THE RICHEST VILLAGE IN CHINA?

Long before it morphed into a city of 10m and became China's largest municipal exporter, Shenzhen – as the cliché has it – was a "sleepy fishing village" on Hong Kong's northern border.

In 1980 Shenzhen comprised two towns – the largest of which had a population of 20,000 people – and 15 former communes. The "village" so many people remember is Fishermen's Village, or Yumin Cun, a small rural hamlet situated on the banks of the Shenzhen river just a few hundred yards west of the Lo Wu border station.

Like Shenzhen, Yumin Cun has changed beyond recognition.

From a collection of huts it has gone upscale. Yumin Cun is now a gated community in downtown Shenzhen, occupying some of the most expensive land in China. Its transformation captures in microcosm Shenzhen's own shift from agricultural backwater to industrial powerhouse whose emergence made possible Hong Kong's reinvention from a manufacturing hub to global financial services centre.

Initially, the village's proximity to Hong Kong was a liability. In the 1950s a one-metre high fence was constructed, separating villagers from the river they fished to supplement meagre agricultural incomes.

As the Cultural Revolution's lunatic excesses fuelled a new wave of emigration to Hong Kong, the fence was fortified. "They made it two metres high," says Huang Xingyan, who grew up in the village. "I remember watching thousands of people running across the border." Among them were residents of Yumin Cun. Mr Huang estimates that half of all villagers aged 40 or above now live in Hong Kong.

The villagers' luck changed on August 26 1980, when the central government formally designated Shenzhen one of four new special economic zones. Their village was in the right place at the right time, occupying a prime piece of land around which downtown Shenzhen would develop.

They also benefited from a distinction between rural land, which is owned collectively by villagers, and state-owned urban land.

When seven Hong Kong factories opened in the village in 1979, their rents flowed back to the residents of Yumin Cun. By 1981 it was reckoned to be China's richest village – a distinction that led to a visit from Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China's reform and opening, in 1984.

That occasion is memorialised in a series of bronze panels depicting different stages of the village's development over the past 50 years.

In the early years of the 21st century, the people of Yumin Cun discovered a more lucrative sideline – high-end property development. Single-family homes were torn down and replaced with apartment blocks.

Like Hong Kong tycoons who occupy penthouses at the top of their developments, village families live in upper floor units and rent out lower ones. Even simple dormitory buildings, used by the villagers as temporary accommodation during construction of their new homes, have been let to poor migrants who have flocked to Shenzhen.

In total, 191 villagers collect rents from 3,800 outsiders who have taken up residence. Each village family can collect as much as Rmb25,000 ($3,245) a month from their communally-owned property company, Shenzhen Yu Feng Property Management.

In addition, about 100 villagers own shares in the community's main holding company, Shenzhen Yu Feng Industrial Development Co, which manages factories in neighbouring Dongguan. According to Mr Huang, deputy general manager of Yu Feng Industrial, the company had revenues of Rmb7m last year and paid a dividend of Rmb1.5m.

Darfur Activists Prepare For Possible Beijing Olympics Boycott

Human rights activists are asking China to become more involved in Darfur peace efforts ahead of next year's Beijing Olympics

China is taking steps to avoid the possibility of an international boycott of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing by becoming increasingly involved in efforts to gain peace in Darfur. Human rights activists accuse China of fomenting the violence in the region, by selling weapons and ammunition to the Sudanese government, and buying oil produced by Khartoum. Peace advocates say the government of Sudan is committing genocide in Darfur, in a calculated campaign to "exterminate" the black ethnic groups that live in the region. Activists say they'll call for a global boycott of China's Olympics, if the Far Eastern giant does not put more pressure on Sudan to stop the killings. In the fourth part of a series on China's role in Darfur, VOA's Darren Taylor examines the potential for the calls for a Games boycott to become a separate campaign around the Darfur issue.

Although analysts and activists are divided as to the possibility of calls for an international boycott meeting with success, most agree that the moves towards punitive action against China have added an important element of pressure on Beijing to achieve a durable peace in Darfur.   

