Tag: NEWS

(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.

(Chinadaily.com.cn)14:17, July 03, 2019

A screenshot of the mini-app.

The countrys first WeChat mini-program capable of tracing baby formulas was launched on Tuesday to boost consumers confidence in home-made baby formulas.

Consumers can tell the formulas genuineness and get the production date, batch number, manufacturer and test result by scanning the QR code with the mini-program embedded in WeChat.

Jointly developed by China Center for Information Industry Development and Tencent under the guidance of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the program provides a convenient way to trace baby formulas. It can also push manufacturers to improve quality and safety control abilities.

The program is based on the food enterprise quality and safety tracing platform, according to MIIT. Data come from MIITs baby formula quality and safety tracing system, covering 710 million entries of product from 17 enterprises.

The Consumer Goods Department of MIIT signed a memorandum of cooperation with Tencent on the day.

Gao Yanmin, director of the Consumer Goods Department, said she hoped the two sides can push forward the application of new technology such as mobile internet, big data, cloud computing and blockchain on traditional consumer goods sectors.

(Xinhua)14:48, July 03, 2019

GENEVA, July 2 (Xinhua) — Chinas Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has attached great importance to the protection of minority rights and has made remarkable achievements in social development and human rights protection, a Chinese expert said here Tuesday.

Chen Tong, president of the law school under Xinjiang Normal University, made the remarks during a side-event on Chinas human rights protection of ethnic minorities amid the 41st session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Among the representatives to the National Peoples Congress from Xinjiang, more than 60 percent are ethnic minorities, Chen told the audience at the side-event sponsored by the China Society for Human Rights Studies.

From 1978 to 2016, Xinjiangs gross domestic product (GDP) per capita increased from 313 yuan (46 U.S. dollars) to 40,427 yuan (5882 dollars), up by 128.2 times, he said.

By the end of 2016, there have been 15,721 health institutions and 51,000 doctors in Xinjiang, higher than the national average, Chen said, adding that there is one mosque for averagely every 530 Muslims in Xinjiang, which has satisfied normal religious needs of local people.

As for the vocational education and training centers in Xinjiang, the expert said that they were launched in accordance with the law to help those who were swayed by extremism and terrorism return to the right track, obtaining skills to support themselves and integrating into society.

The centers have no essential difference from those institutions in western countries in dealing with crimes or terrorism such as early intervention, de-extremization and community correction facilities, he said.

These centers in Xinjiang offered a countribution from China to the global efforts in fighting terrorism, he added.

(China Daily)15:03, July 03, 2019

Peter Barbagallo in the cockpit of a China Eastern Airlines airplane. [Photo/CHINA DAILY]

For Peter Barbagallo, it was a major decision to move to Shanghai with his family to join China Eastern Airlines two years ago. Now, he said he is very proud of being a foreign pilot with the airline, and plans to live in Shanghai for as long as possible.

Coming from Brisbane in Australia, Barbagallo said there are a lot of differences working with the Shanghai-based carrier compared with his previous airlines in the Middle East.

My local colleagues are friendlier, more welcoming, collaborative and inclusive … We are like a family here. I am not a staff member …I am Peter Barbagallo, said the 37-year-old pilot who currently flies between 70 and 80 hours a month. Most of his flights are domestic ones.

He said all the staff members look after each other, and that the environment is more personal, happy and relaxed here.

Barbagallo is one of some 70 foreign pilots working for the airline. According to Cai Hui, deputy general manager with the airlines Shanghai flight department, the foreign pilots come from 18 countries, including Brazil, Italy, Netherlands, the United States, France, Canada, Philippines, Singapore and Mongolia.

Most of them are flying large wide-body aircraft including A330 and B777 for long haul international routes, Cai said. In addition to their advantage with languages, foreign pilots are more familiar with the airspace, airports and flight environment of their own countries, which is another advantage when flying routes to and from their countries.

In the past few years, China Eastern has been exploring building a foreign pilot team of high quality. At the same time, the carrier is actively expanding its overseas team by employing more than 1,700 foreign staff members in 33 countries and regions.

As part of its efforts in building a silk road in the air, China Eastern has launched 126 flights to 42 cities in 19 countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. Last year more than 6 million passenger trips were made by the carrier to countries and regions related to the initiative.

The addition of foreign pilots has made China Eastern more diversified and internationalized, and it also encouraged our management and operations to quickly adapt to world class standards, Cai said.

Barbagallos first job was flying a small airplane in Australia. He also had to work part time in a bar pulling the beers to earn enough money.

He believes the Chinese aviation industry is limitless as it has great potential for growth, the best technologies and tools, as well as continuous orders for new airplanes.

In the past two years, Barbagallo has been impressed by the Civil Aviation Administration of China and China Easterns high level of professionalism, focus, and standards on safety. Flight efficiency has noticeably improved since he started working for China Eastern in June 2017.

Ever since he was a little boy, Barbagallo dreamed of becoming a pilot like his father. He got a private flying license at the age of 15, finished his commercial license in 2002 and started to fly small airplanes thereafter.

I always wanted to do what my father did. Honestly speaking, I couldnt tell you what I would do if I wasnt a pilot. Its been part of my life for so long now, said Barbagallo, adding that his job is both satisfying and rewarding.

As the father of a 4-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy, Barbagallo decided to expose his children to an international environment and help them master a second language.

I think Mandarin is a very important language for them, he said. If they can be fluent in a second language like Chinese, I think that will be an amazing advantage for them, for their prospects and for their careers.