a Living Buddha of the Tibetan Buddhism.

The year 2011 is the 60th anniversary of the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, and over the past six decades, Tibet has experienced enormous changes thanks to the leadership of the Party and the government, the assistance by the people of all nationalities, and hard work and continuous efforts made by the people of Tibet from different ethnic groups, Wen said.

Talking to the Panchen Lama, the premier pledged that in the future the regional ethnic autonomy will continue, while greater efforts will be made to improve the lives of Tibetan compatriots, protect the environment and the region's cultural traditions, as well as the religious freedom of the Tibetan people.

Wen asked the Panchen Lama to further deepen his research of academic works on Buddhist doctrines in an effort to ascertain positive thoughts from Tibetan Buddhist doctrines, so as to lead the Buddhists lamas and followers in loving the country, abiding by laws and abiding by Buddhism commandments.

He also called on the Panchen Lama to play an even greater and more positive role in safeguarding the national unification and unity of all ethnic groups.

Present at the meeting was Du Qinglin, a vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and director of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee.

The new rules drew a line between basic services that will be priced under government guidelines and those applying to market-based pricing, and requiring banks to price all the services they offer to clients in an open and clear way.

Prices of settlement in yuan will be put under government control, according to the statement.

As for prices oriented by the market, all the pricing decisions must be made at headquarters level, instead of in branches, it said.

"If a commercial bank decides to change prices, it must notify customers by publishing the new prices at its outlets and websites three months before the effective date, and should inform the clients through phone calls, messages, emails, contracts and other ways if necessary," said Zhang Qian, an official at CBRC.

And if a lender wants to add new items to charge customers, it needs to release the information to the public one month earlier.

Ni Hong, an official at the NDRC, said most of the services among banks will still be priced by the lenders themselves in accordance with market fluctuations, and the official intervention on pricing aims only to guarantee citizens' rights to get access to basic banking services.

Benefiting from the New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement, which has been in force from Oct 2008, NZ's exports to China have grown significantly in the past 3 years. In the year to Oct 2011, they reached $4.6 billion, a 34 percent increase from 2010. NZ is expecting to expand bilateral trade between China to $16 billion by 2015.

"New Zealand's export trade with China over the past two years has grown faster than with any other major nations in New Zealand's trading history," said Mike Arand, Trade Commissioner of New Zealand's Trade & Enterprise Board.

To better strengthen the relationship between the two countries in the Year of the Dragon, Prime Minister John Key launched the latest NZ Inc China Strategy on Feb 3, a vision he said would help to better develop the country's engagement with China.

Arand said the China Strategy has been under preparation for the past few years and aims at pulling different government agencies to work together to focus on one strategy so as to assist businesses seeking opportunities in China.

He said the strategy is to identify key sectors or industries in NZ and to support key industries such as the tourism, food and beverage sectors to be successful.

"The accusations are groundless and we cannot accept them," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a regular news briefing.

"The Chinese government always holds a cautious and responsible attitude toward the export of military goods," said the spokesman.

"(The Chinese government) strictly manages military exports in accordance with international obligations, domestic laws and regulations," he said.

The especially harsh European winter is responsible for the increased demand for down products, bringing greater profits for businesses in the city of Xiaoshan, a major manufacturing center for down products.

"Our company received rush orders from Italy in late January and they were willing to pay air freight charges," said Zheng Fangli, marketing manager of Rongda Down Products Co., Ltd.

However, the orders were received just as the Chinese Spring Festival holiday was ending, with hundreds of thousands of migrant workers remaining in their hometowns.

"To guarantee delivery, we had to call workers located around the country and ask them to return to the factory to work," Zheng said.

The company promised to pay round-trip transportation costs for the workers. Other down companies have offered salary bonuses to encourage their workers to come back early.

The province's down companies have dealt with dim export prospects since 2009, largely because of the global economic downturn. Official data showed that China's exports in January dropped 0.5 percent year-on-year.

However, down factories in Zhejiang have received significantly larger export orders than in months past. Some companies have had to cancel orders due to a lack of labor, while others have had to wait for their factories and logistics companies to go back into operation following the Spring Festival holiday.

SAFE reported a $47.4 billion capital and financial account deficit during the period, compared to a $66.2 billion surplus in the third quarter.

Foreign exchange reserves increased by $11.7 billion in the fourth quarter, adjusted for exchange rates and asset price fluctuations, SAFE said.

According to data released by the central bank in January, China's foreign exchange reserves declined on a quarterly basis for the first time in more than a decade, falling to $3.18 trillion at the end of last year from $3.2 trillion at the end of September.

As the trade surplus shrank and capital outflow accelerated, the value of China's portfolio declined in both November and December, the first consecutive monthly drop since the first quarter of 2009.

The current account surplus in the fourth quarter rose to $59.8 billion from $53.4 billion three months earlier, but still reported a year-on-year decline of 41 percent, according to SAFE.

Last April, police authorities launched a campaign to address the growing notoriety of children from Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, especially the predominantly Uygur rural areas, being conned to form the armies of "young thieves and beggars" familiar to many city dwellers.

Zhao Peixin, a senior police official from Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, told Xinhua Friday that the Ministry of Public Security has allowed the campaign, originally scheduled to wind down at the end of 2011, to continue until the end of May in order to "completely curb the crime."

He said high profit is fueling the growth of child pickpocket rings, which are increasingly becoming family-based syndicates. Children who were not obedient or ran away were beaten, some to their deaths.

Zhao said ring members usually faced a series of charges -- murder, abduction, robbery, theft, fraud, gambling, and drug-related crimes. During last year's campaign, police arrested 1,630 suspects and busted 227 rings.

In the coming months, police will conduct a blanket investigation in the rural southern Xinjiang regions of Aksu, Kashgar and Hotan to gain knowledge of how many children remain missing, Zhao said.

"We will not relent until all abducted children are found," he added.

Chinese manned deep-sea submersible Jiaolong finishes a 5,143-m test dive on Thursday morning July 28, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

"Jiaolong will have a 7,000-meter test dive this year, after several improvements in the submersible,” Jin Jiancai, secretary general of China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association, told China Daily on Friday.

The date for the record-breaking dive has not yet been announced.

Before the attempt at a 7000-meter dive, the submersible will try a 3000-meter dive in the South China Sea in March or April.

Pressure increases one atmosphere (atm) for each 10 meters underwater. One atm means about 10 metric tons of weight on an area of one square meter, Jin explained.

If the dive is successful, it will mean that Jiaolong is capable of reaching almost all of the world's seabed, and will make China the record holder, surpassing Japan, whose Shinkai 6500 reached a depth of 6,527 meters in August 1989.

Jiaolong carried three people to a depth of 5,188 meters in international waters in the northeastern Pacific last year, indicating that the submersible is capable of reaching more than 70 percent of the Earth's seabed.

Local officials inspect cracks on a wall after a 5.3 magnitude earthquake in Hami prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Feb 10, 2012.[Photo/Xinhua]

The quake jolted Kazak autonomous county of Barkol, Hami prefecture, at 2:57 a.m. The epicenter, with a depth of seven km, was 44.9 degrees north latitude and 93.1 degrees east longitude, according to the Xinjiang earthquake networks center.

The county government said the epicenter was about 160 kilometers away from the town seat, and there was no report of casualties or damage.

Located in the east of Xinjiang, Kazak autonomous county of Barkol borders Mongolia to its north. The county is about 530 kilometers away from the region's capital Urumqi.

Zhang Chengwa, the brother-in-law of one of the men convicted of the panda murder, from Yangxian county in North China's Shaanxi province, went missing after he knew his conspirators had been arrested in March 1995.

Gao Jianyun was sentenced to a suspended death sentence, according to Yangxian county's People's Procuratorate. He Zhengqiang and Yuan Jinguang were sentenced to at least eight years in jail.

They committed the murder in Feb 1995 due to the high price for panda fur, around 300,000 yuan ($46,000), Gao Jianyun said.

Spokesman Liu Weimin made the remark at a daily press briefing when asked about China's views on boosting dialogue and negotiation in relation to Iran's nuclear issue.

At the invitation of Deputy Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Baqeri, Foreign Ministry Assistant Minister Ma Zhaoxu will visit Iran from February 12 to 13. The spokesman said Ma will exchange views with the Iranian side on nuclear issues.

China has been endeavoring to encourage peaceful negotiations, Liu said.

"We consistently stand for the opinion that dialogue and cooperation are the correct way to solve Iran's nuclear issue," Liu said.

The spokesman said it is urgent to relaunch the dialogue process between the group of six international mediators and Iran and promote cooperation between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran.

While home prices in Beijing have been on the decline, it is still too high for young couples.

A secondhand two-room apartment within the 4th Ring Road of the capital costs about 2 million yuan, which would mean monthly mortgage payments of more than 7,000 yuan ($317,800).

The average personal income in Beijing remained at 4,500 yuan a month in 2011, which is not enough for a couple to afford the mortgage, the paper said, quoting data from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

Prevalent premarital sex has driven Tu Shiyou to set up a website dedicated to promote virginity ahead of a wedding.

While some are doubtful about Tu's intention of establishing such a website, some say they are respectful. "Tu Shiyou has a good intention, but it's not practical," the paper quoted a college professor as saying.

Tu, 38, has never been in a relationship. After her friend expressed disbelief toward her virginity, she acquired proof of her virginity from the hospital and released it on her micro blog account.

According to research among Chinese adults by Gallup Inc, 31 percent of adults are smokers in China and 3 percent of them are women.

The 2011 research said that 3,000 people die of smoking-related diseases every day in China. And the figure may reach to 8,000 by the year 2050.

China makes one third of the world’s smokers, with the second highest smoking rate in Asia, following Indonesia, according to the survey.

A national regulation banning indoor smoking took effect on May 1, but it has been derided as being too weak because of a lack of penalties.

Food-related use of banned pesticides, veterinary medicine, and illegal additives, will also be targeted, said Chen, in a recent interview with Xinhua, referring to key tasks of food safety risks control for 2012.

Meanwhile, the country will increase monitoring of radiation levels in food in response to the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, said Chen.

As a major move to prevent food safety accidents through improved scientific management, China established the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center in October last year.

The government-funded organization is designed to offer technological support in assessing and monitoring food security risks and food safety standards, as well as issuing early warnings and communicating information regarding the risks and standards.

Calling for top-calibre food safety professionals to join the center, Chen said it will also strive to forge closer technological cooperation with researchers and universities in the sector and improve a nationwide food safety monitoring system.

According to Chen, there are a total of 1,196 sites across China for monitoring food safety risks arising from chemical pollutants, illegal additives and pathogenic microorganisms.

The company, Guizhentang Pharmaceuticals, founded in 2000, extracts bile from captive bears for traditional medicines. The company farms 470 bears and hopes to increase the number to 1,200, according to its website.

Bai Yipeng, founder of the China SOS Help, a non-governmental organization that advocates for animal rights, said on Wednesday that he and others had bought shares of the drug company in order to oppose its going public.

The offer for Guizhentang's shares could be as much as 120 million yuan ($19 million) - more than twice the amount when Bai tried to stop the company's initial public offering (IPO) last year, according to a report in China Security Journal.

The drug maker is among other 220 companies waiting to be listed on the Growth Enterprise Board in Shenzhen, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

[Cartoon by Hai Chun /cartoon.chinadaily.com.cn]

Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei said at a conference on water conservation that the central government will spend about 800 billion yuan, while the rest will be covered by local governments.

The money will be used to relieve droughts and floods, efficiently allocate water usage, protect water resources and establish a mechanism for the scientific development of water conservation, Chen said.

China invested 345.2 billion yuan in water conservation projects last year, about 19 percent of the total investment planned for the 2011-2015 period.

Small quantities of the so-called "rubber eggs" are reported to have appeared on the market in dozens of regions across China in recent weeks. The investigation is designed to appease consumers' concerns, after some suspected they bought artificial eggs made by unconscientious traders seeking profits.

But food experts say the eggs are likely to be natural, with their unusual characteristics explained by high levels of a compound called gossypol. When egg-laying hens eat gossypol-enriched feed, it binds to protein in egg yolks.

While gossypol normally exists in the residue of cotton seeds added to chicken feed as an extra protein source, large doses of the compound will suppress sperm activity as gossypol had been tested to be used in male contraceptive pills in a couple of countries, the experts say.

A picturesque sunrise above the sea off Yantai city, East China's Shandong province, Feb 9, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Sunrise dyed the sky red over the sea in Yantai, Feb 9, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

The sun rises above the sea in Yantai, Feb 9, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

A picturesque sunrise above the sea off Yantai city, East China's Shandong province, Feb 9, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

The sun rises from the sea in Yantai, Feb 9, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

The crackdown will focus on stamping out counterfeiting and commercial bribery to maintain normal market order as the province is in a critical time in transforming and upgrading its economy amid the complicated domestic and global economic situation, said Wang Yang, secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China(CPC).

To create a favorable market environment, Guangdong provincial government will also establish a credit system as well as a market supervision system, Wang told a provincial work meeting on Thursday.

"Monopolizing, counterfeiting and commercial bribery are the 'cancer' of the economy," Wang said, adding that they damage the stability of the society and are hated by the people.

Governor Zhu Xiaodan called on the participation of all social forces in the crackdown to give hard strike on various crimes.

The traditional Spring Festival becomes a hot buying period, when most Chinese bring along gifts when visiting friends and relatives.

The Ministry of Commerce said people throughout the country spent more than 470 billion yuan during the Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon, an increase of 16.2 percent from last year. Money spent on buying gifts accounted for a large portion of their total expenditure.

A store assistant holds a selection of gold-plated roses for sale in Suzhou, Feb 9, 2012. The products are processed from fresh roses as an attraction to customers ahead of the Feb 14, Valentine's Day. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

A store sells gold-plated roses in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, Feb 9, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

A store in Suzhou sells gold-plated roses to attract customers ahead of Valentine's Day, Feb 9, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

The author poses with her son, Antoine, on a train somewhere in China. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The youth hostels are affordable, very safe, everyone speaks English and their attitude to customer service is impeccable. It is also a wonderful place to make friends with other Chinese travelers where generally in youth hostels around the world you meet foreigners of that country. There is a special attitude of patience and kindness towards children. At one youth hostel, Wada, in Guilin the owner was driving up to the rice terraces on the same day I hoped to go with my son. So the kind girls at the hostel organized transport for us with the owner. It was an adventure due to the fog in the mountains and I was very grateful to her. Also during the Christmas there are many dumpling parties at the hostels which we loved.

Train travel is on-time, affordable and safe while domestic air travel is comfortable and inexpensive especially when travelling off season. Of course we were very excited to ride the Maglev at 300km hour in Shanghai and the fast train in Hainan at 200km an hour. It was wonderful to see so many people generous with my son on the trains. At one point when we lost a backpack the police acted swiftly, found the back pack and sent it to my next hostel in Xi'an. The youth hostel workers helped me have a handmade 'flag' made thanking the Pingyao police and sent it to the police station. This is an ancient tradition in China and I felt privileged to participate.

In Hainan I had to go to a Haikou hospital because my son had an infection in his eye. The youth hostel workers drove me to the hospital and showed great concern. The time it took to get a hospital card, the cost of a doctor's evaluation and the cost of the pharmaceuticals left me speechless. The cost was so low and the service was so fast. Could this be a country that strives for excellent customer service? Or were privileged because we were foreigners?

But wait a minute, did I just filter out all the negative points and just give you a travel document? The truth is there were difficult times. Not every taxi was available - even in Sanya when the group of taxi drivers playing cards with a container of money waved us on with 'no taxi, no taxi' I can only imagine that it was their 'break'.

On a few other occasions my son said, 'Those girls are laughing at you.' I personally don't mind this. I sarcastically replied with, 'Maybe they have never seen someone so beautiful and it makes them happy.'

Furthermore I'm sure we were charged more for food and some things we bought. I specifically remember a 30RMB instant coffee at a village in the rice terraces. However, where is there a utopia with everything that every foreigner is looking for? All the countries I have travelled in have their strengths and drawbacks and China is no different. What is interesting is for us, the foreigners, is to finally find out for ourselves now that China is more and more accessible.

As I travelled what was important for me was to talk to the Chinese people I met and better understand the country. I began my exploration before I stepped on to the plane with the history of China and several books by Pearl Buck, Anchee Min and Jan Wong. The thousands of layers of history and culture are what will keep me going back to China as well as the ease with traveling. I am now organizing my next trip to Zhoungguo with language classes, another itinerary and this time I will take my 12-year old daughter. Travelling in China with a child is a different experience perhaps because children are so well loved here.

The author is a resident of Quebec. She is a teacher and I run a small language school in the Gaspe Peninsula where she lives with her husband, two children and English Mastiff.

The opinions expressed do not represent the views of the China Daily website.

[Please click here to read more My China stories. You are welcome to share your China stories with China Daily website readers. The authors will be paid 200 yuan ($30). Please send your story to mychinastory@chinadaily.com.cn.]

The two countries can tap the potential if they are both "determined, vigilant and sensitive to each other's interests," he told Xinhua in an interview ahead of the 40th anniversary of then US President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China in February 1972.

Recalling his term of office in the Jimmy Carter administration from 1977 to 1981, the architect of numerous major US foreign policy achievements said he had "the privilege of being deeply involved" in the normalization of US-China relations in 1978.

Over the last four decades, there has been a "considerable improvement" in US-China ties, said the renowned political scientist, calling the bilateral relationship "one of the most important" in the world.

"We have to nurture it, we have to promote it, we have to expand it," Brzezinski stressed. "We have to be careful not to let antagonism seep into the relationship."

If this bilateral relationship deteriorates, "We will both do damage to ourselves, and very much to global stability," warned the senior foreign policy strategist.

Till now, the 84-year-old statesman is still able to recall the conversations with then Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in the early stage of the China-US relationship.

Those conversations, he said, gave him "deep satisfaction" because he realized that at that time "the United Sates and China had a similar outlook on the world, particularly in terms of the central strategic dilemma that the world was then confronting."

Still an influential strategic thinker on many issues, Brzezinski highly valued the "extremely important" joint statement issued by Chinese President Hu Jintao and US President Barack Obama in Washington in January 2011.

He noted that the "specific and long" statement "outlines an agenda of Chinese-American cooperation" based on mutual respect and mutual benefit.

As regards the upcoming visit by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to the United States, Brzezinski said it is an opportunity to "ensure greater continuity to the close relationship that we have and to reinforce our respective understanding of its importance."

While acknowledging that there are "some tensions" and "some uneasiness" on both sides, Brzezinski pointed out that the overall experiences in the last few decades have been good. He also rejected the notion of some skeptics that China will "explode" in the future, saying "I am convinced that China is going to be a success."

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Charles Freeman Jr., a prominent  "China hand" and a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, believed that the US-China relationship is the "basic underpinning of global economic prosperity" and "an essential prop of peace."

As the world moves toward a "more pluralistic and balanced" global order, China is expected to play a huge international role, which, Freeman hoped, would be played in cooperation with the United States.

"I had spent my life trying to ensure that the cooperation was strong and competition was less," he said.

Recalling Nixon's historic visit, he said he could not forget that chilly gray Monday morning on February 21, 1972, when he first set foot on the old Hongqiao airport terminal in Shanghai.

He recalled that in his first encounter with the "mysterious land" his eyes were drawn to a billboard at the airport reading "We have friends all over the world." But judging from the presence of birds and absence of aircraft, he quickly deduced that few foreign friends of China traveled to China by air at that time, he said.

Freeman described Nixon's visit to China as a "novel experience" and a  "fascinating moment of mutual discovery."

Despite the previous meetings of officials from both sides in Geneva and Warsaw, it was Nixon's visit that truly brought the contact between China and the United States to a "broader level," he added.

When asked about the prospects of China-US relations, Freeman was optimistic, expecting major increases in the cooperation in investment, trade, economic and other arenas.

In terms of challenges, Freeman observed that China's rise has caused "frictions, misunderstanding and even suspicion and perhaps a measure of hostility" between the two countries.

However, all of these are perfectly normal, said Freeman.

He viewed the upcoming visit by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to the United States as "a reaffirmation of Sino-US relations."

He suggested that both sides "refrain from automatically assigning blame to each other... remain calm, cool and collected and consider carefully what the facts are before leaping to conclusions."

To build a cooperative Sino-US relationship, the responsibilities lay in the hands of leaders from both countries, Freeman said.

To illustrate changes in the past 40 years in China, he shared his own experience when he was a minister of the American Embassy in Beijing.

"When the American Chamber of Commerce was first founded in Beijing, all of the members used to meet in my living room. And now there are over 10,000 members," he said.

"The extent to which China was able to use its new contacts with the United States to educate its new generation abroad, to adopt policies that would spur economic growth and to take a new course, which Deng Xiaoping favored, really startled everybody," he added.

In his view, US-China relations have undergone tremendous transformation from a "purely practical maneuver" to address geopolitical concerns from both sides, to "the most consequential" bilateral ties in the 21st century.

Along with the evolution of the US-China ties, China has also experienced, in the last three decades, explosive economic growth and major transformation, he said.

Firefighters examine the wreck of a minibus after it collided with a truck on a highway in Guizhou, Feb 9, 2012.  [Photo/Xinhua]

Five of the nine people in the minibus died at the scene and another two in the vehicle died on the way to hospital. The collision happened at 12 am Thursday on the highway between the provincial capital Guiyang and Bijie city, police and firefighters said.

One of the injured is still in a coma with multiple fractures while the other injured is in a stable condition, doctors said.

An investigation into the cause of the accident is ongoing.

The wreck of a minibus after it collided into a truck on a highway in Guizhou, Feb 9, 2012.  [Photo/Xinhua]

Firefighters examine the wreck of a minibus after it collided with a truck on a highway in Guizhou, Feb 9, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

The truck carrying nine people, three more than it was safe to carry, lost control in a small village in Xianfeng county. Five people died at the scene and another died in hospital, police said.

An investigation into the accident is underway.

Wang and Brazilian Vice-President Michel Temer will co-host the second meeting of the China-Brazil High-level Coordination and Cooperation Committee, the ministry said.

The first session of the China-Brazil High-level Coordination and Cooperation Committee was held in Beijing in March 2006.

Staffers at a hot pot restaurant in Beijing test their newly launched video service with their partners in the restaurant’s Shanghai branch, Feb 9, 2012. The service began early this month. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Staffers at a hot pot restaurant in Beijing simulate having dinner face to face by video with their colleagues in Shanghai during a test run. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

The new initiative includes B (temporary visitors for business and pleasure), C1 (transit), F (students), J (exchange visitors) and other categories, covering 95 percent of the total visas issued by the US embassy and consulates across China, according to Locke.

The previous policy only allowed an interview waiver within 12 months of the expiration date.

In a few months, the former US embassy building in Beijing will be reopened, increasing the embassy's interviewing capacity by 50 percent.

The average waiting time for an interview has been reduced to less than 6 days.

"We expect that this will benefit tens of thousands of applicants in China, saving them time and money, and making it easier for them to travel to the United States more frequently," Locke told reporters.

On Jan 19, US President Barack Obama signed an executive order to significantly increase travel and tourism to the US, with the goal of increasing visa-processing capacity in China by up to 40 percent in 2012.

This goal, combined with previous measures announced by the US embassy to streamline the application process to allow Chinese applicants to be interviewed in a more efficient manner, is the country's latest effort to attract more visitors from emerging economies, such as China, to boost the ailing US economy, said industry observers.

Chinese tourists to the United States on average spend more than $6,000 per trip, compared with about $4,000 spent by all international travelers in the country, according to statistics from the US Department of Commerce.

More than 800,000 Chinese visitors contributed $5 billion to the US economy in 2010.

"We find that once a country relaxes its visa policy for Chinese tourists, it usually produces immediate results in the growth of visitor numbers," said Jiang Yiyi, director of China Tourism Academy's International Tourism Development Institute.

Locke, however, did not respond directly to a question on whether this initiative was aimed at boosting the US economy, saying that the 36-month extension not only applies to China, but all other countries worldwide, and the US is "responding to global concern".

US consular officers handled more than 1 million visa applications from China in fiscal year 2011 (from October 2010 to September 2011), a 34 percent increase. The growth rate accelerated to 48 percent in the last three months of 2011.

Now almost 90 percent of non-immigrant applications from Chinese nationals are approved, said Charles Bennett, minister-counselor for consular affairs at the US embassy.

The pilot program does not apply to first-time applicants. But it will free the embassy and consulates' resources to interview more first-time applicants, Locke said.

Keeping him company over that seven and a half hours are the few passengers who want a ride from the airport to the central Bund area for 2 yuan (30 cents).

"Even the number of them has dropped sharply in recent years and the night bus has lost at least half of its riders compared with the 1980s," Tan said.

The 52-year-old, who has spent most of his past 20 years driving night buses in Shanghai, can deal with the cold, loneliness and the almost negligible night shift differential. What's hard for him is the fact that "I'm running out of passengers day by day".

"The midnight bus driver is becoming an out-dated occupation with the expansion of modern transportation systems and the disappearance of late riders in Shanghai," said Tan, pointing to his empty bus.

"For example, at one of my terminals, the Hongqiao Transport Hub, where passengers arrive in Shanghai either by high speed train or plane, it only takes them seconds to figure out that metro is the first preference - thanks to the hub's seamless design of putting the high speed train station and metro station together. As for those who could afford flight tickets, they wouldn't choose bus."

Bus driver Tan Yaochen from Shanghai has been on night shift for decades. Gao Erqiang / China Daily

"We're only needed when the high-speed train is delayed, and our only regular riders are those staff taking late shifts and working at the airport," he said.

Tan remembers the faces of almost all his regular passengers, as well as where they usually get on and off as "there are only several of them".

It takes 65 minutes to make the 30-km trip to the Bund, with more than 40 stops on the way, said Tan.

"I wouldn't expect any single rider for the first two rides, you will get a few on the third one, and after 1 am the only passengers on the bus would be those airport staff - and there aren't many."

Wang Hongzhen, Tan's wife who quit her job years ago, said lunch is the only meal of the day that she could eat with her husband.

"Dinner for my daughter and I is about 6 pm, but my husband wouldn't wake up until 9 pm. I usually save him some food and prepare him lots of snacks for the long night shift," she said.

In his attempt to answer why there are fewer passengers nowadays, Tan said many of Shanghai's local factories and companies had a three-shift schedule during the 1980s and 1990s and midnight buses used to be their shuttle bus.

"But that's no longer the case with more and more companies getting rid of three shifts and having their own shuttle buses," he said.

"It's not popular for teenagers to take the bus either when they go out at night - they'll just take a cab if it's too late."

As for No 4 Bus Company, which puts five buses and seven drivers on Route 316 so that the wait for the next bus is limited to 30 minutes, it is not at all cost effective.

With about 125 daily riders on the route, the company is not even close to covering its costs of more than 1,100 yuan per night per bus.

"What we earn covers only one-tenth of the total costs - it is so little that it could be considered negligible," said Yu Zude from No 4 Bus Company's department of operations. "The company's biggest wish is to reduce the five buses (dedicated to Route 316) to four, and then from four to three and to two." But as a public service of the city, the bus is required to be on the road.

In response to inquiries, the office said Wang entered the US general consulate in Chengdu on February 6 and left after staying there for one day.

Jiang Ying (1919-2012)

Jiang, a Chinese soprano and professor of vocal music, was the wife of famous rocket scientist Qian Xuesen, who passed away in 2009.

The Central Conservatory of Music will hold a farewell ceremony for Jiang at the 301 Hospital of Beijing at 10 am.

Born in Beijing on Aug 11, 1919, Jiang was the third daughter of military theorist and trainer Jiang Baili, and his Japanese wife Sato Yato. At the age of 4, her family moved to Shanghai, where she studied at the Shanghai Municipal Council Girls' School.

She went to Europe with her father in 1936 and studied vocal music with Hermann Weissenborn at Hochschule fr Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, graduating in 1941. To avoid the war in Germany, Jiang moved to neutral Switzerland, where she graduated from Musikhochschule Luzern in 1944.

She went back to China after World War II, and was acclaimed by the Shanghai music circle when she gave her debut recital in the city on May 31, 1947.

In September that year, she married rocket scientist and engineer Qian, who co-founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the United States and later led the space program of China.

The couple moved to the United States later that year. They returned to China in 1955.

Jiang was a vocalist with the former Central Experimental Opera of China between 1956 and 1959. She studied Chinese narrative music and traditional operas, and performed for people in the street, mines and train stations with her troupe.

From September 1959 until she retired in 1989, she taught at the Voice and Opera Department of Central Conservatory of Music.

Her students include many of today's famous vocalists in China, like Sun Xiuwei, Fu Haijing, Zhao Dengfeng and Zhu Ailan.

"Jiang Ying was a great teacher who cared very much about bringing up young students, and she has contributed a great deal to the vocal education of Central Conservatory of Music and also of the country as a whole," said Wang.

He remembers being warmly received by Jiang in the early 1980s when he was a young teacher at the conservatory and went to ask her some questions about opera. Jiang not only gave him an extensive answer but also came back to him a few days later with more materials that could help his research.

As China's leading rocket scientist and engineer, Qian Xuesen also learned from his wife. "As a singer of German lieder, Jiang Ying introduced me to the world of musical art. The poetry and understanding of life contained in those songs enriched my vision and endowed me with a broad way of thinking. I have to thank my wife Jiang Ying in this respect," he once said.

The couple lived together for 62 years.

BEIJING / CHENGDU - Fu Shan hugged and kissed her husband Zhang Qianhui, one of the 46 workers who were attacked by Sudanese anti-government forces.

"Eight family members are waiting for him at home," Fu, who is four months pregnant, told China Daily, fighting back tears. "We prepared new clothes for him."

Zhang Qianhui, who was kidnapped in Sudan, is warmly greeted by his wife at Chengdu airport on Thursday.

The workers arrived home safely on Thursday, and the Foreign Ministry urged countries to take practical measures to guarantee the security of overseas Chinese people and institutions abroad.

Tired but delighted, the 29 workers abducted during the attack arrived in Beijing and were then transferred to their hometowns. The 17 who escaped the attack and were later rescued by the Sudan government arrived in Chengdu earlier in the day on another plane.

"I feel so exited. I'm finally back home," one of the workers, Qiu Dong, told China Daily.

"We were so scared when we were surrounded by the forces They kept us in our dormitory. We were lacking water, but we helped each other to overcome the difficulties."

The workers, all from the Power Construction Corporation of China (PCCC), were attacked on Jan 28 by a group of gunmen belonging to the Sudan People's Liberation Movement north sector. One worker was killed during the attack.

After the attack occurred, the Chinese government asked the Foreign Ministry to make every effort to rescue the workers.

With the support of relevant countries and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Foreign Ministry and other relevant departments, companies, Chinese embassies all worked together on the rescue efforts, said Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Zhang Ming.

"The most difficult thing this time is that the number of kidnapped Chinese workers is relatively large, and they were located in a place controlled by the Sudanese anti-government forces," said Qiu Xuejun, deputy director-general of the ministry's department of consular affairs.

Qiu led five members from the ministry and the State-owned Assets Supervision Administration Commission of the State Council to Sudan and Kenya to work with Chinese embassies and international organizations to mediate with the Sudan side.

"We really feel that our country's strength (to solve the accident) and appreciate the warm help from all Chinese people," said Yan Zhiyong, the party leader of PCCC.

The company raised money for the kidnapped workers, which will be sent to their families as soon as possible, Yan said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin on Thursday urged countries to take measures to guarantee the safety of Chinese people overseas and institutions.

Abducting civilians for political purposes has been condemned by the international community, and China firmly opposes it, Liu said at a regular news conference.

"Although the abduction of Chinese workers by Sudanese anti-government forces was an isolated incident, it harmed their physical and mental health and caused wicked effects," Liu said.

Xu Yan, dean of the Department of Psychology at the Beijing Normal University, said severe reactions are normal at this stage and require an immediate psychological crisis intervention.

"Languishment, sluggish responses and panic may affect them, and sometimes a "flashback" will drag them back to the place where they were abducted," she said.

According to Xu, around 60 percent of patients will recover within a month. But if the symptoms continue for more than half a year, it can trigger more serious behaviors and even lead to suicide.

"Recovery time depends on the individual situation and the shorter the better," she added.

She also suggested people close to the workers should pay proper attention to them.

"Professional psychological assistance should be given, and other help should be offered at their request," she said.

Li Lianxing contributed to this story.

Harper dropped in for lunch to One Bowl Home, a famous restaurant in southern Beijing's Fengtai district. It is renowned for traditional noodles and snacks. In culinary terms it could even be described as super bowl.

Harper sat with his wife, Laureen, and Mark Rowswell, a Canadian entertainer who speaks fluent Mandarin and is the Canada-China Goodwill Ambassador.

Signature dishes were comprehensively explained by waitress Jiang Lanying who has worked at the Bowl for six years.

Initial concerns that the mustard sauce might be a tad overpowering were soon allayed, Rowswell said.

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife Laureen arrive for lunch at a Beijing restaurant on Thursday. Chris Wattie / Reuters

Harper relished the dish and even dipped slices of braised pork into what remained of the sauce.

It was a special day for restaurant manager Wang Wei.

"We are honored and proud to show the prime minister the essence of Beijing's culinary culture as well as a regular mini-show of Peking Opera."

The lunch was kept low-profile, and for the most part Harper and his team were treated the same as everyday customers.

Harper's personality won over the lunch crowd.

"It is surprising to find out that the prime minister is friendly and easy to talk to," said a 72-year-old guest who shook hands with Harper.

The lunch was meant to give Harper a taste, in more ways than one, of everyday life in the city, Rowswell said.

Siheyuan may have the traditional courtyards but few people can afford that type of living today, Rowswell said.

Most people live in apartments and "that's why we chose here", an area representing the life of city dwellers, he said.

Politics, trade ties and diplomacy were off the menu.

"Both of our families have two kids each, and we shared our experiences as parents," Rowswell said.

The government of Zhenjiang city on Tuesday confirmed that on February 3 phenol levels collected in water samples were excessive, and the pollution caused tap water in some parts of the city to emit a pungent smell, sending panicked residents to stockpile bottled water from supermarkets.

The authorities "highly suspect" that a South Korea cargo ship that had docked at Zhenjiang spilled the chemical when a valve was not properly closed, officials said. The departments of maritime affairs, environmental protection, and border quarantine are involved in the probe.

Xinhua reporters on Thursday were denied access to the suspected cargo, now docked close to the city of Nantong. Local maritime officials declined to comment on the case.

The governments of Nantong and Zhenjiang both said water samples of the two cities on February 4 did not detect excessive phenol. Meanwhile, the authorities have ensured residents that the supply of purified bottled water is sufficient.

Phenol, also known as carbolic acid, is an organic compound that can irritate eyes and skin. Soluble in water, if absorbed in large amounts it can damage the liver and kidneys.

The delegation from the Syrian National Coordination Body for Democratic Change, lead by its deputy general coordinator Hassan Mana, made a four-day trip to China and left on Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a regular news briefing.

Deputy Foreign Minister Zhai Jun and other senior diplomats met with them, Liu said, adding that both sides exchanged views on the situation in Syria, and China explained its principles and position and called on all sides to immediately stop the violence.

"The Syrian government should earnestly fulfill its promises to start an inclusive reform process that has wide participation, and resolve disputes via talks and consultations," he said, reiterating that China was a friend of the Syrian people.

"China is willing to maintain contact and communication with relevant Syrian opposition groups, push and encourage talks and make great efforts to ameliorate the situation."

The delegation said it appreciated China's stance on the Middle East and hoped it would play an even greater role so that Syria can emerge from the crisis at an early date, Liu added.

China and Russia last week vetoed a UN resolution urging President Bashar al-Assad to quit after months of riot.

Ye Hailin, an international relations professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the visit showed that China, which is being a responsible country, is staying engaged in the Syrian crisis, and the veto means that China does not intentionally oppose anyone, particularly the opposition.

"It is positive and necessary for the Chinese government to contact both sides, since it has always sought a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis," Ye said, adding that it was the first contact reported in the wake of its veto. "Simply using the veto is nothing but to prevent it from escalating, and concrete measures like this really help."

Last week's veto by China and Russia was criticized by the United States and some European countries. Beijing has rejected the criticism, insisting that it is committed to the long-term interests of the Syrian people and that the vote was called before differences had been bridged.

Deputy Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai reiterated on Thursday China's opposition to any measure that encourages intervention by force or regime change.

While it was natural for the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to disagree, such differences do not rule out future cooperation, he said, and there's a tradition among the five countries to accommodate each other's major concerns.

"Mutual accusations have little value and don't solve problems," Cui told reporters. China believes that in international relations one state should not rashly use force or the threat of force, and one shouldn't use external intervention to achieve regime change in another country, he said.

"When necessary, China will of course use its veto. When China has to show its hand, China will certainly show its hand. Nobody should have any illusions that China always uses abstention," he said, emphasizing that China has only used its veto eight times since 1971, which is much less than some of the other permanent members of the Security Council.

"I believe we can still cooperate because both of us want to see stability in that region, both of us call for a solution through dialogue," Cui said. "So I think there is still scope for cooperation between China and the US and between other members of the Security Council on this issue."

In accordance with China's developing international impact, Cui's speech indicates that China is more and more confident when facing such censuring, said Wang Junsheng, also a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Wang said China can feel Syria's pain as outside forces seek regime change in the country, since China never accepts interference by other countries in its internal affairs.

"Even if China might not stop further moves of the US and its followers, China has to make its intention clear," he added.

Reuters contributed to this story.

"The level of mutual trust between China and the US is lagging behind what is required for the further development of our bilateral relations," Deputy Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai told reporters at a briefing.

"Vice-President Xi's visit will present a very important opportunity to enhance mutual trust," he said.

Xi will visit the US from Feb 13 to 17, where he will meet US President Barack Obama, and hold talks with Vice-President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on bilateral relations, major international and regional issues of mutual interest.

Xi will also meet with leaders of both houses of the US congress and former leaders before going to the state of Iowa and Los Angeles.

The purpose of this visit is to further advance the cooperative partnership that is based on mutual respect and mutual benefits, said Cui.

Cui also expects the visit to help remove some hurdles from Sino-US trade, including restrictions on US exports of high-tech products to China and obstacles to Chinese investment in the US.

"High-level visits could promote economic and trade ties politically and may remove some barriers in this field, and this visit is expected to generate such a result," said Cui.

"But it doesn't mean procurement or sending gifts to the other side," Cui added.

As for the renminbi exchange rate, which has long been an issue of concern in the US, Cui said China will continue its currency reforms.

"We have been always advancing reform of the exchange rate mechanism, and in the future we will also resolutely and unwaveringly advance such reforms," said Cui.

"But if one believed that because of a high-level visit we would make a move on the exchange rate, that would truly amount to currency manipulation," Cui said, when asked whether Xi would have anything new to say on the yuan during his visit.

Xi's visit also comes at a time when the US and China have been experiencing differences over a range of global issues, including sanctions on Iranian oil exports, the situation on the Korean Peninsula, territorial disputes over islands in the South China Sea, and a recent draft UN resolution on Syria.

The US' increased presence in the Asia-Pacific area has also drawn a lot of attention in China.

"China has fully considered US' concerns when making decisions on relevant issues, and hopes the US could do the same," said Cui.

Cui said China also attaches great importance to the two countries' ties at the state and provincial levels. During Xi's five-day visit, he will reunite with Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who hosted him in 1985 in the city of Muscatine located near the Mississippi River.

"My wife, my children and grandchildren will all greet Xi at the airport, and my eldest granddaughter will present a big bouquet of flowers to him," Branstad said.

On Feb 15, Xi will attend a reception and a dinner at the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines. He is then due to attend an agriculture symposium and visit a farm in Iowa the next day, the governor said.

In 1985, Xi, then a local official in Hebei province, led a delegation to Iowa to learn about agricultural technology. Hebei and Iowa cemented province-state ties in 1983.

Iowa's exports to China have increased by approximately 1,300 percent from 2000 to 2010, according to the US-China Business Council. Main exports include crop production, machinery and processed foods.

Orville Schell, Arthur Ross director of the Center on US-China Relations at the New York-based Asia Society, said the visit will enable the two countries to talk more constructively about issues where there are deep disagreements.

"It is absolutely critical to do so frankly, without either side becoming angry, and each side stopping retaliating unfairly, or foolishly, or childishly because the relationship is so important, we cannot afford that," Schell told China Daily.

Xi's visit is "important to raise the level of understanding of China" and also to "humanize a relationship that needs that kind of benefit", said Jerome Cohen, law professor at New York University, and a leading Western scholar on China's legal system.

Chen Weihua in New York contributed to this story.

Four high schools in Shenzhen cut short the winter vacation for third-year students, the Guangzhou Daily reported. However, they were sent home again after it was found out by the local educational authority.