"I don't think there's going to be much success in getting a boycott, but I also think that the specter of protests and calls for a boycott has gotten Chinese attention in the last couple of months in a very significant way. The threat of a boycott or a disruption of the Olympics has contributed to some of the steps that China has taken (recently)," says Stephen Morrison, the head of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington D.C.-based think tank.    

Amongst other efforts that have indicated a change in Beijing's policies with regard to Sudan, President Hu Jintao recently dispatched his senior Africa policy maker to Darfur – a move Morrison describes as "fairly bold."

China is also participating in high-level crisis talks about the issue in Paris this week.

But this isn't enough for activists. They want China to do more to stop the violence in Darfur, where people continue to die every day. And the peace advocates want quick results – something that Morrison feels isn't feasible. 

"It's a very fragile international peacekeeping operation, and clearly there'll be a very slow political settlement and in getting a peace operation to function in Darfur. And that (slow movement towards peace) will provide impetus to calls for either protests around the Olympics, or a boycott."

According to Morrison, while a full-scale, official campaign to boycott the Chinese Olympics is unlikely, calls for it to happen will indeed grow in the months ahead, and they'll be concentrated in the United States, and, maybe, in parts of Europe.  

"Most of those calls…. are not going to be echoed in Asia or Africa. They may be echoed in places like France, where newly-elected President (Nicolas) Sarkozy has called for a boycott of the Olympics if there's no progress, and now he's been joined by his foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner."

But Joey Cheek, American Olympic Gold Medalist speed skater, says he intends to "travel the world" ahead of the 2008 Games to "recruit athletes from all over, including Africa, to try to stop the genocide in Darfur."

He hopes that peace is secured in Darfur, and that China and other powers live up to their pledges in this regard, so that a Games boycott will be avoided. But, Cheek says, if the politicians don't deliver, then the "athletes of the world will have to take a lead in that respect."    

The major advocacy groups around the Darfur issue are already recruiting high-profile Africans to mobilize ahead of a possible official call on the international community – including athletes and sponsors – for a full-scale global boycott.

Kenyan Olympian and marathon world-record holder, Tegla Lourope, recently testified before a special US Congress hearing called to debate the possibility of a boycott. She says Africans must support all measures designed to stop the human rights violations in Darfur. Lourope's is a powerful voice on the issue, given her painful past.   

"I want to inform you that I come from a conflict place, close to Uganda. I have witnessed when people are dying," she told the US lawmakers. "We used to run away from school, and when I compare what's going on with Sudan, I know what it means…. The Darfur crisis is a very painful issue for the people of the continent of Africa…. There are so many children, many boys and girls – many Olympians – are losing their lives."      

Anita Sharma, spokesperson for the Enough Campaign, is convinced that the potential for an international anti-Olympics campaign is "very real." 

"If three months, six months, eight months go by and still nothing has changed (in Darfur), I can imagine that you would see the activist community saying, Okay; enough is enough; the time has come to really put the pressure on the Chinese government, and then maybe stepping up the calls for the boycott. And that boycott could potentially be with (the cooperation of) athletes or with sponsors – such as Coca Cola, for example, who is going to be investing heavily in the games."        

Morrison, though, says his guess will be that there will be "hesitation" from most quarters to support a major international boycott.

"This is unlike the issue of the Soviet Union invading Afghanistan just prior to the Moscow Olympics in 1980. Here (with regard to Darfur) you're talking about using a boycott as a means of pressure." 

In 1980, the US led a boycott by 64 countries of the Moscow Olympics in protest against the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

"The 1980 boycott was a reaction to a very dramatic, intimate and immediate action that Moscow took, and it had resonance around the world – not just in the US and some parts of Europe, which is where the activism around the Darfur issue is largely confined," Morrison explains.     

But Larry Rossin, a former US ambassador and presently a senior official with the Save Darfur Coalition, says "in some senses" the calls to boycott the Beijing Games have already become a separate campaign.

