Category: Society

(CNTV)09:28, June 26, 2019

China has suspended the import of pork products from relevant enterprises and required the Canadian side to conduct investigations, the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa confirmed on Wednesday in a statement.

In order to protect the safety of Chinese consumers, China has taken urgent preventive measures and requested the Canadian government to suspend the issuance of certificates for meat exported to China starting June 25.

The decision came immediately after the Chinese Customs authorities found ractopamine residues in a batch of pork products exported from Canada to China, according to the statement.

The subsequent investigation revealed that the official veterinary health certificates attached to the batch of pork exported to China were counterfeit and the number of those forgery certificates was up to 188. The Canadian side believes that this incident [constitutes] criminal offense, the statement said.

We hope the Canadian side would attach great importance to this incident, complete the investigation as soon as possible and take effective measures to ensure the safety of food exported to China in a more responsible manner, said the statement.

(CRI Online)09:54, June 26, 2019

Chinese police are searching for a man who brutally attacked a woman in Dalian, Liaoning Province, after a video of the incident went viral online on Monday, sparking a huge public outcry.

A screenshot of a video showing a man assaulting a woman on a street at around 00:44 a.m. on Saturday, June 22, 2019. [Screenshot: Sina Weibo]

The 29-year-old was on her way home when she was attacked by the suspect just before 1 am on Saturday, June 22, 2019.

In the CCTV video that was made public on Monday, the suspect appears to suddenly attack the victim as she passes by him at 00:44, according to the time stamp on the video.

The male attacker repeatedly punches and kicks the victim about 30 times, hitting her mainly on the head, in a space of about 90 seconds.

He also rips up her clothes during the assault.

The video ends with the attacker dragging the woman, who appears to be unconscious, by her head away from the surveillance cameras field of view.

The incident has shocked many Chinese people since it was made public.

According to reports, the victim was able to call the police after the attack and has also received medical treatment for her injuries.

A statement confirming the attack was issued by police in Dalian on Tuesday afternoon.

Chinas Ministry of Public Security has also appealed to the public for clues that may lead to the arrest of the suspect in the attack. Various people and organisations have assisted the police in locating where the attack took place.

Police investigations into the case are continuing.

(Xinhua)09:45, July 02, 2019

BEIJING, July 1 (Xinhua) — Monday marks the 98th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Across the country, various types of events — book readings, concerts, visits to memorials, and renewing vows — have been held to mark the occasion.

Founded in 1921, the CPC has grown from a small party of about 50 members into the worlds largest ruling party, with more than 90 million members.

A brick-and-wood building on Xingye Road in Shanghai, where the CPC held its first national congress, has been packed with visitors in days leading to the anniversary.

In 1921, delegates representing about 50 CPC members nationwide convened the first national congress in the building, though they later had to move to a boat on Nanhu Lake in Jiaxing of east Chinas Zhejiang Province due to harassment by local police.

The historic building has been open to the public as a museum since 1952.

Near Nanhu Lake, hundreds of members of the public gathered on a city square to present a chorus to wish the CPC a happy birthday. A relay run was held on Monday to commemorate the occasion.

Zhang Xianyi, the curator of the Nanhu Lake Revolution Museum, said the museum has become increasingly popular. On average, 11,000 people visit the museum and the boat every day. Last year, over 1.25 million people paid visits to the sites, he said.

Also on Monday, Li Jian, deputy manager-in-general of a private electronics maker in Zhengzhou, capital city of central Henan Province, had a new title. He was elected as head of a seven-member CPC branch in the company.

Li works in the Henan branch of the China Communication Technology Co., Ltd., a private company headquartered in Shenzhen.

Over the past decades, a growing number of private companies have set up CPC branches.

By establishing a CPC branch, I hope the organizational life of CPC members can facilitate progress in achieving company goals, Li said.

As a CPC member myself, I hope I can play a leading role in guiding our staff forward, he added.

Zhao Lei, an employee of the company and also a CPC member, said the spirit of Party building is in line with the entrepreneurial spirit in that it strengthens the sense of responsibility, innovation, attention to details and persistent learning.

A strong CPC organization attracts people to the company and lends a competitive edge to it, he said.