A school in Kaifeng, Henan province, started their semester for all students early on Feb 4. It too was caught and punished.

And on Feb 1, Yutian Middle School in Shenyang, Liaoning province, transported more than 400 students to the city of Anshan, 120 kilometers away, to escape inspection by the local education authority.

That didn't work either and the school principal was dismissed this week.

Schools are banned from setting study time during holidays under an instruction by the Ministry of Education published in 2006, so local education authorities check constantly and punish those giving extra classes on weekends or during vacations.

The Yutian students were sent back home to wait a further two weeks for the new semester to start, but some parents were not so pleased at the outcome.

"Now I have to find other vacation classes for my daughter," said a mother surnamed Li, whose daughter is in her third year at the Yutian school.

"If other children are taking extra classes, my daughter will lag behind them."

However, Li admitted to having mixed feelings about the extra lessons.

"The lessons organized by the school cost less and can help my daughter get better marks, but I worry about the food and living conditions in another city far from home," she said.

Wang Jinghai, another parent, agrees with Li.

"The city education authority banned vacation lessons in 2010, but teachers kept telling parents to keep the children studying long hours during vacation. So I now have to pay 1,520 yuan ($241) a month for private English and mathematics classes for my son, which started on Jan 30," Wang said. Wang's son is in the first year at Nanchang middle school in Shenyang.

One private-tutoring agency is Feiyue Education, which provides holiday classes for middle school and college students.

"The winter class for high school seniors is the most popular, with 300 to 400 in one class each paying 60 yuan per lesson," said a staff member at the Shenyang office of Feiyue Education, who did not want to be named.

Hao Xiaoming's son is in his first year at high school in Shenyang, and attends a weekend English class that costs 10,000 yuan for a semester.

"The holiday classes seem very clandestine," Hao said. "Some classes are held secretly in residential areas and do not allow parents to enter. They've installed security doors and windows. There's no guarantee of safety in case of fire."

Liu Yan, professor of Anshan Normal University, said the Yutian school was put under pressure to violate the government regulation.

"The Yutian middle school is a private school not covered by government funding, and it would not survive if it didn't achieve higher college enrollment rates than other schools," Liu said.

"As a result, we see the vacation lessons as an extreme measure in pursuit of high exam grades ."

However, the time spent on classes does not necessarily result in better exam results, said Liu Changming, principal of the Beijing No 4 High School.

"High grades come from students' better understanding of the knowledge, and are not down to how many times a teacher repeats something in class. The students should be given enough time to digest the knowledge they learn at school."

Liu said his school had never given extra vacation classes.

"We certainly can work on improving our efficiency in class, instead of extending the teaching time," Liu added.

Jiang Chunyang, a researcher at the education college of Shenyang Normal University, blamed the teaching evaluation system. Jiang suggested that schools evaluate teachers' performance based on the quality of their lessons instead of students' scores, and to take other factors, such as students' social activities, into account.

Her aunt was diagnosed with the disease in 2010.

"I'm thinking about getting the HPV vaccine which protects me from cervical cancer next time I travel to Hong Kong because it's not yet available on the mainland," said Liu, a math teacher at a Beijing middle school.

According to the World Health Organization, cancer of the cervix is the second most common cancer in women globally, with about 500,000 new cases and 250,000 deaths each year.

In China, at least 100,000 women are diagnosed and about 40,000 die from it each year on the mainland, statistics from the Ministry of Health show.

Chen Yong, a director of the Ciming Check-up Group, which specializes in health screening, said they had received an increasing number of enquiries in recent years about the vaccine that prevents genital infection by the human papilloma virus (HPV), a cause of cervical cancer.

Two HPV vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, are being used in more than 100 countries and regions but are not yet available in China, except in Hong Kong.

In some countries, such as UK and Japan, and in regions of Italy, Spain and Malaysia, HPV vaccination is provided free.

"Unfortunately, the Chinese drug authority has yet to approve any of the vaccines," said Chen. "So we can only refer our customers to partner clinics in HK that provide them."

Francois Fong, a sex therapist at Neo-Health Care in Hong Kong, said they launched a HPV vaccine service for mainland women three years ago and there were about 40 to 50 coming each year.

"Most are between 20 and 30 years old," he said.

The best time for HPV immunization for girls is before they become sexually active. It can be given to girls as young as 9, according to Qiao Youlin, vice-chairman of the advisory board for early detection and treatment of cancers at the Ministry of Health.

It is not recommended for pregnant women.

Esthel Kong, a nurse from TY Healthcare Center in Hong Kong, said the HPV vaccine should be given in three doses over a period of 6 months. Each dose cost HK$ 1,280 ($165).

"As far as I see, the number of mainland consumers has increased a little recently," she said.

Qiao Youlin expected that the availability of the vaccines on the mainland would help contain HPV infection.

"It's kind of urgent because as the Chinese become more open about sex, HPV infections would be on the rise," he said.

According to the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), manufacturers of both vaccines had filed applications to market them in China.

"We have submitted the application to SFDA and the clinical trials for Cervarix are under way in China," said Sharon Zhang, corporate communications and public relations director of GlaxoSmithKline China.

"We will not allow one rotten apple to ruin the whole barrel," said Lu Zhiyuan, director of the Hainan tourism development commission and a deputy to the ongoing plenary session of the provincial people's congress.

Lu's remarks came after the administration of industry and commerce in Sanya city on Wednesday decided to revoke the license of a seafood restaurant called Fulinyucun, which was found guilty by official investigation of fraudulent pricing practices.

The restaurant labeled two types of seafood with fabricated names and overcharged customers, according to an official statement jointly released by the administration and local bureau of price control.

The two departments probed into the case after Luo Di, whose identity was confirmed by micro-blogging site Sina Weibo, said online on Jan 28 that his friend's family ordered three ordinary dishes and the restaurant charged them 4,000 yuan ($636). The post was forwarded and commented on thousands of times by netizens, some of whom complained of similar experiences in the tropical vacation destination.

Another restaurant was fined 500,000 yuan on Thursday for price gouging, the statement said.

Wu Caigui, who has run a seafood restaurant for more than a decade by a scenic spot near Sanya, applauded Sanya government's crackdown.

Lu Zhiyuan, director of the Hainan tourism development commission, is interviewed by reporters in Haikou, Hainan province, on Thursday, at a plenary session of the provincial congress. Huang Yiming / China Daily

"Although my business has not been affected by the price scandal, it definitely sullied the reputation of the whole industry and Hainan's image," he said.

However, Wu stressed that seafood restaurants are not the only one to blame for high food prices.

"Many fishermen didn't go fishing during the Spring Festival holiday. Meanwhile, the island was overwhelmed by tourists who wanted to treat themselves to the best food, so the prices rose naturally," he said.

"What made tourists angry was that some restaurants in Sanya tampered with the scales, causing the seafood to weigh heavier than it should be," he said.

Lu said the aforementioned phenomenon reflected the mentality of some businessmen who pursue profit above all, and an adequate supervision system has yet to be established in Hainan.

He also admitted that the service and management capacity of the island province have failed to keep pace with the soaring demand from the rapidly increasing number of tourists that have poured in since local authorities vowed to develop the province into an international tourism island in 2010.

About 30 million tourists visited Hainan last year, an increase of 10 million compared with the tally for 2008, Lu said.

The latest statistics from Hainan's tourism office also showed that the warm weather and beaches attracted more than 1 million travelers during the Spring Festival holiday, which ran from Jan 22 to 28, raking in about 4.3 billion yuan in revenue for tourism-related sectors.

Zhou Jingmin, a deputy to the provincial people's congress and a Sanya native, said locals have a right to enjoy the fruits of Hainan's tourism development. Zhou said the provincial government can never achieve the goal of developing Hainan as a world-class travel destination without improving the "happiness index" of local residents.

"If the hosts are not happy, how can you expect them to show hospitality to guests?" asked Zhou.

Zhou urged the government to ensure that local residents can benefit from the booming tourism industry by measures to raise local incomes, and he called on leaders to guarantee that the lives of local people are not disturbed by travelers.

"Right now, the floods of tourists have brought traffic jams and raised living expenses, including food and housing prices, in Hainan, especially Sanya, which has made local residents unhappy," he said.

Liu Xiaoli in Haikou contributed to this story.

"We will concentrate on tackling crimes involving serious violence and other prominent criminal activities in order to strengthen security in cities and maintain social order and overall stability," said Huang Ming, deputy minister of public security, announcing the campaign against gun crime.

There has been a series of armed robberies across the country in recent months, including incidents in Nanjing, Shenyang and Huizhou, Guangdong province, which have made headlines and caused public concern about security.

The latest on Tuesday involved a kidnapping at gunpoint in Changde, Hunan province.

The kidnap victim, a local hotel boss, was eventually rescued by police, who shot dead one suspect.

Huang vowed to intensify efforts in the fight against gun crime, saying the police authority will take special measures to control possession of firearms and explosives throughout China.

"During the action, we will thoroughly investigate a number of gun or explosives-related cases, seize illegal weapons, arrest relevant criminal suspects, and destroy sources, networks and dens where guns and explosives are illegally manufactured and trafficked," he said.

Moreover, they will strengthen security at key areas, combining police patrols and video surveillance, to prevent crime, he said.

According to national firearms management regulations, any individual or institution that manufactures, transports, owns, rents or sells firearms and ammunition is outlawed.

"The special campaign is considered an active response to the public's desire for improved social security and stability, and it will provide a safe and secure environment for some major political conferences and activities to be held this year," said Dai Peng, director of the criminal investigation department of the Chinese People's Public Security University.

He said the main sources of firearms in China were those smuggled in from foreign countries, and those involved in drug trafficking in areas such as Yunnan, Guangxi and Guizhou in the southwest.

"Relevant judicial bodies and administrative departments should intensify efforts to curb circulation of illegal firearms, especially the online trade, and the Customs can also logistically improve investigations into arms smuggling," Dai said.

Anyone convicted of gun crimes faces a jail term of up to seven years. If the circumstances are serious enough, they will face the death sentence, said Li Guifang, deputy director of the criminal defense committee of the All-China Lawyers Association.

Two recent surveys highlight positive attitudes that seem to be at odds with the often-strained China-US relationship. A majority of those interviewed said that the relationship is crucial to both countries. They also want greater cooperation, especially in economic and energy issues.

The surveys were commissioned at the end of 2011 by China Daily with Gallup in Washington and Horizon Research Group in Beijing. China Daily released the results on Thursday, days before Vice-President Xi Jinping's trip to the US. His visit, which begins on Monday, is widely expected to improve ties in what will be a turbulent US election year.

The data generated by the surveys, including opinions on US-China relations and perceived barriers to building stronger ties, was drawn from a wide range of people, including members of the general public and opinion leaders in the two countries.

The China Daily-Gallup survey covered 2,007 members of the general public and 250 opinion leaders in the US. Seven in 10 US respondents said strong relations between the US and China are "somewhat" or "very" important.

Opinion leaders were even more emphatic, as 85 percent said strong relations between the two countries are important.

It also showed that Americans tend to want more bilateral cooperation, especially with economic and energy issues, in addition to cultural, educational, scientific, political and diplomatic cooperation.

Similar results were found in the China Daily-Horizon survey, which polled residents from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, Shenyang and Xi'an, most of which host US embassy or consulates.

More than 90 percent of the Chinese public, regardless of their location, has believed for many years in a row that the Sino-US relationship is important, according to the survey.

In 2011, about half believed the relationship was "very" important, a 20 percent increase from a similar survey by Horizon in 2009.

Nearly 60 percent of Chinese respondents think the bilateral relationship will remain stable in general, and nearly one-fourth believe it will improve.

Yet Chinese citizens' favorability for the US declined in the past two years from the highest level reached between 2006 and 2009, according to Horizon's data in the last decade.

The survey shows "the hegemony by the US on other countries" has become a major factor that affects Chinese citizens' impression toward the US.

About 42 percent of Chinese respondents said the US war on terror, even after Osama bin Laden was killed in May 2011, made their impression of the US worse. That is an increase of nearly 8 percent from the result in 2007 in the midst of the war.

Around 63 percent of respondents said their impression of the US has worsened because of the US intervention in Libya and stance on Syria.

Impressions change

Researchers said changing impressions of the other country reflect the changes in the bilateral relationship. According to the China Daily-Horizon survey, more than half of the respondents said the current China-US relationship is "bad" or "very bad".

In addition to US hegemony, its negative political and economic policies on China are also some of the top factors affecting Chinese citizens' impressions of the US, it showed.

In the China Daily-Gallup survey, Americans are almost evenly split on their overall view of China. Forty-two percent said they have a favorable opinion of China, 44 percent had an unfavorable view and 12 percent said they had neither a favorable nor an unfavorable opinion.

Certain groups were slightly more likely to have favorable views of China, such as African-Americans and Americans between the ages of 18 to 34, the survey found.

Historical view

It is not surprising that there are different views among the US populace on ties with China. From the beginning, the American perception of China has been divided between "acceptance and rejection, admiration and contempt", said Terry Lautz, a visiting professor at Syracuse University and former vice-president of the Henry Luce Foundation.

Historically, Americans have looked at China's rich history and culture with great fascination, but they also treated a weak and disorganized China with much disdain, he said. "American views of China, whether positive or negative, generally have been constructed on an assumption that American values and powers are superior," Lautz said at a recent seminar in Washington DC.

"The notion that China ought to be just like the US was especially nourished by several generations of American missionaries who had vested interests in creating ties that would bind the two cultures together," he said.

The China Daily-Gallup survey showed only 13 percent of American respondents said China is an ally of the US. Almost two-thirds said they view China as friendly but not an ally, while 23 percent said China was unfriendly or an enemy, it said.

"I am glad to see that most Americans are in favor of friendly ties with China, considering that both nations have neither a formal alliance nor alliances. But both nations are friendly and have common interests. It is these common interests that are more important," said Jerome Cohen, a law professor at New York University and a leading Western scholar on China's legal system.

"China is certainly not an enemy of the United States, and the US is not an enemy of China. But there are some people in both nations who think that the two countries are enemies or will become enemies. They are a minority. It is for the rest of us to prove that they are wrong," says Cohen.

Cohen feels that China's economic progress is a good thing. "We benefited from China's economic development. But we are a country that is increasingly divided. I think that's a dangerous situation. We have to educate our people more," he says.

Despite the desire for stronger relations, Americans see barriers to achieving that goal, such as a lack mutual trust, an imbalanced trade demand for oil supplies and different political institutions.

Nearly half of the general population and opinion leaders in the US agreed that China's currency was a factor for the US economic situation. Findings in the China Daily-Horizon survey showed more Chinese citizens think the two countries should share a common responsibility to solve their problems, which is an increase of nearly 10 percent from 2010.

Analysts said despite the differences between the two countries, which are likely to last for a long time, the polling data showed people on both sides recognize the importance of trying to get along with each other.

Chas Freeman, a US diplomat and interpreter for US president Richard Nixon during his ice-breaking visit to China in 1972, said the bilateral relationship, "strong and interdependent as it is, is tinged with a measure of suspicion, misapprehension, and mistrust".

There is broad recognition in both China and the US of economic interdependence, and most people in both countries also recognize that there are now few global problems that can be solved without cooperation, Freeman told China Daily.

But the "very complexity" of the relationship means that "a myriad of special interests are affected by it, and there are constantly many minor frictions", he said.

"This is entirely normal but, at any given moment, there is always something going on to agitate people and cause concern on one or both sides," he said.

"No one issue exists in a vacuum," said Clayton Dube, executive director of the US-China Institute of University of Southern California.

He told China Daily that protectionism and other economic disputes play out against a backdrop of images - confrontations in the South China Sea, commitments to nuclear non-proliferation, the treatment of individuals and ethnic groups and more.

"All these influence particular positions at particular times," said Dube, adding that the bilateral relationship in many aspects "is better then ever".

Dube said the key reason for disagreements is that the two countries are much more fully intertwined with each other and with other countries.

"Our perceived interests are not always aligned. Sometimes this is a matter of suspicion and insufficient communication. More often it's rooted in serious differences over policies and practices," Dube said.

Dube said it is ultimately in both countries' interests to expand and deepen cooperation wherever possible, but fundamental differences do exist and aren't likely to disappear anytime soon.

Freeman said despite all the difficulties, the two sides have "so far managed the necessary adjustments quite well".

"I am optimistic that this will continue to be the case. All the more so because, as the polling data shows, people on both sides recognize the importance of trying to get along with each other," Freeman said.

Zhang Yuwei and Kelly Chung Dawson contributed to this story.

NBA star Kobe Bryant has some fun with a Chinese player during his visit to Shanghai in July. Cui Meng / China Daily

An American student at Marywood University in Pennsylvania learns Chinese opera from a Chinese performer in September. Yuan Yun / Xinhua

BEIJING / SHANGHAI - The inflation rate hit an unexpected three-month high in January as consumers increased spending during the Chinese New Year holiday.

The rate may deter policymakers from further loosening monetary policy, analysts said.

The consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 4.5 percent in January from a year earlier, higher than the 4.2 percent forecast among economists. This brought an abrupt halt to a run of five months of easing price pressures, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday.

If the holiday factor is discounted, inflation may still be declining, said Daniel Farley, a senior managing director of State Street Global Advisors, a US-based asset management company.

"The central bank may still have room to further loosen monetary policy, but at a moderate pace," Farley said.

Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist with Nomura Securities, said that the inflation rate provides evidence of risks and consequently "constrains the ability of the central bank to loosen monetary policy".

Food prices that account for about one-third of the CPI basket gained 10.5 percent year-on-year in January, compared with a 9.1 percent increase in December. Surging food prices have driven the CPI up by 3.29 percentage points.

China's one-week Lunar New Year holiday ran from Jan 22. According to an NBS survey on food prices in 50 cities, from Jan 21 to 30, the average price growth of nine popular vegetables increased by about 10 percent.

"I spent more than 10,000 yuan ($1,587) during the holiday," said Fan Ye, who works with a Shanghai-based US company. Preparing for family dinners and buying gifts for relatives accounted for most of Fan's expenditure.

Some people are taking measures to combat the inflation risk.

"I do not see any sign that consumer prices will go down in the near future. I prefer to buy art and gold to retain value," Li Feifei, an employee at a State-owned company in Shanghai, said.

Non-food prices gained 1.8 percent last month from a year earlier, compared with 1.9 percent in December.

The producer price index, which measures the cost of goods at the farm and factory gate, rose 0.7 percent in January compared with 1.7 percent in December, the NBS said, indicating consumer price pressures would ease in the coming months.

Inflation was a headache for the government last year. The authorities took measures, including tightening bank lending and capping prices, to curb it but it still hit a 37-month high of 6.5 percent in July before declining to a 15-month low of 4.1 percent in December.

The festering European debt crisis is squeezing out China's exports.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week warned that an escalation of Europe's fiscal woes could slash China's economic growth by half this year, and it urged Beijing to prepare stimulus measures in response.

In the IMF's "downside scenario" China's growth would fall by around 4 percentage points this year from the 8.2 percent rate it projected in January.

The nation's GDP slowed in the last quarter of 2011 to 8.9 percent from 9.1 percent in the third quarter and 9.5 percent during the April-to-June period.

Wang Tao, chief economist with UBS AG in China, said that the macroeconomic stance should support economic growth, instead of being changed on inflation fears.

"We continue to expect a generally stable macro stance in 2012, with modest easing in credit and more fiscal support in livelihood areas," Wang said.

Zhang, with Nomura Securities, predicted that there might be another 50 basis point cut in the required reserve ratios for banks next month. The central bank cut the cash that banks should keep aside in December.

"The January CPI may be the year's peak," said Zhu Haibin, chief economist of JP Morgan in China.

In February the CPI may still be higher than 4 percent, but is likely to ease from April and may drop to the lowest point of 2.8 percent in the second half, Zhu said.

The Putuo District People's Court accepted the case on Thursday a week after Han filed a lawsuit against Fang Zhouzi, after the anti-fraud campaigner posted a series of articles on his microblog accusing Han of employing ghostwriters.

Fang, nicknamed "science cop", has made a career by exposing academic fraud.

The two have been trading barbs on the Internet since mid January, receiving widespread media attention.

Fang said he was examining Han Han's early works, which he claims were written by his father, retired newspaper editor Han Renjun.

Han Han, 29, was also a race car driver and one of Time magazine's "World's Most Influential People" in 2010.

The court did not reveal a timetable for the case.

The far-reaching popularity of micro blogs will have serious consequences for companies and brands operating in China, said Debby Cheung, president of Ogilvy & Mather Group Shanghai on Thursday. Micro blogs have become one of the most common means of provoking scandals and furthering their spread, she said.

Ogilvy & Mather, an international advertising agency, and CIC, a provider of business intelligence in China, worked together to publish the white paper Crisis Management in the Micro Blog Era.

Their work used information culled from micro blogs on Tencent Weibo and Sina Weibo, as well as from reports from the search engine Baidu and various media reviews, to identify and analyze the biggest online scandals of 2011.

The report said the pervasive use of micro blogs has led to scandals arising with increasing frequency and speed.

In 2011, a series of corporate scandals affecting both multinational and domestic brands first came to public notice or spread on micro blogs - called weibo in Chinese. The issues they pertained to ranged from the detection of the toxic chemical clenbuterol in pork to flaws found in refrigerator doors made by Siemens AG.

Statistics from the China Internet Network Information Center showed there were more than 250 million micro-bloggers in China by December 2011, a 297 percent increase from 2010.

Many multinational companies have also taken to using micro blogs.

"We hope to reach all our stakeholders through weibo," said Isabelle Liu, vice-president of ABB North Asia and China. "We also want to hear their comments and suggestions."

ABB is using social media in about 100 countries.

Eaton Corp, a power-management company, opened its corporate weibo in 2011 in China. "We believe there are huge opportunities for us to use social media networks to capture insights and feedback, share information and build relationships with and among our target stakeholders," said Vivian Xiao, head of corporate communications of Eaton Corp China.

Micro blogs can contribute to corporate communication if "a company can set a clear communication target for them, build a complete and sound process in coping with obstacles and design blogging content based on the needs of an audience," said Wang Yukui, communications vice-president of Boeing China.

The company has been using the social media websites Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flicker in the United States and that has helped promote its brand, Wang said.

The report said online information can be swiftly aggregated and amplified through micro blogs and that companies should understand how to mitigate their risks.

"Real-time monitoring and analysis of micro blogs are especially critical at the initial outbreak of a scandal, when the spread of news occurs not in hours, but in minutes and seconds," said Daisy Zhang, CEO of CIC.

Wang Zhuoqiong contributed to this story.

Law enforcement authorities closed more than 5,000 enterprises involved in food safety crimes and also gave administrative punishments to government officials for misconduct related to the cases.

Health Minister Chen Zhu admitted on Wednesday that China's food safety standards are in urgent need of improvement following a spate of food safety scandals, reported Xinhua News Agency.

Chen said the total number of national food standards, local standards and industrial standards has topped 5,000, and many of them overlap or contradict each other. He said this is the motivation behind the Ministry of Health's announcement last month that it will overhaul and streamline the current standards.

Chen noted deficiencies in some vital assessment measures, such as the lack of processes to ensure the quality of food packaging.

Some current food standards have become outdated, requiring officials to devise new standards, Chen said.

The Ministry of Health issued a draft on revised food standards last month and will be soliciting public feedback until the end of February.

The minister said the sluggish pace of research on national food standards and the country's fledgling risk evaluation system have hindered the construction of national food standards.

Chen also said the regulation of food safety is falling behind in part due to the shortage of professional technical management organs.

An outline for China's quality-control development (2011-2020), issued by the State Council on Thursday, stressed the importance of improving the quality of Chinese products. According to the document, the issue is vital to the country's sustainable development, the public welfare as well as the nation's image.

Serious economic losses due to substandard products, environmental pollution and food safety scandals are still prevalent, according to the outline.

Food safety has become one of the most crucial issues for Chinese people in the wake of various scandals, such as the now-infamous melamine poisoning incident in which affected an estimated 300,000 infants, left six dead and sent hundreds to the hospital, according to official statistics.

Xiong Wenzhao, a professor of administrative law at Minzu University of China, told China Daily on Thursday that the core issue in the frequent quality scandals is the lack of professional ethics.

"Many enterprises are looking for any way to find loopholes in the country's quality supervision during the process of production because profit is their primary concern," he said.

China's quality supervision departments investigated and seized counterfeit goods valued at 5.33 billion yuan ($ 846.7 million) in 2011, statistics from the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine showed.

Zhi Shuping, minister of quality supervision, said in January that the administration's work last year focused on inspections of dairy products, liquor, meat and food additives as well as intellectual property rights infringements.

Quality supervision departments revoked 15,000 licenses for industrial enterprises found to be producing counterfeit food products and shut down 426 dairy companies.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

BEIJING - China is willing to increase imports from Canada and to boost cooperation in energy and other areas, Chinese leaders said on Thursday.

During a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, President Hu Jintao said cooperation should be strengthened across a range of sectors.

"The countries should enhance political dialogue to expand common ground," Hu said.

To boost trade links, Hu suggested that the potential of both economies to interact be realized and cooperation expanded.

Vice-Premier Li Keqiang called for the countries to "promote energy trade".

Vice-Premier Li Keqiang (L) shakes hands with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen during a meeting in Beijing on Thursday.  [Photo/Xinhua]

"Canada is a nation that has bountiful energy resources, and China is a stable and reliable consumption market", he said in a keynote speech at a Beijing business forum.

And the two nations should also enhance energy cooperation, including renewable and nuclear, and promote joint oil and mining projects, he said.

"We should ensure a stable partnership in the field of energy resources," Li said.

Harper is leading a delegation of more than 40 business executives during his visit as he endeavors to sell more oil to China, attract Chinese investment in Canada and win more access to China for Canadian companies.

Harper's visit comes as Canada plans to diversify exports of crude oil to Asia, including China, and aims to speed up the regulatory-approval process for large energy projects. This comes on the heels of US President Barack Obama rejecting TransCanada Corp's $7 billion pipeline to the US Gulf Coast.

Vice-Premier Li Keqiang (R) and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper attend an economic forum that brings together Chinese and Canadian business leaders in Beijing on Thursday. Wu Zhiyi / China Daily

"The potential for China-Canada economic and trade cooperation has never been bigger than today," Li said.

"We are glad to see that Canada is diversifying its trade and investment and stressing the importance of the Asian market," Li said.

"Asia is the most dynamic and potential region worldwide in terms of economic growth and China is a major economy in Asia."

China plans to expand domestic consumption and develop strategic emerging sectors.

Harper's visit has resulted in a number of deals on energy. Canadian businesses signed nearly $3 billion worth of deals with Chinese enterprises on Thursday.

Canada reached an agreement with China on Thursday to facilitate uranium exports by giving Canadian uranium producers more access to China's civilian nuclear power industry.

China could start receiving Canadian oil as early as 2016 if a pipeline project from Alberta to Canada's Pacific coast goes ahead, said Enbridge Pipelines chairman Patrick Daniel, who accompanied Harper on the visit.

Harper agreed with Li by saying that China-Canada economic relations are "reaching a new level".

After meeting President Hu Jintao on Thursday, Harper said: "I think Canada-China relations are continuing along a very positive route.

"Canada has the resources, technological sophistication and geo-strategic positioning to complement China's economic growth strategy," he said.

"And China's growth, in turn, complements our determination to diversify our export markets."

China is Canada's second-largest trading partner. Bilateral trade stood at almost $50 billion in 2011, up $6 billion from 2009. The two countries set a target of increasing bilateral trade to $60 billion by 2015.

"There is more room for us to enlarge bilateral trade, as it is still small," Li said.

Premier Wen Jiabao said on Wednesday the two nations should discuss the possibility of signing a free trade agreement.

Two-way investment

"We welcome Canadian companies to invest in China's western, central and northeastern regions. We also encourage Chinese companies to invest in Canada," Li said.

On Wednesday, the two nations concluded negotiations on a foreign investment promotion and protection agreement, which began in 1994.

Canadian investment in China surged by 39 percent year-on-year in 2010 to $5 billion. Chinese investment in Canada totaled $14 billion during the same period, up by 9 percent from 2009.

China has been encouraging its enterprises to expand globally, and experts have said that the current global slowdown has provided a number of investment opportunities.

At the invitation of US Vice-President Joe Biden, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Xi Jinping is scheduled to pay official visits to the United States, Ireland and Turkey from February 13 to 22.

Xi will make the US visit to implement the consensus reached by the heads of state to establish a partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit, China's Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said at a news briefing on the Vice-President's visit.

At the beginning of last year, Chinese President Hu Jintao paid a state visit to the United States, where Hu and US President Barack Obama agreed to establish a partnership based on mutual respect and benefit, setting the tone for China-US ties.

"Both China and the United States attach great importance to the visit by Xi," Cui said, adding that the two sides are making arrangements for the visit "in an orderly way".

"We believe that Vice-President Xi's visit is sure to be a success," Cui added.

According to the vice foreign minister, Xi will meet with President Obama and hold talks with Vice-President Biden during his tour. He will also meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

Xi will exchange views in an in-depth way with the US leaders on the China-US relationship as well as on international and regional issues of common interest, Cui said.

The Chinese Vice-President will also meet with leaders of the US Senate and Congress, several former American leaders and other people "extensively".

Besides Washington, Xi will also visit Los Angeles and the state of Iowa where he will gather with local politicians and attend a host of events on economic cooperation, and people-to-people and sub-national exchanges between the two nations.

"Vice-President Xi's US visit serves as an important high-level interaction between the two countries in 2012, and we hope that, with the visit, the China-US relationship will be pushed forward along the path oriented by the two heads of state in this important year and even a longer period," said the Chinese diplomat.

Cui said Xi visited Iowa in 1985, where he will reunite with some old friends during next week's visit.

"It has been 27 years since Vice-President Xi made his first visit to the United States," Cui said, adding that China and the United States have witnessed great progress in the bilateral relationship and the friendship between the two peoples over the past years.

"I think the (Iowa) stop will be very meaningful," he added.

The Chinese side always attaches importance to sub-national and people-to-people exchanges on various levels with the United States, said the Vice Foreign Minister.

"Ultimately, the development of the bilateral ties is determined by that of the relationship between the two peoples," he added.

Liu Jinguo, vice minister of public security, said at the ministry's meeting in Shenyang, capital city of Northeast China's Liaoning province, that police across the country should continue the heavy-handed approach against economic crimes and improve the investigation and handling of relevant cases.

The number of economic crimes being investigated increased by 10 percent year-on-year in 2011, and economic-crime cases closed in 2011 rose by a record-breaking 13 percent year-on-year, Liu said.

Liu urged police across the nation to make sure all cases of economic crimes be investigated and to attach equal importance to recovering losses and apprehending suspects.

The ministry will set up a leading committee to coordinate and supervise the campaign, according to decisions made at the meeting.

Economic crimes include fraud, bribery, and embezzlement, and severe economic crimes carry the death penalty in China.

On Thursday evening, rescuers said they had recovered and identified the body of the male driver of the mini-bus. The identities of two of the three missing have been confirmed as well.

The landslide swept at least two vehicles into the Yellow River at about 4:40 pm Tuesday in Yanguoxia township, Yongjing county.

The landslide displaced a mass of about 100,000 cubic meters of earth.

For two days, scores of rescuers and local police scoured the area in search of the missing, but the three missing people were not found. The rescue team said there was little chance for their survival.

Wang Qi, a worker at China Small Animals Protection Association (CSAPA), delivers food to dogs in Beijing on Feb 9, 2012. [Photo by Feng Yongbin / China Daily]

BEIJING - Last April over 500 dogs were rescued from the slaughter house just outside of Beijing. Over the course of the year many dogs have either been adopted or have died from disease. Of the dogs that are left, about a little over 200 are currently living under the care of the China Small Animals Protection Association, or CSAPA.

The dogs live in a CSAPA compound about half an hour from the city proper near the outskirts of the 6th ring road. At about 1.2 hectares the compound is home to over 700 dogs, dogs of all sizes and breeds, but most of them are mutts.

Paid for by volunteers and animal lovers, the CSAPA runs on donations from various benefactors and public support. Wang Qi, who has been with the CSAPA for over a year says that many of the dogs from the April 15 incident are doing well now.

"The dogs are always happy to see people, they get very excited," said Wang as two waist height dogs pounced on him. "The better tempered dogs get to run around the compound, its better for them than cages."

Wang says it is unfortunate that some dogs still remain in cages but the association is currently working on that problem. They are raising funds through donations and online sales of dog food to build a fence around the back part of their compound so some of the bigger dogs maybe able to run about.

"Ideally, we would want to adopt out the dogs, that way they can find a nice home," said Wang. "But these are big dogs, there are hardships in the adoption process, on top of that they are mutts and not purebreds."

"It is easy to adopt a dog; we need more people to adopt. The only requirements is that the adopter be able to support the dog and that we can come and do checks to see how the dogs are doing from time to time."

Currently the future of the dogs are uncertain, while they are fed and housed in the compound and the CSAPA does not put animals down, the CSAPA maybe forced to vacate their compound in the coming year. Wang says they are doing their best to make sure the dogs have a place to go, but right now finding a location is proving to be difficult.

The deals, covering areas including aviation, finance, rail transit, mining, telecommunications, construction, environmental protection, education, and pharmaceuticals, were signed at the fifth China-Canadian Business Forum.

"The economic and trade cooperation is an important driving force for the development of China-Canada relations," said Chinese vice-premier Li Keqiang while addressing the forum, adding China's 12th five-year development plan and Canada's strategy to promote diversity of trade and investment provide broad prospects for bilateral cooperation.

He called on the two countries to give full play to the bilateral Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement and further enlarge two-way trade and investment.

China will increase imports of Canada's advantage products, Li said.

He said the two countries should establish long-term and stable cooperation on energy resources, conduct more energy trade, and promote more large-scale cooperative programs on oil and gas and mining.

The vice premier also said the two sides should strengthen cooperation on energy conservation and environmental protection, finance and pharmaceuticals, while enlarging cooperation on education, tourism, culture and between localities, in order to consolidate China-Canada cooperation.

Harper said Canada felt inspired by the sound momentum of bilateral trade and cooperation, adding that China's development is Canada's important opportunity. He also vowed to provide better conditions for cooperation between companies.

Prior to the forum, Li and Harper held a brief meeting.

During the meeting, Li spoke highly of the development of China-Canada relations and said China is ready to work with Canada to strengthen dialogue and exchanges, expand cooperation in trade, energy resources, technology and education, so as to push forward their strategic partnership.

Harper said Canada attaches high importance to its relations with China and will keep frequent high-level exchanges with China and strengthen dialogue and consultation in multilateral affairs.

The China-Canada Business Forum was established by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and Canada-China Business Council in 2005. More than 500 people from the two countries' companies, governments and academies attended the forum.

This is Harper's second visit. He will fly to Guangzhou in South Guangdong province and Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality after leaving Beijing.

Spokesman Liu Weimin made the remark at a daily press briefing in response to a question about a recent visit to China by a Syrian opposition delegation.

At the invitation of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, a delegation of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria (NCB) visited China from February 6 to 9.

During the visit, the delegation met with Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun and had talks with senior officials from the Foreign Ministry's Asian and African affairs departments.

The two sides exchanged views on the current situation in Syria, with the delegation representing the NCB's views and opinions on the turmoil, Liu said, adding that the delegation appreciates China's long-time position on Middle Eastern affairs that upholds the righteousness.

The delegation expressed a hope to beef up communication with China and expects the Chinese side to play a more important role in resolving the Syrian crisis.

Liu said the visit has been planned for some time and China has maintained contact with major Syrian opposition groups for "a period of time."

According to Liu, Chinese special envoy to the Middle East Wu Sike previously met with leaders of various Syrian opposition groups, including the NCB.

China has also established and maintained contact with Syria's opposition National Council, Liu confirmed.

China is a friend of all Syrian people, Liu said, adding that China has no private interests regarding Syria and has been working to encourage peaceful negotiations.

Liu said China does not deliberately shield or oppose any side in the situation and believes in maintaining the fundamental interests of the  Syrian people, maintaining peace and stability of the Middle East, and maintaining relevant rules in international relations.

"We call on Syrian authorities and other relevant parties to stop any violence and take practical measures to ease tension and avoid casualties," Liu said.

The spokesman said the Syrian people's "reasonable desire" for change and the protection of self-interest should be respected.

He urged the Syrian government to fulfill promises of reform and create an inclusive political process to be participated in by all relevant parties.

China hopes relevant parties will solve their differences through dialogue and negotiation, Liu said.

China hopes to continue to improve its communication with relevant Syrian parties and will make unremitting efforts to properly and peacefully solve the crisis in Syria, Liu added.

"The symposium holds every four year, and it is the first time that Asian countries will host it," Jin Shudong, chief of Changping district, said on Thursday in a news conference for the symposium. "It's a honor for us Changping district to be the host."

Jin also said that the symposium will last only 5 days, but the center will open for strawberry picking till the end of June.

According to Jin, the symposium has helped local strawberry industries. Till now, over 10,000 strawberry greenhouses have been built within the district, and each one will bring some 30,000 yuan ($4,762) of profit for growers each year.

"It has also spurred local tourism industry," Jin continued in the news conference excitedly. For example, to warm up for the VIIISS, Changping hosted a strawberry festival from Jan 25 to 30, and about 84,000 tourists visited the festival.

"The symposium center will become a new recreational center for visitors," said Su Weidong, deputy chief of the district, who is in charge of the project. "To benefit visitors, we have also added two bus routes particularly for the symposium. One is from the subway station to the symposium to facilitate visitors from downtown Beijing, and the other is from Xiguan (center area of Changping district) to the symposium," he said.

Su also told China Daily that about 200 Changping residents volunteered for visitors to guide directions. "To be recognized easily by visitors, they will dress a shirt with VIIISS signs," he added. "They are the best helpers who are familiar with the picking spots.

Visitors will be able to taste 135 strawberry varieties from five continents at the event. Besides eating and picking, there are many funs to experience there, such as strawberry planting technology, walking under hanging strawberries, and etc.

To better prepare for the symposium, Wang Fengjin, a 52-year-old technician from Hebei province has spent 6 months to take care of the strawberry saplings in one of the demonstration greenhouse. "My daily work includes picking weeds, loosening the soil, and guiding others for technical support," she said.

If you go:

Ticket price for the symposium: 60 yuan plus strawberry picking fee

Route: Subway No 5 to Tiantongyuan North Station and take the shuttle bus

Or Bus Route 872 to Xiguan Huandao and take the shuttle

Time: 9 am to 5 pm from Feb 18 to June 30 (Not open to public from 9 am to 12 pm Feb 18 and Feb 20 for opening ceremony and academic conference)

Chinese President Hu Jintao shakes hands with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing February 9, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - President Hu Jintao and visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper agreed on Thursday to further facilitate the bilateral strategic partnership and promote greater progress of cooperation in diversified areas.

The agreement was made during their meeting in the Great Hall of the People.

"The two countries should stick to the principle and spirit of the China-Canada Joint Statement and enhance dialogue in the political field in a bid to expand common ground," Hu said.

The China-Canada Joint Statement was issued during Harper's previous visit in 2009.

Hu called on both sides to respect each other's development paths chosen by their people, and respect and accommodate each other's core interests and major concerns.

To boost trade links, Hu suggested full play be given to the strong complementarity of both economies while expanding cooperative areas.

Hu also proposed the enhancement of youth exchanges between both countries and the strengthening of coordination in global and regional affairs in order to promote recovery and sustainable growth of the world economy.

Harper, on his second visit since taking office in 2006, applauded the new progress of bilateral ties in recent years.

He said the two countries have seen an increasing consensus and common interests on many major issues.

Canada is committed to developing a strategic partnership with China based on respect and mutual benefit and hopes to maintain high-level exchanges and political dialogue, and enhance cooperation in such areas as trade, energy and investment, he said.

Harper also vowed joint efforts with China to address global and regional issues, to safeguard world peace and to boost new progress of global economic governance.

In a meeting with top legislator Wu Bangguo, Harper said his government highly values Canada-China relations and is committed to cementing win-win cooperation in trade and other areas.

Harper brought to Beijing a large delegation of cabinet ministers and lawmakers, as well as a large business delegation with representatives from the energy, transport, and education sectors.

Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said he regards parliamentary exchanges as an important part of the China-Canada strategic partnership.

"The NPC has set up sound cooperative ties with the Canadian Senate and the House of Commons. The regular exchange mechanism between the two countries' parliaments has achieved positive progress," Wu said.

He hailed the important consensus and progress the two countries made during Harper's current visit, adding that these achievements will inject new vitality to the bilateral win-win cooperation.