"Our organization is supportive of the campaign to link the Olympics and Darfur in a way to try to change Chinese government positions and behavior. But that movement is not controlled by our organization and is being pushed by other individuals. So I think it's very likely that you're going to see self-standing organizations on this theme, but they'll continue to have a close relationship with ourselves and other elements of the global Darfur movement - because it really is one component of an effort on all fronts to try and bring relief to the people of Darfur and an end to their agony," says Rossin.  

Sudan's ambassador to the US, Salah Elguneid, says the rally to boycott the Olympics because of Darfur is "mischievous," and will not succeed.  

"Boycotts, sanctions and all these things are not conducive to any dialogue or positive engagement with which we could reach agreements and concrete results. Dialogue…. is the only way that people can come to reach agreements. But boycotts and sanctions and all these things are not conducive to anything. And this is the (international) experience, that sanctions (or boycotts) have never solved any problem."

The Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. did not respond to requests for a response to the possibility of a boycott of the Beijing Games.

China Trying to Upgrade Its 'Made in China' Image

Those who control the image strings for government and business interests in China, the world's largest single market, are trying hard to bury the country's well-embedded "Made in China" image and embrace a new one: "Created in China."

The huge Far Eastern country, which ran up a staggering $232.5 billion trade surplus with the United States in 2006, is reinvesting some of that capital back into America through several large purchasing agreements with software companies, as well as by helping to establish new IT research facilities here in the states.

China is also attempting to change its image from a cost-effective, product-producing nation to one that is more inventive and research-oriented.

At a splashy media event May 9 at the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco, representatives of several corporations and trade associations from both China and the United States gathered to sign long-term purchasing and marketing agreements that will bring some $4.3 billion into the American economy.

The event was staged on the eve of the second strategic economic dialogue between the two superpowers. Chinese and U.S. trade representatives are to meet May 23-24 in Washington for talks on Beijing's surpluses, currency controls, product piracy and other issues that have been nagging U.S. businesses and the government for years.

The Chinese representatives signed 27 contracts and an investment deal with their American counterparts. Many of the signings were simply a formality; most of the business deals have been in process for various periods of time.

A dozen Chinese companies—including computer maker Lenovo, China Netcom and Semiconductor Manufacturing International—concluded deals with 23 U.S. companies in the software, semiconductor and telecommunications sectors. Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard were among the U.S. companies involved in the agreements.

Microsoft lands biggest software deal

Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, landed the largest piece of the $4.3 billion pie when Lenovo committed to purchasing $1.3 billion this fiscal year in Windows XP, Windows Vista, Microsoft Office and other software to run its desktops and laptops.

Lenovo, which acquired IBM's personal computer line in 2005, is currently ranked fourth behind HP, Dell and Acer in worldwide market share. According to a recent Gartner market report, Lenovo holds 6.3 percent of the market.

"Microsoft ... believes that respect for intellectual property rights is critical to the sustained development of the software industry. Efforts like this to promote the use of genuine software help to support the protection of intellectual property in China," a company spokesperson told eWEEK.

"We further applaud the Chinese government for taking significant steps toward ensuring the use of genuine software in China, and for promoting a healthy intellectual property environment, which we believe is vital for China to realize its full potential as an innovation leader."

China says U.S. piracy case will harm trade ties. Click here to read more.

In April 2006, Lenovo and Microsoft sealed a similar deal for $1.2 billion in an effort to get legitimate copies of Windows back on Chinese PCs.

For years, China has been criticized for not doing enough policing and law enforcement in trying to slow down the rampant black- and gray-market counterfeit software and hardware trade in that country.

$95 million for research facility

Hong Yuan Machinery, from East China's Jiangxi Province, agreed to invest about $95 million to establish a research center in San Francisco. Details about the center were not available at press time.

"As China continues its path of economic development, one of the things that their government policy has advocated going forward is to move from 'Made in China' to 'Created in China,'" said Daryl Hatano, vice president of public policy for the Software Industry Association in San Jose, Calif., one of the organizers of the May 9 event.