Establish a CPC branch — only a good company actively seeks to do such a thing, if you ask me. This company has been an honest one. We have complaints, and it responds to them, said company driver Su Nanju, who is not a CPC member.

Across the country, an education campaign on the theme of staying true to our founding mission has been launched throughout the Party in which members are called on to keep firmly in mind the fundamental purpose of whole-heartedly serving the people and its historic mission of realizing national rejuvenation.

In southwest Chinas Guizhou Province, a conference was held on Monday to commend outstanding CPC members in the battle against poverty. China vows to eradicate absolute poverty by 2020. In areas still perplexed by impoverishment, dedicated CPC members are leading the people to exert transformational changes.

People say if you have a daughter, never marry her to someone from Qinggangba, because she would have nothing to eat but pickled vegetables, said Leng Chaogang, Party chief of the Qinggangba village at the conference.

But now, people here have become rich thanks to good policies of the Party, dedicated work of the cadres, and the relentless strength of the people. We will continue to work harder to make our lives better, he said.

(Xinhua)16:34, July 02, 2019

BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) — Chinas burgeoning civil airports are eyeing digital and intelligent technologies to sustain continuous growth, according to Chinas civil aviation authorities.

Mega airports of Chinas major cities are generally reaching or closing to their capacity saturation points, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

It is even severe in those airports with annual passenger throughput at the 10-million level, greatly affecting the efficient and comfort flight experience of passengers.

The digital and intelligent technologies are of great importance for major airports, bringing greater space for development and sustaining the safety operation of the industry, said Zhang Rui, deputy director of the airport department of the CAAC.

The CAAC is focused on creating safe, green, smart and human-oriented airports, with smart airports on the pivotal position.

In 2018, the total annual passenger throughput and flight movements of Chinas civil airports reached 1.26 billion and 11.08 million respectively, growing at an annual average of 11 percent and 19 percent over the past 10 years.

(Xinhua)09:54, July 02, 2019

SHANGHAI, July 1 (Xinhua) — As Shanghai starts mandatory garbage sorting on Monday, games and toys that explore fun ways to spread garbage sorting knowhow are gaining popularity among young people.

A 15-second video of a VR game went viral on Chinese social media in the past few days. In the video, players wearing VR equipment could see four different types of trash cans in front of them, and they threw different types of garbage appearing in front of them into the corresponding buckets to score.

This garbage sorting VR game debuted at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai last week. Although this is not the only VR game in the venue, visitors lined up around the booth to explore the game because of its garbage sorting theme.

As a Shanghai resident, I am in great need of this game. Maybe I wont need to check how to categorize each garbage on my phone while going through all my garbage every day if I play this game more often, said Zhou Zhou, a young Shanghai resident. Although the game has not launched officially, Zhou said she was very much looking forward to it.

Some social media users have recently complained about the difficulties in sorting different types of garbage in Shanghai.

Wu Xia, founder and CEO of VitrellaCore, the company that created the game, said the purpose of this VR game is to provide an interesting method for learning garbage sorting.

Its simple and easy to understand. Residents can practice garbage sorting knowledge without actually going through the rubbish, and it is also a more effective method than paper materials when training garbage sorting volunteers, Wu Said.

GARBAGE SORTING NO CHILDS PLAY

Shanghai is widely promoting a mandatory garbage sorting system, which requires residents to throw away garbage at a fixed time and place. There is a designated garbage disposal site for every 300-500 households, where volunteers carefully check whether household waste is accurately classified.

The city enacted a set of regulations on household garbage sorting and recycling from Monday, which requires residents to sort household garbage into four kinds: dry refuse, wet trash, recyclable waste and hazardous waste. Individuals who fail to sort garbage may be fined up to 200 yuan (about 29 U.S. dollars).

Wu said many streets and neighborhoods in Shanghai have expressed their willingness to cooperate, and the company hopes to launch VR games in more places for residents to experience for free.

GARBAGE SORTING IS FUN

On Taobao, an e-commerce platform under Alibaba, the sales volume of a garbage sorting toy increased by nearly 300 pieces on Sunday. This set of toys consists of four miniature sorting bins, with cards representing various types of garbage.

Most of the buyers of this toy are from Shanghai, and the toy is almost out of stock due to strong sales, according to the shops customer service representative.