Vice Premier Li Keqiang also met with Harper later on Thursday and both attended a trade seminar for enhancing two-way trade.

Harper came to Beijing on Tuesday for a five-day trip as guest of Premier Wen Jiabao. The two premiers had talks on Wednesday and witnessed the signing of several bilateral agreements regarding cooperation in trade, technology, education, forestry, energy and agriculture.

Harper will also visit south Guangdong Province and the southwest municipality of Chongqing.

China and Canada forged diplomatic ties in November 1970. They established their strategic partnership in September 2005 during Hu's visit to Canada.

The report "Crisis Management in the Microblog Era" said that the emotionally charged tone of discussions on Chinese microblogs and the demographics of users means that a larger proportion of the Chinese public is now not only aware of any crisis, but is also actively participating in furthering its reach and intensity – a distinct shift from only a few years ago.

Debby Cheung, president of Shanghai Ogilvy & Mather group said in a press release Thursday: "The more famous the brand and the greater the number of its consumers, the bigger the risk for the company in the Micro-era."

"Real-time monitoring and analysis of microblogs is especially critical at the initial outbreak of a crisis when the news being spread occurs not in hours, but in minutes and seconds. Failure to swiftly and effectively respond can easily lead to a second crisis or even multiple crises online," said CIC CEO Daisy Zhang.

According to statistics from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), there are more than 250 million microbloggers in China as of December 2011, a 297 percent increase from 2010.

"We are resizing certain businesses, but part of the resizing is to relocate resources to where the growth is. Our involvement in China requires investment. We will continue investing and recruiting in China," he said.

In December, Pandit has announced that Citi will cut 4,500 jobs worldwide in order to trim costs. The layoffs equal about 2 per cent of Citi's current workforce. Citi also plans to eliminate 3 to 5 per cent of expenses each year.

"As a global company, we've been working very hard at connecting the emerging markets with each other. China is at the center of that, as one of the fastest growing economies in the world and one of our fastest growing businesses," Pandit said.

“The ‘China-Canada Natural Resource Fund' demonstrates the importance of Canadian financial markets in the development of resource companies and the continued expansion of Chinese participation in natural resource projects around the world,” said Paul Reynolds, president and CEO of Canaccord Financial Inc.

The fund aimed at investing in both public and private natural resource and energy companies or projects in Canada, and in companies that are listed, or have the potential to list on Canadian stock exchanges.

Investors will primarily come from Chinese and foreign individuals, institutions as well as sovereign wealth funds.

The investment amount of a project will be between $1 million and $100 million and the investment period will be six to seven years.

Hainan Rendez-Vous, the Hong Kong-based company's annual event in coastal Sanya which drew some 15,000 visitors last year, is scheduled for April 5-8. The new Tianjin show is scheduled for September 6-9, and is expected to draw about 5000 visitors.

"As the nearest beach city to Beijing, I think Tianjin will be a very successful weekend boating destination," said Delphine Lignieres, chief executive officer of China Rendez-Vous.

She said the Tianjin show will target wealthy consumers in North China, which has the country's highest concentration of multimillionaires. There were 170,000 multimillionaires living in Beijing in 2011, 17.7 percent of the nation's total, according to the Hurun Report.

As many as 130 yachts, including jumbo models longer than 50 meters, and 21 private aircraft have been confirmed for the show at Sanya. The exhibitors include ten Chinese boatyards.

"We are happy to see more and more Chinese brands attending our events," Lignieres said.

The Tianjin event will include a boating lifestyle show, a classic car rally, and a beach polo match. The number of exhibits for the Tianjin show has not been announced.

The report on city development, released on Thursday by the Social Sciences Academic Press (China), said that such phenomena are rooted in imbalances between rapidly swelling populations and scarce urban resources.

In the coming period, China's big cities will suffer a concentrated outbreak of urban diseases, which will become the key hidden danger affecting their stability, it said.

There is no time to delay putting mechanisms in place to cope, the report urged.

Urban diseases involve adverse affects generated when there is huge disparity between an urban center's resources and its social needs at crucial points in its development, and the functions of various overloaded sectors are thrown into disarray, it said.

In particular, the report cited a lack of provident city planning giving rise to such problems as traffic congestion and pollution.

China's rapid urbanization in recent years has changed the population structure of the traditionally agricultural country, it pointed out.

China's urbanites outnumbered rural residents by the end of 2011, with 690.79 million, or 51.27 percent of the total population, living in cities, according to numbers from the National Bureau of Statistics.

At the same time, citizens are swarming into central cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, escalating their resource strain, according to the report.

The severe drought has left more than 1.44 million people and 827,000 cattle short of drinking water, and 2.35 million mu (156,666 hectares) of crops have also been affected, said the province's flood control and drought relief headquarters.

According to the provincial meteorological observatory, the eastern and northwestern parts of Yunnan will receive some precipitation during the first half of February, while the dry weather will endure for the rest of the province.

The central government has tapped a special 130-million-yuan ($20.6 million) fund to combat the drought, and the provincial government has been encouraging the residents to restrict water usage.

Yunnan is suffering from its lowest amount of rainfall since 2009.

The financial aid is part of a poverty-relief program initiated in 2010 to aid returned overseas Chinese, whose ancestors emigrated to other countries, according to a document jointly released by the provincial Department of Finance and the Guangdong Overseas Chinese Affairs Office.

Under the program, the government will raise 7 million yuan each year, which will also be used for grants to college students from destitute overseas Chinese families, and for temporary financial aid to those who had suffered from illness, natural disasters or other accidents.

More than 100,000 returned overseas Chinese currently live in Guangdong.

Traffic on the highway, which links the Tibet and Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous regions, resumed on Thursday following a rescue operation conducted by armed police, according to Zheng Jinshui, a police officer in charge of the rescue.

Continuous snowfall and temperatures as low as negative 30 degrees Celsius didn't stop the rescuers, who have cleared snow from a total 95 km of highway in Ngari prefecture, according to Zheng.

The Xinjiang-Tibet Highway is a major transport route linking Tibet to other parts of the country.

"Although the abduction of Chinese workers by Sudanese anti-government forces was an isolated incident, it harmed their physical and mental health and caused wicked effects," Liu told a regular press conference.

China firmly opposed the abduction, Liu said, noting that the abduction of civilians for political purposes is condemned by the international community as a whole.

Chinese enterprises have made positive contributions to the economic and social development of African countries and benefited their people in recent years, said the spokesman.

A camp of a Chinese company operating at a road construction site near Sudan's Al-Abbasiya Tagali town in the volatile South Kordofan state was attacked by a group of gunmen belonging to the Sudan People's Liberation Movement north sector on January 28.

In the camp at the time were a total of 47 Chinese, 29 of whom were abducted by the assailants while the other 18 managed to flee. Among the latter, 17 were later found by the Sudanese army and transferred to a safe place, and one was confirmed dead after having been missing for days.

The 29 workers were released on Tuesday and arrived in Beijing on Thursday afternoon.

Speaking at a national videoconference in Beijing, Xu said the country faces a major challenge in meeting the soaring demand for minerals and energy, with peak demand for energy expected to come between 2025 to 2035.

China's dependency on foreign sources for energy and many minerals threatens the country's security, Xu said.

Exploration and development of gas hydrates, also called flammable ice, and natural gas produced from shale will be crucial in the coming decade, he added.

About 11 key minerals present a high risk of severe shortage, Du Ying, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, told the conference.

China has discovered 172 varieties of minerals, 159 of them with proven reserves; of these, 45 are considered key minerals.

Chen offered his advice during a group discussion of Jiangsu provincial people's congress and political consultative conference. He said his proposal will also be presented during the two national conferences in March.

"Printing famous quotes by Confucius is printing the cultural essence of the Chinese nation," said Chen, a member of the provincial political consultative conference.

The philanthropist suggested printing positive remarks that promote patriotism, harmony and environmental protection on the RMB notes, which could be used as a kind of cultural carrier.

Chen, head of the Jiangsu-based Huangpu Recycling Resources Co, continues make direct donations in a high-profile fashion.

The curriculum offers 240 classes in total and includes art, literature and etiquette. The first session began three months ago and received 35 students. The second session has received more than 10 students, whose identities Tsinghua has refused to reveal.

The teaching staff includes several renowned professors. While some envy the students for this golden opportunity to interact with the staff, some express doubt over the intention of such a project comparing it with previous classes offered by other institutions that intended to help women marry well.

The mudslides in Yongjing county, Gansu province, Feb 8, 2012. Huge mudslides occurred on Tuesday afternoon in Yongjing county, covering 120,000 cubic meters of land and pushing two cars into the Yellow River. The number of victims is still uncertain. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]  

Rescuers search for the drowned vehicles in Yongjing county, Gansu province, Feb 8, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Rescuers search the river for the missing cars in Yongjing county, Gansu province, Feb 8, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

One of the badly damaged cars is salvaged from the river in Yongjing county, Gansu province, Feb 8, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Sources with the State Council's Food Safety Committee said on Thursday that a total of 286 people in more than 5,200 food safety cases last year were handed sentences, including life imprisonment and suspended death penalties.

Law enforcement authorities closed more than 5,000 enterprises involved in crimes that jeopardized food safety, and also gave administrative punishments to government officials for misconduct relating to the cases.

Health Minister Chen Zhu admitted during an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Wednesday that China's food safety standards are in urgent need of improvement amid a spate of food safety scandals.

Food safety has become one of the biggest issues of concern for Chinese people since various scandals, such as tainted infant formula and cooking oil collected from sewers, were exposed by the media.

Chen said the total number of national food standards, local standards and food-producing industrial standards has topped 5,000. Among them, many overlap or contradict each other, he added, pointing to the motivation behind the Ministry of Health's announcement last month that it will overhaul and streamline the current food standards list.

Chen noted the deficiency of some vital assessment measures, such as the lack of processes to ensure the standard of food packaging.

According to Chen, some current food standards have become outdated, calling for further efforts to implement new standards.

The Ministry of Health issued a draft on revised food standards last month to solicit public opinion up to the end of February.

The minister said the lag of research on national food standards and the country's fledgling risk evaluation system hindered the mapping of national food standards.

Chen also attributed the falling-behind to the shortage of professional technical management organs.

The minister emphasized the importance of transparency in the forming of new standards, encouraging civilians, lawyers and experts to participate in the process.

The ministry will report the new food safety standards to the World Health Organization, Chen added.

Vice-Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday called for strict and harsh punishments in cases of food safety violation. Speaking at a plenary meeting of the food safety commission under the State Council, or China's cabinet, he urged strengthened supervision of the food industry.

The 29 abducted Chinese workers who were freed by Sudanese anti-government forces arrive in Beijing, Feb 9, 2012. They took a commercial flight from the Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua]

The 29 abducted Chinese workers who were freed by Sudanese anti-government forces arrive in Beijing, Feb 9, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

The 29 abducted Chinese workers who were freed by Sudanese anti-government forces arrive in Beijing, Feb 9, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

The 29 abducted Chinese workers who were freed by Sudanese anti-government forces arrive in Beijing, Feb 9, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Senior citizens nap on armchairs at a daycare center for the elderly in Yugu village of Jing'an District in Shanghai on Feb 9, 2012. Such centers for the elderly, located in communities, providing meals, medical services and bathrooms, are getting more popular in Shanghai, as young people become busier with work and cannot take care of their parents during the day. At present, there are more than 300 such daycare centers in Shanghai, and 20 new centers will be built this year. [Photo/CFP]

Lunch is served at a daycare center for the elderly in Yugu village of Jing'an District in Shanghai on Feb 9, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

Senior citizens at a daycare center use computers in Yugu village of Jing'an District in Shanghai on Feb 9, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

Senior citizens talk with each other while reading newspapers at a daycare center for the elderly in Yugu village of Jing'an District in Shanghai on Feb 9, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

Senior citizens take naps on armchairs at a daycare center in Yugu village of Jing'an District in Shanghai on Feb 9, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

Exercise is part of the program at a daycare center for the elderly in Yugu village of Jing'an District in Shanghai on Feb 9, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

"It was inconvenient for the reconciliation of both parties in Changsha, Central China's Hunan province, because of the far distance and the Spring Festival peak travel season," said Li Bo, the presiding judge.

The court was able to communicate with both parties, and declared the network audio, video and texts as valid court trial records.

"The online video way of mediation helped us save our time and cost, and I have saved 3,000 yuan in travel expenditure," said the plaintiff, surnamed Zhang.

They took a commercial flight to fly from the Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Beijing.

"We will target serious violent crimes in order to strengthen public security and maintain social order and overall stability,” vice-minister Huang Ming said on Wednesday.

The special action to control firearms and explosives will continue until November, Huang said.

"During the action, we will investigate a number of gun or explosive-related cases, seize illegal guns and explosives, arrest criminal suspects, and wipe out criminal networks which traffic in illegally manufactured guns and explosives,” he said.

The museum will aim to popularize knowledge of archaeology among common people and diversify China's museum types, said Zhao Rong, director of the provincial cultural relics bureau, at a provincial meeting attended by cultural relics officials.

The museum is also likely to exhibit the process of archaeological excavation, archaeology technology, as well as ideas about archaeology, according to Wang Weilin, director of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology.

The museum will consist of four major sections including a specimen exhibition area, archaeological materials showroom, public participation area, and culture industry area, Wang said.

The museum is designed to cover 10 hectares in Qujiang, a southeastern district of Xi'an.

The police will reinforce patrols in the downtown areas, bridges or underground passages and train stations, and take samples of blood from homeless children.

The report said the police will work with the civil affair department to help the children return home.

The "Peaceful Chongqing" campaign, launched in 2009, decisively prioritized fights against local Mafia-style gangs in order to build a city of peace, the Chongqing Daily reported.

Back then, Chongqing was plagued with a cocktail of crimes of guns, drugs, prostitution, and gambling, the paper said, adding that about 6,200 crime fugitives were on the run while 700,000 cases languished in the police offices since Chongqing was established as a municipality in 1997.

The ensuing anti-crime campaign, however, has busted more than 500 gangs and arrested approximately 5,700 people, about 35 percent of whom had stood trials so far, the paper said. The campaign also led to the downfall of 77 officials who served as gangs' protectors including a veteran lawman who held long time senior positions in both the city's police and judicial departments.

The newspaper reported the progress of police work in the past few years, indicated by the unanimous declines in traffic accidents, street crimes, deadly fires, and work safety accidents.

By the end of 2011, nearly 97 percent of Chongqing residents said they "had a sense of safety" and "no longer feared going out, " the paper said, quoting a senior Chinese leader in charge of law enforcement as praising that the campaign has brought fortunes for the city's 32 million residents.

It also quoted several Chongqing residents elaborating their personal stories and praises on the improving stability and social harmony.

"Chongqing is now considered safest city in China. A peaceful Chongqing is a happy home for everyone," the report concluded.

Liu Guizhou was accused of stealing 28 jade articles from an antique store at Beijing's Panjiayuan Flea Market and nearby Beijing Antique City last year.

After Liu was arrested last July, only six of the 28 stolen articles were recovered by police, and they were appraised at 2.31 million yuan ($367,000). The worth of the remaining 22 articles was not known.

Liu, from North China's Hebei province, adopted an orphaned girl after the magnitude-8 Wenchuan earthquake in 2008.

However, the girl's health was not good, and "they spent a lot of money on her medical care," according to Liu's wife. She told the Beijing Times that her husband rejected suggestions to send the girl to another family because he was unwilling to part with his adopted daughter.

Liu Guizhou told the court that in addition to the girl's large medical expenses, he also had to pay tuition fees for his own son, who was studying at the renowned Peking University. He claimed that it was under this double burden that he was forced to steal to support his family.

The prosecutor suggested that the court take Liu's "doing good deeds" into consideration when it hands down his sentence, the newspaper reported.

The number of mainland mothers-to-be who crossed the border and went to emergency wards has decreased from 40 a week to about 10 since last month, when the authority took measures to discourage non-local women from giving birth in the city, said York Chow, Hong Kong's secretary for Food & Health.

Babies born to mainland mothers in Hong Kong totaled 32,000 in 2010, accounting for about 40 percent of all births in Hong Kong.

The 328-meter-tall Long Wish Hotel International in Huaxi in East China's Jiangsu province cost 3 billion yuan ($470 million) to build collected from more than 200 families in the village and local committee.

It boasts more than 800 guest rooms and has a huge banquet hall which can hold over 2,000 people. It has become one of the biggest independent hotels in China since it started operation in Oct 2011.

The hotel's Chief Financial Officer Li Shengnan displayed a balance sheet to a reporter, showing the turnover for Dec 9 as 1,490,000 yuan which contains guest room income of 99,700 yuan, food and beverage revenue of 280,000 yuan, and tourism receipts 210,000 yuan.

While the costs are also recorded as 970,000 yuan including 420,000 yuan depreciation cost and 198,000 yuan labor cost as well as 150,000 yuan operation cost.

"So the daily profit is 520,000 yuan," Li said, 520,000 yuan profit is only an average one. The hotel sometimes gains revenue of more than two millions a day and always at least 400,000 yuan.

Vice Chief of Huaxi village Zhou Li told the reporter "The village committee plans to recover the hotel's cost in three to five years which is achievable according to present situation." She further said there are around 2 million sightseeing visitors to Huaxi village, who have to buy 260 yuan gate tickets. The annual tourism revenue is four to five hundred million yuan (about $63.5 million to $79.4 million).

Two men, including a renowned playwright, and a woman died at the scene, confirmed by the city's traffic bureau on Tuesday afternoon.

Liu Chang, the driver and student at Sichuan Normal University, was driving a Toyota SUV while drunk on Fengxi road at 1:00 am, when he knocked down the three pedestrians. Sobriety tests showed he had 149.36 mg of alcohol for 100 ml of blood, well above China's 80mg threshold of drunk driving. He was also injured in the accident and was receiving medical treatment at a hospital under police supervision. Police said Liu was also speeding.

Two other people were in the car, both badly intoxicated, one at 153mg and the other at 289.89mg.

The newspaper revealed that Liu's father is a judge at Xiangshan District People's Court in the city.

Yang Geping, 56, one of the victims, is the country's leading Gui opera (a type of Guangxi opera) dramatist. He's known for his work Da Ru Huan Xiang (A Famous Scholar Returns Home).

Squeezed by a deteriorating export environment and the government campaign to rein in the property market, the country's economic growth will continue to fall steadily during the first quarter, the State Information Center said in a statement.

The center's growth forecast was down from 8.9 percent in the fourth quarter, and 9.2 percent for the entire year of 2011.

Weakening demand from Western countries and slower growth in China's fixed-asset investments will help ease domestic price pressures, pushing the country's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, down to 3.5 percent for the January-March period, the statement said.

The center suggested that the government should fine-tune its macroeconomic policies in a timely manner, ensure funds for projects under construction, continue support for small and micro-sized enterprises and strengthen liquidity management.

The government should also increase the supply of affordable housing by giving priority to land supply for such projects and encouraging banks to issue more loans to the projects, according to the statement.

Wu Ping, deputy head of China Marine Surveillance under the State Oceanic Administration, made the announcement at a patrol vessel contract-signing ceremony held in north China's Tianjin Municipality.

At the ceremony, the agency's Tianjin division contracted CSSC Guangzhou Huangpu Shipbuilding Co Ltd to build a 1,500-tonne patrol vessel, and a local shipbuilder in Tianjin to build two 600-tonne patrol vessels.

Zhong Jian, chairman of the board of CSSC, said the 1,500-tonne vessel with a hull length of 100 meters will be the largest of its kind used by China's provincial-level marine surveillance corps.

The three vessels are due for delivery in 16 months.

China has 32,000 km of coastline. In 2010, the government began to establish provincial-level marine patrol fleets to tighten marine security.

China's 2010 Ocean Development Report said the country's marine rights and interests face a complicated situation and safety threats, including terrorism, disputes over maritime resources and sovereignty, and sea delimitation.

The local government will roll out multiple measures to lower the city's readings of PM2.5, fine particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 micrometers in size, by nearly 30 percent by 2020, reported Thursday's Beijing Morning Post, quoting the local government plan.

According to the plan, governments and institutions at the municipal level will be required to stop using some vehicles when air pollution is heavy. Some factory productions and construction site operations will also be halted in such weather.

Automobile exhaust has been blamed as the biggest source of air pollution in the Chinese capital.

The survey, conducted online by the China Youth Daily Social Investigation Center on 7,012 people, showed that 88 percent of the participants considered reuniting with family to be the most important part of the festival.

Xu Jianguo, a teacher in Guilin Lingchuan Middle School, said that some Lunar New Year traditions in his hometown are disappearing.

"The atmosphere was not as heated as before, as the group countdown and other activities have disappeared," Xu said. "Chinese people visit seniors and friends during the holiday, which has tightly reinforced our ties."

According to the survey, 78.6 percent of respondents see the festival as an opportunity to visit relatives as many people live far from their hometowns, and 54.1 percent believed that good traditions, such as respecting elders, are reflected during the holiday.

Wan Jianzhong, a professor with Beijing Normal University, said that positive Lunar New Year traditions, including visiting the elderly, holding family get-togethers and setting off firecrackers, have mostly been preserved, but some others are disappearing.

"During the Spring Festival, people working outside their hometowns hurry to get home and reunite with their families. This causes a great national migration, because the tradition of family get-togethers on Chinese New Year's Eve is rooted in the hearts of the Chinese," Wan said.

Wan suggested that the government, scholars and social elite should try to create better conditions for citizens, like a more comfortable way to travel home.

Moreover, more traditional activities could be carried out in communities, Wan added.

Officials should limit their speeches to under an hour at key meetings and less than 30 minute in less important meetings, said Wan Qingliang, secretary of the CPC Guangzhou municipal committee at the panel discussion, the Guangzhou Daily reported.

"Officials should refrain from dragging a meeting on for too long and today I set an example myself by finishing my speech at 58 minutes," Wan said on Wednesday.

Wan's proposal has caused much discussion.

"In many cases, we discuss issues in a bored and tired state due to those lengthy speeches and there isn't much time left to make decisions," said Tang Jinhua, head of the Guangzhou Municipal Agriculture Bureau.

Tang also proposed to reduce the amount of unnecessary paperwork. "Some documents were not needed at all and we just throw them away after reading the titles," Tang said.

The plenary session runs from Wednesday to Thursday during which Wan has delivered a work report on behalf of the standing committee of the CPC Guangzhou municipal committee.

After visiting the Langfang Home for Planners and Architects in Langfang city of North China's Hebei province, Harper came to Yiwanju Old Beijing Noodles to have lunch.

Founded in 1995, the restaurant is renowned for serving up Beijing cuisine, especially Zha Jiang Mian, a kind of fried sauce noodle popular in northern China.

Canadian entertainer and goodwill ambassador to China Dashan (2nd R, front) introduces Beijing local food to Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper (L, front) and his wife Laureen Harper (2nd L, front) during lunch in a local noodle restaurant in Beijing on Thursday. [Photo by Zhang Yunbi/chinadaily.com.cn]

Joining the prime minister was his countryman Dashan (Mark Rowswell), who is popular on entertainment shows in China and was recently named a goodwill ambassador to China.

Jiang Lanying, a model waitress at the restaurant, recommended some dishes, introducing the ingredients and flavor of each.

With the help of Dashan, Harper ordered some traditional cuisine popular among visitors to China: Kung Pao Chicken (Spicy diced chicken with peanuts), red bean cakes, Chinese cabbage with mustard, Aiwowo (Steamed Rice Cakes with Sweet Stuffing). The Harper couple also had two bowls of fried soy sauce noodles.

During the meal, the prime minister enjoyed a Peking Opera performance along with other diners at the restaurant. A 72-year-old diner said he never expected to see a foreign leader at a snack restaurant.

Dashan told China Daily that the prime minister wanted a chance to interact with ordinary people and "savor distinctive Chinese culture," and this restaurant would help Harper learn about Beijing's food culture.

The Canadian prime minister arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a four-day visit and will continue his China tour, visiting Chongqing municipality in Southwest China and Guangzhou city in South China after leaving Beijing.

A seafood restaurant was fined 500,000 yuan ($80,000) for charging customers 9,764 yuan for a seven-course meal during last month's Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, said officials with the industry and commerce bureau of the city of Sanya, a tropical tourism destination in China's southernmost Hainan province.

The bureau was prompted into action after the restaurant bill was posted on a popular microblogging site, stirring widespread outrage.

Authorities also revoked the license of another seafood restaurant which was found to have deceived customers by exaggerating the names of ordinary seafood items on its menu in order to raise prices.

Over the next ten years, China plans to invest 352 billion yuan in making its southernmost tropical island province of Hainan into a top international tourist destination by 2020.

But critics say that while much of the money is for infrastructure, more needs to be done to improve services, like hospitality, as well as the island's credibility.

Deputy Mayor of Sanya Zhang Yun said the city has launched an intensive three-month crackdown on price-gouging in the seafood market.

Zhang said authorities have "zero tolerance" for fraud, and will immediately shut down those guilty of fraudulent behavior.

Zhang Xuexian distributes water at Zhangjiacun village in Chuxiong Yi autonomous prefecture, Southwest China's Yunnan province, Feb 8, 2012. The village has been hit by drought for the third consecutive year, driving people to travel more than 10 kilometers to get water. Local governments said they are applying for relief money to help with the problem. [Photo/Xinhua]

Villagers wait for water distribution at Zhangjiacun village, Feb 8, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

Women carry water home, Feb 8, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

Villagers wait for water distribution at Zhangjiacun village, Feb 8, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

Su Hui, an official with China Automobile Dealers Association said the congestion charge will be for some categories of motor vehicle to travel at certain times on some busy roads and it aims to reduce congestion and guide citizens to buy and use cars properly.

Su also said the current measures in some cities like restricting car purchases, limiting line as well as increasing parking fees at rush hours on main roads are necessary to tackle the cities' traffic problems.

And through his series of comics, Chinese and foreign readers are getting a clearer understanding of the country.

"When I was young, I used to leave a brief note to my mother with my own cartoon image instead of words," the 57-year-old said.

"One morning I drew a little boy holding a bowl and my mom understood that I went out for breakfast."

He has parlayed that love of drawing into numerous books about China. One of them, Une vie chinoise 2: Le temps du parti, which he did in collaboration with French writer P. Otie, took home a couple of awards in France in 2010.

The book is part of his three-volume series The Life of a Chinese, which describes China's society through his eyes as he grows from boy to man.

In October 2011 he went to Paris for a book signing, where the series sold 300 sets in one morning. It is published in five languages, including French, German and Korean, and the English edition may be released in May.

At the signing, many people asked Li about the differences between the China in their minds and the China in his books.

"They believed that China was poor and the country's tremendous development confused them a lot. I felt the responsibility to tell them about the real China," he said.

Cartoonist Li Kunwu checks part of the sixth volume of Une vie chinoise in his studio in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province. Yang Wanli / China Daily

On the home front, Li's most well-known book is 18 Oddities to Savor My Homeland, a reflection of his travels in Yunnan and 18 peculiar customs he found there.

The native of Kunming in Yunnan province had been working as an art designer for a local newspaper.

In 1988, he spent most of his savings to buy a bike and took a trip around his southern province, turning what he saw into cartoon images.

"Few people rode to those remote areas at that time. The ethnic people were so curious about me and took me for a geological prospector because of my hat," he said.

"They didn't understand what I was looking for. Most people had never been to other towns, not to mention visiting Kunming."

"I told them I drew manhua (Chinese for cartoon, but with the same pronunciation as 'draw slowly'.) And they said 'you drew so quickly, not slow at all!'"

Local people judged a cartoon simply by whether it looks like the real image or not.

"But their honesty and simple sentiments moved me a lot and their thoughts as well as their lives also inspired me," he said.

In the following years, he visited many prefectures in the province and published several comic books about his own experiences.

In his 40-square-meter studio near his home, Li is making drafts of new books, continuing to tell the story of a Chinese man's life. The fourth and fifth volumes are finished, and a sixth is planned.

Li has kept the habit of getting up early that he developed in the army as a young man, and exercises daily.

He touches neither tobacco nor alcohol and never complains about a lack of inspiration. Letting nature take its course is his life philosophy.

But there are two things he can hardly let be - one is that the Chinese edition of The Life of a Chinese hasn't been published yet. The second is that the bike he rode for thousands of kilometers in Yunnan was stolen in 2005.

"It recorded the beginning and also the most unforgettable years of my career. It is a crude cross-country vehicle with a bumper and a shock-absorbing seat that I made myself," Li said with a deep sigh.

"I miss it so much."

Three men crawl on the ground while chained by a woman during a publicity stunt in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province, on Wednesday. The art majors called for respect for women by the performance. [Photo/CFP]

Two artists stage a performance to advocate respect for women, Feb 8, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

Performance artists stage a show on the street of Wuhan to advocate respect for women, Feb 8, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

Su Nan stood inside a Starbucks on Shanghai's bustling Huaihai Road and complained about the US coffee chain's recent price hike. "It's already expensive. How am I going to live?"

But the 26-year-old still joined a long line for a latte.

The world's biggest coffee chain raised the price of some products on Jan 31, due to what it said were rising operating costs. That brought Su's 16-ounce (about half a liter) "grande" cup to 30 yuan ($4.75) from 28 yuan.

Starbucks was already an expensive choice for regular Chinese customers such as Su, who earns about 7,000 yuan a month. One cup of cappuccino a day for a year would cost her 10,950 yuan - about one-eighth of her income.

Still, Su is better off than many others. China's per capita GDP last year was $5,184. It was $48,147 in the US.

Despite a huge gap in personal income, Starbucks has priced its products almost the same in China as in the US, if not higher, since it entered the Chinese market in 1999.

A customer is absorbed in thought at Starbucks in Sanlitun, Beijing, on Tuesday. Zou Hong / China Daily

It also raised prices recently in the US Northeast and Sunbelt, by an average of about 1 percent. In New York, a 12-ounce latte now sells for $2.85 and plain brewed coffee was $1.65. The price of a 16-ounce, "grande" cup of coffee is unchanged at $2.20 plus 20 cents in local tax.

But Chinese consumers, who traditionally drink tea and have little taste for coffee, seem not to mind paying a relatively higher price. They have become one of the engines of growth for Starbucks.

The company has become so popular in China that it opened its 500th store in October, in Beijing, and plans to triple the number by 2015. Globally, Starbucks had 17,003 stores in 58 countries as of Oct 2.

In China, it's expanding not just in the big and rich areas but also in so-called second-tier cities, where consumers have much less disposable income. In December, Starbucks announced it had entered five more Chinese cities, including Langfang in Hebei province, which can hardly be rated as second-tier. Annual per-capita GDP is just above $3,000.

Positioning move

Operating costs in China are much lower than in the US. So why do Starbucks and other American companies price their food and beverages higher in China? Two professors from Long Island University in New York offer explanations.

"From the marketing perspective, the price-setting reflects how the brand positions itself in the market," said T. Steven Chang, chair and professor of marketing and international business. "Therefore, cost is not the only factor considered by the company.

"Starbucks actually is selling their whole package, including the symbol of good taste and prestige, the Westernized atmosphere they created in each retail store, and high-quality coffee and food."

Thomas C. Webster, a professor of public administration and public economics, said, "Usually prices are set based on the conditions of the specific market. In the case of China, the market is probably not saturated with competitors, so if people want designer coffee - which many regard as a status symbol - they are willing to pay the higher price.

"If Starbucks starts making large profits," Webster said, "then you will see other competitors enter the market and that will drive the price down."

One Starbucks patron describes herself as a "heavy coffee user" although she drinks just one 16-ounce cup a day. The price doesn't really matter to her or most Chinese customers. Zou Hong / China Daily

'Not just coffee'

"The Starbucks brand continues to resonate with the Chinese consumer," John Culver, president of Starbucks China and Asia Pacific, said in an article on Starbucks' website. The Chinese market has become so important that he rates it as "our second home market outside of the United States".

Zou Deqiang, a professor studying consumer behavior at Fudan University, believes Chinese consumers are willing to pay "unreasonable" prices for a nontraditional beverage because they are buying more than just coffee.

"In China, Starbucks is not just coffee anymore," he said. "It represents a Western lifestyle. Some people in China want to live like people live in the developed countries so, to some extent, drinking a cup of coffee that people in the US drink helps them fulfill that dream."

A lot of people can't really tell good coffee from bad, Zou said, but that doesn't keep them out of Starbucks. If they hold paper cups with the Starbucks logo, it gives them the illusion that they live better than those who don't drink Starbucks.

The foreign allure

Zou's comment sheds some light on some Chinese consumers' obsession for foreign brands, most notably Apple's iPhone and iPad.

The craze was illustrated by the failed introduction of the Apple iPhone 4S in Beijing in January. Apple didn't open its flagship store and a frustrated crowd, which had waited all night, threw eggs at the store's gleaming glass walls. Many in the crowd were migrant workers hired by scalpers, who wanted to take advantage of demand that far exceeds supply. Apple shifted sales online to prevent scalping.

A student in Henan province went to the extreme. Local media reported in June that he sold his kidney for about 20,000 yuan and used the money to buy an iPad and an iPhone.

The iPhone 4S introduction in China last month filled the plaza outside Apple's store in Sanlitun, Beijing. Many buyers were working for scalpers, and Apple moved the smartphone's sale to the Web. Lin Meng / for China Daily

The starting price of an Apple iPhone 4S is 4,988 yuan ($790) in China and $649 in the US, where average personal income is about eight times higher. The price hasn't deterred Chinese consumers, even though they have easy access to domestic smartphones that cost about half but have similar functions and looks.

Why does 16-year-old Huang Junyi like iPhone in particular? "Because it's cool.

"Everybody wants an iPhone in our class. There is no reason for it," the Shanghai student said. "It will be big news if anybody in class gets an iPhone 4S, and you will be mocked if you use some copycat domestic smartphone."

'Badge of wealth'

Wang Haizhong, a professor studying brand strategy at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, said the iPhone does have some advantages over other mobile phones but the advantages are not what Chinese consumers really want.

"It's mostly about vanity. Products like iPhone are seen as a badge of wealth and sophistication by young consumers in China. In fact, it's not just iPhone. Many Chinese consumers have a blind preference for brands in the US and other developed countries," he said.

Chinese consumers, he said, are highly brand-sensitive but price-insensitive, the opposite of consumers in developed countries. That explains why US consumers like cheap but high-quality Chinese products and Chinese consumers love US products.

Fudan University's Zou went deeper, saying that while consumers worldwide all tend to spend on vanity, the will is stronger in China, where "power distance" is longer.

Chinese people have a strong respect for power historically, he said, and it's hard for people to get power in society even if they are rich. So a lot of people turn to consuming to feel important and feel the dignity that is hard to obtain in daily life.

"For some consumers, no matter how their lives really are, they feel they are having a good time the moment they hold up a Starbucks coffee or show the latest version of iPhone to their friends," Zou said.

"In other words, they hope to go up a step in the social spectrum by consuming."

Free-market choice

Some scholars, including Qiu Baochang, head of the lawyers' group of the China Consumers' Association, feel that Chinese consumers should be educated to spend more rationally so no more students will want to sell their organs to buy anything. Campaigns, they believe, are urgently needed on campuses to help students understand the real value of money and what they really need.

But Zou disagreed. "There is no right or wrong about how people spend their money, as long as it's legal. In a free market, people have the right to buy what they like, no matter how irrational the choice is."

Write to gaochangxin@chinadaily.com.cn

The bilateral relations between China and Ireland have developed smoothly ever since the two countries signed the Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations on 22 June 1979 and exchanged ambassadors in 1980. This can be best reflected by frequent exchanges of high-level visit. Main visits to Ireland by the Chinese side include those by Minister of Health Cui Yueli in May 1983, Minister of Culture Zhu Muzhi in May 1985, Minister of Agriculture He Kang in July 1985, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Zheng Tuobin in May 1986, State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wu Xueqian in May 1986, Minister of Civil Affairs Doji Cering in October 1994, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Wu Yi in April 1995, Vice Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs Qian Qichen in October 1995 , Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee Tian Jiyun in March 1996, Vice Premier Li Lanqing in April 2000, Premier Zhu Rongji in September 2001, and Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee Ye Xuanping in October 2002, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing in March 2004, Premier Wen Jiaobao in May 2004.

Main visits to China by the Irish side include those by Minister for Foreign Affairs Gerald Collins in October 1982, Minister for Trade, Commerce and Tourism Frank Cluskey in May 1983, Minister for Health and Social Welfare Barry Desmond in September 1983, President Patrick J. Hillery in May 1988, Minister for Tourism and Trade Charlie McCreevy in April 1993, Attorney General Harry Whelehan in March 1994, Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Dick Spring in September 1994, Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources Michael Woods in November1997, Minister for Foreign Affairs David Andrews in February 1998, Ahern Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs Dermot Ahern in June 1998, Speaker Seamus Pattison in July 1998,Taoiseach Bertie September 1998, Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade, and Employment Mary Harney in September 2000, Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands Ms. Sile de Valera in January 2001, and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell in March 2003, President Mary McAleese in October 2003.

The first meeting between Chinese and Irish heads of governments after the establishment of diplomatic relations took place in November 1996 when Premier Li Peng met with Taoiseach John Bruton at the World Food Summit (Rome, 1996) and the second meeting as such was between Premier Zhu Rongji and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at London's Asia-Europe Summit Meeting in April 1998. During his visit to China in September 1998, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern met with President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji. Premier Zhu Rongji and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern met again during Asia-Europe Summit Meeting at Seoul in October 2000.

II. Economic and Trade Cooperation

Although small in size, the Sino-Irish bilateral trade volume has been growing very fast. Statistics from China's General Administration of Customs show that when the two countries established diplomatic relations, the trade volume was only US$6.90 million. Sino-Irish trade reached US$ 714 million in 2000, an increase of 70.0% over the previous year, of which China's export was US$ 336 million and import was US$ 377 million , increasing 58.3% and 82.1% respectively than that of the previous year. Ireland invested in a total of 34 projects in China by August 2000, with pledged investment of US$ 89.30 million and real input of US$ 19.28 million . China mainly exports to Ireland converter, spare parts of household appliances and radio communication equipments, clothes, medicine, ships, etc. China imports from Ireland refrigeration equipments, medicine, wool, spare parts of internal-combustion engine,major parts of integrated circuit and microelectronic products , etc. Until now, six sessions of the China-Ireland Joint Commission on Economic, Industrial, Scientific and Technological Cooperation have been held according to the Agreement between the Government of Ireland and the Government of the People's Republic of China on Economic, Industrial, Scientific and Technological Cooperation signed in 1986. The Irish Trade Board ( now Enterprise Ireland ) set up an office in Shanghai in early 1998.The two countries signed "Agreement on Civil Transport "in September, 1998,"Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation "in April,2000 and "Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation" in September, 2000.

III. Cultural and Educational Exchanges

China and Ireland signed the Agreement on Cultural Exchanges in 1985,whereas their cultural links are yet to be further strengthened.Inter-government educational exchanges between the two countries by farare limited with one scholarship exchanged each year. Nevertheless, recentyears have seen a growing number of Chinese students going to Ireland forstudy on a self-sponsored basis. By June 2000, the number of Chinese students in Ireland has reached 2,500. China and Ireland initiated the Agreement on Education Cooperation between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of Ireland in October 2000.

IV. Important Agreements and Documents

1. Agreement on Cultural Cooperation between the Government of thePeople's Republic of China and the Government of Ireland signed by China'sMinister of Culture, Mr. Zhu Muzhi and Ireland's Minister for ForeignAffairs, Mr. Peter Barry during Mr. Zhu's visit to Ireland in May 1985.

2. Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of Ireland on Economic, Industrial, Scientific and Technological Cooperation officially signed by the two countries during the visit to Ireland by China's Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation , Mr. Zheng Tuobin in May 1986.

3. Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of Ireland Relating to Civil Air Transport signed by China's Vice Minister of General Administration of Civil Aviation, Mr. Shen Yuankang and Ireland's Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr. Tom Kitt during the visit to China by the Irish Prime Minister, Mr. Bertie Ahern in September 1998.

4. Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of Ireland for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income officially signed by China's Ambassador to Ireland, Zhang Xiaokang and Ireland's Minister of State for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Tom Kitt during the visit to Ireland by Vice Premier Li Lanqing in April 2000.

5. Agreement on Scientific ane Technological Cooperation between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of Ireland signed by China's Minister for Science and Ireland's Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Enterprise, Trade, and Employment Mary Harney during Harney's visit to China in September 2000.

6. The Agreement on Education Cooperation between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of Ireland initiated by China's Amassador to Ireland and Ireland's Secretary General of the Department of Education and Science in Dublin in Octobor 2000.

BEIJING - Chinese and US leaders expect positive and practical results from Vice-President Xi Jinping's trip to the US next week.