"And that means many things. At its core, it means they don't want to stay 'low-value' manufacturing. So, 'Created in China' means really moving up the value chain. And I think, over time, it is to develop world class companies that have recognizable brands, and that are operating outside of China, as well as in China," Hatano said.

Over time, China would like to have manufacturing here in the U.S., Hatano added.

"This event underscores China's resolution to explore more U.S. investment and strengthen the understanding and mutual development between the two sides," said Ma Xiuhong, vice minister of China's Ministry of Commerce and head of the delegation, which is composed of 369 Chinese business leaders.

California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi told the gathering: "These agreements are an important step in furthering the deep relationship between this state, this country and China."

China Prepares for First Strike in Electronic War

China's military is preparing for electronic warfare by setting up information warfare units that are developing viruses to attack enemy computers and networks, according to the Department of Defense's annual report to Congress.

According to the DoD, the PLA (People's Liberation Army) has also established tactics to protect its own computer systems and networks and those of friendly states. Since 2005, the PLA has been including offensive network attacks into its exercises, "primarily in first strikes against enemy networks," according to the report.

China's military is looking to establish what it calls "electromagnetic dominance" early in a conflict, specifically by launching electronic warfare against an enemy's information systems on the battlefield, the DoD said.

Beyond computer viruses, the PLA is investing in other electronic countermeasures, including electronic and infrared decoys, angle reflectors and false target generators.

China's foreign ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu denounced the DoD's report, saying that it exaggerates China's military strength and expenses "out of ulterior motives."

"As a peace-loving country, China steadfastly follows a road of peaceful development, adopting a national defense policy that is defensive in nature," she said.

"Each sovereign state has the right and obligation to develop necessary national defense strength to safeguard its national security and territorial integrity. It is totally erroneous and invalid for the U.S. Report to play up the so-called 'China Threat.'"

The DoD views Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait as being the likeliest arena for military confrontation and credits China's focus on that country for its recent efforts to modernize its military planning.

"China's near-term focus on preparing for military contingencies in the Taiwan Strait, including the possibility of U.S. intervention, appears to be an important driver of its modernization plans," the report states.

In response to that particular view, Yu called Taiwan an "inalienable part of the Chinese territory."

"China resolutely opposes interference in China's internal affairs by any country with whatever manifestation," she said. "… We will never tolerate the 'Taiwan Independence' or any attempt by anyone to separate Taiwan from China by whatever means."

At any rate, China's cyber-espionage is nothing new. Ira Winkler—author of "Zen and the Art of Information Security," former NSA (National Security Agency) analyst, former director of technology with the National Computer Security Association and current president of the Internet Security Advisors Group—said in an interview with eWEEK that Russia has had cyber-security squads for decades and that China has been at it for at least a decade. North Korea has had this type of behavior attributed to it as well.

"As far as a potential military adversary goes, China is clearly ranked second behind Russia with regards to capability," he said. "We have lots of little adversaries all over the place, but nobody offers more of a strategic threat than [Russia]."

What China has, Winkler said, is sheer resources to lavish on the effort, both in terms of gathering intelligence against the United States as a whole, as well as in military preparation.

China’s urban fixed asset investment up 25.9%

China's urban fixed asset investment picked up to 25.9 percent in the first five months of 2007, official data showed Friday, amid expectations the government will act soon to slow its juggernaut economy.

That outcome compared with a 25.5-percent increase in fixed asset investment — a key measure of mostly government spending on infrastructure projects — during the first four months of the year, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

The data points to the continued strong pace of growth in the Chinese economy, especially in the real estate sector where the statistics bureau said investement grew by 27.5 percent to 721.4 billion yuan ($94.3 billion).

Overall investment for the period was 3.20 trillion yuan while investment in new projects grew 6.1 percent to 2.79 trillion yuan, it said.

A monthly figure for fixed asset investment in May alone was not provided. "The reason behind the rise in investment is (corporations') high profits," said Zhu Jianfang, an economist with CITIC securities based in Beijing.