One residential community called Jiayou in Shanghais Jiading District ordered several toys for its residents. We hope to raise childrens interest in garbage sorting, said Xing Minxia, secretary of the Jiayou Community branch of the Communist Party of China.

Most garbage sorting volunteers are retired people, while young people are less involved. These innovative ways can win young peoples hearts and make them feel that garbage sorting is fun instead of a burden, said Mao Qing, director of a community cultural activity center in Changning District.

Residents of this community have recently been keen on a mobile game called Race Against Time. In 45 seconds, players are required to move a trash bin of a specific category to accurately catch the garbage belonging to this category. Players who pass the game can participate in a lucky draw.

Fan Weicheng, deputy director of Shanghai Oriental Publicity and Education Service Center that developed the game, said about 21,000 people have played it since they launched the game in early June.

We often see the elderly gathering around the garbage sorting knowledge boards in residential communities, but young people are hardly ever there, Fan said. We hope to involve more young people through mobile games.

The garbage sorting VR game will be launched on the Steam platform and Chinas Tencent WeGame platform in August this year, according to Wu.

There will be more types of garbage and more gameplay at that time, but the core of the game will always be to teach people about garbage sorting in a fun way, Wu said.

(Peoples Daily Online)15:22, July 02, 2019

(Photo/Xinhua)

The drone industry is a huge market, and Im very optimistic about its development, said Chinese drone pilot Li Lei.

Before becoming involved in the drone industry, Li was a mobile phone salesman. However, when he fell in love with drones in 2016, he decided to switch industries.

The performance of his company has been on the rise every year, he said.

As an emerging high-tech industry, drones were preliminarily used by the military. As technology advances, these devices are gradually reaching the civil market, with mature application in consumption, agriculture, power, security and surveying industries.

According to a report on the development of drone pilots released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the administration had issued a total of 44,573 licenses for civil drone pilots by the end of last year. With those getting licenses from related industry societies and enterprises, as well as non-licensed players, China is home to hundreds of thousands of civil drone pilots.

Most industry practitioners are aged between 20 and 40, and the profession of drone pilot has become a choice for many who have just started job hunting.

Sixty-eight percent of drone pilots earn the same or more than the local average income, and 13 percent of them enjoy a salary twice as much as the regional average.

According to statistics from Chinese-owned provider of market intelligence, International Data Corporation (IDC), a total of 1.96 million drones are expected to be sold in the Chinese market by the end of this year, including 1.5 million consumer drones and 460,000 industrial drones.

(Xinhua)10:17, July 03, 2019

Photo taken on Jan. 13, 2019 shows workers laying tracks for the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway line at Guanting Reservoir grand bridge in north Chinas Hebei Province. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao)

BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) — Chinas economy has accelerated over the past seven decades, with gross domestic product rising at an average annual rate of 8.1 percent, according to a report from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Chinas GDP hit 90.03 trillion yuan (about 13.14 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2018, accounting for 16 percent of the worlds total. This posed a sharp contrast to the countrys economy in 1952 when its GDP was only 67.9 billion yuan.

From 1979 to 2018, Chinas economy grew by 9.4 percent annually on average, much higher than the worlds average economic growth of 2.9 percent. Chinas economic growth has contributed around 18 percent to the global economic growth during the period, second only to the United States.

Gross national income per person reached 9,732 U.S. dollars in 2018, higher than the level seen in middle-income countries.

The report also showed that Chinas fiscal strength improved remarkably and foreign exchange reserves soared during the past seven decades.

Fiscal revenues leaped to 18.34 trillion yuan last year, compared with 6.2 billion yuan in 1950 and 113.2 billion yuan in 1978.

Forex reserves reached 3.07 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of 2018, topping the world for the 13th straight year. By contrast, Chinas forex reserves stood at 108 million dollars at the end of 1952.

(Xinhua)10:37, July 03, 2019

Robotic arms are busy working on the assembly line in Geely Auto factory in Ningbo, east Chinas Zhejiang Province, Oct. 25, 2018. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) — Chinas industrial structure has been constantly improved over the past seven decades, turning from relying mainly on the primary industry to manufacturing and service sectors taking up the majority share, according to a report from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

In 1952, the added value of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries accounted for 50.5 percent, 20.8 percent and 28.7 percent of the countrys gross domestic product.