The trip will seek to implement the important consensus reached by Chinese and US leaders to promote the establishment of a Sino-US cooperative partnership on the basis of mutual respect and reciprocity, Xi told US Vice-President Joe Biden on the telephone on Tuesday, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Xi said he is looking forward to conducting comprehensive and in-depth discussions with US officials on bilateral ties and other major issues to consolidate the consensus, and sending positive signals on strengthening Sino-US relations with Washington.

Xi told Biden that he hopes to reach a broad range of people in the US, to promote mutual understanding and deepen the friendship between the two countries.

Biden said that he and US President Barack Obama attach great importance to Xi's visit and expect that the two sides can have in-depth talks on bilateral relations and other major issues of common concern.

Sino-US ties are extremely significant not only for the two countries, but also for the peace and development of the whole world, Biden said.

The US State Department announced earlier that Xi's visit will include stops in California and Iowa.

Xi will meet Obama in Washington on Feb 14, the White House announced.

The US would like to get to know Xi in person and build positive relations with him, said Da Wei, an expert on US studies with China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

Xi will receive an unusual gift on his visit from the US side - an album of photographs taken during his father's only visit to the US in 1980, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said on its blog.

The photos show his father, former Vice-Premier Xi Zhongxun, leading a delegation of provincial leaders on a tour of New York, Washington, Iowa, Colorado, California and Hawaii, according to the National Committee on United States-China Relations, which organized that trip and will present the album.

One photo shows the elder Xi wearing a flower garland in Hawaii, the WSJ quoted Jan Berris, the committee's vice-president, who accompanied the delegation on the trip in 1980, as saying.

The committee's photographs will foster closer ties between Xi and the US, but the personal issue will have limited influence on the Sino-US ties in the future, analysts said.

"Washington often plays up foreign leaders' personal experiences with the US to build closer ties," said Da.

The photographs are the latest evidence of the relatively strong links between Xi's family and the West.

"Those links offered him a good opportunity to know the US in his early years," said Da.

"But the key issues for Sino-US ties remain cooperation and how to solve disputes between the two sides."

Short-term capital flows make exchange rate more volatile, posing new challenges for decision-makers in China and US

From July 2005 until December last year, China's renminbi appreciated steadily. The exchange rate then unexpectedly fell, hitting the bottom of the daily trading band set by the People's Bank of China for 11 sessions in a row. Though the renminbi has since returned to its previous trajectory of slow appreciation, the episode may have signaled a permanent change in the pattern of the exchange rate's movement.

As long as China was running a trade surplus and receiving net inflows of foreign direct investment, the renminbi remained under upward pressure. Short-term capital flows had little impact on the direction of the renminbi's exchange rate.

There were two reasons for this. First, thanks to an effective, albeit porous, capital-control regime in China, short-term "hot money", capital coming into China aimed at arbitrage, rent-seeking, and speculation, could not enter and then leave freely and swiftly. Second, short-term capital flows usually would strengthen rather than weaken upward pressure on the renminbi's exchange rate, because speculators, persuaded by China's gradual approach to revaluation, bet on appreciation.

So why, if China was still running a decent current-account surplus and a long-term capital surplus, did the renminbi suddenly depreciate, forcing the central bank to intervene, although not very vigorously, to prevent it from falling further?

Many economists outside of China have argued that the December depreciation resulted from betting by investors that Chinese policymakers, facing the prospect of a hard landing for the economy, would slow or halt currency appreciation. But if that were true, we would now be seeing significant long-term capital outflows and heavy selling of the renminbi for US dollars in China's foreign-exchange market.

We see neither reaction. More importantly, the renminbi's slow appreciation resumed fairly promptly after December's dip, while investors' bearish sentiments about China's economy have remained consistent.

In fact, the renminbi's sudden fall in December reflects China's liberalization of cross-border capital flows. That process began in April 2009, when China launched the pilot Renminbi Trade Settlement Scheme, which enables enterprises, especially larger ones, to channel their funds between the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. As a result, an offshore renminbi market, known as the CNH market, was created in Hong Kong alongside the onshore market, now dubbed the CNY market.

In contrast to the CNY market, the CNH is a free market. Given expectations of renminbi appreciation and a positive interest-rate spread between the mainland and Hong Kong, the renminbi had a higher value in dollar terms on the CNH market than on the CNY market. That difference led to active exchange-rate arbitrage by mainland importers and multinational firms - one form of capital inflows from Hong Kong to the mainland. Correspondingly, renminbi liabilities owed by mainland Chinese and multinationals increased, as did renminbi assets held by Hong Kong residents.

Exchange-rate arbitrage by mainland importers and multinationals creates upward pressure on the CNY market and downward pressure on the CNH market. In an economy with flexible interest and exchange rates, arbitrage eliminates the exchange-rate spread quickly. But, because China's exchange rate and interest rates are inflexible, the CNH-CNY spread persists, and arbitragers are able to reap fat profits at the economy's expense.

Last September, however, the financial conditions in Hong Kong changed suddenly. The liquidity shortage caused by the European sovereign debt crisis led developed countries' banks - especially European banks with exposure in Hong Kong - to withdraw their funds, taking US dollars with them. As a result, the CNH fell against the dollar. At the same time, the shortage of dollars had not yet affected the CNY, which remained relatively stable.

The CNH therefore became cheaper than the CNY. Consequently, mainland importers and multinationals stopped buying US dollars from the CNH market and returned to the CNY market. At the same time, mainland exporters stopped selling dollars in the CNY market and turned to the CNH market.

The dollar shortage created depreciation pressures on the CNY, which China's central bank declined to offset. The CNY was thus bound to fall, which it did last September.

Reverse arbitrage meant capital outflows from the mainland. Correspondingly, renminbi liabilities owed by mainlanders and multinationals decreased, as did renminbi assets held in Hong Kong. In fact, increases in financing costs and uncertainty about renminbi appreciation prompted a partial sell-off of renminbi assets by Hong Kong residents.

In short, because the Renminbi Trade Settlement Scheme made cross-border capital movements much easier, short-term flows have become a major factor in determining the renminbi's exchange rate. External shocks affect the offshore exchange rate first, and then feed through to the onshore exchange rate.

The renminbi will continue to appreciate in the near future, owing to strong economic fundamentals, but the inherent instability of short-term capital flows will make its exchange rate more volatile. This change is bound to pose new challenges for decision-makers in the United States and China, particularly as they engage in a fresh round of debate about China's exchange-rate policy.

The author is president of the China Society of World Economics and a former member of the monetary policy committee of the People's Bank of China. Project Syndicate

(China Daily 02/09/2012 page8)

Because this year will see a presidential election in the US and a new leadership will take over the helm in China, major breakthroughs in US-China relations are not likely during 2012. Nevertheless, the agenda for Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping's Feb 14-15 visit to Washington will be packed with discussion of important issues at a time when future developments regionally and globally are less predictable than usual.

This is a year of political change throughout Asia, with upcoming elections in the Hong Kong special administrative region, the Republic of Korea and Russia. An election could be held in Japan in 2012, too. In addition, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is experiencing a succession as Kim Jong-un assumes power after his father Kim Jong-il's sudden death in December. Never before have so many key countries in the region faced possible leadership changes during the same 12 months.

Inevitably, national leaders in all these countries are now especially focused on domestic developments and may become pricklier on international issues that have domestic resonance. Great uncertainties over what will happen in Europe and its potential knock-on effects on the global economy add to the questions about major outcomes during 2012.

Xi Jinping's visit takes place three months after US President Barack Obama's November trip to Honolulu and Asia. On that trip Obama affirmed the US' determination to maintain a leadership role in the region over the long term. This has sparked considerable discussions on the potential implications for US-China relations.

While in the US capital, Xi will meet not only with US Vice-President Joe Biden but also with President Obama and key Cabinet secretaries. These meetings will address serious issues from trade to bilateral investment to Iran and nuclear proliferation to security matters within Asia, among others. Each of these issues has both an immediate dimension that will be the focus of attention and the staying power to impact the long-term strategic relationship between the US and China.

Even with this long list of substantive issues, the most significant aspect of Xi's visit is one that is likely to be less visible - that it begins to lay the groundwork for personal mutual understanding between a member of next generation leadership and a US president who might remain in the White House until January 2017. This mutual understanding - the kind of personal stock taking that political leaders value highly - is especially necessary if the US and China are to address successfully the most serious problem dogging the future of their relations, distrust over each side's long-term intentions toward the other.

Some in China look at Obama's November 2011 trip to Asia and see evidence to bolster their suspicion that the US seeks to constrain or even disrupt China's rise. Some in the US look at China's economic and security policies, and see in them an approach that presages efforts to promote America's decline to assure China's rise.

A few hours of face-to-face meetings will not change these underlying suspicions. But they may permit the leaders on each side to begin to gain a personal feel for the sincerity, ways of thinking and genuine concerns of their counterparts. That is a necessary first step toward allaying deep concerns and building trust. Without some level of personal understanding, the chances of both sides' slipping into mutually reinforcing negative assumptions increase greatly.

Given the pressures of domestic politics in both countries, it is not realistic to expect concrete commitments on long-term, controversial issues to be concluded during Xi Jinping's visit. But to lay the groundwork for effective relations in 2013 and beyond, Vice President Xi and his White House hosts should allocate time specifically to discuss how to develop deeper dialogues than the two sides now have on the most critical issues that will strongly impact long-term relations if there is no mutual understanding on them. The two such key issues are:

First, what are the respective military deployments in Asia that will both permit China to protect its vital interests and allow the US to meet its existing security commitments to friends and allies in the region? Failure to increase understanding on this core issue risks mutual escalation in military deployments in the region, ultimately increasing costs and reducing security for both sides.

Second, how can both sides engage to reduce the chances of cyber conflict that escalates rapidly to the point where it produces major damage? Cyberspace is a relatively new domain that has rapidly moved to the center of US-China relations and is greatly damaging mutual trust. It will inevitably require a long time for discussions on this issue to mature. Given the risks, it is time to upgrade the dialogue on this issue.

In sum, this is a period of exceptional change in the Asia-Pacific region, and the US and China are the two most consequential players. They can manage their key short-term problems but need to do a lot of work to improve the chances of maintaining a constructive long-term relationship. Vice President Xi's visit can contribute significantly to laying the groundwork in terms of personal mutual understanding at the highest levels.

Finally, Xi's public appearances can create enduring popular images of him that can make it easier for him to manage US-China relations once he takes over the helm. I remember well Deng Xiaoping's trip to a rodeo in Texas in 1979. When Deng put on a "ten gallon" cowboy hat, he created an image that made him seem far more natural and understandable to the American people. Every media opportunity - especially those when Xi travels far from Washington to the American heartland of Iowa and west coast metropolis of Los Angeles - will be important.

The author is director of the John L. Thornton China Center, and a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy and the Global Economy and Development Programs at the Brookings Institution. He served as senior director for Asia on the National Security Council from 1998 to 2000.

(China Daily 02/09/2012 page9)

The ever-increasing number of Chinese tourists means that more and more countries are trying to simplify visa red tape.

A prime example of this occurred just last month. US President Barack Obama promised that procedures in China for non-immigrant visas will be much more efficient.

Travel services and destination countries are positioning themselves to cash in on the expected tourism surge.

Li Meng of China International Travel Service said that the company doubled the number of April-October air tickets it usually buys for China-US flights. This is the route's peak travel season.

Figures back the confident outlook. The number of Chinese visitors to the US has grown from nearly 400,000 in 2007 to more than 1 million in 2010, according to the China Tourism Academy.

Chinese companies benefit by providing travel services, but the numbers are also good for destination countries. Tourists and students bring in hard cash and in sluggish economic times, cash is king.

The United States is the most frequently cited "dream destination" for Chinese citizens, followed by France, according to research by the US Travel Association. However, more Chinese visited second-place France.

"A big reason has been the US visa system," the Travel Association's Siming Cao told China Daily in an email. "If you look at countries that have made their visa process simpler for Chinese citizens, they capture a larger share of outbound travel than the US."

As evidence, she said that 38 percent of Chinese international travelers visited Western Europe in 2010, compared with 13 percent for the US.

Visa applicants gather outside the US embassy in Beijing on Jan 30. Zou Hong / China Daily

Dun Jidong, a marketing manager with Ctrip, a leading online travel agency, said, "Many Chinese are scared away by the difficulty in filling out application forms printed in English and the inconvenience of personal interviews required for every applicant.

"Often an applicant has to stand in a line for nearly a day for the interview," Dun said. "More troublesome is that before the interview, the applicant has to wait a long, long time."

So many visa applications were submitted during the first half of 2010 and 2011 that applicants had to wait two to three months on average for the chance to interview, Dun said. That eliminated many travel plans with a short lead time.

The delay was compounded by the annual crush of applications for student visas from July through September.

For those who went through the whole process, many who answered a reporter's questions outside the US Embassy found it exhausting. One of them was Zhou Yan, a student from Shandong Normal University in East China.

She said she and her classmates had traveled more than 400 kilometers from Shandong to Beijing for an interview. "We waited for three hours, but the actual interview only took three minutes."

What's changing

The problem with the US visa system has been its capacity to handle the Chinese demand. US Ambassador Gary Locke has said China is the source of about 11 percent of all visa applications to the US, second only to Mexico.

The latest figures from the US State Department show that consular officers handled nearly 260,000 visa applications in China, an increase of 48 percent, in the last three months of 2011. Handling them better and quicker is the goal of policy changes.

The dragon dance produces smiles outside the It's a Small World ride at Disneyland during Spring Festival. About 1,000 Chinese mainlanders visited the California park on Jan 25. Hong Kong China News Agency

Charles Bennett, minister-counselor for consular affairs at the US Embassy, said earlier that 50 more American staff members would be deployed to the embassy and US consulates in China this year. More interview facilities will be built, and the embassy is considering streamlining the application process, allowing applicants to have their interviews as quickly as two days after applying.

In addition, some qualified travelers who previously were granted visas might be able to renew their visas without another interview, saving both time and money. The US hopes it will encourage these travelers to visit the US again, and meanwhile free resources to interview 100,000 more first-time Chinese travelers.

Bennett said the new policy will not loosen standards - "national security remains this administration's highest priority," the embassy's website says - but that the US expects to approve visas for nearly 90 percent of Chinese applicants this year.

Li of China International Travel said the company estimates an additional 80,000 to 100,000 tourist visas could be handled in Beijing and Shanghai combined this year.

What others do

Industry observers noted that the new US visa policy follows a global trend of adopting "Chinese-friendly" policies to boost tourism.

Japan, for instance, has relaxed its visa policy to Chinese tourists three times since 2009. Now, an applicant who lives in a big city and has a credit card can get a visa to Japan.

New Zealand last year reduced the number of documents it requires and raised the number of multiple-entry visas issued.

Spanish Tourism Minister Miguel Sebastian said at a business forum in Barcelona in July that Spain planned to ease visa requirements for Chinese nationals, encourage more direct flights between the two countries and open more tourist offices in China.

Germany, which like the US requires personal interviews of applicants, plans to simplify and speed its visa issuance this year, according to a Reuters report in December. However, the embassy told China Daily recently that no changes are expected soon.

Industry observers noted that all the new measures of developed countries stopped short of lowering the standards for issuing visas to mainland Chinese. However, policy changes do indicate that other countries are realizing the importance of the Chinese market, said Jiang Yiyi, director of China Tourism Academy's International Tourism Development Institute.

"We find that once a country relaxes its visa policy for Chinese tourists, it usually produces immediate results in the growth of visitor numbers."

After Japan eased its visa policy, she said, mainland tourists to Japan exceeded 1 million that year and reached 1.41 million the next.

The World Tourism Organization said global tourism grew 4.4 percent last year, but China's international travel increased 20 percent. Nearly 70 million mainlanders visited overseas destinations including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan; about 20 million visited other foreign destinations.

Big spenders welcome

According to the US Department of Commerce, Chinese tourists on average spend more than $6,000 per trip, compared with about $4,000 spent by all international travelers in the country.

More than 800,000 Chinese visitors contributed $5 billion to the US economy in 2010. Based on that, and a projected 135 percent increase in visitors, Chinese travelers would contribute $11.75 billion to the US economy in 2016.

A Beijinger who joined a tour group last year did his part. The man, who gave his name only as Qi, said every member of his group spent at least 20,000 yuan ($3,167) on top-brand clothes, shoes and bags. (Food and lodging were extra.)

Qi said he is thrifty and doesn't buy expensive clothes at home, but regretted having curbed his spending on the trip. "I wished I had bought more, because clothes and shoes of some brands are indeed cheaper in the US than in Beijing."

Yang Wen, 37, a human resources manager in Shanghai, said she plans to apply next month to visit the US in May. She said she spends hundreds of thousands of yuan on luxury goods every year while traveling abroad. People like her can help boost the gross domestic product in the US, she said.

Michele Rothstein, spokeswoman for Simon Property Group's premium outlets division, said in an email that the group is "pleased with the growth (in) visitors from China who have embraced our outlet centers as must-visit destinations. ... We look forward to initiatives that enable more people to come to the US."

Write the reporters at xindingding@chinadaily.com.cn, zhengyangpeng@chinadaily.com.cn and shiyingying@chinadaily.com.cn

Tour packages growing up

When the United States first allowed tour groups from China's mainland in 2008, cautious travel agents limited their packages to important sites on the East and West coasts and Hawaii - all in about two weeks.

Breathless, see-everything-famous trips were well suited for Chinese who might visit the US only once, especially in an immature market. Now, agencies are offering wider selections of travel options in light of planned improvements to the US visa application process in China and the expected leap in Chinese visitors to the US.

China International Travel Service, one of the largest agencies in Beijing, has begun selling more focused tours. They include shopping trips to both luxury stores in Beverly Hills and large outlets on the East Coast, and themed tours, such as one to national memorials and parks including Mount Rushmore.

Online travel service Ctrip.com said it will work to develop more US-bound group offerings this year. It plans to introduce new tours to Seattle and Florida.

However, Fei Lina from Shanghai Jinjiang International Travel said January and February are a low season for US trips, so it is not a good time to test US President Barack Obama's promise of a shortened and simplified visa procedure.

"Some say we need to wait until the second half of this year to see the real impact of the policy, and I think we need to wait until 2013 at least," she said.

Some agencies worry that expensive US-bound airfare and the lack of local tour guides could make tours to Europe or to islands such as Bali and Maldives during off-seasons appear more cost-effective.

Ge Jingwen, who works at SAL Tour in Shanghai, said, "It's never an easy thing to grab cheap US tickets. For example, you can get a 3,000 yuan ($475) flight to Europe when there's a discount, but any destination in the US costs you at least 5,000 to 6,000 yuan."

Li Meng with China International said that if the number of China-US flights does not increase, the prices of tickets will rise with demand. That would push up the prices of US-bound tour packages as well.

School also a draw

The US is attractive to Chinese students and their parents, not just tourists. The Institute of International Education reported that the number of Chinese studying abroad increased 23 percent last year, but those working toward undergraduate degrees in the US rose 43 percent.

EIC Group, an overseas study consultancy, said the appreciation of the renminbi against the dollar made their tuition and living expenses cheaper.

Li Nannan, a consultant with New Oriental education group, said a bachelor's degree in the US now costs at least 1.5 million yuan ($238,000) and a master's degree at least 1 million yuan.

Different from the past, when many Chinese students relied on scholarships, "an overwhelming majority of Chinese parents now pay for the tuition and living expenditure," she said.

That, and the fact foreign students generally pay much higher tuition than in-state students, makes these students welcome as income generators for US colleges and universities.

LHASA - The peak season has come for prayer, and Buddhists from ethnic Tibetan regions have been flocking to Lhasa since the start of winter, when they have the most free time from farming and animal husbandry.

On Tuesday, pilgrims crowded the square leading to Jokhang Temple, a popular destination for Tibetans in Lhasa, capital of Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region, to offer prayers. A long line moved slowly toward the entrance of the temple as white smoke from incense wafted through the doorway. The sound of people praying and vendors shouting filled the air.

"The number of visitors to Jokhang Temple has been increasing recently. The temple had about 8,000 visitors today," said Lhagba, a monk and director of the management committee of the temple.

Aside from Jokhang Temple, visitors also crowded some other religious sites, such as Ramoche Temple and Potala Palace, while traffic police were busy keeping order at road crossings.

Lhasa receives nearly a million Buddhists from the Tibet autonomous region and other areas with Tibetan populations, such as Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces, each winter, when farmers have the most free time, official statistics shows.

"I've come to Lhasa to pray almost every day since December with four others from my village," said Chonggyi, 51, a farmer in Yabda village near Lhasa. She arrives in the morning by bus, prays at temples, such as Jokhang Temple and Potala Palace, and returns home in the afternoon.

Chonggyi (right), a 51-year-old farmer in Yabda village near Lhasa, has come to Lhasa almost every day to pray in temples since December. In the morning, she and fellow villagers travel by bus to the city, and they return home in the afternoon. Dachiog / China Daily

"I don't have to worry about food or shelter as our life becomes better and better, so I offer prayers with my friends, and it feels good," she said.

For Shalo and 14 relatives and friends, who come from Gansu province, a chance to visit Lhasa and pray in Jokhang Temple is worth the arduous journey.

"We spent a day on the bus to get to Lanzhou, before taking a train for Lhasa. Although I was nearly exhausted, I feel satisfied now that I'm finally in Jokhang Temple fulfilling a long-held wish," he said.

Tsogyldorje arrived in Lhasa from Burang county with his family and prayed to the Sakyamuni Buddha in the Jokhang Temple after waiting for three hours in line. After praying, he could not find his 8-year-old son, Ngwangtsepel.

"I noticed a police station near the square outside the temple, so I asked them for help," he said.

Although police officers found the child within an hour, they're straining under the burden of dealing with so many visitors.

"Since the beginning of the winter the number of pilgrims has increased rapidly, and that has kept us very busy. We have to be on duty 24 hours a day to keep order and provide hot water, medicine, wheelchairs and fire extinguishers for prayers and visitors," said Zhu Jie, a police officer who helped search for the boy.

The sharp increase in the number of visitors has also put stress on the hotels and housing rentals. Statistics on Tuesday show there were 780 visitors in a community near Barkhor, a street near Jokhang Temple, while the number of the community's permanent residents was only 995.

WUHAN - A famous Buddhist temple in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, encourages people to send text messages rather than burn incense to say their prayers.

"This go-green initiative is the first of its kind among Buddhist temples in China. It helps reduce the size of crowds during peak seasons and lowers the risk of stampedes and fires," said Han Xue, a lay Buddhist who works at Guiyuan Temple in Wuhan, which has hundreds of thousands of visitors during Spring Festival.

Guiyuan Temple, built in 1658, is in an urban part of Hanyang district surrounded by residential blocks.

In the past two weeks, the crowds of visitors grew, peaking at 360,000 on Jan 27, the fifth day of the first month in China's lunar calendar, celebrated as the birthday of the God of Fortune, when people traditionally worship at temples and pray.

In 2010 during that celebration, 600,000 people went to the temple, and Wuhan authorities dispatched 4,000 police officers in case of fires, stampedes and traffic jams.

This year, although the ticket price had doubled from 10 yuan ($1.60) a person to 20 yuan during Spring Festival, masses of visitors kept pouring in.

Li Xiaobo, 31, came with his wife from Guizhou province to see relatives in Jingzhou, a city in Hubei about 220 km from Wuhan. They heard of Guiyuan Temple and wanted to see it for themselves.

The temple, in cooperation with the Hubei branch of China Mobile, a leading Chinese telecom operator, offers a service of blessings sent by text messaging.

Tens of thousands of people go to pray and burn incense at Yonghe Lama Temple in Beijing during Lantern Festival, which fell on Monday this year. Cui Meng / China Daily

A message with eight or fewer characters costs 3 yuan, and longer ones of up to 20 characters cost 10 yuan. Normally, text messages cost no more than 0.15 yuan.

The sender writes the text of the blessing and includes the cell phone number of the receiver. China Mobile forwards the blessing to the receiver.

From 8 am to 5 pm, the messages are shown on an LED board at the southwest corner of the temple. Monks later chant prayers for the senders and receivers.

More than 30,000 people have already tried the service - they have to be China Mobile subscribers with phone numbers in Hubei province.

Yang Guo, an employee at the Hubei branch of China Mobile who oversees the service, said more than 1,000 text messages were sent each day in the past two weeks, adding that the service will remain available after Spring Festival.

Yang Meiqin, 49, a business owner in Wuhan, received a blessing message from a friend. She liked the idea and went to the temple to learn how it works.

Chen Meng, 37, another Wuhan businesswoman, got a similar blessing from a friend who visited the temple on Friday.

Chen was moved by the gesture and said it showed religious circles are trying to stay in pace with modern China and appeal to younger generations.

But Li Jian, 28, who works at a design office in Wuhan, disapproves, saying the service taints the purity of Buddhism and detracts from the prayer, making it an impious act.

Zhang Tongyou, 63, a Beijing resident and Buddhist for more than 20 years, said temples should not charge money for displaying text messages.

"Other temples can do the same, free of charge, if it helps reduce the crowds during peak seasons," Zhang said.

Wei Chi, a lay Buddhist who works at Famen Temple, Fufeng county, 120 km west of Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, said temples should not seek to profit from people sending prayer messages.

According to Wei, nearly 60,000 people came to Famen Temple on Jan 23, Lunar New Year's Day. On that alone, visitors did not have to pay to enter. The rest of the year, tickets cost 120 yuan apiece.

The old Famen Temple could not have handled such a crowd. But after an expansion completed in May 2008, with investment from a company under the government of the Qujiang New Area of Xi'an, a square in the new Buddhism-themed tourist zone can hold 400,000 people, Wei said.

Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, can also handle huge crowds during holidays, according to a temple employee who declined to identify himself.

"Temples can decide for themselves whether they have the technical and financial resources to spread prayer and blessings by text messaging, and whether to charge for the service or offer it free.

"Lingyin Temple has the experience to manage the crowds and doesn't need to keep people at home sending text messages," he said.

BEIJING - A well-preserved nest of fossilized dinosaur eggs that was smuggled to the United States but returned to China may not be as valuable as first believed.

The 22 eggs are expected to clear customs at Beijing Capital International Airport this week and will be put on display at the Geological Museum of China.

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, the dinosaur eggs, believed to be at least 65 million years old, were unearthed in Guangdong province in 1984 and purchased by an American collector in 2003 from a source in Taiwan. They entered the US through Florida.

However, Chinese experts now question their value.

Zhao Zikui, leading dinosaur expert at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, believed the nest was probably faked and then sold outside China.

"Since the 1990s, a fascination for dinosaurs has swept across both China and the West, so dinosaur fossils, especially eggs, rose sharply in value," Zhao said.

"And making fake fossil eggs is simple, just using soil and fossilized eggshell fragments ."

In 2000, he said he saw farmers selling fossilized eggshell for between 100 and 120 yuan ($16 - 19) a kilogram.

According to Zhao, the farmers have been digging up actual fossil eggs and selling them for less than 10 yuan. The price rises to around 100 yuan when they reach Guangdong province or the place where they leave the country. After reaching Western countries, the price can increase tenfold.

Twenty-two dinosaur eggs were returned to China in December. The nest, dated 65 million years old, is believed to have been smuggled to the United States. Mao Jianjun / China News Service

"The most expensive fossil egg I have heard of was auctioned for more than $1 million, and is stored in a museum in the US," Zhao said.

"That one was really good. We can see clearly that half of the baby dinosaur had climbed out of the egg."

However, despite the brisk trade in fake eggs, experts believe that many genuine and valuable fossils have been smuggled out of the country and they vow to curb the illegal practice.

China has so far recovered more than 5,000 fossils, including an undisclosed number of dinosaur eggs from Australia, US, Canada and Italy between 2008 and 2010, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources.

During this period, Chinese customs uncovered six smuggling cases in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Tianjin and Beijing, involving more than 60 fossils, the ministry stated.

While no official estimates are available on the total number of dinosaur eggs being smuggled out of China, Zhao admitted the number was high.

"In the mid-1990s, we recovered more than 4,000 fossil eggs from a smuggler," he remembered.

"Last year, we set up a special committee with experts and officials from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the ministry and the customs department. Now we are carrying out an investigation into China's fossil reserves, and will launch a new project to create a conservation plan later this year."

Wang Lixia, a fossils expert with the Geological Museum of China, said they were trying every means to recover the country's lost fossils.

"It is easy to decide the value of gold but hard to tell the value of fossils, because they cannot be replaced," Wang said.

"In the past, we did not attach enough importance to our fossil reserves, and some fossils were smuggled from China. But now we are starting to value them."

Guan Fengjun, head of the geological department at the land and resources ministry, said the Chinese government had taken several measures to prevent the smuggling of fossil eggs.

Regulations state that people cannot dig for fossils inside a protected region without permission from the ministry, nor can they dig outside the regions without the permission of provincial authorities.

Also, protected fossils are not to leave the country except for use in scientific exchanges or exhibitions authorized by the Chinese government.

Wang said that in the future museums and protection areas would be established to safeguard fossils.

Is shell circle genuine?

BEIJING - When the dinosaur eggs fetched $419,750 at auction in Los Angeles in 2006, a group of experts inspected a picture of the nest online and concluded it must have been smuggled out of China.

They reported it to the Chinese government, which sought the return of the eggs and began a five-year investigation with the help of the US authorities and the auction house.

Dinosaur expert at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhao Zikui, suspects the nest was made from parts of fossil eggs taken from other nests.

"Based on the veins on the eggshells and their shape, the 22 fossil eggs are the kind commonly found in Guangdong, Jiangxi and Hunan provinces," he said.

Usually, dinosaur eggs are found in a circle with a diameter of no larger than 20 cm, he said. But with the auctioned nest, the circle is much larger.

Moreover, the larger ends of the eggs are normally arranged together, but the position of one egg in the returned nest has been reversed.

"In addition, since dinosaurs have two oviducts parallel to each other, they lay two eggs each time, and the eggs on the nest should be arranged in pairs, " Zhao said, adding that was not the case with this nest.

China raised its minimum wage by an average of 12.5 percent annually during the 2006-10 period, official figures showed.

The plan issued by the State Council stipulates that the minimum wage should be lifted to at least 40 percent of the average Chinese citizen's salary by 2015.

The proportion of the minimum wage to the average salary varies in different places, ranging from about 20 percent to 30 percent, according to Yang Yiyong, director of the social development research institute under the National Development and Reform Commission.

In Beijing, the minimum wage is 1,260 yuan ($200) a month, and in downtown Chongqing municipality, 870 yuan.

Liu Junsheng, a researcher with the labor and wage institute affiliated with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, said a continuous rise of the minimum wage would most benefit low-income workers.

In many places, including more-developed coastal regions, many enterprises, especially small-and medium-sized ones, do not have a complete wage distribution system and still set workers' wages at a level meeting or slightly higher than the minimum standards, he said.

"The minimum wage increase of more than 13 percent each year will help increase the money in workers' pockets and will also be conducive to an elevation in the level of their social security," said Liu.

China's social security system ensures that the higher salary an employee earns, the more social security funds will be deducted from one's salary, meaning a higher pension after retirement. But there are upper limits that vary in different places.

According to the five-year wage plan, the country will continue and further reform its income distribution mechanism and encourage enterprises to set up scheduled salary increases by promoting collective negotiation on wages.

The government plans to extend collective bargaining to cover 80 percent of corporate work units in the country by 2015. The figure was 50 percent at the end of 2010, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Liu Junsheng said most State-owned enterprises have their own mechanisms for awarding pay raises, but many small-and medium-sized firms still do not have trade unions, through which the country pushes enterprises to conduct collective bargaining.

For firms that employ no more than 10 workers, they could join local industrial associations and then they could sit down with industrial trade unions to negotiate on collective contracts, Liu said.

"Collective bargaining might be the most efficient way for workers to get a raise in pay," he said.

About 450,000 catering industry employees in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province, would benefit from a collective contract signed by members of a local labor union and their employers in May last year, in which they would receive a monthly minimum salary that is 30 percent higher than the minimum wage paid in the city and they would enjoy at least a 9 percent increase in their wages within a year.

The employment promotion blueprint also promises to make adjustments to income distribution in some industries to close the income gap.

Yang Yiyong said the average income in the industry with the highest-paid workers is about seven times higher than that of the industry with the least paid. In the United States, the gap is about 3.5 times, he said.

The primary task in evening out the distribution of income is to ensure that low-income workers' wages increase faster, Yang said. An increase of only 13 percent is not enough for them to catch up with others because people in all classes will have their wages increased each year, he said.

"High-income workers in monopoly industries should have their wage increases awarded at a much slower pace. More financial and fiscal policies should favor small-and medium-sized enterprises to leave room for them to raise workers' salaries," he said.

The plan also aims to create 45 million jobs from 2011 to 2015 and keep the registered urban unemployment rate under 5 percent for the next five years.

Almost 3,000 eggs were removed from a supermarket in the Panyu district of Guangzhou on Monday after a shopper complained the ones he had bought were fake.

Officers from the local industry and commerce bureau have sealed up the eggs in boxes and sent samples to the city branch of the provincial food quality supervision and inspection station.

The results are expected before the weekend.

"If it turns out the eggs were artificially made, the supermarket will be fined between 2,000 yuan ($317) and 50,000 yuan," said Liu Yuming, head of the food section at Panyu administration for industry and commerce.

Liu revealed that the batch of eggs that contained the suspect ones had come from two wholesale markets in the Baiyun district, Guangzhou.

Officers from Baiyun administration for industry and commerce carried out spot checks on 14 stores in the wholesale markets on Tuesday and have sent samples of the eggs in these stores to China National Analytical Center, Guangzhou.

Zou Yingqiang, head of the food inspection section at Baiyun administration for industry and commerce, added that the 14 stores had bought eggs from suppliers in Guangzhou and other provinces including Hunan, Hubei, Jilin, Liaoning and Chongqing municipality.

A local resident surnamed Guo bought the allegedly fake eggs from a supermarket called Jia De Fu on Jan 30. The next day, when his young child suffered a stomach upset after eating one of the eggs, Guo discovered that the boiled yolk was hard to chew or crumble.

According to Zhao Qiangzhong, an associate professor from the school of light industry and foods at South China University of Technology, the eggs Guo bought are likely to be fake, judging by the abnormal size and flexibility of the boiled yolk, which was like a rubber ball. The yolk is smaller than usual and it bounced on the floor three times, he claimed.

Zhao revealed that there are many ways to mix chemicals and make a bogus egg. For example, sodium alginate solution can be used to fake the egg whites and the yolk.

"Sodium alginate is edible but it certainly doesn't contain the nutrition of a real egg," said Zhao. "But if the egg is made from chemicals that are not edible, such as the material used in a bouncy ball, it will harm health."

However, Professor Yang Lin from South China Agricultural University said the eggs might not be artificially made.

"A high proportion of fried cotton seeds in chicken feed may also make a boiled yolk more elastic than usual," said Yang, an expert in animal feeds.

Yang revealed that in order to reduce costs, some farmers increase the proportion of fried cotton seeds in chicken feed from below 6 percent to over 10 percent because the seeds are cheaper than soybeans.

But the cotton seeds contain a toxic pigment called gossypol that can inhibit sperm production and has been used in experiments in male contraception.

"The free gossypol contained in fried cotton seeds has minor toxicity and may do harm to animals and human beings," Yang warned.

Meanwhile, Fan Zhihong, associate professor on nutrition and food safety from China Agricultural University, questions whether artificially producing eggs is profitable. For example, she said, it takes very refined techniques to create a rough surface with lots of tiny holes and fake an eggshell.

Fan also noted that a small hole in the eggshell can also lead to a hardboiled yolk being hard to chew, because the water had leaked from the hole.

In the past month, suspected fake eggs have been reported in other cities, including Leizhou in Guangdong province and Yantai in Shandong province.

About half of the Chinese Carbon Development Mechanism (CDM) projects are being renegotiated or terminated, according to estimates. No official figures are available.

China is the world's biggest carbon credit supplier. EU companies agreed to buy most of the credits to help them meet caps under the EU emissions trading scheme.

Industrialized countries can buy carbon credits from developing countries under the United Nations Carbon Development Mechanism. The carbon credits help developed nations meet their own emissions targets.

The UN, by Jan 9, issued 484 million carbon credits to Chinese CDM projects. Most involve hydro and wind power projects.

However, the international market in carbon credits has plunged in recent months, and defaults by European firms have surged, said Tang Renhu, general manager of Sino Carbon Innovation and Investment Co.

Many projects are being renegotiated, he said.

"Buyers and sellers were in the same boat when the carbon market was up", but the declining market has changed that, Tang said.

Risks facing Chinese sellers grew as the price of carbon credits fell from 25 euros ($33) a few years ago to record lows of around 4 euros.

The average agreed price was around 10 euros, industry insiders said.

"The buyers are looking for loopholes and are trying to terminate or renegotiate agreements," said an executive of a State-owned CDM developer under condition of anonymity.

A CDM consulting company has about 30 projects in its portfolio and about half are being renegotiated, a company source said.

"Obviously buyers want to renegotiate the prices to help them offset the downside risks in the carbon market," said another developer, who declined to be named.

The developer is facing renegotiation and default on two of his wind power projects.

Wind and small hydropower projects are dependent on emissions reduction revenues that make up 20 percent of their income, Tang said.

Investor confidence has been shaken, he said.

But not all CDM developers are experiencing turbulence.

Judy Fan, manager of the Beijing Tianqing Power International CDM Consulting Co, said most of the projects conducted by the company were performing smoothly.

"Fortunately most of our customers are big power companies or financial institutions, are financially strong and respect the spirit of the contract," she said.

Tianqing is one of the biggest CDM consulting companies in China with more than 200 projects in its portfolio. But some companies did ask to renegotiate prices in 2012, she added.

Zhou Yacheng, a lawyer with Zhong Lun Law Firm, said some Chinese companies failed to pay due diligence when signing the contracts and did not involve a lawyer.

The market is expected to rebound in two years. Carbon credits were one of the worst performing commodities in 2011 with prices plunging by about 70 percent.

Yang Fuqiang, a senior adviser on climate and energy policy with the Natural Resources Defense Council, a New York-based environmental group, said it's time for Chinese companies to transfer their focus from the slumping international carbon market to the domestic market.

China is set to unveil plans to impose controls on total energy consumption and that is closely linked to the country's greenhouse gas caps.

China has approved five cities and two provinces to launch carbon emissions trading markets on a pilot basis, probably in 2013.

The National Development and Reform Commission requested that the cities and provinces, including Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, set overall emissions control targets and establish a system for carbon trading.

"The European market faces increasing challenges due to sluggish economic growth and uncertainties in the international climate change negotiations," Yang said.

BEIJING - The Chinese Internet is abuzz over what many believe to be an inconspicuous illustration of three cartoon cats on the 100-yuan ($16) note, though officials from the central bank claim people's imaginations are getting the better of them.

Earlier this week, an online post said there is a design of three cartoon cats on the 100-yuan note beside the portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong.

The post soon became a hot Internet topic. By Wednesday, 28,000 related comments had already been posted on Sina Weibo, a popular Chinese micro-blogging service.

China has published five series of RMB since 1948. The currently circulated RMB note, which includes denominations up to 100 yuan, was put into use in 1999.

If you rotate the 100-yuan bill 90 degrees, you will find the cat-like prints next to Mao Zedong's portrait, according to the post.

"It indeed looks like three cats, one standing in the middle, the other two kneeling on both sides. That is funny. How is it that I have never noticed before?" said Liu Chen, 26, from Beijing.

An online post has claimed there are three cartoon cats on the 100-yuan note, but China's central bank denies this and says the prints are based on ancient lacquerware. Zhu Xingxin / China Daily

"I can only see the cat in the middle, and the kneeling cats on the sides are a little far-fetched," said Jian Biao, 26, also from Beijing.

On Tuesday, the People's Bank of China released a statement saying the prints are not cartoon cats. According to the bank, the patterns are based on lacquerware dating back to the Warring States Period (475 - 221 BC). But the meaning of the prints remains unclear.

"From the prints on the 100-yuan bill, it is hard to tell what is the exact meaning of the figure," said Zhang Tian'en, a researcher with the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archeology.

Zhang said he has not seen similar patterns in his studies of ancient lacquerware and bronzeware.

"The artistic concept looks a little like the State of Chu during the Warring States period, but it is different," Zhang said.

"And the figure on the RMB only includes an independent part of the ancient design. Without the entire design, it is hard to tell where it is from."

Li Xueqin, a historian and expert in ancient writing at Tsinghua University, said it is hard to ascertain what the illustration is because it is not completely clear.

"But one thing for sure is that the figure has no relation to cats at all."

Wang Xiaotian contributed to this story.