The data came after China's government warned this week it was preparing for a new round of measures to cool an economy that roared ahead at 11.1 percent in the first quarter after recording 10.7 percent growth in 2006.

The growth levels well exceed the government's official target of around eight percent.

After other figures released this week showed exports booming, production rising and inflation ticking higher, Premier Wen Jiabao said the economy had to be cooled.

Monetary policy will be "moderately tightened" to ensure stable growth, Wen told a Wednesday cabinet meeting, with his comments widely expected to translate into a fresh round of interest hikes among other measures.

"The government is worried now about the continued uptrend of the growth, so there is possibility that the economy could become overheated again," said Shen Minggao, an economist for Citigroup in Beijing.

The central bank has already hiked interest rates twice this year and five times required commercial banks to place more money in reserve in an effort to cool inflation, fixed-asset investment and stock market speculation.

Goldman Sachs economist Liang Hong said aside from increasing interest rates, Beijing could enact a spate of other options, such as tightening land controls and stricter environmental standards.

An increase in export taxes on high-energy consumption products, as well as a cancellation of tax on interest income to slow money being taken out of bank deposits, could also be on the cards, according to Liang.

She said China's currency would also be allowed to appreciate faster while an increased issuance of central bank bills was likely to mop the excess liquidity in the financial system.

China's attractiveness to investors and huge profits from factories shipping everything from textiles to electronics means the nation is flooded with cash, which in turn leads to looser credit and acceleration in investment.

"The main problem is related to the excess liquidity, which is largely driven by capital inflows from the trade surplus," said Citigroup's Shen.

On Thursday, the government said industrial output, a key indicator of the temperature of the world's fourth-largest economy, rose 18.1 percent in May, picking up from 17.4 percent in April and lifting the five-monthly figure to 18.1 percent.

The government also reported earlier in the week that China's trade surplus had surged 73 percent and its inflation rate hit a worryingly high 3.4 percent in May — above the central bank's target rate of three percent for the year.

Massive New Dinosaur Fossil Unearthed in China

Chinese paleontologists have unearthed a massive dinosaur fossil in Mongolia.  They say the giant dinosaur belonged to a family of bird-like dinosaurs that were a tiny fraction of its size.  VOA's Jessica Berman reports.

Artist's drawing courtesy Institute of Vertibrate Paleontology and Paleoanthrology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Paleontologists in China estimate the dinosaur, which lived some 70 million years ago, was eight meters long, five meters tall and weighed 1,400 kilograms. 

The scientists say it had many of the same characteristics as the feathered dinosaurs known as oviraptors, which weighed only about 40 kilograms.  But the enormous fossil belonged to a creature that was 300 times the size of an oviraptor.  So, scientists are putting the giant dinosaur, which they are calling Gigantoraptor, in the same family.

The paleontologists say Gigantoraptor challenges theories of evolution that say as meat eating dinosaurs like tyrannosaurus got smaller, they became more bird-like. 

David Burnham, a paleontologist at the University of Kansas, says the finding shows that diversity among dinosaurs is much greater than scientists had previously believed.

"We can't even imagine what evolution can provide at certain levels," he said.  "And this is a really neat discovery to kind of show us, give us a window [into] what was going on during a critical time when birds were still primitive and you had multiple lineages of dinosaur-like birds developing at the same time."

Drawing courtesy Institute of Vertibrate Paleontology and Paleoanthrology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

The fossil was discovered in 2005.  At first, researchers say they thought they had found the bones of a tyrannosaurus because they were so huge. 

But as they studied the fossil, the Chinese researchers saw that the fossil had a beak instead of teeth.

"It's very difficult these days to sort of find a dinosaur that really surprises me, because there's just so much that we're still learning about these groups," said Hans Sues, associate director of research and collections at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. 

He says the fossil of Gigantoraptor's beak and lack of teeth are physical features that made oviraptors excellent survivors.