However, the proportions of primary and secondary industries dropped to 7.2 percent and 40.7 percent respectively in 2018, while the tertiary sectors ratio increased to 52.2 percent.

China has made huge strides in developing its agricultural sector. The countrys total grain output increased from 113.18 million tonnes in 1949 to 657.89 million tonnes in 2018, which ensured Chinas food security.

The industrial sector also evolved. It was homogeneous in the early 1950s, with only mining, textile and simple processing industries. China relied on imports for supplies of a large number of industrial products at that time.

In contrast, China now possesses all the industrial categories in the United Nations industrial classification. The outputs of more than 200 industrial products rank first in the world, and the added value of Chinas manufacturing sector has also topped the world since 2010.

The service sector has been booming over the past seven decades. Up to 2018, the added value of the tertiary industry reached 46.98 trillion yuan (about 6.9 trillion U.S. dollars), compared with 19.5 billion yuan in 1952.

Chinas tertiary industry has become an important force in ensuring employment and stabilizing the economy, according to the report.

(Peoples Daily Online)13:16, July 03, 2019

A plastic surgery clinic offers dedicated service for college graduates. (Photo/Chinanews.com)

Cosmetic surgery is growing in popularity among Chinese university students, and even younger middle school students, Chinanews.com reported on July 2.

18-year-old Shen Hui (pseudonym) will start her college life in September. She decided to enhance her appearance with double eyelid surgery, which is her priority this summer after the college entrance examination.

鈥淧eople tend to judge a person by external appearance. I cannot lose marks on that part,鈥?said Shen, who believed she鈥檒l have an easier time finding friends, a romantic relationship, or even a job with a prettier face.

Shen is just one such graduate who dreams of becoming beautiful through plastic surgery.

Shen introduced that one of her close friends also plans to have an epicanthoplasty, otherwise known as eyelid surgery, to make her eyes look bigger and wider, while another will go for facial fat grafting surgery.

On June 12, Shen, accompanied by her mother, walked into a cosmetic surgery hospital in Shanghai. They were told the earliest reservation for a double eyelid surgery would be in late June.

Summer vacation is a hot season for student customers, said Xu Xiaofei, a plastic surgeon from Shanghai-based Basilica Clinic. The number of patients in June, July and August is generally 80 percent higher than that of other months, owing to the increase of student patients.

As such, many agencies have introduced various discount campaigns to lure in more young customers.

China鈥檚 plastic surgery market hit over 220 billion yuan in 2018, according to a survey report. Among all customers, those aged between 20 and 25 accounted for 40.4 percent, which was the highest, while those under 19 took almost 20 percent.

In a survey report, more than half of females who have had plastic surgery did it to please themselves, while 19 percent of respondents said they did it due to job demands.

Meanwhile, more male college students, especially those studying fine art, are seen in plastic surgery clinics today. Their average expense on plastic surgery reached 7,025 yuan, 2.75 times the average female spending.

Guo Shuzhong, head of the First BCC Plastic Surgery Hospital in Beijing, told Chinanews.com that children under 18 are suggested not to have plastic surgery, as their bones are still developing.

Guo also warned those who pursue a prettier face not to follow the trend blindly.

(Xinhua)13:30, July 03, 2019

BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) — China has made remarkable progress in foreign trade and economic cooperation in the past 70 years thanks to its opening-up policy, according to a report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Chinas total goods imports and exports in 2018 reached 4.6 trillion U.S. dollars, expanding 223 times from those in 1978, and a huge jump from the 1.13 billion U.S. dollars recorded in 1950.

As a champion of multilateral trading system, China has been committed to the promotion of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. Multilateral economic and trade relations and regional economic cooperation have seen rapid development, particularly in the joint construction of the Belt and Road, the report says.

The materialized non-financial Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) reached 135 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, increasing 146 times from that in 1983 with an annual growth rate of 15.3 percent.

As China opens more sectors to foreign investors with the full implementation of the pre-establishment national treatment and the negative list management system, the service sector has become a new magnet for foreign investment, attracting 68.1 percent of the total foreign investment last year, it says.