SHANGHAI - With the start of a new semester, the city's education departments are working to improve security in local schools and kindergartens.

The city's Yangpu district, which has the largest number of schools in the city, announced this week that it will integrate resources and allocate nearly 1,000 professional security personnel to its 188 middle and primary schools and 202 kindergartens this year.

"Schools and kindergartens have actually had security personnel before, but they were usually from several different companies, and they had varying levels of experience," Yao Wen, an official from the education department of Yangpu district, said on Wednesday.

"Besides, most of them are relatively old, usually between 50 and 60. This may make it difficult for them to protect the safety of a campus," she added. This year, the district decided to further improve the quality of security personnel by investing around 30 million yuan ($4.8 million) to hire a professional company, which was selected through public bidding, she said.

According to the plan, each school and kindergarten, both public and private, will have at least two security personnel, whose average age will be under 50. The management and training will be handled by a professional security company.

Meanwhile, salaries of security personnel were also raised from 1,300 yuan to 2,200 yuan per month.

"Low salary often leads to high turnover, which has been a headache for a long time," Yao said, adding the government hopes the wage hike will result in improved stability.

In the city's Xuhui district, around 400 security personnel received regular professional training before the new semester opened. The training included various aspects, such as firefighting knowledge and violence prevention.

Qian Shiyong, an official from Xuhui district's education bureau, said this training is held every semester to improve the responsibility and awareness of security staff.

All the security personnel should receive a qualification certificate before taking up the posts.

The city has taken great strides to ensure campus safety over the past years. In addition to equipping schools with alarms and monitoring systems, students were also taught first-aid knowledge as well as the danger of talking to strangers and how to react to fires.

At the beginning of the year, the city launched compulsory standards for safety management in elementary and secondary schools and kindergartens.

The standards, the first of their kind in the country, give a detailed description of safety obligations of campus personnel. It also makes clear that the principal of a school or kindergarten will be the first one responsible for the safety of schools and kindergartens.

"The city has always attached great importance to safety management in schools. The standards will give a specific guideline, under which schools and kindergartens can continually improve their work," said Yin Qinghou, deputy director of Shanghai municipal education commission.

BEIJING - China plans to forbid orphanages from giving children names that may prove discriminatory against them later in life.

Names to be banned would include those with a political connotation and those that reflect the place or nature in which the child becomes orphaned or abandoned, said an official from the Ministry of Civil Affairs this week.

"We don't want children who grow up in orphanages to carry labels that imply they are different from those who have parents," said Chen Lunan, children's welfare deputy director at the department of social welfare and charity promotion.

He added that the ministry is amending regulations on the management of child welfare institutions to ensure that only the 100 most common Chinese surnames are used for naming children. The new rules are expected to come into effect later this year, he said.

About 100,000 children with unidentified parents live in about 900 orphanages and children's homes nationwide, according to ministry statistics.

Li Jinju, a staff member from an orphanage in Central China's Henan province, said that all children taken into its care before 2010 were given the name Dang, which means Party in Chinese.

Children with growing difficulties have a happy time with the help of volunteers at Xuchang Social Welfare Institute, Henan province. Niu Shupei / for China Daily

"We used to think they were children of the Party because they had been taken care of thanks to the Party and the government," said Li. "However, some children grew up and felt uncomfortable that their name showed that they were raised in an orphanage and that their parents did not want them."

Guo Dangye, a 32-year-old resident of Datong city in Shanxi province, said her name reminded her daily that she was an "unwanted" child.

Guo was abandoned a few days after she was born without a right hand. A local orphanage took her in and the staff named her Dang Ye.

When she was adopted by a family surnamed Guo, they changed her name to Guo Dangye.

"A lot of people could not help digging up my past when they saw my name for the first time, and then they expressed sorrow or contempt, which made me really upset," said Guo, now a lecturer at Datong University.

Huang Fang, who works for a government-funded orphanage in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, said her organization in 2008 gave up the practice of naming abandoned children after the place where they were found.

"For example, if the child was found by police in Tianhe district and sent to our welfare home, the child would be surnamed Tian," she said.

Huang said her organization was already referring to the 100 most common Chinese surnames. All children enrolled in 2012 will be surnamed Zhao, she said.

Huang said she applauded the government's efforts to set restrictions on naming, recognizing the possible harm caused to those children's self-esteem by such special names as Dang or Guo, which means the Party or State in Chinese.

"This move shows the government is paying more attention to these children's psychological needs, which helps their development," said Zhang Zhirong, consultant to Half the Sky Foundation, a non-government organization that focuses on helping orphans.

Zhang also urged the government to improve the children's social involvement by placing more of them in standard education and job training programs.

"A panel of experts has been sent to investigate the water pollution and the result has been made public," said Jia Yunliang, deputy director of Zhenjiang's environmental protection bureau in Jiangsu province.

The bureau said a cargo ship from the Republic of Korea, which was docked in Zhenjiang last Thursday, leaked phenol into the Yangtze River on Thursday and Friday due to a faulty valve.

Phenol, also known as carbolic acid, is an organic compound that can irritate eyes and skin. Soluble in water, if absorbed in large amounts it can damage the liver and kidneys.

The leak is suspected to have caused a pungent smell in tap water over the past week.

The government of Zhenjiang - a city of 3 million people - clarified on Tuesday that the tap water is safe after the launch of an emergency mechanism, including the use of large amounts of activated carbon.

The government statement said that the phenol concentration in the city's water was far below the level that can cause damage to the human body.

Though water quality had returned to normal, the government of Zhenjiang said that water charges will be cut in half in February to compensate for the loss of local residents.

However, Xiao Yonghong, chief physician of the No 1 Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang University, said that the concentration of phenol could not be very low if the water's smell is pungent.

"Even if the concentration is low, there will still be a health threat to people if they drink the polluted water for a long time."

"The water quality test report should be verified by independent monitors," said Xiao.

"It would be irresponsible for local people if the local government just asked the local environmental protection bureau to investigate water quality."

The Yangtze River, China's longest, is the main source of water for many cities along its banks.

Bottled drinking water in neighboring cities, such as Nantong and Jiangyin, has sold out.

The environmental protection bureau of Shanghai also said that the city was ready to shut its main reservoir at the mouth of the Yangtze if abnormal levels of chemicals were detected, according to Reuters.

The maritime safety administration, the entry-exit inspection and quarantine bureau, and the environmental protection bureau of Jiangsu province are still investigating the pollution.

Sun spoke on Wednesday at the 2012 Diplomats Economic Forum, which had the theme "the global economic situation and Chinese enterprises' globalization".

Companies "from the manufacturing sector that enjoy industrial competitiveness" will lead the coming acquisition wave, Sun said.

Figures from the ministry show that in 2011, China's investment in the European Union surged 94.1 percent to $4.28 billion, compared with 1.8 percent growth in the nation's total outbound direct investment (ODI).

Sun said he was very optimistic about growth in 2012. "We have seen a good start. Probably it (growth) will be strong," Sun said.

Europe could be a driving force for China's ODI growth this year, he added.

The most recent major deal in Europe was initiated by the Chinese construction equipment maker Sany Heavy Industry Co Ltd, which announced it would pay 324 million euros ($426 million) to buy 90 percent of Putzmeister, Germany's largest concrete pump maker.

Lenovo Group exhibits products at the Berlin Exhibition Center. Ministry of Commerce officials say Chinese companies see opportunities to buy assets in Europe amid the debt crisis there, which has led to an economic slowdown and high unemployment. Ma Ning / Xinhua

With the nation having become a leading world manufacturer, many Chinese industries - including machinery and vehicles - have achieved global competitiveness, and it is an opportune time for them to venture into Europe, where many companies are starved for money, Sun said.

During the past year, as the European debt crisis escalated, there have been many high-level calls from the continent, including France and Germany, welcoming Chinese investment.

During a visit to China last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "Germany is a country that is open to all. We warmly welcome investment from China."

Premier Wen Jiabao said during Merkel's visit that China would consider how to get "more deeply involved" in resolving Europe's debt crisis.

"European nations now welcome Chinese investment and they are usually relaxed about transferring technology to Chinese companies. The general picture is comparatively favorable," Sun said.

The EU is China's largest trading partner and largest export market. The region is also a major source of high-technology transfers to Chinese companies.

Mei Xinyu, a senior researcher at the Ministry of Commerce's Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said: "We could see the debt crisis as (providing favorable) buying opportunities."

"European nations used to impose restrictions on Chinese investors, but they changed their stance and began to reach out during the past two years," he said.

Wealth funds have joined the wave of investment. China Investment Corp, the country's main sovereign wealth fund, said late last year that it planned to invest in obsolete infrastructure in the United Kingdom through partnerships.

The China-EU Summit is scheduled to be held next week, and high-level officials will discuss many topics, including how to strengthen bilateral investment.

During his meeting with Merkel last week, Wen said China expected all sorts of its companies could invest more in Germany. But Wen emphasized this didn't mean that China wanted to "buy Europe".

Fledgling stage

"The global economic gloom will push up Chinese investment abroad through mergers and acquisitions," said Sun.

By the end of 2011, China's cumulative ODI had reached $322 billion, and 70 percent of that sum had gone to the Asia-Pacific region.

China surpassed the United Kingdom and Japan as the fifth-largest investing nation worldwide in 2010.

"The growth momentum is robust, but China's ODI is still at a fledgling stage," said Sun.

"Chinese companies don't lack money, but they are eager to enhance their brands, improve their technology and expand their sales networks."

The situation has puzzled foreign users without Chinese ID cards.

"I asked the website staff members what I should do, but they didn't answer," said Jeremy Goldkorn, a weibo user from South Africa and CEO of Danwei consulting.

Goldkorn said he has been paying attention to this regulation for a long time, but is still confused. "I registered with my real name since I started using weibo and I remembered no one asked me to provide a passport at that time."

"If the government requires me to register with a passport, I don't care," he said, adding the real-name registration will not affect his use of weibo.

Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like service, will require anyone registered after March 16 to provide their real identities to post or forward micro blogs.

The program will start with the seven websites in Beijing, including Sohu, NetEase and Sina before expanding across the country, the Beijing Internet authority said.

Bill Bishop, founder of a website named Market Watch and a weibo user, posted a micro blog on Feb 7, asking what to do after the real-name registration system is put into effect on March 16.

"I don't know what I can do to face such a regulation. I haven't thought about that," Bishop said, adding the government already knows his passport information.

China Daily posed the foreign users' questions to Tong Liqiang, deputy director of Beijing's Internet Information Office. He said they are studying the real-name registration for foreign accounts now, but refused to give more details.

Meanwhile, employees responsible for weibo service from Sohu said they so far have no specific solutions to verify foreign users.

In addition, potential users who choose "overseas" as their location when registering a weibo account, as well as those who are already "based overseas", may continue posting and forwarding micro blogs with existing identities - a situation which is also not explained by the websites.

At last count, there were 8 million blog accounts "based overseas", according to figures supplied by Sina.com.

"What we can do is to urge the websites to push for the real-name registration and hope they can encourage their weibo users to use their real identities before the deadline," Tong added.

Liu Xinzhi, an officer in charge of Sohu weibo, said they have provided cards for watching videos on the website and chargeable phone cards as rewards for those who use real identities.

Sohu is asking weibo users who registered before Dec 16 to verify their identifies, Liu said.

NetEase has also designed an online center to verify weibo users' identities since Feb 1.

In carrying out the real-name registration, Sina.com has reportedly given "real identity" icons to users who provide their real names and ID card numbers after verifying the information with public security organs.

Zhu Yuchen, a 23-year-old weibo user in Shanghai with a verified identity, welcomed the real-name registration system, "because such rules can avoid some netizens who spread rumors online".

"The real-name registration regulation will provide a cleaner and healthier online environment in China, while it is also better for officers to manage the Internet," said Qian Jun, a Beijing-based lawyer specializing in online cases.

However, Kou Fei, an employee of an educational company in Beijing, who opened an account with fake identity, said she will not use her weibo if she must be registered with real identity.

"I will leave the space, because I want to keep my weibo private," she said.

Yu Guoming, a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication with Renmin University of China, also added the rule will negatively affect the development of the micro-blogging service, since some users will be afraid of speaking out if their identities are disclosed.

BEIJING - China and Canada signed a series of agreements on Wednesday covering energy, investments and other sectors, in a sign of improved ties amid the global economic slowdown.

China wants to increase imports of energy and resources from Canada, Premier Wen Jiabao told Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper before they witnessed the signing of nine deals, including a Memorandum of Understanding on energy cooperation.

Wen also urged the early signing of an investment protection agreement and said the two sides could step up discussions on the feasibility of a free trade agreement.

Other deals signed covered science, technology, academic exchanges, the development of natural resources and Canadian beef and tallow exports to China.

Harper, on a five-day visit to China that started on Tuesday, leads a strong delegation of five ministers and 40 business leaders.

Negotiations on a foreign investment promotion and protection agreement have been concluded, Wen said.

China and Canada began negotiating the agreement in 1994 but for years made little progress.

Both nations will need to conduct a legal review of the deal and then sign and ratify it before it can take effect, according to Reuters.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper shares a light moment with two Beijing residents playing Chinese chess during a visit to the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on Wednesday. Zhang Yunbi / China Daily

"The investment agreement will help boost economic and trade cooperation between China and Canada", Shi Yinhong, a researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, told China Daily.

Canadian investment in China rose by 39 percent year-on-year in 2010 to reach nearly $5 billion. Chinese investment in Canada totaled $14 billion in 2010, an increase of 9 percent from 2009.

Wen also urged the two countries to step up joint studies on the feasibility of a free trade agreement.

China is Canada's second-largest trading partner. Bilateral trade stood at almost $50 billion in 2011, up $6 billion from 2009. The two countries set a target of increasing bilateral trade to $60 billion by 2015.

In the energy and resource sectors, Wen said, the two countries should set up a long-term partnership.

Wen said China is willing to increase imports of Canadian energy and resources, and enhance energy cooperation, including nuclear.

"The agreements being signed today, over such a wide range of areas, are further testimony that we are taking relations to the next level and further strengthening our strategic partnership," Harper said in a statement.

This is Harper's second visit to China. Analysts suggest that Harper is trying to push oil sales and closer economic ties following the rejection by US President Barack Obama of a pipeline carrying Canadian oil across the continental US for environmental concerns.

"Diversifying our markets is a key priority for Canada," Harper told Wen.

"We look forward to expanding our cooperation in any important areas, including energy, natural resources, tourism and education," he said.

At 170 billion barrels, Canada is estimated to have the world's third-largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

This augurs well for future cooperation, Xia Yishan, a senior expert on energy strategies and researcher with the China Institute of International Studies, said.

The rapid economic development in China makes it increasingly energy hungry, Xia said.

China also needs to diversify its sources for energy imports, about 70 percent of which come from the Middle East and North Africa, he added.

As Canada is also trying to diversify its energy export market, "China is the first choice", Xia said.

Harper also spoke at a tourism office in Beijing, promoting Canada as a vacation destination.

China granted Canada Approved Destination Status in June 2010. More than 227,000 Chinese travelers had visited Canada in the first 11 months of 2011, up 24.2 percent year-on-year.

Harper first visited China in 2009. Since then, the relationship between the two countries has become much stronger, analysts said.

Harper missed the 2008 Beijing Olympics and did not travel to China until late 2009. President Hu Jintao visited Canada in 2010.

BEIJING / SHANGHAI - Stiffer financial penalties will be imposed on those found guilty of contaminating food, Vice-Premier Li Keqiang told a meeting on Wednesday.

"Food safety is an important issue that concerns everyone," Li said.

"Punishment will be increased for those guilty of endangering food safety, and supervision will be boosted to ensure the safety of food."

The meeting heard a report by the executive office of the Food Safety Commission under the State Council and reviewed progress made in the past year in ensuring food safety.

Illegal additives, including clenbuterol, a chemical dangerous to humans that reduces animal fat, and "gutter oil" or recycled cooking oil, were found in food last year.

Despite the success of the past year in the food safety campaign, severe challenges remain, according to the meeting.

In a national crackdown last year, the police dealt with 120 cases and 60,000 tons of gutter oil being sold as edible oil.

Police also dealt with 150 cases involving the illegal production and sale of clenbuterol and 12 producers were punished, according to statistics of the Ministry of Public Security.

Governments at all levels should shoulder the responsibility of keeping food safe, the meeting said.

An emergency mechanism should be set up to deal with incidents and a system to reward those who report food safety problems should be established, according to the meeting.

Harsher punishment and better monitoring from government agencies are important, experts said.

Qiu Baochang, head of the lawyers' group of the China Consumers' Association, said financial punishment is not much of a deterrent at present.

Consumers are lucky if their compensation for eating tainted food even covers their medical bills, he said.

But, he added, the latest Criminal Law amendment includes the death penalty to punish those who compromise food safety.

"This shows that the country attaches great importance to ensuring food safety," Qiu said.

He also suggested that local governments and their top officials should take responsibility for food safety.

Dong Jinshi, executive vice-president of the International Food Packaging Association, said only a quarter of the hotlines that consumers can use to report food issues are connected.

"We should have a nationwide unified phone number for food safety reports," he said.

Chen, born in 1962, was charged with allegedly taking bribes when he was the deputy head of the Songjiang District government between 2003 and early 2011, according to the city's No 2 Intermediate People's court.

Chen allegedly accepted bribes while supervising construction work in Songjiang.

He was later transferred to be the deputy head of the government in Putuo district, also in Shanghai, before being detained last September.

Chen on Wednesday confessed to all charges against him.

The court said it will rule later, without giving a timetable.

The plan aims to reduce the PM2.5 reading on average a year in the national capital from the current 70 micrograms per cubic meter of air to 50 micrograms by 2020, according to a report published Wednesday in the Beijing Daily, the mouthpiece of the city's committee of the Communist Party of China.

However, the capital's ambition is likely to be dwarfed by the upcoming national standard for PM2.5 rating.  Although the national standard has yet to be released, public hearings by the country's environmental ministry last month suggested the future national PM2.5 standard may be set at 35 micrograms per cubic meter of air on average a year.

The PM2.5 gauge is stricter than Beijing's previous standard of PM10, as it monitors "fine" particles 2.5 microns or less in diameter.

A fierce online public outcry over the measurements began at the end of 2011 when it came to light that air-quality monitoring results released by Beijing's weather forecast station and the US Embassy in Beijing often widely differed.

Influenced by the public outcry, Beijing environmental authorities launched the PM2.5 measure of air quality in late January and soon released the monitoring data.

Monitoring results show that PM2.5 particles in Beijing's air are mainly caused by coal burning, automobile exhaust and dust generated at construction sites.

The air quality improvement measures to be implemented this year in Beijing include the following items:

-- By the end of the year, the city will complete a network of 35 PM2.5 monitoring stations and establish a satellite remote sensing system to oversee the overall air condition.

-- By 2020, 1.6 million old automobiles designed with outdated emission standards will be weeded out.

-- By 2020, the government is expected to limit the city's annual total consumption of coal within 10 million tons, 62 percent less than the amount estimated to be consumed by the end of 2015.

-- From now on, heavy-polluting and energy-consuming companies in oil refining, petrochemical, cement, iron and steel industries will not be allowed to open new plants or expand their current workplaces. By 2015, 1,200 factories producing asphalt, glass and ceramic will retreat from the city. By 2020, all cement plants run for profit in Beijing will be closed.

-- By 2020, the city will increase its forest area by 2 million mu (133,000 hectares) and increase water surface by 2,000 hectares, in an effort to improve the city's environmental carrying capacity.

Police will be targeting major cases, tracking criminal dens and eradicating their sales network during the campaign that will last until November, participants at a national teleconference of the ministry said Wednesday.

Despite the overall situation being stable, a quantity of prominent problems that undermines social stability still exists, said Huang Ming, Vice Minister of Public Security.

Police have been ordered to direct their efforts against contaminated food, phoney medicine, telecom frauds, the abduction of women and children as well as economic crimes.

They are also commissioned to take precautionary measures in ensuring social security, handling civil disputes and defusing major accidents.

Previously, the ministry conducted a special crackdown on explosives and gun-related crimes in 2009.

In 2010, when China hosted the Shanghai World Expo and Guangzhou Asian Games, the police set about with another campaign that targeted gun-related crimes, gang crimes, telecom fraud, the abduction of women and children, pornography, gambling and drug crimes.

"The losses incurred by China's overseas investments are just part of the full picture. The risks are more severe than has been realized," Hua Liming, guest research fellow of the China Institute of International Studies, told the 2012 Diplomats Economic Forum in Beijing.

The main reason for the severe losses in Chinese enterprises' overseas investments is a lack of "soft power", though China's economic power has increased in the past few years.

"Chinese enterprises going abroad generally lack the ability to operate internationally and have little understanding of the local law and business environments," Hua said.

However, exploring international markets is a must for Chinese enterprises, according to Hua and other speakers at the forum.

“China’s overseas investments are at an elementary stage. We need to learn from the developed countries,” said Sun Yongfu, head of the Department of European Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce.

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper shakes hands with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao after a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing February 8, 2012. [Photo by Wu Zhiyi/Asianewsphoto]

"The negotiation on China-Canada investment protection agreement has concluded. We hope to sign the important document as soon as possible to facilitate two-way investment," Wen told visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the Great Hall of the People.

Harper came to Beijing Tuesday for his second China visit since taking office in 2006.

Calling the two economies highly compatible, Wen proposed to draw up an all-round plan on boosting bilateral economic cooperation based on joint research on economic complementarities.

He also urged discussions on the feasibility of signing a China-Canada free trade agreement.

"China is ready to expand imports of energy and resource products from Canada and enhance cooperation in clean and renewable energy, energy-saving, environmental protection, and the peaceful use of nuclear energy," Wen said.

The two countries should also explore cooperation in the areas of the judiciary, culture, technology, agriculture, finance and the polar ocean, he added.

Harper, who is bringing a large business delegation to China, said Canada welcomes China to expand investment in his country and expects closer bilateral cooperation in trade, energy, resources, finance and culture.

He vowed closer coordination with China in global and regional affairs and to boost bilateral ties to a new level.

Harper told Wen that Canada-China relations are long-lasting with strategic ties based on mutual respect.

Wen spoke positively of the growth of China-Canada relations since the forging of diplomatic ties in November 1970, citing frequent high-level exchanges, enhanced two-way trade and investment, and increasing exchanges in the areas of culture, education and technology.

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper shakes hands with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao after a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing February 8, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

"Under the new circumstances, the two countries should implement the consensus reached in the China-Canada joint statement, maintain mutual respect, equality and non-interference in each other's internal affairs and beef up understanding through dialogue," Wen said.

The China-Canada joint statement was issued during Harper's last China visit in 2009.

Prior to the talks, Wen hosted a welcome ceremony for Harper. They also witnessed the signing of several bilateral agreements regarding cooperation in trade, technology, education, forestry, energy and agriculture areas.

Besides Beijing, Harper will also visit south Guangdong province and the southwest municipality of Chongqing during his five-day trip.

Canada and China celebrated their 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2010. China is Canada's second-largest trading partner and a key customer for Canadian natural resources and agricultural products.

The man threw the explosive - which appeared to be a homemade firecracker - into a store that sold communication equipment on Santai Street in southern Changsha at 9:30 am, police said.

The blast destroyed glass counters and the shop's ceiling but no one was injured, police said.

Police said the man's extreme behavior resulted from disputes with the store.

Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, made the remark during a meeting with visiting Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna. Zhou recalled his visit to India in 2010, saying the visit showcased the growing momentum of China-India relations.

Zhou said China and India, as the world's largest developing economies, have multiple opportunities for national development and bilateral cooperation, expressing his hope that both nations can expand cooperation in infrastructure construction, information technology and manufacturing in order to boost two-way trade to $100 billion by 2015.

Zhou also said he hoped the two sides can deepen political trust, improve personnel exchanges, properly handle questions left over by history, such as the border issue, and jointly safeguard peace and harmony in border areas.

Zhou, who is also secretary of the Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, also expressed his appreciation for India's firm support for China on Tibet issues, stating that the issues concern China's national interests and that the Chinese government will crack down on secessionists and safeguard its territorial integrity according to relevant laws.

Echoing Zhou's views on bilateral relations, Krishna hailed the achievements made by both sides in recent years, saying that India and China have forged effective means of coordination in dealing with major regional and international issues.

The Indian government is committed to consolidating and promoting India-China friendly and cooperative relations, Krishna said, reiterating that India recognizes Tibet as a part of China and will not tolerate "anti-China activities" on Indian territory.

Krishna arrived in China on Tuesday, attending an opening ceremony for India's newly-built embassy in China and holding talks with his counterpart Yang Jiechi.

Reports of a signed agreement of cooperation in the rare earth industry are "seriously fraudulent," said an official in charge of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries in Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

There had been no mention of rare earth cooperation in the talks between representatives of the association and the Japan-China Friendship Association of Okinawa Prefecture during their visit to Inner Mongolia from January 18 to 21, the official said.

A Japanese news agency report, datelined January 29, quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying that "the two groups signed a mutual exchange agreement ... under which they have confirmed that they will cooperate in businesses using rare earths."

"Expectations that the agreement will lead to the stable supply of the minerals, which are key to high-tech industries, are likely to grow in the Japanese industry," the report said.

The Chinese official said his association has serious concerns about its counterpart in Okinawa, whose head has issued a formal apology for the false reports.

Rare earth metals are vital components for manufacturing an array of sophisticated products, including cell phones, wind turbines, electric car batteries and missiles.

China now produces more than 90 percent of the world's rare earth metals but its rare earth reserves only account for about one-third of the world's total.

Beijing has suspended the issuance of new licenses for rare earth prospecting and mining, imposed production caps and export quotas, and announced tougher environmental standards for rare earth production in order to control environmental damage and protect the resources.

The company forecast that by the end of 2013, all commercial theaters in China will use digital screens. In May, the country surpassed the United States to become the world's largest digital projection market. China is predicted to have 20,000 movie screens by 2015.

At present, more than 50 percent of all theaters in the world use digital screens at a total of about 50,000. By the end of 2015, digital screens are expected to be standard in every theater.

Since September, the ministry has investigated some 16,246 companies involved in businesses that frequently consume large amounts of water, including 8,526 car washes, 7,327 luxury bathing sites, 335 golf courses, and 58 ski resorts across China.

Firms found squandering water or taking water without a legal permit have been notified and fined.

Russia and China on Saturday both vetoed an Arab-European draft resolution to promote regime change in Syria, a move Hague called a grave error of judgment by Moscow and Beijing and a "betrayal of the Syrian people."

He also said Moscow and Beijing had turned their backs on the Arab world and their Security Council veto would encourage tyranny and killing.

"What China has done was above board, and any attempt to drive a wedge between China and Arab world would be futile," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told a routine press briefing.

He said China and Syria have maintained long-term friendship, and China is a friend to all Syrian people.

China has always stood for the safeguarding of the fundamental and long-term interests of the Syrian people, as well as the peace and stability of Syria and the region, he said.

China's Security Council veto complied with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, the long-standing foreign policy of China, and the fundamental and long-term interests of developing countries, he noted.

Working with relevant parties, China has made great efforts in defusing tensions in Syria, which were witnessed by the international community,  he added.

Liu said China has always firmly supported the just cause of Arab countries and shares deep friendship and broad common interests with Arab nations.

"China will continue to make unremitting efforts in seeking a peaceful and proper resolution to Syrian crisis," he said.

The ferry "No 6 South" was stranded about one mile off the coast of Xuwen county, Guangdong province at 2:15 pm. There are 778 passengers and 37 crew members on the ferry, which was also carrying 86 vehicles and 332 tons of goods.

The Maritime Search and  Rescue Center in Guangdong province was monitoring the rescue work.

There are no reports of injury or oil leaks. Three passenger vessels have arrived to help with the rescue.

Wang Xiuwen, chief forecaster of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), said mild to heavy fog may envelop parts of the central and eastern parts of the country because of low temperatures.

"Although a drop in temperature has been predicted, the entire country is slowly entering spring and temperatures will rise in late February," Wang said.

The country's average temperature in January was about 7 C below zero, some 2 C lower than the average for the past three decades, according to CMA statistics.

Wang Qiyi, senior engineer of the National Climate Center of CMA, told China Daily.

"Global warming increases the possibilities of extreme weather events like severe drought and extreme cold. "

"The Arctic pressure is higher than the surrounding area, which caused the cold snap going to Europe and Asia," he explained.

Shu Yuelong, director of the Chinese National Influenza Center affiliated with the Ministry of Health, said at a Wednesday press conference that this season's flu vaccine is still acceptable for use against the virus strains currently in circulation.

Information collected from China's influenza monitoring network has revealed an increase of flu cases since January this year, with the number of cases currently at its peak level, Shu said.

However, Shu said the total number of cases remains within an acceptable range.

Shu said influenza B is the most predominant flu strain in China this year.

Also at the press conference, Wang Yu, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention under the Ministry of Health, said there should be "no compromise" in China's efforts to control tobacco.

"I think research and techniques that are aimed at making cigarettes less harmful, such as adding traditional Chinese herbs to cigarettes, are just a waste of resources," he said.

Wang added that his comments were not a reference to Xie Jianping, a researcher known for his research on low-tar cigarette studies.

Xie, who serves as the deputy head of a tobacco research institute under the China National Tobacco Corporation, came under fire by Chinese netizens late last year after being honored with a seat in the elite Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Cadmium contamination was discovered in the Longjiang River in Hechi on January 15 and soon spread downstream to the Liujiang River, the source of drinking water for 1.5 million residents of Liuzhou.

A plant belonging to Jinhe Mining Co. Ltd. is suspected of causing the pollution. Ten executives of the plant have been detained.

Zhang Lan, a researcher with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the ministry's regular press conference on Wednesday that the source of the contamination has been contained, but that health officials will continue to monitor the rivers. City officials have also announced plans to build an alternative water source.

Health experts also warned that flu has been on the rise on the mainland and has no reached its peak.

Shu Yuelong, director of the National Influenza Center of China CDC, said this year had seen more cases of flu than last year, but the incidence is still within the normal range.

Wang Yu, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, made the remark at a press conference held by the Ministry of Health on Wednesday in response to a question about a controversial piece of legislation that may soon be approved in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

A draft regulation on HIV/AIDS prevention is expected to be handed over to the standing committee of the region's local people's congress for approval. The regulation states that HIV tests should be carried out on a real-name basis, with those who test positive obliged to inform their spouses or sex partners.

"HIV carriers might spread the virus to others through unprotected sex or other channels. Under such circumstances, should we protect the privacy of the carriers, or control the epidemic and protect public health?" said Wang.

Wang said he believes that real-name testing could ensure that those who test positive are informed in time, allowing them to change their behavior and seek early treatment.

Wang said international practices have shown that by simply informing people of their HIV-positive status, the odds of them passing HIV on to others can be reduced by 70 percent.

Wang said professionals in the field have increasingly realized that treatment itself is the best form of prevention. If HIV carriers are given antiviral treatments in time, the intensity of their infection can be lowered, as well as the chance that they will pass the infection on to others.

"Without real-name testing, none of this work can be accomplished. The carriers themselves might not even be informed," Wang said.

Wang said public health policies in China and abroad are aimed at eliminating discrimination against HIV carriers, adding that those who choose to "hide out" may pose a grave threat to themselves and their partners.

"Despite recent trade friction, bilateral trade prospects will continue to grow," Gustavo A. Martino told China Daily during the 2012 Diplomats Economic Forum in Beijing.

Argentina launched anti-dumping investigations recently against rubber conveyor belts produced in China and Brazil. And Argentina has already completed an investigation of ball bearings and pesticides from China, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.

China's investment in Argentina is "growing fast in areas such as railway, construction, and infrustructure", Martino said. The China Machinery Engineering Corporation is finalizing a five-year railway project worth $3 billion.

In addition to the traditional food products, Argentina plans to export more IT services and agricultural technology to China this year.

China is currently Argentina's second largest trade partner. Bilateral trade reached a record $17.119 billion last year.

Andrew Colquhoun, Fitch's head of Asia-Pacific sovereign ratings, suggested that countries like China, which are trying to diversify their reserve holdings away from the US dollar, would be less likely to build up positions in the euro as the crisis deteriorates.

Although China needs the euro assets as an alternative investment for its reserve, it is unlikely that it will put big money in the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), said Tony Stringer, chief operating officer of Global Sovereigns and Supranationals at Fitch.

Data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed China's foreign exchange reserve stood at 3.18 trillion dollars as of the end of 2011, of which one fifth was believed to be in the form of euro assets.

Stringer warned that the practice will put China's huge reserve at risk, because China may suffer a capital loss if the fund's rating is downgraded.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said earlier this month during his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that China is willing to "involve itself more" in efforts to resolve Europe's debt issues.

But Wen stressed that efforts made by European countries are still key to resolving the problem, and called on indebted countries to implement proper financial policies that are in line with their national situations.

The amount of governmental microblog accounts had increased more than seven fold from the beginning of the year, according to the report conducted by the Chinese Academy of Governance (CAG).

The four major websites that the report refers to are www.sina.com.cn, www.qq.com, www.people.com.cn and www.xinhuanet.com which provide Twitter-like microblogging services.

Among all the government microblog accounts, 32,358 were managed by government agencies and the Communist Party of China (CPC) organs, and 18,203 were verified as being run by government officials, the report said.

The report found that China's public security system, or the police force, was more active than other government agencies and its microblog accounts made up 47 percent of the total.

The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, drug control office of Baise city in southwest Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and information office of Chengdu city government were listed as the top three influential government microbloggers, according to the report.

Zhejiang, Guangdong and Jiangsu ranked the top three provincial-level administrations in terms of the amount of microblog accounts verified as being managed by their government departments.

Heilongjiang, Beijing and Jiangsu ranked the top three provincial-level administrations in terms of the amount of government officials' microblog accounts.

Wang Yimin, vice director of the CAG's E-governance research center, said that the report was the first of its kind to be conducted by a third-party academic institute in China.

The amount of the swap was extended from 80 billion yuan(40 billion ringgit) to 180 billion yuan(90 billion ringgit), the bank said.

The new agreement will expire in three years, but may be extended if both sides consent.

The man was drinking from a bottle of iced tea that he had picked up off the street before he turned toward the fireworks display and cracked a big smile at the sight.

After the photographer uploaded the pictures on his weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, the pictures received unexpected attention, topping the hot topic list on the website.

The man has been dubbed "smile brother" for his simple yet luminous smile. Millions were moved to tears by the sincere smile he showed despite his life status.

The paper is now calling on people to look for the man and try to help him.

The crowd wows when the first light of fireworks shoots up in the sky. The man smiles, Feb 6, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

Students prepare for entrance exams in Yunan, file photo.

Lottery for public school seats

Primary or middle schools in Zhejiang province will not be allowed to charge school selection fees this year, said an official with Zhejiang Provincial Education Department. Instead, spare seats will be allocated in a form of lottery, China Youth Daily reported on Wednesday.

The lottery policy aims to stop the unlawful charges by compulsory education, said an official with education department.

People put packs of iPhone 4S, each containing five sets, in a luggage outside an Apple Store in Hong Kong Nov 11, 2011. Those iPhones were bought from "professional queuers" lining up for days before the product was officially released. Many of the new iPhones were expected to ship into the Chinese mainland for higher resale prices. [Photo/Agencies]

HK launches iPhone lottery to curb scalpers

Apple in Hong Kong will introduce a lottery system for the iPhone 4S to ease the problem of scalpers who caused the launch of the new model in the capital to be suspended, Beijing Morning Post reported.

Customers will be required to fill out a reservation online and will receive a response letter by 9 pm the same day, the paper said.

The reservation system is open for only three hours a day. Customers will have to produce ID that matches their reservation, the report said.

Traffic jam in Beijing, file photo. [Photo/Xinhua]

Car lottery to ease gridlock in Beijing

A car license plate lottery system has been introduced in Beijing to restrict vehicle purchases and curtail increasing traffic jams. The city allowed 240,000 new car registrations in 2011 and issued them out through a monthly online lottery.

Desks printed with words meant 'occupied' can be seen in a college in Heibei province. [Photo/Hebei Youth Daily]

Self-study lottery

A college in North China's Hebei province launched a lottery system for library seats for students preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination, Hebei Youth Daily reported last year.

The school said the measure was taken to curb seating problems. Students without the right to apply for the lottery can go to other rooms of the library for study, the school said.

"The 2020 aim is for quick success," said Wang Jianmin, contributing researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The "international tourism island" plan was proposed by the provincial reform and development institute in 2001 and the State Council approved the proposal in 2010, fixing 2020 as the date for "preliminary accomplishment".

According to Wang, however, 10 years for Hainan is far from enough, as international practice shows that cities with similar conditions need at least 20 to 30 years to achieve that status. Cancun of Mexico spent 30 years building an internationally acclaimed coastal resort.

An "international tourism island" is weighed in terms of the number of inbound tourists. Hawaii and Bali Island have nearly 90 percent international visitors, while Hainan gets no more than 5 percent.

The "mission impossible" can be attributed to inadequate facilities. Xia Feng, director of the provincial reform and development institute, said the tourism commodity supply lags far behind the increase in demand. "Hainan has to quicken facilities to guarantee the 2020 goal," he said.

With the recent New Year celebrations, many companies have been giving out corporate calendars as part of their marketing efforts and I guess many of us are the "happy recipients" of such corporate largesse. A friend of mine showed me a calendar that his company had just issued. Apparently every department was expected to hand them out to their clients and contacts and he had a box of 50 stuffed under his desk.

"Maybe we could run a competition and give each of the winners a copy," he said gloomily, turning over the object in his hands as he spoke. I forbore to reply "and you could give each of the losers two copies".

Truly it was quite awful. As a desk calendar there was almost no room to write anything useful in the spaces provided; the company's name was plastered right across each page; but worst of all was the overall design… each month had an object that was not only visually unappealing, but it also had nothing to do whatsoever with the business in question, nor did it have a "chocolate box view" of some famous building or beautiful countryside vista.

Customized calendars, like any other customized gift, make a person feel special and wanted, gushes a web site in India that, surprise...surprise, offers to provide companies with marketing materials. In the corporate world it creates goodwill and helps to build relationships, which are essential for expanding business. Besides making a person feel special, it helps to bring out the creative side of the giver and reflects his true feelings towards the person.

I could only assume that my friend's calendars were mass produced and the company had simply added its name in the only space left on each page. But, no, he told me. His company's marketing department had had them made up specially. Not that they had sought anybody else's opinion on them, it seems. Nor had they thought to ask how many each department needed. They were simply handed out at the requisite time and the departments told to get on with it.

My friend's calendar is not alone in this. I have lost count of the number of desktop calendars given out by companies, embassies and other enterprises here in Beijing; and I would have to say that the majority are truly terrible. They are certainly not something you would want sitting on your desk for a week, let alone an entire year. What do these so-called marketing departments think they are doing?

Not that Beijing is unique in this respect. The same penny-pinching attitude is as common in the West. Yet from what I have seen, Beijing is stuffed full of talented artists who could probably make a much better job of this blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their back.

Maybe I should start collecting these objects-of-undesire and eventually open a gallery of tacky calendars – probably in Beijing's 798 District where such irony would be appreciated.

But certainly I will not be entering my friend's company competition. For one thing, what if I didn't win?

Students wait to apply for registration at Beijing Film Academy, Feb 8, 2012. The annual enrollment registration for Beijing Film Academy kicked off Wednesday and will go for four days. The college, known as the cradle of China's filmmakers, plans to recruit 455 students this year. More than 25,000 students have registered on the Internet. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Liu Meixi, a 17-year-old applicant from southwestern Chongqing municipality, waits to register at Beijing Film Academy, Feb 8, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Students wait to apply for enrollment registration at Beijing Film Academy, Feb 8, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Students wait to apply for enrollment registration at Beijing Film Academy, Feb 8, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

The province has experienced a severe lack of precipitation since last summer, the Heilongjiang Provincial Headquarters for Forest and Grassland Fire Prevention announced in a statement.

Statistics from meteorological authorities show that the region experienced 16 percent less rainfall last summer and 47 percent less rainfall last autumn in comparison to previous years, the lowest precipitation levels seen in 45 years, the statement said.

In January alone, average snowfall stood at only 0.8 mm, or 76 percent less than the annual average for the region.

It is predicted that the drought will continue for another two months, which will make forest fire prevention a difficult task, the statement said.

Local authorities have been mobilized to monitor the situation and guard against forest fires, it said.

With more than 20 million hectares of forests, Heilongjiang has a total forest coverage of 43.6 percent, the largest in the country.

During the US visit, Xi will visit Washington, Los Angeles and the state of Iowa.

In Turkey, Xi will hold talks with President Gul and meet with some other Turkish leaders and also attend a China-Turkey economic forum there.