"These animals may have eaten some really unusual things like maybe seeds or eggs - people have proposed all kinds of ideas," he added.  "There was some idea that some of the Mongolian ones were feeding on clams.  Some very unusual diet that didn't require teeth but did require this very odd jaw mechanism."

The Chinese researchers say the enormous dinosaur also had sharp claws, possibly for tearing meat.

There is no evidence that Gigantoraptor had feathers, another characteristic that sets it apart from its oviraptor cousin.

The discovery of the gigantic fossil published this week in the journal Nature.

The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet

For Tibetan issue, China government's sayings:

<1> Deng Xiaoping
In 1979 Comrade Deng Xiaoping told the private representative of the 14th Dalai Lama in explicit terms: "The fundamental issue lies in the fact that Tibet is part of China. Whether this is correct or wrong may be judged with standards."

<2> Li Peng
On May 19, 1991, when Chinese Premier Li Peng met with China's Xinhua News Agency reporters, he answered their questions on the Tibetan issue and reaffirmed the policy followed by the Central Government. Premier Li pointed out: "We have only one fundamental principle, which is that Tibet is an inalienable part of China. There is no room for bargaining at this issue. The Central Government consistently expressed willingness to contact the 14th Dalai Lama. But the 14th Dalai Lama must stop his activities geared to split the motherland, and give up his stand for `Tibetan independence.' All issues may be discussed except for `Tibetan independence'.''

<3> Li Ruihuan
CPPCC Chairman Li Ruihuan said at the third meeting of the Leading Group for Locating the reincarnated Soul Boy of the Panchen Erdeni no November 10, 1995: "The Central Government has exercised great restraint and done its very best to point out the right path for the Dalai Lama. It has, on many occasions, reiterated that so long as he recognizes Tibet as an integral part of China, completely renounces the claim for `independence of Tibet' and stops activities aimed at splitting the motherland, we shall negotiate with him and welcome him back to the motherland so that he can do something in the interest of the Tibetan people in his remaining years. This policy still holds good today."

<4> Jiang Zemin
In meeting with correspondents with the No.2 German TV Station and the Frankfurt Daily respectively on July 13 and 14, 1996, Chinese President Jiang Zemin answered questions on the Tibetan issue. President Jiang said: "So long as the 14th Dalai Lama can recognize Tibet is an inalienable part of China, thoroughly give up his stand for `Tibetan independence,' and stop his activities to split the motherland, we will welcome him to return to the motherland to do things beneficial for the unification of the motherland and national unity and prosperity."

To know more about it, you should know the history of Dalai Lama of Tibet:
>>>The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet

Relief work continues in quake ravaged areas of Yunnan

3 killed, 300 injured as quake rocks Yunnan

A local resident clears the debris of his house following a strong earthquake in Ning'er, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, June 3, 2007.[Xinhua]

Three people have been confirmed dead after a strong earthquake hit Southwest China's Yunnan Province. The quake measured 6.4 on the Richter scale, and has also injured more than 300 people.

Early on Sunday morning, an earthquake shook Hani and Yi Autonomous County of Ning'er, in Pu'er City. It caused significant damages to houses and infrastructure. Nearly all the shops in the city were forced to close. Many residents were evacuated.

More than 300 aftershocks were registered on Sunday, the strongest with a magnitude of 5.1. The local government has set up emergency shelters, and the wounded were rushed to hospital.

The quake is drawing the central government's attention. President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, and Vice Premier Hui Liangyu have ordered the State Council and the local governments to help with recovery efforts.

The local government of Pu'er City has already allocated one million yuan for emergency relief. The provincial civil affairs department is sending tents, quilts, and clothes to the stricken area. And the Ministry of Civil Affairs has dispatched an emergency team as well.

Residents in neighboring cities like Lincang also felt the tremor, but damage and casualty reports are not yet available.

So far, 120 thousand residents have been evacuated. The repairing of infrastructure is underway.

Each step into the Pingxin Village shows traces of Sunday's nightmare. The earthquake destroyed this decade's old home and took the lives of those living in it.