During Xi's visit to Ireland, he is scheduled to hold talks with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and meet with other Irish leaders, including President Michael Higgins, Speaker Sean Barrett of Ireland's Dail Eireann, the lower house of the Irish Parliament, and Chairman Paddy Burke of Seanad Eireann, the upper house of the Parliament.

Xi will have an in-depth exchange of views with the Irish leaders on China-Ireland and China-Europe relations as well as other topics of common concern.

A husband and father of two, the 29-year-old native of Fengjie county on the outskirts of Chongqing now lives with his family in an apartment specially created with government funding for low-income earners to rent, at last obtaining a stable residence.

Gao moved into the 80-square-meter housing unit 10 months ago, where he spent the outgoing Spring Festival with all his family together for the first time in a city, after three consecutive years of separation from his family.

"It's much better than in the rural areas, and the rooms are bright and spacious, enough for our whole family to live together, " said Gao's mother Tang Gongzu, who had lived in the countryside for the past 50 years.

Gao is one of the 164 million Chinese who have migrated to cities from rural areas and helped fuel growth in the world's second largest economy. But they have long been struggling to settle in cities due to their status as farmers.

The number of people living in cities exceeded the rural population for the first time in 2011, accounting for 51.27 percent of the country's population of nearly 1.35 billion, according to official figures released in January.

The historic population shift in China, which used to be an agrarian nation for centuries, has diverted policymakers' attention to helping migrant workers get along with urbanites and adapt to city life.

Gao had lived in an abandoned factory building before he was able to rent the three-bedroom apartment open for low-income earners at a rent rate of 60 percent of market price.

"My kids used to stay in the countryside with my parents, because the previous place was poky and dusky," he said.

In order to improve housing for millions like Gao, the Chongqing municipal government began public housing projects in 2010, aiming to provide 800,000 housing units for low income earners to rent by 2015.

Gao, now a driver with a monthly income of 2,000 yuan ($316), is working hard to earn money with the hope of buying the public-rent apartment that currently houses his family.

Under government regulations, a tenant can buy such an apartment after renting it for five consecutive years at a price parallel to the flat's construction cost.

Chongqing's endeavor to speed up migrant workers' settlement in the city also includes granting them urban residency, thus ensuring them full access to public resources, including health care, social insurance and education.

By becoming urban residents, Gao made it possible for his two kids to receive education at urban schools, which usually have a better faculty and more funding than their rural counterparts.

Gao's 5-year-old daughter has been admitted to a nearby public kindergarten where she can study dancing and singing.

"But the village school in our hometown could only offer two courses, Chinese and math," said Gao's mother.

According to Chongqing's municipal regulations, farmers who work or run businesses in urban areas for up to three years can apply for urban residency.

The municipal government said it aimed to turn 3 million farmers into urban citizens by 2012 and 10 million altogether by 2020.

Chongqing's broad social experiment is part of China's overall effort to realize the settlements of tens of millions who have migrated to cites to tap opportunities from rapid economic growth.

South China's Guangdong province also provides new channels for people to be registered as a resident as long as they meet certain criteria, such as having worked there for a certain number of years and having paid their social security.

China has vowed to give the country's migrant workers greater access to urban community-based public services and help them better adapt to life in the city.

A Ministry of Civil Affairs guideline published January urges efforts be extended for public services in urban communities, including employment, public health, social insurance, legal aid and educational services, to cover migrant workers living in urban areas.After more than a decade's hard work in Chongqing, Gao finally got a new home in the city.

"With my parents and kids staying with us, my wife and I can devote ourselves to earning money," Gao said. "Nothing I can imagine is more pleasant than staying together with the whole family."

The family of Zhang Miao initially refused to accept the financial offer eight months ago fearing it would lead to a more lenient sentence.

Yao Qingwei (L), father of Yao Jiaxin, and Zhang Pingxuan, father of Zhang Miao.[file photo]

"We refused to accept the money from Yao Qingwei (Yao Jiaxin's father) during the review of Yao's death sentence because we thought it was conditional – he was seeking a less punishment on his son. " Zhang Xian, attorney for Zhang Miao's family, wrote in a statement on behalf of the family on his Sina blog on Tuesday morning.

"(But)It's been eight months and Yao Qingwei still keeps the message on his microblog, which suggests his genuine and solid attitude. So we will accept the unconditional 200,000 yuan and will take the money from Yao on the morning of February 8."

And when Zhang Pingxuan, Wang Hui and Zhang Xian stormed in to Yao's downstairs apartment in Xi'an at around 11:30 am on Wednesday morning, their demand for the return of compensation was not well received.

Yao Qingwei did not appear, but Ma Yanming, his attorney did. And he was fully prepared for a faceoff with the trio.

Wang Hui (L), husband of Zhang Miao, tussles with Ma Yanming (R), attorney of Yao Qingwei outside a residential building where Yao Qingwei lives in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, Feb 8, 2012. Wang, along with Zhang Pingxuan (father of Zhang Miao) and his attorney Zhang Xian came to Yao's house on Wednesday to collect 200,000 yuan compensation promised by the latter for his son's hit-and-run accident that killed Zhang Miao on Oct 20, 2010. [Photo/CFP]

A video clip (courtesy of the Chinese Business newspaper) showed that Zhang Xian yelled angrily outside Yao's residential building; and Wang Hui soon threw a couple of punches at Ma. The two engaged in a 10 seconds-long scuffle but were quickly separated by onlookers. Police arrived at around 12:30 pm and took both parties to a police station for mediation.

The notorious hit-and-run accident occurred on October, 20, 2010, when 21-year-old Yao Jiaxin, a college student in Xi'an city, knocked down cyclist Zhang Miao and stabbed her to death in order to cover up the incident. The Xi'an Intermediate People's Court handed him a death sentence for intentional killing on April 22, 2011 and his appeal of the sentence was rejected by the Shaanxi Provincial Higher People's Court on May 20.

The Supreme People's Court approved the capital punishment and he was executed on June 7.

According to Yao Qingwei, he and his wife visited Zhang Miao's family on May 26 and left them 200,000 yuan as a pension fund as Yao Jiaxin wished. The money was returned by Zhang's parents days later. But Yao Qingwei insisted keeping the fund for Zhang's family for future needs.

"This compensation is Yao Jiaxin's last wish, and we as parents will take good care of it." wrote Yao on June 5, 2011, two days before his son was executed.

Zhang's family admit they are now dealing with a financial crisis.

"It's our time of need now," said Zhang Pingxuan, father of Zhang Miao, in a telephone interview with the Beijing Times on Tuesday.

He revealed that his wife has become sick of late and it just hit him that they were promised the compensation fund kept by the family of their daughter's killer.

Donations from the public have also reportedly been generous. Fu Weigang, a Shanghai-based scholar, collected 545,000 yuan (400,000 in insurance) through fundraising on the Internet. Zhou Bin, a journalist from Guangdong, added around 220,000 yuan through a special foundation, said the newspaper.

However, Zhang Pingxuan claimed he wasn't aware of the sum, and that he has ran out the 100,000 yuan donation to cover his wife's medical expenses.

Yao Qingwei is also now refusing to honor the offer.

"I have no obligation to give them the money now, since Zhang refused to take it then and returned it." He said to the newspaper on Tuesday.

According to Yao, Zhang Pingxuan accepted the money at the first place, but returned it days afterwards. What's more, Zhang allegedly lied in later interviews about Yao's visit, insisting that he was not at home when Yao called.

Ma Yanming (L), attorney of Yao Qingwei tussles with Zhang Xian (R), attorney of Zhang Pingxuan in a residential building where Yao lives in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, Feb 8, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

Raising pay is key to the jobs blueprint, part of Beijing's 12th Five-Year Economic Plan, which aims to boost employment in the world's No 2 economy.

Minimum wages in China range from 1,500 yuan ($240) per month in Shenzhen to 870 yuan in Chongqing. The government wants minimum wages to be 40 percent of average local salaries by 2015, according to the plan posted on its website (www.gov.cn).

The average monthly wage of China's 158 million migrant workers in 2011 surged 21.2 percent from 2010 to 2,049 yuan.

In the five-year period from 2006 to 2010, the average minimum wage in China increased 12.5 percent per year, official data showed.

As assistant traffic wardens, for two hours they have to wear reflector waistcoats and red hats and assist traffic police to maintain order on street corners.

"This new policy helps maintain traffic regulations, and most participants welcome it," said Yu Weijia, deputy commander of the Taicang traffic law enforcement brigade.

"Although several participants resist the policy, it will be a must for license candidates," Yu added.

Liu Weining, a branch head of Yantai Bank, was caught by police near a railway station in eastern city of Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, on Tuesday, police said. Liu fled Yantai city in east Shandong Province at the end of January.

Liu allegedly stole 436 million yuan ($69.76 million) worth of bank notes between April 2011 and January 2012. He reportedly had 290,000 yuan cash on him when he was caught.

Yantai Bank is a listed commercial bank that started operating in March 2009. It's assets topped 29.12 billion yuan by the end of 2010, according to the bank's website.

Liu Jiahao, a student at Changzhou Senior High School, will give years of his saved pocket money, totaling 75,000 yuan, to help Lanling Middle School in Changzhou.

Liu said the library will help poverty-stricken students and inspire more people to read.

Books including classics, history, science and reference will be added to the library several times a year, he said.

Liu Mingkun, father of Liu Jiahao said the money is from his allowance and New Year lucky money saved by his son for years.

More than 70 percent of pupils at Lanling Middle school are migrant children who study in inadequate conditions, said Liu Mingkun, who runs a local catering company and has donated 1.5 million yuan ($238,000) to set up an education fund for the school in 2010.

"I support him strongly when I heard his idea", the father said.

Residents empty shelves of bottled water in a supermarket in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province on Tuesday, fearing a reported chemical spill on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. A South Korean ship anchored in adjacent province of Zhejiang is suspected to be leaking the chemical phenol, sparking the rush for water due to chemical fears. [Photo/China Daily]

Bottled water is almost sold out in a supermarket over pollution fears in the Yangtze River, in Nantong, Feb 7, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

Bottled water is almost sold out in a supermarket in Nantong, Feb 7, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

At Xiumei, a small cigarette shop in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, business has been booming since many people have come here to dispose of cigarettes they received as gifts during the Spring Festival.

Xiumei also takes in fine wine and gift cards.

"We buy some easy-to-sell gift cards, like those for supermarkets or department stores, at a price equal to 95 percent of the card value. But for some less popular ones, bookstore cards, for example, we offer 55 percent," the shopkeeper said, under condition of anonymity.

The Spring Festival and other major festivals bring good business, he said.

Meanwhile, those hoping to buy decent gifts at better prices also turn to these recycling stores.

Fine wine, tobacco, tea, brand-name watches and jewelry have traditionally been hot items to recycle, but, nowadays, more digital products, including high-end mobile phones and tablets, are popping up.

Many shops have also launched websites and online shops in hopes of improving communications with clients.

However, the booming gift-recycling business has triggered concerns over businesses operating without licenses, selling counterfeits and laundering money.

In China, special licenses are needed to trade tobacco products and alcohol, and many gift-recycling shops do not have such licenses.

Even properly licensed retailers can only buy tobacco products and alcohol from licensed wholesalers, not individuals, which means recycling businesses like Xiumei are operating illegally.

Wang Liang, the director of an economics institute under the Development Research Center of the Shanghai city government, told Xinhua that, to date, no laws or regulations have been enacted to define the gift-recycling business.

These kinds of businesses are not listed among the government business registration categories, and some are even registered as waste recycling businesses, he said.

Since their identities are vague, these shops can easily escape government supervision and are more likely to sell counterfeit products, he added.

These businesses are also suspected of aiding in money laundering activities.

Although people do get impractical gifts from family and friends during the holidays and need to get rid of them, a considerable portion of gifts, especially luxury goods, entering the recycling channel may come from businesspeople and officials looking to cash in on bribes.

Luo Meng, deputy head of the anti-graft department under the Haidian district procuratorate of Beijing, told Monday's People's Daily that the gift-recycling business could be involved in money laundering, especially laundering bribes, and may facilitate bribery if not well supervised.

Experts have called for clear definitions on what gifts can be recycled, as well as regulations on business operators.

On Friday morning, seven selected Chinese bloggers talked with two Washington officials during a video meeting held in the US embassy in Beijing, while more bloggers joined online.

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Michael Anti, a famous political blogger whose real name, Zhao Jing, is less well known to the public, directed the first question to Jeffery Bader, the US National Security Council's senior director for East Asia Affairs.

"What's the China policy of the Obama administration?" asked Anti, who believes few people think the US has a clear policy toward China.

"We welcome China's rise. We want to have a positive and cooperative relationship with China We want to maximize the elements of cooperation," Bader said.

Anti, one of the 457 million Internet users in China, represents the largest online population in the world, which has become a notable element in the nation's domestic and foreign policy making, according to analysts.

Pang Zhongying, professor of international relations with Renmin University of China, called the bloggers "opinion leaders".

"Through such communication, the government can know what the public thinks of its policies, and meanwhile influence the public by answering their questions," Pang said.

During the nearly one-and-a-half-hour meeting, questions touched upon almost all the thorny issues in China-US relations in the past year.

Ma Xiaolin, creator of the website blshe.com - a platform for intellectuals to express their opinions - said he thinks there are still many challenges between China and the US, including the Diaoyu Islands and the Taiwan issue.

"Will the US adjust its policies in the future?" Ma asked.

Yao Jin, creator of anti-cnn.com, shared his experience of a trip to the US in October, which left him with the feeling that most Americans know little about of China.

The video meeting ended in cheerful laughter as the last question came up "what do you think of China's promotional video?"

In answering this question, Ben Rhodes, a White House deputy national security adviser, told a story about Obama's 9-year-old daughter, Sasha, wanting to test her developing Chinese skills this week with Hu.

Wang Di contributed to this story.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (C) is introduced to nine-year-old Sasha Obama (C in white coat) by US President Barack Obama as they greet the crowd during an official south lawn arrival ceremony for Hu at the White House in Washington Jan 19, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON –US President Barack Obama's nine-year-old daughter, Sasha, wanted to test her developing Chinese skills this week while Chinese President Hu Jintao was in town.

Just whom did she want to practice them with?

Special Coverage:  President Hu visits United States Related readings:  President Hu tours high school in Chicago  Chinese President Hu attends luncheon in US  'All-American' treatment for Hu  President Hu ends state visit to US

The Chinese president himself, according to a White House official who recounted the story on Thursday after a formal state dinner the previous night.

"The president pointed out last night at the state dinner that his daughter, Sasha, is a very young girl but her class is studying Chinese," Ben Rhodes, a White House deputy national security adviser, told a video conference with Chinese bloggers.

"She's under 10 years old and they're studying Chinese, and she wanted to have the chance to practice her Chinese with President Hu."

Sasha attended Hu's welcoming ceremony on the White House lawn on Wednesday morning with friends and could be seen waving a Chinese flag excitedly as her father and Hu walked around the grounds.

The two presidents paused to visit when they reached the nine-year-old and her friends behind the rope line.

"Not every (child) has the opportunity to try out their first phrases of Chinese with the president of China, but she had that chance," Rhodes said.

He said the anecdote illustrated Americans' desire to get to know China better with more people studying the country and doing business there.

This file photo shows American students learning how to make steamed rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival at a residential community in Anhui province. The traditional festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. [Photo/Xinhua]

The 25-year-old has worked as a project manager at the Beijing-based overseas study agency Insights Education International since 2007. Beck is among a growing number of Americans heading across the ocean to realize their Chinese dreams.

"I believe working in a field that is closely tied to Chinese education, business and culture will be beneficial when applying for jobs in the US," she told China Daily.

"I decided to look for work in China because it would give me an opportunity to improve my Chinese skills and, also, I had enjoyed my previous short-term summer experiences in China and was excited to come back."

Special Coverage: President Hu visits United States Related readings:  40 million foreigners learning Chinese  China invites 100,000 US nationals to study Chinese  China, US to scale up student exchange program  Number of US students set to soar in 4 years

Beck said she believed her work in China will provide experiences that will help her enroll in graduate school programs. The American studied Chinese for four years in a university and said she expected her language skills will be an asset to her future.

Beck majored in diplomacy and Asian studies at Seton Hall University and also studied Chinese for three months at East China Normal University. She received an internship with the US embassy in Beijing in 2006.

"The first city I spent a significant length of time in was Shanghai. I loved the futuristic feel and modernity of Shanghai," she recalled.

"But I love Beijing more now. Beijing has a unique personality and gives one that feeling that anything is possible."

First lady calls for exchanges

First Lady Michelle Obama encouraged more American students to study in China to improve ties between the two countries at a Howard University Forum on Wednesday.

She recalled her college years, which she said were about "getting in, getting through and getting out" rather than "finding opportunities" to study abroad. The first lady then told students to step out of their comfort zones and "develop the habit of cooperation" by immersing themselves in other cultures.

"Studying in countries like China isn't only about your prospects in the global marketplace," she said.

"It's not just about whether you can compete with your peers in other countries to make America stronger. It's about the friendships you make, the bonds of trust you establish and the image of America that you project to the rest of the world."

The first lady also announced at the forum the availability of more than $2.25 million in private sector pledges to support the increase of the number and diversity of US students studying in China.

Chen Naiqing, wife of China's ambassador to the US, Zhang Yesui, talked about educational exchanges at the forum.

"The number of American students has increased rapidly in recent years and reached almost 20,000 in China in 2009," Chen said. She attributed the increase to the great opportunities created by both sides.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) is working with the US to implement a four-year education program put forward by President Hu Jintao and his US counterpart Barack Obama, said Zhang Xiuqin, director-general of the ministry's department of international cooperation and exchanges.

US students in China are set to become one of the largest overseas groups, with Beijing and Washington working together to bring 100,000 students to China in the next four years, education officials have said.

By the end of 2009, 282 Confucius Institutes and 272 Confucius Classrooms had been established in 88 countries. They were educating about 260,000 students in 2009 - an increase of 130,000 over 2008 - about China's culture and language, according to the institutes' headquarters.

A pre-study period in one of the institutes provides valuable insights and helps foreign students to later study in China at lower costs and with fewer language difficulties.

The number of foreigners studying in China hit a record 240,000 in 2009, figures released earlier by the ministry showed.

There are plans to increase the number to 500,000 by 2020 through bilateral educational cooperation programs launched in 2010.

Rebekah Aremo, a sophomore at the University of Detroit Mercy, participated in an exchange program in 2007 and came to study Chinese at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing for a year.

"I expected China to be interesting. And that's exactly what I found here - an interesting country," Aremo said.

"There were a lot of stereotyped views of China at that time. Many Americans thought the Chinese all eat rice, practice taiji and like kungfu, and that's all they knew about China," she said.

"I was very suspicious of these simplified and narrow stereotypes. I (thought) there must be more diversity in such a big country."

After returning to Detroit, Michigan, in 2009 to finish her bachelor's degree, Aremo returned to Beijing for another year of intensive Chinese-language study.

In September 2010, she started an enterprise management master's program at the University of Science and Technology Beijing.

Aremo was the only foreigner in the class. She got along well with her classmates because of her fluency in Chinese and easygoingness, she said.

The 23-year-old also traveled throughout the country during the past few years, gaining a better understanding of its diversity and complexity, she said.

"I have worked hard and made the best of my stay in China. Now it's time to put my skills and the abilities I've learned in school into practice," Aremo said.

"I want to work soon. A friend and I are considering starting a partnership based in China to organize international exchange programs."

Li Yao contributed to this story.

Click here to see how the students say "Happy New Year!" in Chinese

The teaching of Chinese in the United States has been a road paved with difficulties. But success is finally on the horizon. Li Xing reports from Chicago.

Look, look, and look for a friend,And you find a friend;Salute and shake hands,'Cause you are my friend...

A class of 26 first graders at Alexander Graham Bell (Public) Elementary School belt out these lines aloud in Chinese. Among them, seven stand in a circle with a boy or girl dancing in the middle.

At you find a friend, one kid stops before another. In the first and second rounds, as they sing salute and shake hands they first shake hands and then raise their right hand in the American army salute.

But at a gesture from their teacher, Qiao Bin, they soon get it right.

Singing with the children, Qiao looks on with some satisfaction as everyone is clearly enjoying the traditional Chinese children's game.

"I'm using the song and the game not only to help children here learn to sing Chinese songs but also to be friends with Chinese culture," says Qiao, who has taught 5 to 9 year olds Chinese for eight years at the school under the world languages programs of Chicago Public Schools (CPS). He teaches six classes a day, five days a week, and has 400 pupils.

Qiao uses a set of textbooks titled Experiencing Chinese for elementary students.

The textbooks come from CPS's Confucius Institute, the largest and only one for elementary and high school students in the world, says Jane Lu, the institute's director and also coordinator of CPS's Chinese World Language Program.

The Experiencing Chinese series, compiled and published by the Higher Education Press in China but provided free by Chinese Hanban (the Office of Chinese Language Council International), allows children to continue pursuing Chinese through senior high school, Qiao says.

Gone are the days when Lu and a few Chinese teachers began the Chinese language program in 1999 and had to scramble for every resource to create their own syllabus and workbooks. Qiao, from a family of teachers in Shanxi province, and several other teachers, joined the CPS after clearing rigorous tests and interviews in China.

When Lu Wenya started teaching at Walter Payton College Preparatory (Public) High School 11 years ago, she was the only Chinese language teacher and had just 25 students. Now the school has hired a second Chinese language teacher, Louis Wu, to assist her, as their students now number 120.

When Li Xiaobao started teaching at Jones College Prep 10 years ago, the former college teacher of English in Xi'an found her students had been reading an English novel about China.

At that time, Jane Lu taught Chinese at McCormick Elementary School. She says she made and colored all the demo cards herself.

Qiao says he searched far and wide, including some college textbooks for inspiration. He collected small lanterns, posters of fu (character for luck), paper cuts and other arts-and-crafts pieces.

But teaching Chinese remained a big challenge.

At first, some parents complained and asked why their children should learn Chinese when they had not even learned to read and write English well, Jane Lu says. Other teachers grumbled that Chinese classes took away precious time from the courses they were teaching.

Time is a major constraint, Sandra A. Caudill, principal of Alexander Graham Bell, says. Children need daily exposure when learning a foreign language. However, since elementary schools in Chicago are limited to offering six or fewer hours of classes everyday, children at her school can only learn Chinese for 80 minutes a week.

The same is true of some high schools. Li Xiaobao says she tries to limit the after-school practice to 20 minutes every day for her students.

The best students may spend 30 minutes on Chinese at most, since they "have so much else to learn. English, mathematics and sciences are their main courses", Li says.

Despite the challenges, the teachers try various approaches and share experiences with each other in workshops organized by CPS.

At a 40-minute session in Qiao's class, first graders keep raising their hands to vie for the chance to say "this is the bird, cat, panda or elephant" in Chinese when Qiao shows them the animal pictures. They also talk about dumplings, red lanterns and children getting red envelopes of "lucky money" during the Chinese Lunar New Year.

"Apart from songs and dances and videos, I've also taken them to Chinatown so they can experience first-hand Chinese culture and our way of life," Qiao says.

In a session for junior high students at Walter Payton College Preparatory (Public) High School, Louis Wu shows slides of various sports and asks his students to demonstrate how they play basketball, football, table tennis, golf or tennis while saying aloud the descriptions in Chinese.

In another game aimed at creating the best cause-and-effect sentences, Lev Gray, Ferrin Williams and three other students take turns to scribble Chinese characters onto a small white board. They also discuss other choices and check their textbooks while erasing old words and adding new ones.

Students in three other groups are also in heated discussion.

In the end, Gray, Williams and their pals came up with the sentence, "Because he is only 8 years old, he does not drive", but look disappointed when their group doesn't win the top score.

Years of hard work have borne fruit. Some 12,000 elementary and high school students like Gray and Williams now take Chinese lessons. Williams learned some Chinese in elementary school. "I have forgotten most of what I learned then, but have now taken it up because I like the challenge of learning Chinese," Williams says.

And he is proud that he can now say, "It is a hell of a failure", in Chinese.

The teachers are also proud that some of their students have gone on to choose Chinese language and China studies either as a major or minor in college.

Jane Lu says two students have won Gates' millennium scholarships for their excellent academic achievement in Chinese language studies.

Moreover, students have discovered that learning Chinese has not affected their performance in other areas of learning. Some find that their academic performance has actually improved, Jane Lu says.

"Parents dropped their complaints and even began to help us out, such as making dresses for Chinese-language performances," she recalls.

The teachers interviewed by China Daily all say they derive the most satisfaction from their students' increasing interest in China and Chinese culture.

Qiao says his students often bring China-related items to show their knowledge about China. He has been constantly surprised by questions from his pupils, such as China's one-child family planning policy.

At Lu Wenya's first few classes, she found her students couldn't say which city was China's capital. "Some even chose Hong Kong," she recalls.

Now it's unlikely they would make the same error, she says, and they want to know more about China, raising a lot of "thought-provoking" questions, such as why students in China score better in academic tests than American students.

They also do research on ancient Chinese thinkers and other topics about China.

"Without learning Chinese, they wouldn't have had the chances to think over things about China," Lu Wenya says.

(China Daily 01/20/2011 page18)

Special Coverage:  President Hu visits United States

Since returning to Beijing in 2009 from studying in the United States, he even answers calls to his cell phone with "What's up?" instead of the usual Chinese greeting, "Wei".

"I think Americans are confident," said the 26-year-old animation designer, who spent two years living in California. "They are not afraid of challenges. They are extremely creative, too. Look at the movie Avatar. Only Americans could create such a thing. We Chinese have a lot to learn."

According to a survey entitled "The US in the Eyes on Chinese", 20 percent of the respondents who had never visited the US said the first word they thought of to describe Americans was "independent". For those who had visited the US, the most common word was "confident".

Other words and phrases that came to mind included "creative", "humorous" and "always trying hard".

Lu said that, before he went to the US in 2007, his main resources for learning about the US were Hollywood movies and hit television shows like Friends, Crime Scene Investigation and The Simpsons.

Once in California, however, he noticed "there is little information in the US media about China, and even when there is it's often negative and not objective".

When asked what Chinese like least about Americans, the vast majority of respondents to the joint poll answered "arrogance". Some said they believed Americans are "less humane" and "lack attention to detail".

"I think arrogance is extreme confidence. It's hard to judge sometimes," said Lu. "Also, Americans really need to deal with their weight issues."

As heads of state for the US, the impressions left by presidents have also helped shape Chinese feelings about Americans.

The survey found that Bill Clinton is the most recognizable US president, followed by Abraham Lincoln, who led the country during the American Civil War, and Richard Nixon, whose visit to China in 1972 helped establish diplomatic relations between the two nations.

Nixon is the most recognized president for those aged 51 and above, according to the poll.

"I like Clinton the most because he was the first president to make Xi'an the first stop on his state visit in 1998," said Xu Weilun, 26, who hails from the Shaanxi provincial capital. "I can still remember how exciting it was for everyone."

Although Barack Obama, the 44th US president, only ranked seventh in general, he was the No 1 choice for many respondents under 30 years old. Roughly one-third of 125 students aged 16 to 17 at Beijing No 80 Middle School said that Obama, the country's first black president, gave them the best impression.

"Obama proves that no matter what your background is, as long as you try hard success will come," said 16-year-old student Zhang Yu.

President Hu Jintao (L) visits the Walter Payton College Preparatory High School, which houses a Confucius Institute, in Chicago, during the final day of his US visit, Jan 21, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

Chinese president suggests route to take "sound and steady" links with the US forward

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO - President Hu Jintao reaffirmed on Thursday in the United States that China will continue to deepen its reform and opening-up and adhere to peaceful development while he also urged Washington to be mindful of Beijing's "core interests" in Taiwan and Tibet.

Before leaving for Chicago on the final stop in his four-day state visit to the US, Hu delivered a speech at a luncheon in Washington where he explained China's approach to maintaining a cooperative partnership with the US.

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About 500 US business and political leaders attended the event that was hosted by the US-China Business Council and the National Committee on US-China Relations, along with several cooperating organizations.

The two countries issued a 41-item joint statement on Wednesday laying out the foundations for future China-US relations that emphasized their common interests and recognized differences.

During his speech, Hu identified the broad common interests and responsibilities that are the basis of China-US relations and proposed several steps to take the "sound and steady" relationship into a new decade.

He said both nations are committed to upholding world peace and stability and reforming the international system as well as developing the Asia-Pacific region and building stronger bilateral ties in all fields to benefit the people of both countries.

In addition to expanding strategic and economic cooperation, the Chinese president urged the US to treat China with respect and as an equal and to handle major and sensitive issues in an appropriate manner.

"Taiwan- and Tibet-related questions concern China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and they represent China's core interests," he said.

"They touch upon the national sentiment of 1.3 billion Chinese people. We hope that the US will honor its commitments and work with us to preserve the hard-won progress of our relations."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Beijing firmly opposes leaders or government officials from any country meeting with the Dalai Lama in any form, and also firmly opposes any country using the Dalai Lama issue to interfere in Tibet-related issues, which are China's internal affairs.

US President Barack Obama met the Dalai Lama in Washington in February, despite China's strong opposition, an event that worsened bilateral relations that were already disturbed by an earlier US arms sale to Taiwan.

Beijing broke off military ties with the US after the arms sales and the military-to-military relationship did not start to warm back up until the end of last year.

At the end of his speech, Hu assured his US hosts that China - still a developing country - will continue to "deepen reform and opening-up, advance economic, political, cultural and social restructuring in an all-round way, and improve the socialist market economy."

To address growing concerns about China's military modernization, Hu reaffirmed that China will remain committed to peaceful development and strive for a peaceful international environment.

"We do not engage in the arms race or pose a military threat to any country," he said. "China will never seek hegemony or pursue an expansionist policy."

Before the luncheon, Hu held talks with House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, during which he called upon Congress to continue helping the countries boost their relations.

While addressing a gathering of business leaders at a welcome banquet in Chicago held by Mayor Richard M. Daley, Hu said Chicago had played an important role in advancing trade and cultural ties with China.

And he pledged to further elevate bilateral trade and cultural ties, and called for fair treatment from the US on such issues as Washington's control of high-tech exports to China. He also called for a level playing field for Chinese companies wanting to invest in the US.

Several hundred Chinese Americans gathered on the streets in Chicago to welcome the Chinese leader.

In eager anticipation of what they expect will be new economic opportunities thanks to closer links between China and Chicago, local Chinese American leaders had been posting welcome signs throughout the city's Chinatown.

Daley said the city's long-range goal is to make Chicago the most "China-friendly" city in the United States and establish it as China's "Gateway to America".

Hong Liu, president of the Chinese American Association of Greater Chicago, told the Chicago Tribune that local "residents should be honored that Chicago is the only city outside Washington DC that he selected to visit".

Analysts said Hu's visit to the US was a success.

Sun Zhe, director of the Center for US-China Relations at Tsinghua University, said the win-win partnership in business highlighted during the visit was a major improvement on talk of "economic cooperation and helping with the global revival" stressed in 2009 when Obama visited Beijing.

He said, in the post-crisis era, the partnership will help ensure comprehensive business cooperation between the world's top two economies.

Fan Jishe, an expert on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was interested in why Hu decided to visit Chicago instead of cities with large Chinese American populations such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, or financial centers such as New York.

"I think Beijing wants to convey the message that the economic surge of China is not a burden but a benefit for the US," he said.

Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger said on Wednesday: "They can call this summit a success, not because it has solved every problem but because it has sought the way by which the problems can and will be solved."

Nicholas Berry, director of Foreign Policy Forum, told China Daily the US treated China as a partner.

"The state visit is staged as a celebration of China's rise - a message from Obama to both the American people and the Chinese that the United States does not consider China a 'strategic competitor', that is, a military threat. Instead, China is now a major power that the US will treat as such."

John Frisbie, US-China Business Council president, said: "Most simply, the visit by President Hu is a reminder of the importance of the relationship - seen by many as the most important bilateral relationship for both sides in the 21st century.

"This is a relationship in transition, and this visit is an important part of navigating that transition."

Kelly Chung Dawson in New York and Li Xiaokun in Beijing contributed to this story.

Special Coverage:  President Hu visits United States

The US reiterated that it welcomes a strong, prosperous and successful China that plays a greater global role.

Each country and its people have the right to choose their own path, and should respect each other's development model.

A healthy, stable and reliable military-to-military relationship is an essential part of President Hu's and President Obama's shared vision for a positive, cooperative, and comprehensive China-US relationship.

China and the US have a common interest in promoting peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

Both countries are committed to the eventual realization of a world without nuclear weapons.

Agreement was reached on the critical importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

On the Iranian nuclear issue, the two countries reiterated their commitment to seeking a comprehensive solution that would restore international confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program.

The two sides agreed to strengthen macroeconomic communication and cooperation, in support of strong, sustainable and balanced growth in the US, China and the global economy.

Both will pursue forward-looking monetary policies with due regard to the ramifications of those policies for the international economy.

President Hu Jintao meets US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON - President Hu Jintao and his US counterpart Barack Obama agreed to "share expanding common interests" while pledging closer cooperation in areas that included trade, energy, the environment and protection of intellectual property rights, as they held a summit in the White House on Wednesday.

"We both agreed to further push forward the positive, cooperative and comprehensive China-US relationship and commit to work together to build a partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit, so as to better benefit people in our own countries and the world over," Hu told a post-summit news briefing.

Special Coverage: President Hu visits United States Related readings:  US exports to China set to rise  China, USA both part of 'family of man'  China, US need co-op to solve trade imbalance: Chinese minister  China, US reach $45 billion export deals

Obama said he "absolutely" believes "China's peaceful rise is good for the world, and it's good for America.

"We've shown that the US and China, when we cooperate, can receive substantial benefits," he said.

Hu said China will continue to provide a level playing field for US investors and urged the US to relax its restrictions on high-tech exports and offer a fair environment to Chinese enterprises investing in the US.

He also asked Washington to recognize China's full market economy status.

With increased partnership a priority for both countries, Hu touched on the subject when he addressed a welcoming luncheon hosted by the US-China Business Council and the National Committee on US-China Relations in Washington on Thursday before leaving for Chicago.

"The China-US relationship is not one in which one side's gain means the other side's loss," Hu said, addressing concerns expressed by some people in the US over the increasing economic and political competitiveness of China.

It is only normal, in any relationship, to have disagreement and friction, Hu said. But he added that a strategic and long-term perspective will ensure relations will not be affected or held back by any individual incident at any particular time.

A joint statement was issued after the summit, which was also used to unveil a series of deals, including China's purchase of 200 Boeing aircraft. US officials said the $45 billion deals would support an estimated 235,000 American jobs.

During the post-summit news briefing, the two leaders spoke glowingly about cooperation while trying to seek a more mature and respectful relationship. They also shared some unexpected laughs.

"We want to sell you all kinds of stuff," the US president said, drawing laughter from the packed room. "We want to sell you planes. We want to sell you cars. We want to sell you software."

While there were few signs the leaders had ended disagreements on issues such as the yuan - which Obama said is undervalued - and human rights, both sides, however, promised to seek further cooperation on the world's most pressing problems and embrace an era of "friendly competition".

After an event-packed day that also included a meeting with business executives, Hu was hosted at a gala state dinner, sprinkled with stars such as action hero Jackie Chan and singer Barbra Streisand, in White House rooms bathed in purple and red lights.

"While it is easy to focus on our differences, in cultures and perspective, let us never forget the values that our people share," Obama said in a toast to Hu, pointing to mutual hard work, sacrifice and love of family.

Experts hailed achievements made by Hu during his second day of the US visit.

Yuan Peng, an expert on US studies with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said the joint statement was a guideline for relations in the next decade and beyond.

But he noted "it is important to implement the statement through pragmatic mechanisms and concrete actions".

Jamie Metzl, executive vice-president of the Asia Society, said it is a positive sign that the two presidents addressed differences in areas such as human rights and the yuan exchange rate.

"Both sides are discussing areas for collaboration. And the issues that divide us are being explored in a positive and constructive way."

Philip Levy, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said there has been a shift in the Obama administration's China policy.

"The House Committee on Ways and Means has made it clear that they are less interested in denunciations of currency practices than in practical attempts to solve trade problems," he told China Daily.

"It is not that the US is any less interested in seeing a currency appreciation ... rather, it seems to be a constructive attempt to find those issues where cooperative action is possible."

Charles Freeman, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Obama administration's tactic to reduce strategic mistrust has led to greater emphasis on cooperation in global affairs.

"It now recognizes that China is a considerable ... mover in that architecture. By elevating its assessment of China's role in global affairs, however, the US expects China to play an active role and reduce threats to the (US-led) international architecture," said Freeman.

Yukon Huang, senior associate in the Carnegie Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the two countries are trying to find common ground for more productive dialogue.

"The economic woes of the US only exacerbate the tension (over the yuan exchange rate). But China's economy is growing at an average 10 percent per year. It has more flexibility to find a win-win solution."

This year will see more high-level exchanges between the two countries.

Both presidents will meet again at the 2011 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Hawaii.

US Vice-President Joe Biden will visit China later this year to meet Vice-President Xi Jinping, who will pay a return visit.

Zhang Yuwei and Ariel Tung in New York, Li Xiaokun in Beijing, AP, and Reuters contributed to this story.

"China and the United States are committed to work together to build a cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit in order to promote the common interests of both countries and to address the 21st century's opportunities and challenges," it said.

The China-US joint statement was issued after official talks between  visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao and his US counterpart Barack Obama at the White House.

"China and the United States are actively cooperating on a wide range of security, economic, social, energy, and environmental issues which require deeper bilateral engagement and coordination, " it said.

"The two presidents shared a deep belief that a stronger China-US relationship not only serves the fundamental interests of their respective peoples, but also benefits the entire Asia-Pacific region and the world," it said.

The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to building a positive, cooperative, and comprehensive China-US relationship for the 21st  century.

Recognizing the importance of the common challenges that they face together, China and the United States decided to continue working toward a partnership that advances common interests, addresses shared concerns, and highlights international responsibilities.

Recognizing that the relationship between China and the United States is both vital and complex, they reiterated the importance of deepening dialogue aimed at expanding practical cooperation and affirmed the need to work together to address areas of disagreement, expand common ground, and strengthen coordination on a range of issues.

The two sides agreed to work further to nurture and deepen bilateral strategic trust to enhance their relations.

"The United States reiterated that it welcomes a strong, prosperous, and successful China that plays a greater role in world affairs," it said.

Both leaders support efforts to build a more stable, peaceful, and prosperous Asia-Pacific region for the 21st century.

Both sides underscored the importance of the Taiwan issue in China-US relations.

The Chinese side emphasized that the Taiwan issue concerns China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and expressed the hope that the US side will honor its relevant commitments and appreciate and support the Chinese side's position on this issue.

The US side stated that the United States follows its one-China policy and abides by the principles of the three China-US joint communiques.

China and the United States reiterated their commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights, even as they continue to have significant differences on these issues.

China and the United States affirmed that a healthy, stable, and reliable military-to-military relationship is an essential part of President Hu's and President Obama's shared vision for a positive, cooperative, and comprehensive China-US relationship.

The two nations believe they have a common interest in promoting peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, and agreed to enhance communication and coordination to address pressing regional and global challenges.

The two presidents recognized the vital importance of working together to build a cooperative economic partnership of mutual respect and mutual benefit.

Pledging to strengthen macroeconomic communication and cooperation in support of strong, sustainable and balanced growth in the two nations and the global economy, the two sides also recognized the importance of open trade and investment, and vowed to oppose trade protectionism.

China and the United States agreed to continue their close consultations on action addressing climate change as they view the issue as well as energy security two of the greatest challenges of our time.

The two nations also agreed to take concrete steps to enhance people-to-people exchanges.

Hu arrived in the US capital of Washington Tuesday for his second state visit aimed at enhancing the positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship between China and the United States. His last visit was in April 2006.

BEIJING - President Hu Jintao on Monday praised China-US relations, highlighted recent progress in ties and called for both sides to "abandon the zero-sum Cold War mentality" for a better future.

"We both stand to gain from a sound China-US relationship, and will lose from confrontation. We should view each other's development in an objective and sensible way," Hu said in a written interview with the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post before kicking off his state visit to the United States on Tuesday.

Special Coverage: Hu visits US Related readings:  China, US sign $600 m deals ahead of Hu's visit  A big event in Sino-US relations in new era  Hu proposes 4 points to advance China-US ties  Hu: China to firmly adhere to opening-up policy

In the interview Hu spoke highly of progress in bilateral ties since US President Barack Obama took office in 2009, citing "close contact" between the two and practical cooperation in various areas.

But he pointed out that differences and sensitive issues remain.

Relations went through a rocky patch in 2010, due to political and economic disputes including a massive US arms sale to Taiwan, Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama and the trade imbalance.

To improve ties, Hu suggested enhancing mutual trust, respecting each other's sovereignty, territorial integrity, development and expanding cooperation.

The Cold War mentality is not a major factor in China-US relations, "but some US politicians are using it to create obstacles", said Tao Wenzhao, an expert on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

It reflects a lack of mutual trust and has resulted in US concerns about China, Tao said.

Hu reiterated that the Chinese government is committed to following the path of peaceful development.

Korean Peninsula

He also touched upon recent tensions on the Korean Peninsula, saying Beijing made relentless efforts to help ease the situation and there have been "signs of relaxation".

"We hope that the relevant parties will seize the opportunity to engage in active interactions, resume the process of dialogue and consultation as soon as possible and ensure that the situation on the peninsula will move forward in a positive direction," he said.

Hu said China hopes Pyongyang and Seoul could achieve reconciliation and eventually realize reunification peacefully and independently.

"We support their efforts in this regard. This is in the fundamental interests of both sides and conducive to peace and stability on the peninsula," he said.

On democracy, Hu said China is committed to the development of socialist democracy.

"Without democracy, there can be no socialist modernization," he said.

"We will continue to expand people's democracy and build a socialist country under the rule of law in keeping with China's national conditions."

In response to a question on whether the yuan's appreciation could curb domestic inflation, Hu said changes in the exchange rate are a result of multiple factors, including the balance of international payments and market supply and demand.

"In this sense, inflation can hardly be the main factor in determining the exchange rate policy," Hu said.

China, over the past year, has been pressed hard to revalue its currency amid accusations that the yuan's rate has hurt employment overseas. But Tao dismissed the view.

"There is no direct connection between the yuan's appreciation and another country's economic growth," Tao said.

Acknowledging rising domestic prices, Hu said they are "on the whole moderate" and "controllable". China is able to stabilize overall price levels.

In the meantime, the liquidity of the US dollar "should be kept at a reasonable and stable level", as US monetary policy will have a major impact on global liquidity and capital flows, Hu said.

The president also gave assurances that all registered foreign companies in China will enjoy the same treatment as local enterprises do.

With Hu set to arrive in Washington DC on Tuesday, more and more Americans expect the US to build a stronger relationship with China.

A survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs found that more than two-thirds of Americans prefer the US to cooperate and engage with China.

The survey, which polled more than 2,500 adults, revealed that three-quarters of the respondents believed that China's economy might eventually overtake the US economy. Only a minority of respondents saw China's rise as a "critical" threat.

"I view China as a nation that we need to work with a lot more in the future diplomatically, as well as on economic issues," said Elisa Rosoff, a 20-year-old undergraduate majoring in foreign relations at George Washington University.

"It's just exciting for someone of my age going through a power shift between nations of the world."

Yu Yang contributed to this story.

Huangshan Mountain in East China's Anhui province, draws tourists, Feb 7, 2012. An abrupt temperature drop Monday evening coated the mountain in new frost. [Photo/Xinhua]

Huangshan Mountain is covered in new frost, Feb 7, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

Pine needles are covered in icy frost on Huangshan Mountain, Feb 7, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

A photographer tries to capture the new frost on Huangshan Mountain, Feb 7, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

The man, wearing a cap, gloves, and a red coat, entered the No 1 Middle School of Nanchang in East Jiangxi province at about 6:48 am when a few students had arrived early for classes, a spokesman of the Nanchang city government said.

He went to the second floor of the school's main building and attacked a first-year student, who was wounded but managed to escape after a scuffle. The man chased the girl and attacked another second-year student, a boy, on the way. The two were rushed to hospital but have since been taken out of critical care, the spokesman said.

City authorities have ordered the police to "spare no efforts" to catch the suspect, although the chase may prove difficult as the attacker's identity and motive were unknown, according to the spokesman.

Campus security was a top issue of public concern in 2010 after six school attacks occurred in just three months from March to May that year, leaving at least 17 dead and scores injured. Most of the victims were primary school or kindergarten children.

The string of violence prompted schools across the country to improve security, with a large number of security guards, surveillance systems and assistance from the police forces.

Local police were called by tenants of a residential building in Fengxian district who reported smelling gas at around 10 pm on Tuesday. The police found that five people living in an apartment had suffocated to death in their sleep, the district police said.

An initial investigation shows that Li Yonggang, a man in his 20s from Sichuan province, had kept tropical fish for sale in the apartment and used natural gas to keep the fish warm. The combustion of natural gas suffocated the five people living in the 120-square-meter apartment.

Xi, who is scheduled to pay an official visit to the United States next week, said during the talk with Biden that China-US relations have maintained their momentum for steady, positive development over the years.

Xi said that his trip is aimed at implementing the important consensus reached by the presidents of the two countries to promote the establishment of a China-US cooperative partnership on the basis of mutual respect and reciprocity.

The Chinese vice president said that he is looking forward to conducting extensive and in-depth discussions with US officials on bilateral relations and other major issues so as to consolidate the consensus.

He said that he also hopes to make contact with people from various walks of life in the United States in a bid to promote mutual understanding and friendship between the two countries.

Biden said that both US President Barack Obama and himself attach great importance to Xi's visit and expect that the two sides can have in-depth talks on bilateral relations and other major issues of common concern.

The US-China relationship is of great significance not only to the two countries, but also to world peace and development, Biden said.

The United States believes that Xi's visit will demonstrate to the two countries and the world the development prospects and pragmatic achievements of the cooperative partnership between the two countries, Biden said.

Government authorities will work to spur employment while improving employment structure and further perfecting regulations and related mechanism to protect workers' rights and benefits, according to the plan.

From 2006 to 2010, 57.71 million new jobs were created in urban areas and 45 million people in the rural surplus labor force were transferred to new job positions, official data shows.

By the end of 2011, China's urban unemployment rate stood at 4.1 percent, the same as a year earlier.

China's job market conditions will be "complicated" in the 2011-2015 period, and the country faces increasing pressure from creating more job opportunities, according to the plan.

The country also plans to create jobs for 40 million people in the rural surplus labor force in the five-year period.

Structural problems, like employees' skills not matching labor market demand, are likely to worsen in the coming years, according to the document.

To solve the pressure, the government will provide more effective training and better management of the job market, it said.

The government also pledged to maintain an average 13 percent growth annually in the nation's minimum wage standards in the five-year period, to keep the standard in most regions higher than 40 percent of the average wage of local urban employees.

China has managed to raise its minimum wage standards by an average of 12.5 percent year-on-year during the 2006-10 period.

Harper arrived in Beijing on Tuesday night and will meet with Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday.

Presidents of several key Canadian oil and gas companies are traveling with Harper on this trip, which many in Canada expect will boost oil exports from the North American nation to China.

Xinhua News Agency said Harper's trip will "enhance the Sino-Canadian strategic partnership". Meanwhile, Yuen Pau Woo, president of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, was quoted as saying by Postmedia News that Harper "is regularizing contact between Beijing and Ottawa at the highest level and making China a part of the Canadian prime minister's diplomatic routine".

A self-proclaimed emerging "energy superpower", Canada was recently hit by a delay to a proposed oil pipeline project after it was rejected by Washington, its primary energy customer.

In an interview with Postmedia News and the National Post last week, Harper called Canada's exclusive reliance on energy exports to the US a "weakness" and vulnerability, and said it was "a national priority" for Ottawa to export energy to other markets, particularly Asia.

China has become an important factor in Canada's economic growth, Harper said in the interview, while stressing that Canada will diversify its trade with China.

Leaders from the Canadian agricultural, education and transportation sectors are also part of Harper's entourage, which will also travel to Guangzhou and Chongqing.

Deepening ties with China and the Asia-Pacific in general will help create more jobs and foster long-term economic growth, Andrew MacDougall, a spokesman for the Canadian prime minister, said earlier.

David Mulroney, Canada's ambassador to China, has said relations between Ottawa and Beijing are in "a golden period".

Peter Harder, president of the Canada-China Business Council and a former top official at the Department of Foreign Affairs, earlier said the United States will always be Canada's No 1 trading partner, but China will be No 2.

"And the question is how big that No 2 will be," he told CBC News.

"There is a growing appreciation of our mutual dependency and complementarity Harper's trip is an investment in the future," a recent editorial in the Toronto Star newspaper said.

Mandarin and Cantonese are the third most spoken languages in Canada, after the country's two official languages, English and French. More than 1.3 million Canadian residents are of Chinese origin.

Between 2005 and 2010, Canadian merchandise exports to China grew by some 83 percent, from $7.26 billion to $13.25 billion.

Bilateral trade in 2010 reached $57.8 billion, accounting for 7.2 percent of Canada's trade and representing a 13.7 percent increase over 2009.

Chinese workers kidnapped in Sudan arrive in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. The 29 workers were freed on Tuesday, after being abducted by rebels on Jan 28 in Sudan's South Kordofan state, where clashes between the Sudan People's Liberation Army-North and the Sudanese army have been going on for months. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese workers get off a plane chartered by the International Committee of the Red Cross after being held for more than 10 days in Sudan, Feb 7, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese workers kidnapped by Sudanese anti-government forces last month arrive in Nairobi, Feb 7, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

Freed Chinese workers get in a van after arriving in Nairobi, Feb 7, 2012. The workers will receive a physical examination and have a brief rest in Nairobi before flying home, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. [Photo/Xinhua]

Xi's US visit will play a positive role in advancing Sino-US relations and a healthy and mutually beneficial partnership

Vice-President Xi Jinping will pay an official visit to the United States next week. The upcoming visit is of great significance for the two sides as they strive to maintain the good momentum of their relations in 2012.

President Hu Jintao and US President Barack Obama paid reciprocal visits, and agreed on two joint statements in November 2009 and January 2011, both of which not only reflected the development of bilateral relations, but also put forward ideas and measures for furthering relations. These two joint statements serve as important supplements to the three joint communiqus issued in the 1970s and 80s.

In April 2009, the two sides agreed to build a positive, friendly and cooperative Sino-US relationship, and in January 2011 the two presidents reaffirmed their commitment to building a cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit, which was a new positive orientation for bilateral relations.

Vice-President Xi's visit will further promote the implementation of the consensus reached by the two heads of state, so that bilateral relations can progress steadily.

In August 2011, US Vice-President Joe Biden paid a successful visit to China, where he noted how much China has changed in recent years.

After his return to the United States, Biden published an article on the The New York Times website titled "China's Rise Isn't Our Demise", speaking glowingly of China, he rejected the view that China's growth is a threat, and said he remains convinced that both countries have a stake in each other's success. "A successful China can make our country more prosperous, not less," he wrote. His optimistic view and positive understanding of China reflects the truth of the bilateral relationship.

But over the years, although Beijing has been reiterating its commitment to peaceful development, some in the US still worry about China's intentions, and some deliberately promote a "China threat".

Xi's visit to the US is another opportunity for close contact between leaders from both sides. He will meet with US politicians, academics, business people and ordinary US citizens, and will visit Muscatine in Iowa where he led a delegation sent to study advanced hog-raising techniques in 1985.

Media coverage of Xi's visit will bring him to the attention of millions of US households, which will help the US public understand China.

The two countries are important trade partners and enjoy a high degree of interdependence, but there are also some inevitable trade frictions and disputes. Unfortunately, China is often the scapegoat for the US' economic downturn. This is especially evident in the electioneering by the Republican presidential candidates, and the Obama administration will likely follow suit, as it will not want to be put on the defensive over the economy by its opponents.

It is important that China and the US ignore the sloganeering and distractions of the campaigning and strive to maintain the stability of relations. Xi's visit is a good opportunity for leaders to conduct in-depth conversations, discuss the current world economic situation, and communicate on further promoting a comprehensive and mutually beneficial economic partnership.

Xi's visit should serve as a new driving force for bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and encourage both sides to properly handle economic and trade problems.

Currently, Sino-US relations contain a wide range of regional and global issues. But the priority of these issues is not the same for Beijing and Washington. High-level visits are a very important means for both sides to communicate and exchange views on these issues.

Issues such as the stability of the Korean Peninsula, Iran's nuclear program, and turbulence in Syria are likely to be put on the table. However, in view of the current world economic uncertainties and economic situation in the US, the visit will mainly focus on the economic front.

When Hu visited the US in 2011, the two heads of state established a number of new mechanisms for communication, such as the consultation mechanisms for regional issues and the China-US Governors Forum, all of which have been in successful practice.

Xi's visit will consolidate the existing mechanisms, and further expand bilateral cultural cooperation.

We hope Vice-President Xi's visit will be a complete success.

The author is a researcher at the Institute of American Studies, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

(China Daily 02/08/2012 page8)

Xi is visiting the three nations at the invitation of US Vice-President Joe Biden, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and Turkish President Abdullah Gul, spokesman Liu Weimin said at a news briefing.

Xi's US visit is aimed at further implementing an important consensus reached by state leaders of the two countries to establish a China-US cooperative partnership of mutual respect and reciprocity, Liu said.

He added that China hopes the visit will enhance the two sides' strategic mutual trust, expand bilateral cooperation, and aid in the maintenance of the sound and stable development of China-US ties.

According to the spokesman, Xi will visit Washington, Los Angeles and the state of Iowa.

"The two sides are busy coordinating and preparing a schedule for the visit. We hope to work with the US side to make the visit a success," Liu said.

"China and the United States are committed to the development of strong bilateral ties and maintaining communication with each other in terms of bilateral ties as well as international and regional issues of common concern," said the spokesman.

Liu said that Xi will hold talks with President Gul and meet with some other Turkish leaders and also attend a China-Turkey economic forum there.

China and Turkey have witnessed smooth development of their bilateral ties over the past years, which has yielded fruitful results and brought substantial benefits for the two peoples, said the spokesman.

"China is willing to work together with Turkey to lead the China-Turkey strategic partnership into a new phase," Liu said.

According to the spokesman, during Xi's visit to Ireland, he is scheduled to hold talks with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and meet with other Irish leaders, including President Michael Higgins, Speaker Sean Barrett of Ireland's Dail Eireann, the lower house of the Irish Parliament, and Chairman Paddy Burke of Seanad Eireann, the upper house of the Parliament.

Xi will have an in-depth exchange of views with the Irish leaders on China-Ireland and China-Europe relations as well as other topics of common concern, Liu said.

"China and Ireland enjoy traditional friendship," Liu said, adding that the two nations have seen growing high-level interactions, cooperation in various areas and mutual understanding and friendship.

With the increasing challenges in the world, the development of the China-Ireland ties serve not only the two nations and the two peoples, but also the relationship between China and Europe as a whole.

"We hope that, through the visit, the two nations will deepen their friendship and enhance their pragmatic cooperation to step up bilateral ties and advance China-Europe ties in a sustainable way," said the spokesman.

BEIJING / WASHINGTON - Vice-President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to the United States will help China-US ties fly clear of US election year turbulence, experts said.

The visit, which starts on Monday, sends a strong signal that China places a high value on bilateral relations and wants ties to be stable, Jin Canrong, a Sino-US relations expert at Beijing-based Renmin University of China, said.

"That signal is especially important" amid Republican presidential hopefuls targeting China to win votes, the White House using currency issues to criticize Beijing and Washington generally playing up China's growth to increase the US presence in the Asia-Pacific region, Jin said.

The Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Xi's visit is at the invitation of his counterpart, Joe Biden. No further details were given.

The US State Department announced earlier that the visit will include stops in California and Iowa.

Xi will meet US President Barack Obama in Washington on Feb 14, the White House announced.

China bashing is becoming ever-more frequent in this election year.

Mitt Romney, the leading Republican candidate, pledged to "clamp down" on Beijing as a currency manipulator and openly threatened a trade war.

In his recent State of the Union address, Obama singled out China for unfair trade practices. He also pointed out China's solar research facility and supercomputer as examples of global challenges facing the US.

A "trust deficit" between China and the US exists, Deputy Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said on Monday at a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of the Shanghai Communiqu, a political document that established the foundation for relations.

"Each time the Sino-US relationship encounters problems there are voices that doubt the fundamentals of the relationship. There are those who want to overturn this relationship that can truly be called too big to fail," Cui said.

"We hope that Xi's visit will be used as an opportunity to enhance communication, expand cooperation and deepen friendship," he added.

Experts said that the influence of the election year on Sino-US ties will be temporary.

"The relationship is stable, with competition and cooperation coexisting," said Shen Dingli, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.

Xi's trip is part of the "institutional and frequent high-level visits" that reveal that the relationship is mature and not hostage to election cycles or any particular issue, Shen said.

The White House said on Monday that "a number of issues are always on the agenda when we sit down with the Chinese leadership, and that will be the case with this visit as well".

According to US media reports, Xi's stay in Iowa will include a reunion in Muscatine with friends he made during a trip to the state in 1985, a dinner at the Iowa Capitol and possibly a farm tour.

Xi's trip is an important visit that "will really help in the relationship", Christopher Hill, former US assistant secretary of state, told China Daily in Shanghai on Tuesday.

"There will be a lot of discussions and trying to know each other better," Hill, who once headed the US delegation to the Six-Party Talks, said.

"I would look for the trip to build on the positive relationship and see if both sides can anticipate some of the problems and prevent them from becoming bigger," Hill said.

The US strategic refocusing on East Asia has aroused speculation that the move is intended to contain China. Hill, however, said it is an attempt to secure long-term economic relationships in the region that are important to the US.

"China has emerged as one of the top economies in the world. I would hope that a renewed attention to East Asia will mean a renewed dialogue with China, and perhaps even a deepening of the dialogue to avoid strategic mistrust and misunderstanding," Hill said.

David Lampton, director of the China Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University, said that it is important that the emerging generation of Chinese leaders have a solid foundation in what they know of their American counterparts, to enhance future cooperation.

"It is particularly important for our leaders to keep our long-term interests in mind, not use inflammatory language and to place particular emphasis on dialogue in the next 12 to 18 months," Lampton said.

Experts said that Beijing and Washington have reached a degree of understanding to deal with election year friction.

Kenneth Lieberthal from the Brookings Institution said that the purpose of the trip is to give both parties an opportunity to get to know each other and develop some personal chemistry.

Wu Jiao contributed to this story.

He may actually put on some tunes.

"I realized that music was vital for criminal defendants facing severe punishments, because everyone likes beautiful things and doesn't want others to take that away, even though he or she stands at the edge of life," Zhao said.

He added that the awkward atmosphere or situation during enquiries also can be melted by music.

"I'd like to be the man who opens the door of music for those wrongdoers and leaves the pure beauty of music to them."

Zhao, 31, a graduate of international economic law from China University of Political Science and Law, is a prosecutor in the No 1 branch of the capital's prosecuting authority.

His main work is to arraign criminal defendants waiting for sentences.

His use of "music therapy" started when he arraigned a robber in detention in 2007.

The arraigned man did not cooperate with Zhao because he was tired of enquiry procedures and showed his indifference to each question the prosecutor asked.

Zhao Peng, a Beijing prosecutor, says he would like to be the man who opens the door of music for those wrongdoers and leaves the pure beauty of music to them. Wang Jing / China Daily

"I was a little bit angry at that time and had no way to continue the conversation," Zhao remembered, adding he even wanted to give up if the man still ignored him.

The defendant suddenly asked Zhao whether he had listened to a song from The Shawshank Redemption, which always sailed through his mind.

"I was excited when the man talked to me and blurted out the song's name immediately, because the film is my favorite," Zhao said.

The film tells the story of a banker who spends nearly two decades in Shawshank State Prison for the murder of his wife and her lover despite his claims of innocence.

"I'm familiar with the song, because it was one selection of the opera, The Marriage of Figaro, composed by Mozart," said Zhao.

A classical music zealot, he plays many instruments, such as flute, piano and harp. He always brings disks with his laptop.

"But the song the defendant mentioned was not on my disk," said Zhao.

Instead he played another piece from the opera for the defendant who would face a long-term sentence in prison.

When the music ended, tears streamed down the defendant's face.

Later, the prosecutor arraigned another detained defendant who raped his girlfriend. That wrongdoer, in his 30s, did not feel guilty about his behavior and kept gushing about his crimes like he was talking about a drama on television, Zhao said.

"I felt he relied on ridiculous words to hide himself and I wanted him to say what he really thought before receiving his penalty," Zhao said.The defendant then started whistling The Swan, by French composer Saint-Saens.

"He was a migrant worker and knew nothing about classical music. He was imitating what his detention keeper always whistled," Zhao said.

Zhao then played the music, which made the man fall silent.

"Later he said he wished to listen to it at a concert in the future," Zhao said.

From then on, Zhao intentionally played classical music for defendants.

He often plays different pieces on his piano next to a French window at his home in the Chaoyang district of Beijing, which is decorated in an 18th-century European style.

In 2010, Zhao played Mozart's C Major Sonata - which was specially written for children - for a drug trafficker in detention who had a 4-year-old daughter. The music made the woman burst into tears.

"They (defendants) need to release themselves and the music can make it happen," Zhao explained.

"After all, punishments in prison are not the goal for wrongdoers. What they need is to find a correct way to live and rethink their crimes."

But Zhao's music therapy doesn't always work well, as some defendants have no sense of music and ignore his efforts.

"Music is not everything. It often fits those who are extremely hopeless, anxious or irate," Zhao said.

For colleagues who look down on his innovative arraignment, Zhao said he does not pay much attention to them, since they have never tried a musical arraignment.

"Zhao Peng is friendly and always has creative ideas on work," said Yang Yonghao, one of Zhao's colleagues.

"He's changed the serious or boring image that prosecutors often give to the public and made our work more interesting."

Zhao believes the melodies that move him should also bring peace for defendants, because "music is a gift that should be felt instead of being learned".

"I believe classical music will accompany my work and life forever, because no one can take the music away from me," he added.

The agencies say maternity beds in Hong Kong's public and private hospitals are now very difficult to secure and that prices are rising accordingly.

"The new policy will most likely reduce the quota, and to order a bed in a Hong Kong hospital will not be as easy as before," an agent surnamed Jin from a Shenzhen-based Hong Kong maternity services company told a China Daily reporter who posed as an expectant mother.

"Now it's not possible to order a bed in September. And there are not many left in October," she said.

"Hong Kong has slashed the numbers of beds for mainland mothers in recent years, so the beds will undoubtedly be more difficult to order. The price, of course, will be more expensive."

The total number of obstetric beds in 2012 has fallen by 7 percent on the previous year to 34,400, which includes 31,000 in private hospitals and 3,400 in public hospitals. The amount in 2013 is expected to be revealed in April.

According to the agencies, giving birth in Hong Kong costs more than HK$100,000 ($12,900), which is 20 times the average cost of giving birth on the mainland.

"Expectant mothers should expect to pay about HK$20,000 to get a bed in Hong Kong's hospitals. They have to pay about HK$100,000 to cover other costs, including time in hospital, delivery of their baby and the babysitting service," said a staff member of an agency in Shanghai. He said the price varies with the level of service.

Because of the limited birth quota, agencies said their price for the Hong Kong maternity service for 2013 had increased by at least 15,000 yuan.

"Women from the mainland who want to give birth in Hong Kong should book maternity services as early as five weeks into their pregnancy. The earlier the better chance of there being sufficient beds available in Hong Kong's hospitals," an agent said.

Babies born in Hong Kong become permanent residents there naturally and are entitled to rights including highly subsidized medical care and free visas to many countries worldwide.

In recent years, more mainland women from well-off families have chosen to give birth in Hong Kong for its social welfare benefits or to circumvent the mainland family planning policy which limits most urban couples to one child.

Hong Kong has seen a boom in births by mainland women who are not married to Hong Kong permanent residents, from fewer than 1,000 in 2000 to more than 32,000 in 2010, putting stress on public resources, such as hospitals, education and housing.

Shan Juan contributed to this story.

Two Taiwan residents and one mainland manager were detained. The amount of money involved was up to 828 million yuan ($131 million), and the group is suspected of evading customs duties totaling around 120 million yuan, according to a statement given by the General Administration of Customs on Tuesday.

"At present, the three suspects have been transferred to the Shenzhen people's prosecutors office and are awaiting charges," said Tao Yong, a spokesperson from the General Administration of Customs.

The suspects allegedly falsely designated amber as rosin, a less expensive form of hardened resin, in their customs declarations to avoid duties, and they also declared prices at lower rates.

The group allegedly smuggled a total of 232 tons of imported amber materials valued at 828 million yuan.

Amber is resin from tens of millions of years ago that has become fossilized over millennia. It is highly valued for its aesthetic and medicinal value.

In nature, amber is far more rare than rosin, so its prices and taxes are much higher. The combined tax rate on imported rosin is 20.5 percent, while tariffs on amber can go as high as 35 percent, according to customs officials.

In April 2011, while Shenzhen customs officers were on regular patrols at the airport, they became suspicious about a container with irregularities in its paperwork.

The customs declaration said that the unit contained rosin with a declaration unit price of 50 euro per kilo, but the receiving unit was a company in Shenzhen that specialized in processing amber jewelry, Peng Haihong, press officer from Shenzhen customs said.

Through sample examination, anti-smuggling police found the container actually held within it completely processed necklaces and bracelets, and the material from which the jewelry was made appeared to be natural amber, she said.

Through further investigation, Shenzhen customs discovered that from July 2010 to March 2011, the company falsely declared the imported goods as rosin a total of 14 times, according to Peng.

China is country that produces large quantities of rosin each year, and the chemical compositions of amber and rosin are basically the same, but there is a huge gap in the prices.

After acquiring solid evidence in May, 2011, Shenzhen customs sent more than 30 anti-smuggling officers to expand a large-scale crackdown and detained two Taiwan residents, seizing 500 kilograms of amber raw materials.

Meanwhile, the police also detained another suspect surnamed Qiu, the manager of a customs clearance agency in Shenzhen that helped to fabricate some fraudulent contracts and invoices.

The anti-smuggling department of Shenzhen customs confirmed the company had tried to evade tariffs worth millions of yuan by fabricated declarations.

"We will step up efforts to crack down on smuggling, and try our best to examine the declared goods as much as possible, especially the suspicious ones," said Tao Yong.

As more women flock to Hong Kong to give birth to their second child, Zhang Feng, family planning department director of Guangdong province, stressed that this violated China's policies.

"And those who are government employees will even be dismissed from their posts," he said.

"It doesn't matter if they give birth to their second child on the mainland or in other countries and regions, they have violated the country's policies and the province's regulations."

He said that some families had been punished in the past few months after having a second child in Hong Kong, but gave no details.

Zhang made his remarks when a Hong Kong newspaper carried a controversial notice claiming residents' medical services had been affected by the growing number of mainland women who arrive in the city to give birth and gain right of abode there.

According to statistics revealed by Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, about 88,000 babies were born in Hong Kong in 2010. But more than 41,000, or 47 percent, were to mainland couples, including a large number from Guangdong.

Hong Kong has capped the number of mainland women permitted to give birth in the city at 34,000 this year.

The issue also has prompted calls for an amendment to Hong Kong's Basic Law so that babies born to mainland women are no longer granted permanent right of abode.

"I support Hong Kong government's decision to reduce or limit the quotas for mainland women giving birth in Hong Kong," Zhang said.

China introduced its family planning policy in 1979 to limit births in the world's most populous nation, although the rules have been relaxed in recent years.

"The Chinese Government has made representations to the Libyan side," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a regular news briefing. "And the Libyan side has expressed regret about the incident and promises to strengthen the embassy's security."

Syrian and Libyan demonstrators in Tripoli on Monday hurled rocks, eggs and tomatoes at the Chinese embassy, after Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution backing an Arab League plan urging Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to cede power, according to Reuters.

A similar incident took place on Sunday outside the Russian embassy.

China and Russia blocked a draft of a UN resolution on Saturday urging Assad to quit. China has already defended its veto, saying the vote was called before differences in the resolution were bridged.

Demonstrators said they wanted to take down the Chinese flag and replace it with the Syrian opposition's flag and the red, black and green flag of Libya's National Transitional Council, which came to power after a civil war last year that toppled Muammar Gadhafi's rule.

On the situation in Syria, Liu reiterated that China would continue to support the constructive and positive role played by the Arab League. "The Chinese people are friends of both the Syrian and the Arab peoples. We have always worked together and coordinated on all sorts of problems," Liu said.

YANCHENG, Jiangsu - Representatives of the Chinese manufacturer of Olympic mascot dolls on Tuesday said reports claiming its products were made in sweatshops had been based on untrue information and its factory is open to international organizations and the media for inspections.

Gu Feng, chairman of the board of Yancheng Rainbow Arts and Crafts Co Ltd, located in East China's Jiangsu province, made the comment at a news conference in response to previous reports by British newspaper The Sun.

On Jan 19 and Jan 23, the Sun published stories calling the factory a "sweatshop". The reports said that workers in the factory need to work 358 hours a month to make only 93 pounds, roughly 930 yuan ($147). "The Chinese workers quoted by The Sun as the factory's employees did not even exist," said Gu.

He said that Zhu Shengrong, who was interviewed by the US-based Voice of America (VOA) earlier, fabricated the story to tarnish the factory's reputation out of retribution for his dismissal.

In its report, VOA quoted Zhu as saying that he was forced to work about 14 hours a day without overtime pay.

"Zhu was fired by our factory in the first half of 2008 due to repeated inappropriate contact with some female colleagues," said Gu.

Zhu had demanded compensation for an industrial injury but was rejected by the local courts.

Blue toys in the shape of the mascots for the London 2012 Olympic Games await processing inside the Yancheng Rainbow Arts and Crafts Co Ltd in Dafeng, Jiangsu province, on Tuesday. Gao Erqiang / China Daily

"The verdicts of local courts can prove that Zhu was not fired because of an industrial injury, about which he must have lied to VOA," Gu said.

He said that the factory had passed inspections from the International Council of Toy Industries and the Societe Generale de Surveillance SA, a Switzerland-based multinational company that provides inspection services.

The Yancheng factory is also an authorized manufacturer for the mascots of Disney and the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

John Hales, chairman of Golden Bear, the company that owns the license to produce the official mascots for the London Olympics and Paralympics, also confirmed in a statement that the factory has passed inspections.

"Founded in 1997, our factory has a long history in producing mascots with high quality, and our 72 workers have a neat working environment and relatively good salaries," Gu said.

The monthly salary of an employee who is not absent from work is about 2,000 yuan in the factory, Gu said.

Xia Senlin, a 30-year-old woman who has worked for Rainbow since September 2008, said that her salary was 2,158 yuan in November 2011. She worked 26 days that month.

"My salary in December 2011 was 3,696 yuan, and we work from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm, with a noon break," said Wu Chunping, who is 36 years old and has worked for Rainbow since May 2006.

Workers in the factory make 5.16-5.94 yuan for every Wenlock and Mandeville doll produced, said Gu. "The Sun's report that workers only get 18 pence per item is untrue."

However, he admitted that the factory does not interfere if some unskilled workers choose to work overtime to finish their workload.

"The Hong Kong-based Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior, which made the report upon which The Sun based its coverage, may face lawsuits if the situation continues to deteriorate," Gu said.

"It is untrue to label our factory a sweatshop, and we can stand up to scrutiny," Gu said.

A 2012 London Olympic Games spokesman said that an independent monitor has been asked to carry out a comprehensive investigation and review the allegations of a breach of workers' rights.

Golden Bear is also launching its own investigation into the allegations, saying that it will work with the British Toy and Hobby Association, the International Council of Toy Industries and other authorities in the process.

Shen Ziming, the presiding judge of the case from the High People's Court of East China's Zhejiang province, told China News Service that the court endorsed the previous judgment after finding the defendant illegally raised up to 770 million yuan ($122 million) from 11 lenders with the promise of high returns from 2005 to 2007, and hence should be "severely punished" for the apparent Ponzi-like scheme, as she has "brought huge losses to the nation and people with her serious crimes".

Shen said Wu concealed her debt to lenders and pretended to be financially powerful by "showing off jewelry and registering nominal companies".

According to China's criminal code, a person convicted of financial fraud is punishable by death if the money involved is "especially huge" and an "especially heavy loss" of the interests has been made to the state and the people.

Although some legal experts supported the judgment, wide sympathy and pleas for the fair-skinned woman have quickly ranked top on the country's most popular micro-blogging site.

Speculation swirled around both the suitability of the charge and whether capital punishment is too severe for a non-violent financial crime.

Zhang Sizhi, an 85-year-old barrister with national renown, wrote an open letter to the top court and pleaded for re-consideration when it exerted its right of review, for there are still "reasonable doubts".

Wu Ying stands trial at Jinhua Intermediate People's Court in Zhejiang province on April 16. The one-time business tycoon is waiting for the top court's final review of her death sentence. Provided to China Daily

Zhang Yanfeng, Wu's lawyer, argues that the case does not constitute the crime of financial fraud, a charge that requires fundraising from the general public by means of "swindling" for the purpose of illegal possession.

"Nine out of the 11 lenders are Wu's old friends and should not be considered general public," said Yang Zhaodong, one of Wu's lawyers.

He then said Wu has used the funds to invest in trading companies, hotels and real estate, instead of using the money to cover existing debt and purchase personal luxuries as accused by the prosecutors.

Oral testimony shows the lenders still believe Wu borrowed the money to improve cash flow instead of illegal possession and personal indulgence.

"The last time I met her was in November 2011, and she looked robust," Yang said.

He said Wu's request to meet lawyers was turned down by the detention house one week before the provincial court announced the final verdict.

Insisting that his daughter is innocent, Wu Yongzheng, a slightly tanned man with a bony figure, said he believes his daughter is being treated unjustly because it "implicates government officials".

The government of Zhejiang's Dongyang city, where Wu Ying was born and rose from a dropout to a billionaire businesswoman, froze her assets and auctioned them at an apparently low price before the court made a judgment.

"The government's auction is illegal, since at that time Wu Ying was still a suspect instead of a criminal," said Chen Guangzhong, a legal expert on criminal procedure.

But it will be difficult to retrieve the revenues from the government if Wu's verdict is overturned, Yang Zhaodong said. Questioning some of the facts in the case, Chen Guangzhong furthered his point about whether the death penalty is suitable for a non-violent financial crime, especially as the country tries to tighten the use of capital punishment.

The National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, moved to slash crimes punishable by death from 68 to 55 last year, following the top court's withdraw of the final say on all the capital punishments in 2007.

Chen said the top legislature considered abolishing the death sentence for financial fraud, although it was later excluded from the final proposal submitted to vote by lawmakers.

The list of crimes carrying a possible death sentence has evolved along with the country's shift of government priorities, since the criminal code was introduced in 1979.

Many economic crimes, including the crime of financial fraud that Wu is facing, were included during the 1980s and 1990s, when the country's opening-up led to both an economic boom and increase in financial offenses.

Apart from doubts in the case itself, public outrage over Wu's death sentence also stems from sympathy for her legendary life and concerns that the punishment may eventually discourage grassroots entrepreneurship, especially when many small businesses in coastal China have been shut down or are suffering.

A farmer's daughter from a small city in Zhejiang, a province known for booming household businesses, Wu started with a small beauty salon at the age of 22 in 2003. Before being arrested four years later, she had become owner of at least seven companies with about 780 employees.

Han Zhiguo, an economist, said even if Wu has illegally raised funds - which is still a disputable charge - it should be taken into consideration that many businessmen in China are compelled to do so since it is too difficult for private companies to borrow money from banks.

A survey polling about 2,800 companies in Zhejiang province last year showed 86 percent of respondents said banks had asked for additional conditions when they applied for a loan.

"The boundary of private lending and fundraising has to be cleared, especially when private lending is indispensable and government support is still difficult to get," said Chen Jun, deputy president of Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce.

Most of the Chinese tourists are on scattered islands and not the Maldives capital Male, where the protests occurred, a staff member of the embassy said. "They enquired about whether they can safely return to China as soon as possible."

"As far as I know, police haven't closed down roads or the airport," he said.

Male International Airport remains open, and most of the well-known local hotels in the Maldives are safe to stay at, said Liz Wu, a public relations representative for a group of luxury hotels in the Maldives.

The Maldives embassy in China also posted a notice on its weibo account (micro blog) saying it is safe for tourists to visit the Maldives since the transition to the country's new leader has been peaceful. The president was replaced by his vice-president.

The Chinese embassy has advised the Chinese Foreign Ministry and travel agencies to postpone or cancel trips to the Maldives. "After all, nobody knows if the situation change in the near future," the embassy said.

According to the Shanghai municipal tourism administration, around 370 tourists from Shanghai are stuck in the Maldives.

"Most travelers heading to the Maldives are individual travelers rather than group travelers," said Yao Shuoye, an official with the administration. "But we do have their information. At least we know which hotels they're staying at as all of these tourists booked the hotels and flights through local travel agencies."

The administration asked local travel agencies to keep tourists informed about the Maldives' situation and to avoid visiting Male.

"Male is not at all the major attraction of the Maldives ,and that's why most tourists wouldn't stay there for long. It's only a transfer point," said Wang Fang, general manager of Shanghai Jinjiang International Travel Co Ltd's outbound department.

Tourists have not made any emergency calls from the Maldives, so it's too early to determine what effect the leadership shakeup will have on the tourism industry, said a manager at the Beijing-based BTG International Travel and Tours, who only gave his surname as Ma.

Ma said it's unlikely that the incident will change the image of the Maldives, which is seen as a popular destination for international tourists.

"Unlike the Spring Festival, it is not the peak season for Chinese tourism to go to the Maldives," said Li Lan, who is in charge of the Maldives-bound tour business at the Beijing office of the China Travel Service.

Some Shanghai tourists planning to visit the Maldives adopted a "wait and see" attitude. "I won't easily cancel the trip with my husband there in May," said Maple Yang. "We have purchased the tourist insurance."

The Maldives, with 350,000 people, comprises 1,192 low-lying islands - of which only 200 are inhabited. About 100 islands are resorts, generally with isles to themselves.

Tourism is the Maldives' largest industry, accounting for a third of GDP and more than 60 percent of foreign currency earnings. Some 90 percent of government tax revenues come from import duties and tourism.

More than 198,000 Chinese tourists visited the state in 2011, up 67 percent year-on-year, according to Maldives' official statistics.

"The 29 persons are currently in sound physical condition and a stable mood," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Chinese workers arrived in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, at 10:35 pm (Beijing Time ) with the escort of a Chinese government task group and Chinese diplomats based overseas, the statement said.

According to earlier reports, the Chinese workers embarked on a plane chartered by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and left the area controlled by anti-government forces in Sudan on Tuesday evening.

The freed workers will receive a physical examination and have a brief rest in Nairobi before flying home, the statement said.

The release followed a stream of intensive rescue efforts carried out by the Chinese government in cooperation with the Sudanese government and other parties.

The 29 captives had been held since Jan 28, when a group of 47 Chinese workers were separated from their colleagues while working on a multi-million dollar road project in Sudan's South Kordofan state, where clashes between the Sudan People's Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) and the Sudanese army have been ongoing for months.

The Sudanese army found 17 workers and transferred them to safety. One Chinese worker died of gunshot wounds.

Their employer, SCL, has a $63 million road project in the area. It evacuated its remaining staff to safer locations. The company said it would also start evaluating the safety situation and improve security measures at its other operations in Sudan.

After the incident, China called for the immediate release of the workers, and sent a Foreign Ministry-led working group to Sudan to assist their rescue.

Deputy Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng on Jan 31 called on Sudan to help free the 29 Chinese workers who were being held by the SPLA-N.

Xie summoned the Sudanese charge d'affaires in Beijing and lodged urgent representations to the African nation over the incident. He said China was "deeply shocked" by the incident, according to a statement released on the Foreign Ministry's website.

It marked the third case of abduction of Chinese in Sudan since 2004 and highlighted the risks facing Chinese nationals working abroad.

Hao Hongshe, commercial counselor of the Chinese embassy in Sudan, pointed out that as part of their "going out" strategy, more and more Chinese companies are exploring and expanding business opportunities in developing countries, some of which are poor and politically unstable.

On prevention measures, Hao suggested that Chinese companies take measures to raise the safety awareness of Chinese workers overseas and increase their investment in security.

In case of security incidents, Han suggested companies first inform Chinese embassies and take appropriate measures to help workers deal with them.

"Chinese companies should not only focus on business, but also study more about the culture, religions, ethnic groups and political situations in foreign countries," said Dong Manyuan, an expert in anti-terrorism at the China Institute of International Studies.

Chairing a Monday conference themed on the distribution of affordable housing, Li said while ensuring the quantity and quality of the houses, the government should give more emphasis on fair distribution.

"Fair distribution of the houses is the lifeblood for the success and sustainable development of the program," he said, adding the task was an important test for the government's credibility.

At the conference, Li listened to reports from authorities of Liaoning province, Shanghai and Chongqing on their experience in the allocation process. He urged local governments to learn from the well-implemented practices and improve their management.

He also called for supervision from the public and media to make the process more open and transparent.

The government has vowed to build 36 million affordable housing units during the 2011-2015 period in an effort to give more mid- and low-income households access to housing and stabilize runaway property prices, with 10 million units planned for both 2011 and 2012.

The father He Liesheng, 44, considers himself a new Chinese parental archetype in the tradition of the so-called "tiger mom".

"When the old eagle teaches its young, it takes the young eagles to the cliff side, beats them and pushes them to teach them to use their wings, and I believe I am helping my son in this way — to force him to challenge limitations and exceed his own expectations," said He.

On a family vacation to New York during the Spring Festival holiday, He recorded the video of his son running naked in a –13 C blizzard.

After He uploaded the video to the Internet as a "New Year's gift" to his friends, the post received a flurry of hits and comments criticizing He's so-called lesson to his child.

He said on Tuesday that his son He Yide was diagnosed with cerebral palsy because he was born a premature baby, which could hinder the intellectual development of a child. To make the son as healthy as others, He drew up a training schedule and rigorously adhered to it. The training included swimming, mountain hiking and jogging but not running naked.

"The naked run on Chinese New Year's Eve just represents my good wish for the coming year," He said.

The father said he is confident in this style of education because he majored in education in university and worked as a teacher for seven years before becoming a businessman in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. And He said his son now has scored very high on an IQ test.

However, a famous writer for children disagrees. "From tiger mom to eagle dad, the parents always say they are doing the right thing for the good of their children. But in my point of view, they are just forcing the children to become successful so that they themselves could feel powerful," said Lu Qin, a columnist known as "caring sister"who works for Chinese Teenagers News.

The term"tiger mom" was first popularized by Amy Chua, a Chinese-American mother who swept both US and China with her book The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, in which she describes the strict upbringing of her two daughters.

Following Chua's example, a Hong Kong businessman Xiao Baiyou, the self-styled "wolf dad", published a similar book touting how his philosophy landed his three children at a prestigious university.

"They even advertise their theories and take pride in their abuse," Lu Qin, the columnist said. "What they are most focused on is how their children perform better than others, but they fail to see the possible harm caused by violation of the natural order of childhood growth."

"The parents do not pay attention to how some children turn rebellious due to high pressure from their parents, and some have even killed the parents or ruined their own lives. I really feel indignant at their wrongheaded theories."

However, the "wolf father" spoke in defense of himself and other tough Chinese parents.

"I support 'eagle father', because there should be different methods for early education, and he has chosen one fit for his son," said Xiao Baiyou.

"You don't know how hard it is for a parent to treat his own child so strictly, but if this is the only way, it's worth a try for every parent, including me," Xiao said.

The Chinese Pediatric Association Chairman Zhu Zonghan said there is no scientific evidence showing the benefit of "eagle dad's" naked running exercise. "This is against the natural law of growth,"Zhu said.

Xu Pengfei, a pediatric doctor with China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, agrees with Zhu.

"There is special cold-weather training in Japan and Korea, but the training should be carried out step by step. If the father had taken the child jogging year round, the training is acceptable," Xu said.

"Moreover, the father's explanation that sports enhanced the child's intelligence lacks scientific basis. Education can only lead to a modest change in IQ."

The benchmark retail price of gasoline will be lifted by 0.22 yuan per liter and diesel by 0.26 yuan per liter, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The latest price change, which is much expected by the market, comes amid rising pressures for the country's refineries as the increasing international crude oil futures prices keep driving up their operation costs.

The price rise will help motivate the oil refineries, ensure supply in the domestic market, guide rational consumptions and promote emission cuts, an official with the NDRC said.

The move follows the previous change on October 8 last year, when the NDRC announced the first price cut in 16 months, taking the fuel prices off from record highs.

China's current oil pricing system was introduced in May 2009. The system gives the NDRC the right to adjust domestic fuel, diesel and gas prices when average prices for Brent, Cinta, and Dubai crude oil move by 4 percent within 22 consecutive working days.

Over 1,600 heads of livestock were killed and cracks appeared on walls in over 8,000 homes due to the freezing weather in the city of Hulunbuir, located in the region's northeast, according to a spokesman with the regional civil affairs department.

The extreme weather has inflicted direct economic losses and apartment  renovation costs of 13 million yuan ($2.1 million), said the spokesman, adding that no casualties have been reported.

The cold front began to plague Hulunbuir in late December last year and has tightened its grip on the area since the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday in late January.

Chenbaerhu Banner, administered by Hulunbuir, registered the lowest temperature to date this winter in Inner Mongolia, 51.9 minus degrees Celsius, said the spokesman.

In addition, five banners and cities administered by Hulunbuir have seen their new record low temperatures during the past month and a half, compared with the same period of previous years, he said.

The regional weather authorities have forecast the region will soon experience a new temperature drop of eight to 10 degrees Celsius.

Nationwide, a cold front has swept across the country since Sunday, and the cold weather is expected to persist in the country's central and eastern areas, according to a statement from the National Meteorological Center.

By Tuesday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance had jointly distributed 6.3 billion yuan in winter relief funds to provide food and clothing for people in weather-stricken areas.

"It will be meaningless if foreigners attend the conference but cannot understand the Chinese language," Hao Risheng, director of the information office of the congress standing committee, said on Tuesday.

"The intention of inviting foreigners is to show transparency in government. In addition to Chinese residents, we want to share our working concepts and plans with foreign friends who work and make investments here."

The fifth session of the 11th Jiangsu People's Congress will be convened on Thursday in the provincial capital Nanjing, and 23 foreigners have been invited, including consular officers, bosses of foreign businesses, and scholars.

It is the second time that foreigners have been invited to observe the annual session, according to Huang Liqun, deputy secretary-general of the standing committee. He said the English report on the work of the government will now become routine.

Prior to Jiangsu, Shanghai and Shenzhen governments were the first on the mainland to hand out English copies of their reports to foreign guests attending as observers in 2004. Beijing adopted the practice the following year and won praise from foreign auditors and journalists.

"Previously we were very much confined to understanding the conference through reading Chinese material without being proficient in the language. The English report helped us a lot to see the developments of the municipality," said Mark Gooding, who attended the 2004 Shanghai session when he was the British consul general in the city.

"The practice showed the determination to open up government to the outside world, which made us confident about investment prospects," said Andy Clayton, China operations director of B&Q, a leading home improvement retailer, who was invited to the 2004 Shenzhen session.

Social experts applauded the translated reports, saying it made a change from an earlier attitude of seclusion.

"Some provincial or city governments reply to questions and queries from the outside world only when they are asked. Now they are taking the initiative to serve the community better by being more direct in communicating," said Yang Yayun, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

Witnesses say vehicles were driven down a road by the landslide, which happened at about 4:40 pm in the Yanguoxia township, and fell into the Yellow River. About 100,000 cubic meters of earth fell down, according to the local government.

The casualties are still unknown.

Senior management from some leading Chinese overseas companies believe the companies should better assess risks of operating in a foreign country and adopt multi-dimensional approaches to avert or mitigate such risks.

Factors for heightened risks

Overseas Chinese firms have encountered threats to both staff and their investments more frequently in recent years and cases in West Asia and North Africa have been a major contributor to the hike.

China's trade ties with the two regions have witnessed constant growth in recent years. Chinese companies also have an increasingly bigger presence in the two regions amid growing trade ties, exposing them more to the waves of social unrest and political upheavals that started last year.

Wang Xifeng, deputy general manager of China Civil Engineering Construction Corp's Nigerian branch, told that Chinese companies tended to be more interested in investing in high-risk regions as yields there were higher.

However, he warned high yields always came with high risks and companies could suffer great losses due to security incidents.

Yan Lijin is the CEO of CETC International Co Ltd, an affiliate of China's state-owned electronics giant, CETC. He said, as China became a more prominent global player, armed groups also started to target overseas Chinese workers in a bid to win more space in negotiations with the government.

Overall risk assessment needed

Wang sorted security risks facing overseas Chinese companies into three categories: political risks such as regime change and riots; local security risks such as robbery and kidnapping; and attacks by terrorist or extremist groups.

"Overseas Chinese companies should make sufficient preparations for the three types of security risks, especially for the first kind, which has long been underestimated or even overlooked," Wang said.

Leading Chinese companies investing in Libya suffered hefty losses last year as the country plunged into turmoil, which later developed into a fully fledged civil war resulting in the defeat of Muammar Gaddafi's government.

China's leading telecom equipment company, ZTE, was among the companies that suffered big losses in Libya. ZTE Deputy CEO Chen Wenjie, who is also the general manager of the company's North African branch, said the aggregation of Chinese companies in certain countries meant aggravated risks and greater losses in case of security irregularities.

He called on the Chinese government to set up a mechanism to regulate and properly guide the overseas expansion of Chinese companies.

Cairo-based veteran investment manager Han Ruihua said, aside from assessing overall risks and making adequate emergency plans, Chinese companies should also speed up the process of localization, creating more job opportunities for local communities, instead of sending in Chinese workers.

"Overseas Chinese companies should work to ensure that local staff members see their own interests integrated with that of the company and become willing to safeguard the interests of the company," Han said.

Since the first quarter of 2010, SMEs have faced such problems as high production and labor costs and an unfavorable international environment, with export-driven SMEs hurt by the weak global economy.

The State Council has urged that more to be done to support the development of smaller companies. On Feb 1, the council discussed the issue at an executive meeting and announced that the government would further support SMEs by establishing a 15-billion-yuan fund.

Small companies "serve as a significant channel for creating jobs, a major platform for the growth of entrepreneurship and an important force for scientific innovation", according to a statement released on Feb 1 and reported by the Xinhua News Agency after a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.

"The Ministry of Finance will allocate 3 billion yuan every year over the next five years and the State Council will release policy documents on further development of SMEs in the near future," said Zhu Hongren, spokesman and chief engineer at MIIT.

MIIT noted that exports had cooled, with industries' export shipments increasing just 16.6 percent last year, slower than in previous years. Domestically, demand for vehicles and real estate will remain in a slow-growth mode, and SMEs will face greater challenges than big enterprises, it said.

According to Zhu, starting last year, the government has paid special attention to this issue to support the development and modernization of SMEs. "Labor-intensive SMEs have no core competitive technology and were hit the hardest during the financial crisis," said Zhu.

In addition to financial support, the central government will establish 4,000 public service platforms for SMEs, including 500 national level platforms.

On February 3, police in Chongzuo city were informed that two minibuses boarding large numbers of Vietnamese were trying to sneak across the border of China from Bankun Road, Pingxiang city, a border city adjacent to Vietnam, the public security frontier defense forces of Guangxi said Tuesday.

Three Chinese "snakeheads" (human traffickers) and 42 others were arrested by border police at about 11: 00 pm.

An investigation of the case is under way.

Early on Monday, border police of Guangxi said that 12 snakeheads and 81 illegal immigrants were apprehended as they attempted to reach the neighboring Guangdong province.

Local border police said that large numbers of illegal immigrants have been crossing the border to seek jobs in China since the beginning of the year.

Local frontier forces have intensified vehicles checks at frontier inspection stations to crack down on human trafficking and illegal immigration.

So far, more than 600 illegal immigrants have been seized.

Switzerland-based Xstrata, the world's fourth-largest metals and mining company, announced on Tuesday that it will form a new company named Glencore Xstrata International PLC, together with Glencore, the world's largest publicly traded commodities supplier.

Xstrata's each share will equal to 2.8 shares of Glencore's for its shareholders. Xstrata will own 45 percent of the new company's shares.

On February 2, Xstrata announced that Glencore approached the company for an all-share offer in a "merger of equals."

The deal's success will weaken the power of Chinese buyers in the down-stream part of the mining industry, said an industrial insider who declined to be named. He said Glencore has direct and indirect cooperation with 40 percent of the aluminium companies and more than half of the zinc companies in China.

"The industry chain cooperation between the two companies will have significant influence in a long term in the Chinese market, the world's major commodities consumer," he said.

The merger will form new monopoly in the mining sector, said Wang Huajun, deputy secretary-general of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association.

However, Wang (he) said Chinese companies need to work harder to develop themselves to gain more power in the international market rather than worrying about the influence of the merger.

Glencore has many Chinese partners including PetroChina, Sinopec Group, Aluminium Corporation, Shenhua Group, China Minmetals Corporation, which are all major players in gas, coal and metal industries.

Glencore already owns 34% of Xstrata. The merger will result in a global commodities giant with an $80 billion market value, which will be the biggest merger in the mining sector in the history.

Glencore went public in May 2011 in London's biggest-ever initial public offering, worth roughly $10 billion.

Xstrata has a market capitalization of about $50 billion.

The cash flow of property developers will be further squeezed as the credit policies relating to them remain tight and most of their financing channels, such as trust and overseas financing products, will come due this year.

According to Guotai Junan Securities Co Ltd, real estate trust products valued at 175.8 billion yuan ($28 billion) will come due this year, with the peak occurring in July.

Ye Chengyu, director of investment at the real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Inc, said that 2012 will be a year of property developer M&A, because they will face a tightened cash flow of unprecedented proportions. "Though domestic players will still dominate the investment market this year, more deals involving international investors are expected," said Ye.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, published en-bloc sales in Beijing hit $3.63 billion in 2011, down 13 percent from the previous year. Chinese institutional investors dominated the market in terms of sources of capital, with 83 percent compared with 60 percent in 2010.

However, the situation in Shanghai was the reverse: published en-bloc deals totaled $5.25 billion last year, up 9.9 percent from 2010. Foreign institutional investors accounted for 51.2 percent of the capital sources, according to statistics from Cushman & Wakefield.

"Shanghai remained the most-favored city by international investors, because the market is more mature and there are more tradable assets for global investors," said Ye.

"We will implement a differentiated lending policy to the real estate sector, strengthen support to affordable house construction projects, and meet the loan demand of families who want to purchase property for the first time," the People's Bank of China said.

Assistant governor Guo Qingping said the central bank will also improve regulation of the gold market and encourage financial institutions to fend off financial risk.

Together with the 5.04 billion yuan distributed on December 15 last year, the total amount of distributed winter relief funds has reached 6.3 billion yuan, the statement said.

The funds, arranged by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance, are used to provide food and clothing for people in extremely cold regions, according to the statement.

It said the central government has decided to lift average food subsidies from the previous 50 yuan per person to 90 yuan.

The ministry also urged relevant provinces to properly handle disaster relief work following snowstorms and freezing weather, the statement said.

The International Monetary Fund said Monday that China's economic expansion may drop to 8.25 percent this year, from a previously projected 9 percent, should Europe's debt crisis worsen. Exports would be a significant drag on economic expansion in the next two years, the IMF said.

Zhang Ji, director general of the Ministry of Commerce's Department of Mechanic, Electronic and High-tech Industry, said China will try to maintain "continuance and stability" in its processing industry, a significant part of China’s foreign trade.

In 2011, China’s 110,000 processing companies generated 40 million jobs. According to the General Administration of Customs, China’s processing industry grew by 12.7 percent in 2011 from a year earlier to $1.3 trillion, accounting for 35.8 percent of the nation’s foreign trade during the same period.

China's exports have been on the decline since late last year. The IMF predicted Chinese exports in January may drop 1.4 percent from a year earlier. Figures on the China’s foreign trade are due to be released on Friday.

"China expressed grave concerns over the attack on the Chinese embassy in Libya," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin at a regular press conference.

According to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the host country has the responsibility to protect diplomats and properties of foreign missions from intrusion, said Liu.

"We urge the Libyan side to adopt effective measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again and secure the safety of Chinese citizens and agencies in Libya," he said.

Liu said the Libyan side had apologized for the incident and promised to strengthen security around the Chinese embassy in Tripoli.

The Chinese delegation, led by Wang Shenyang, director of the ministry's Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Department, is seeking China's participation in Libya's post-war reconstruction and to negotiate on obstacles facing Chinese companies resuming projects here.

Omran Ghali, director of International and Economic Cooperation at the Libyan Ministry of Economy, hailed the remarkable cooperation between the two countries and said he hoped for more foreign investment covering construction, agriculture and tourism.

Referring to projects interrupted by the country's civil war, Libyan Deputy Minister of Housing Facilities Ali Abdul Hafiz said the new government respected all contracts signed with foreign companies and had formed a special committee to review them and solve remaining problems in order to protect foreign investors' rights.

But he said priority would be given to contracts according to their importance to the needs of the Libyan people, with subordinate consideration given to the projects' time limits and the nation's equity in them.

He also said Libyan companies were expected to restart business from February and foreign companies from May. If any company wanted to resume operation sooner, the Libya government would provide support to overcome difficulties, but only if it had no preconditions, including settlement of past accounts and contract changes.

The delegation specified Chinese companies' difficulties, such as visa, financial accounts and export problems, which could not be solved without the Libyan government's help.

China supported Libya's effort in creating a committee to solve all the problems, said the Chinese delegation, adding that China would maintain contact with it.

However, releasing money and activating accounts were priorities for getting back to work as some Chinese companies were too badly affected by the war to operate without help, the Chinese delegation stressed, calling it the biggest divergence between the two sides.

Libya affirmed Chinese companies' right to reclaim their money, but the problem could not be solved immediately because of the shortage of government's funds.

Before the war, China had contracts in Libya worth some $20 billion and had built more than 100,000 housing units, some of which were 10 to 80 percent completed.

The Chinese delegation arrived here Saturday night. During the five-day tour, it will visit Tripoli and Benghazi to assess losses of Chinese assets and discuss restarting projects in the country.

At a career fair held Monday in Central China's Hunan province, more than 6,000 positions at 80 enterprises were advertised. But Guo Hongbo, the human resources manager of a branch factory of Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd., received only seven applicants.

Guo expected to hire at least 50 laborers for a recently established production line in one of the company's factories.

"Not only do we compete with the coastal areas, where migrant workers used to flow, but more companies that have relocated their production inland are grabbing laborers," said Guo.

Guo said the company started hiring on the last day of the Spring Festival holiday. It hopes to attract returnees who have been working in factories along China's coast.

The company offers wages as high as 1,900 yuan ($351), nearly as much as those offered in the export hub of Shenzhen, Guo said.

Favorable welfare packages that include medical and social insurance are being offered by the companies to entice potential employees.

"There are many returnees who choose to work at home, but there are still not enough to meet the aggressive demands of rapidly expanding enterprises," Guo said.

As a result, companies such as Tsingtao have begun to dispatch recruiting teams to remote areas as Guizhou province, where plenty of cheap labor still exists.

"We even encourage our employees to lure their relatives or classmates," Guo said. "Those who introduce new applicants can receive compensation for their effort."

Guo's concern is echoed by Zhou Yingjing, the human resources director of Chutian Technology Co., Ltd. The local medical appliance company has been expanding at a tremendous pace in recent times.

"Hiring has become a headache, as skilled workers now vote with their feet, changing their jobs if they are not happy," Zhou said.

Zhou said the younger generation of migrant workers, particularly those who born in the 1980s and 1990s, are more prone to changing jobs without warning.

"It has created additional hiring difficulties, as we have invested a great deal in their training and then they leave without a word," Zhou said.

Luo Weihua, the labor bureau chief of Hunan's Ningxiang county, said labor exports defined central China's role during the country's economic boom of the last three decades

"The central provinces have been expanding fast, requiring larger numbers of skilled workers and making it hard to fill in the gaps," Luo said.

Zhang Chewei, a researcher at China's Academy of Social Science, said tension in central China can be attributed to China's pressing economic transformation.

"What lies beneath the facts is China's changing labor structure," Zhang said.

"More people have acquired access to higher education with China's expansion of university enrollment, which has aggressively depleted the supply of low-level laborers. The situation will likely become worse in light of weakened population growth," Zhang said.

"China has always maintained that all parties in Syria should stop the violence and resolve their issues through dialogue and coordination in order to defuse tension in the region," said spokesman Liu Weimin at a regular news briefing.

Russia and China on Saturday both vetoed an Arab-European draft resolution backing an Arab League plan to promote a regime change in Syria.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) and armed police should work to build energy-efficient barracks and develop energy-saving models for logistics, consumption and training, according to a nationwide emission-reduction plan.

"Efforts to save resources in the military are an important part of the country's energy-saving and emission-reduction efforts," the plan said.

According to the plan, China's armed forces will standardize and build 100 major training bases that can be shared by military departments and the country's 2.3 million servicemen.

The PLA will scale down administrative expenses, make greater efforts to conserve fuel, procure environmentally friendly products and recycle used military uniforms, according to the plan.

PLA garrisons will coordinate their use of civilian vehicles with local governments to enhance transportation efficiency.

Chinese armed forces will also launch key energy-saving projects related to the construction of offices and armament, the plan said.

The plan, jointly formulated by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the PLA General Logistics Department and other ministries, comes at a time when China is being pressured to meet its emission reduction target by 2015 amid rapid industrialization.

Relying on coal for more than half of its energy consumption, China adopted a plan last year to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 17 percent per unit of China's gross domestic product (GDP) until 2015.

China also aims to reduce energy use for every 10,000 yuan (about $1,585 ) of GDP to 0.869 metric tons of coal equivalent by 2015, or a cut of 16 percent from 2010's consumption.

China has also set a goal of lowering Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), a main index of water pollution, and emissions of sulfur dioxide by 8 percent by 2015.

The Spring Festival travel season is expected to last till February 16 this year, with hundreds of millions of people, mainly migrant workers and college students, traveling home for the country's most important traditional holiday, according to the Ministry of Railways.

Police have cracked 5,600-odd ticket scalping cases to date, according to the statement that reviewed public security work during the Spring Festival, or Chinese lunar new year.

No stampede or fatal accidents occurred during over 3,600 public gatherings held during the festival, including religious rituals and entertainment activities, according to the statement.

And no major fire accidents happened, as the police across the country worked hard to screen out fire hazards and beefed up monitoring ahead of and during the festival, said the statement.

The public security authorities, working with security and quality watchdogs, inspected 440,000 firework producers, found 6,200 safety hazards and confiscated 4.98 billion units of fireworks.

The MPS also reported a significant year-on-year decrease in traffic accidents as well as related deaths and economic losses during the festival, but did not give specific figures.

The commission will wipe away old outdoor family-planning adverts like "fewer kids, more pigs" and "big punches on violation without mercy" from the walls and publicity billboards in cities, counties and villages.

Instead, warmer slogans such as "fewer and better births, happier life" will be painted.

The provincial commission said the project aims to make family planning slogans more humane and in line with correct language.

Two Bengal tigers walked around the bus first, and then started biting the tires and dashing the windshield as four other tigers later joined the group. The driver's hand was injured, Shandong TV reported.

The scared 28 tourists, including five children, were rescued about 10 minutes later. They were offered cash compensations, including admissions refunds.

The zoo didn't provide an especially reinforced bus and the gatekeeper, the visitors said.

In December 2011, the Ministry of Railway (MOR) released a 2012 railway fixed asset investment target of 500 billion yuan ($79.27 billion), below Detsche Bank (DB) analyst's estimate of 630 billion yuan and much lower than market expectations of between 650 and 670 billion yuan.

Ma Jun, chief economist of the bank, said that he believed the railway investment target may be revised up in a few months.

"However, we believe that the current MOR budget is based on a conservative expectation of the national government budget, which will not be finalized until the National People's Congress in March," said Ma.    

Given that real economic indicators will likely worsen in the coming months, DB believes the government will get a bit more aggressive in budgeting its fiscal expansion two months from now.

"We will not be surprised if the fixed asset investment target of the MOR is revised up again to 600 billion yuan for 2012," Ma said.

Apple did not explain why they removed Qihoo 360's applications except to say that the software may not be compatible with the Apple iSO system.

Qihoo 360 said in a public letter that there is no problem with the quality of its products. The company said that it is now talking with Apple about the issue.

A staff member from Qihoo 360 also said the company is planning to launch a lawsuit against Jinshan, a competitor, for allegedly spreading rumors about Qihoo 360's use of customer information that led to the removal of its products, the paper said.

"Reducing fine particle pollution will be a long, tough battle," Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, told China Daily, "but we will stick to it."

The bureau plans to install 30 monitoring stations throughout Beijing's 16 districts by the end of the year. Priority will be given to six stations in downtown and suburban areas.

The capital plans to scrap 10,000 polluting automobiles in 2012 and raise its standard for fuel emissions. In addition, the city will replace its remaining coal-fired boilers with gas units by the end of the year and will plant another 200,000 mu (3,3000 acres) of trees in 2012, Du said.

"Reducing air pollution is not a local issue," said Du. "We plan to work closely with neighboring provinces in order to solve the problem."

The bureau has also appealed to the public to do its part by using public transportation instead of private cars.

Last week, the bureau released 24-hour average data for PM 2.5, an important gauge of air pollution.

People walk around braving freezing gale force winds and plummeting temperatures in Nantong, Jiangsu province on Feb 7, 2012. The mercury dropped to minus 5 degree Celsius on Tuesday. The local meteorological center issued a blue alert on Feb 5, warning of a drastic temperature fall in the next few days. [Photo/Asianewsphoto] 

People drive in the bitter cold in Nantong, Jiangsu province on Feb 7, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

People ride bicycles despite freezing temperatures in Nantong, Jiangsu province on Feb 7, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

People walk around braving freezing gale force winds and plummeting temperatures in Nantong, Jiangsu province on Feb 7, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Total electricity consumption is expected to top 5.14 trillion kilowatt-hours (kwh) this year, with the growth rate slowing from 11.7 percent in 2011 to between 8.5 and 10.5 percent, the CEC said in an annual industrial report posted on its website.

The report said that the country is still facing tight power demand and supply this year with a total electricity shortage of 30 million and 40 million kilowatts, due to uncertainties in thermal coal supplies and reduced supplies of hydropower ahead of flood season.

According to the CEC report, China's electricity consumption rose 11.7 percent year-on-year to 4.69 trillion kwh in 2011, with 24 provincial-level power grids reporting electricity shortages.

The CEC projected China's installed power generating capacity to reach 1.14 billion kilowatts by the end of 2012, adding 85 million kilowatts of capacity.

The country needs to increase coal supplies to at least 300 million tonnes to account for an estimated 150-million-tonne increase in thermal coal demand, according to the CEC.

Last year, China's investment in the power sector totaled 739.3 billion yuan ($117.11 billion), according to the report.

The 2012 Hays Salary Guide released on Monday showed that the employers in Singapore expect to give their employees an average salary increase of between 3 percent and 6 percent in 2012.

About 44 percent of the employers in Singapore increased salaries last year between by 3 and 6 percent. Another 21 percent gave an increase of above 6 percent. But 28 percent of the employers gave increases of less than 3 percent, while the final 7 percent gave no increase at all.

Looking ahead, 50 percent of the employers in Singapore intend to increase salaries between 3 and 6 percent, while 23 percent said they will increase the salaries of their employees by over 6 percent.

Another 22 percent of the employers intend to increase salaries by less than 3 percent, while the other 5 percent of the employers intend to offer no increases this year.

In Japan, 98 percent of the employers expect to offer salary increases of 6 percent or less.

As for the bonus, 54 percent of the employers in Singapore intend to give a bonus to more than 50 percent of their staff, which is down by 10 percentage points from the previous year.

Nevertheless, the percentage of employers offering benefits to their staff inched up to 81 percent from 78 percent, with popular benefits including life assurance, pension and allowance.

BEIJING - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut its forecast for China's 2012 economic growth to 8.25 percent from the 9 percent projected in September, and it warned that exports would be a significant drag on expansion in the coming two years.

The IMF has downgraded the prospects for global economic growth in 2012 to 3.25 percent from 4 percent, largely because the eurozone economy is expected to go into a recession this year.

"The risks to China from Europe are large and tangible," said Murtaza Syed, resident representative of the IMF's Beijing office, at a seminar on Monday.

China's economic growth, which came in at 9.2 percent last year, could fall by as much as 4 percentage points if the euro area experiences the IMF's downside scenario, which would see global growth falling by 1.75 percentage points.

But even in this worst-case scenario, China has room for a countervailing fiscal response, he said.

Given the uncertain global outlook, some modest fiscal support to the economy is warranted, he said. In particular, a general government deficit of about 2 percent of GDP should be targeted.

Containers being loaded at a dock in Haikou, capital city of Hainan province. IMF officials say some modest financial support for the Chinese economy is warranted in light of the risk of a global downturn. Provided to China Daily

The IMF urged policymakers to provide fresh stimulus through the budget rather than the banking system, since the large credit stimulus in 2009 and 2010 has increased risks in the banking system.

"China needs some time to digest the side effects of the surge of credit unleashed in the wake of the global crisis," he said.

However, China is not heading for a hard landing and will remain a bright spot for global growth in the coming years. The IMF projects China's economy will grow 8.75 percent in 2013.

Both investment and consumption have been strong despite weakening external demand. Also, the government's efforts to calm the property market have been effective, and underlying investment remains healthy due to government efforts to expand the supply of subsidized housing.

Inflation is coming down to more comfortable levels, which should allow the authorities to fine-tune monetary conditions and supply the economy with modest additional credit, Syed said.

Upward pressure on the Chinese currency has diminished recently and the pace of reserve accumulation has fallen, partly due to a smaller trade surplus and valuation effects associated with a stronger US dollar.

Last week, after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Premier Wen Jiabao said China was investigating and evaluating ways to become more involved in solving Europe's debt problem.

Il Houng Lee, senior resident representative of the IMF's Beijing office, didn't give a timeframe for the discussion, saying that the earlier, the better it would be to establish a strong bailout fund to counter possible risks.

The European Union has long been the biggest trading partner for China and a major market for China's exports.

The EU's ambassador to China said on Monday that China could become Europe's biggest export market this year, overtaking the United States.

"There are indications that in 2012, China may become Europe's biggest export market," Markus Ederer told reporters in Beijing.

This year the EU-China interdependence will grow, he said, adding that European exports were increasing at a faster pace than European imports from China.

An official with the provincial department of water resources said Tuesday that the provincial government had approved a program that will cost 192.9 billion yuan by 2020 for the treatment of the river, which is prone to floods and pollution.

According to the program, local authorities will focus on biological protection, pollution prevention and ensuring water supplies on the river in order to form a system that can comprehensively secure water sources.

The 1,000-km-long Huaihe River originates in Henan province and traverses Hubei, Anhui, Shandong and Jiangsu provinces.

Meanwhile, the zoo will publish 500 commemorative tickets for the first time and 200 limited edition T- shirts as well for people who support their union.

"Commemorative tickets record the love of Long Hair and Chunzi, and they are special gifts to supporters," said Little Bai, a staffer at the zoo.

"It is hoped this wedding will help Long Hair and Chunzi, regardless of breed, gain further understanding and blessing," Bai added.

Long Hair the ram and Chunzi the doe snuggle at Yunnan Wild Animal Park. They are getting married on Valentine's Day. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

A total of 29 Chinese workers are still held in Sudan, while those in Egypt were released last Wednesday.

Experts said the kidnappings of overseas Chinese in recent years were usually motivated by political goals rather than the desire for money, and had nothing to do with Chinese policies.

Han Ruihua, deputy manager of Taida Investment Company in Egypt, told Xinhua that Chinese workers' safety depended on the security situation of the countries where they worked.

Political groups in some countries resorted to kidnapping foreigners to increase bargaining chips in negotiations with governments, Han added.

He also warned if the political and security situation in Egypt continues to deteriorate, similar incidents could happen again.

Li Guangming, project manager of Shandong Hi-speed Group in Pakistan, agreed with Han, saying that as China continues to expand its influence abroad, some armed groups start kidnapping and attacking Chinese workers to put pressure on their local governments.

Hao Hongshe, Commercial Counsellor of Chinese Embassy in Sudan, pointed out that as part of the "going out" strategy, more and more Chinese companies are exploring and expanding business opportunities in developing countries, some of which are poor and politically unstable.

As a result, security issues have loomed larger and larger in recent years for overseas Chinese workers, he added.

On prevention measures, Hao suggested that Chinese companies take measures to raise the safety awareness of overseas Chinese workers and increase investments in security.

Wang Xifeng, deputy manager of China Civil Engineering Group in Nigeria, said Chinese companies should avoid getting involved in local political or tribal disputes.

In case of security incidents, Han suggested companies inform the Chinese embassies in the first place and take appropriate measures to help workers deal with the shock.

For others, it is important to write it into contracts that local governments should provide much-needed security assurances.

"When signing cooperation agreements with Yemen, we required the Yemeni side to provide sufficient security protection, even by deploying armed forces, to protect Chinese workers and properties. This helped us a lot in restive times," General Manager of Sinopec in Yemen Huang Lixin said.

In a televised conference, a top regional security official on Monday warned that maintaining stability at the moment is a utterly important but gravely challenging task.

Hao Peng, secretary of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Tibet Committee, ordered local officials to boost security patrol, keep high alert, enhance personnel management, and tighten the control of the society.

Hao also demanded increased security measures in Tibetan monasteries and addressing to the disputes and grudges which might upset stability.

"Officials should widely visit impoverished herding families and monks in the monasteries to help them solve problems and do good deeds for them," he said.

Hao stressed again the need for rapid economic development to solve the hard problems in maintaining stability.

Tibet has achieved remarkable progress over the past few decades. The region's gross domestic product (gdp) hit 60.5 billion yuan ($9.68 billion) last year, rising 12.6 percent from a year earlier.

In January, Tibet announced that it has become the first Chinese region to extend its old-age pension coverage to all senior citizens.

The government also pledged to spend 1.42 billion yuan ($225 million) in health services in 2012, up 31.3 percent from a year earlier, providing free medical services for farmers and herders and improving the medical insurance system for urban resident.

But the authorities accused exiled Tibetan groups led by the 14th Dalai Lama of sabotaging Tibet's development by instigating unrests across the region.

A string of self-immolations broke out in Tibetan areas in the provinces of Sichuan and Qinghai bordering Tibet in recent months. And at least two mob attacks on police offices were reported in Sichuan's volatile Tibetan areas late January, leaving at least two people dead and more than a dozen injured.

Since then, authorities in Tibet have ordered tightened security to maintain stability in the region.

The regional government's supervision bureau on Monday said in a statement that party cadres and officials who hesitate to enforce stability-maintaining policies would be immediately sacked.

"Cadres and officials who walk away from their duties, chicken out of actions at crucial times, or who defy stability-maintaining policies shall be immediately removed from the posts, pending punishment," it warned.

The supervision bureau said it recently found two cases in which officials had neglected their duty, but no details of the cases were made public.

The tightened security also came as an anniversary of deadly riots four years ago draws near. On March 14, 2008, unrests broke out in the regional capital, Lhasa, and later spilled into other Tibetan regions, leaving 19 people dead and many businesses, residences, shops and vehicles damaged or looted.

The government blamed the Dalai Lama, who went into exile in India in March 1959, for coordinating the violence behind the scenes.

A top official from Lhasa recently warned of an "arduous" fight with the Dalai Lama group and ordered tightened security in the city.

Qizala, secretary of the Lhasa municipal committee of the Communist Party of China, said Lhasa is a top priority as it is often chosen by overseas separatists as a prime target for sabotage and infiltration.

He ordered the region's border checkpoints to require all people entering Tibet to carry identification starting from March 1 and urged officials to unite monks to promote the stability of the region's monasteries.

Students look at their new school buses at a primary school in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu province, Feb 6, 2012. Altogether 100 new school buses for 32 primary schools in the city's Liuhe district will roll into operation. The bus, with the chassis extending out from the front of the vehicle over the wheels, is said to have the highest safety rating of all school buses in China. In December last year, a school bus overturned and fell into a ditch in Jiangsu province, killing 15. Another school bus accident in the western Gansu province killed 21 people in November. [Photo/Xinhua]

Students of a local primary school take a ride on their new school bus, Feb 6, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

Students wave goodbye as they take a ride on their new school bus, Feb 6, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

A fleet of new school buses park in rows at a primary school in Nanjing, Feb 6, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

Students look at their new school buses at a primary school in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu province, Feb 6, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

On Monday, 4.58 million people crammed into trains and the country put 704 more trains into service to cope with the increasing passenger flow, the Ministry of Railways said in a statement on its website, adding that 760 additional trains are scheduled to be put into operation on Tuesday.

Snow and rainfall are forecast to continue in the country's southern regions for the coming three days, putting more pressure on the country's rail system, according to the statement.

The ministry said it has asked all stations to take precautions and strengthen services amid the bad weather to ensure safe transportation.

Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, which fell on January 23 this year, is the most important Chinese holiday for family reunions, making it a hectic time for China's public transportation system.

A total of 3.16 billion passenger trips are expected during the year's travel rush which will end on February 16, up 9.1 percent from a year earlier. Of those journeys, 235 million are likely to be made by train, up 6.1 percent year-on-year, the ministry said.

Ministries of finance and industry are finalizing details of the operation of a 15-billion-yuan fund created to support small businesses that face difficulties in loans and rising costs, said Zhu Hongren, chief engineer with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, at a press conference in Beijing.

The central government has decided to earmark 15 billion yuan ($2.38 billion) to establish a development fund for small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly focusing on newly-formed ones.

Zhu said small and micro enterprises began facing growing challenges of rising costs stemming from raw materials and labor since the fourth quarter of 2010. Moreover, weak overseas demand has also hurt some export-based companies.

To address these difficulties, the State Council, China's cabinet, last October decided to raise the tax threshold for collecting corporate value-added taxes and business taxes, extending a policy to halve business income taxes by another four years, and forgiving banks' stamp tax on lending contracts with small firms for three years.

The State Council last Wednesday called for more efforts to support the sound development of small and micro-sized enterprises as they serve as a significant channel for creating jobs.

Zhu said that with concerted efforts, the nation's small and micro-sized businesses are unlikely to experience a massive wave of bankruptcies this year due to cash flow failure.

A combined photo of the tangyuan and the band-aid found inside, published online by netizen Li Xiaoya. [Photo/weibo.com]

Savoring tangyuan, glutinous rice balls, is part of the tradition of the festival.

The netizen, Li Xiaoya, published a micro blog post on weibo.com with a combined photo of the tangyuan and the band-aid found inside. She said the snack was bought in Jinan, capital of Shandong province. The post attracted much attention online, drawing more than 1,000 comments.

Jinan Municipal Administrative Bureau for Industry and Commerce said they are investigating the case.

The producer involved, Zhengzhou Sinian Food Co Ltd, responded that they were communicating with the consumer and they will "definitely not avoid responsibility and give consumers a satisfactory reply" if they were found to be responsible.

A total of 272 fireworks injury cases and 192 fires caused by fireworks were reported in the first half of the first Chinese lunar month (Jan 22 to Feb 6), which is a drop of 45.7 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively, from last year, said the Beijing Fireworks Administration Office.

Beijing lifted its fireworks ban in 2005, allowing people to burn fireworks and firecrackers from 7 am to 11 pm every day throughout the first half of the first lunar month.

Starting on Tuesday, there is a three-day fireworks-for-goodies event in Beijing to encourage citizens to turn in unused fireworks. Unsold fireworks will also be recycled, said the office.

While some people praised the boy for his toughness, some criticized his parents for being cruel.

Duoduo is seen running in his underwear in this grab from the video. [Photo from 21cn.com]

The boy's father, surnamed He, who recorded and uploaded the video, said the 4-year-old boy, Duoduo, was born premature and had a series of complications. So He designed a set of physical training and mental education programs for the boy.

He calls himself Eagle Dad, as eagles are known for their tough parenting, such as forcing their young to learn to fly.

"Now Duoduo is very healthy, he has never been to a hospital since delivery," the paper quoted He as saying.

The boy also recorded 218, a genius level, on his IQ test and has been admitted in advance to a primary school, the paper said.

"It is possible for premature babies to strengthen themselves through physical training as kids are highly adaptive," said child care experts.

Officers from the City Urban Administrative and Law Enforcement Bureau or chengguan, in Shuangcheng city in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province confiscated the festival treats on Feb 2.

Vendor Zhang Wei said his boxes of sweet dumplings went missing just two hours after he put them outside his store. Another small store boss Guo Zhenyu said he also lost about 60 packets of sweet dumplings on the same day.

Both were told their goods had been sent to the city's homes for the elderly after enquiring at the city management bureau.

The vice-director of the Shuangcheng city's nursing homes confirmed they received more than 140 packets of sweet dumplings from the city management bureau and said officers always donate confiscated goods to them.

The director of Shuangcheng's city management bureau Zhou Xudong admitted the officers' behavior was inappropriate and they had been punished.

City management officers, or chengguan, operate in all Chinese cities. Their primary responsibilities include patrolling communities to deter illegal street vendors, cabs and unauthorized construction projects. The officers have faced criticism from Chinese citizens in the past for their heavy-handed law enforcement tactics.