Lu Fengjin is among those who suffered misfortune. She lost her grandson--a four and half year old, buried beneath fallen bricks. Her son and daughter-in-law were also injured.

Lu Fengjin said, "I miss my grandson. He was lovely and smart. He often said to me,I want to be a pilot. The child always drew planes on this board. And this is the only thing of his that's left. Our house is destroyed. We can do nothing ourselves but to wait for the government's help. They've already come to visit us. "

Pingxin village is one of the four worst hit areas. The locals have been evacuated to safe places. But many still try to return to what is left of their homes to retrieve those things they hold dear. But they know they must also move on and, rebuild their homes. They cannot cling to only memories.

From the mountainous villages, we traveled to the county square. Three to four families share one of these tents. Away from the shabby houses, people here are safe. And their hopes for a new start are encouraged by the visit of some special guests.

This working group from the State Council is in the county to help, as well as supervise the relief work. They are here to make sure the subsidies and relief materials will be put into place immediately.

Li Liguo, director, Yunnan earthquake working group, said, "We've been meeting all of the basic needs from the affected locals who have been left homeless by the earthquake. The people are quite stable right now. Relief materials from the central government will be put in place shortly. Local authorities are doing this for the time being. "

With another shipment of relief materials on the way, more locals will be able to get tents for temporary housing. But it will still take more time for all of these people to rebuild their lives, and return to new homes.

China plans cooperative healthcare for all rural residents by 2010

China will establish a cooperative healthcare network covering all rural residents by the end of 2010, according to a five-year (2006-2010) government health plan released on Thursday.

Governments at various levels will increase financial investment in rural healthcare and help more farmers to join the program, said the plan, which was adopted last March by the State Council.

Under the cooperative scheme initiated in 2003, a participant pays 10 yuan (1.3 U.S. dollars) a year, while the state, provincial, municipal and county governments supply another 40 yuan (5.2 U.S. dollars) to the fund. Contributors are then entitled to discounts, provided by the fund, on their medical expenses.

Official figures show that 410 million farmers in 1,451 counties - around half of the country's rural population - had joined the scheme by the end of 2006.

The plan said that the government will spend more money on building and upgrading clinics in rural areas.

"The private sector is also encouraged to run non-profit health and medical institutions in counties and villages," the plan said.

The health authorities will dispatch more doctors from cities to the countryside to bridge the medical gap between the cities and countryside, according to the plan.

Statistics show that the Ministry of Health has moved to send roughly 5,500 doctors and nurses from Chinese cities to the rural areas this year to help treat rural patients, introduce new facilities and train local medical staff.

The rural healthcare system was once a core element of Chinese socialism. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, rural people had access to subsidized health clinics run by "barefoot doctors", who were basically middle-school students trained in first aid.

The primitive service, essentially free, played a role in doubling the country's average life expectancy from 35 years in 1949 to 68 years in 1978.

When China began its economic reforms in the early 1980s, the system was dismantled as the country attempted to switch to a market-oriented healthcare system.

The five-year plan said more efforts would be made to tighten drug supervision, increase investment in the public health sector and develop study of China's traditional medicine.

The government will also take measures to encourage individuals and non-government organizations to participate in health and medical services, the plan said.

Dangerous Algae Bloom Threatens Chinese Lake

A second potentially dangerous algae bloom has been reported in an eastern Chinese lake. Joseph Popiolkowski reports from Hong Kong that the big worry is over the effect the algae will have on the safety of drinking water.

Chinese man uses a net to push aside blue-green algae on Taihu Lake in Wuxi, 01 Jun 2007

Last week, an algae bloom in eastern China's Lake Taihu spurred authorities to cut off drinking water to the city of Wuxi, forcing residents to drink and wash using bottled water.

China's state-run media reported that environmental authorities are monitoring another algae bloom in Lake Chao, China's fifth largest freshwater source.

Algae are simple aquatic organisms. When high levels of nitrogen, or other nutrients, are introduced into the water, algae grow rapidly, killing and feeding off other life forms. Some algae blooms can produce biotoxins harmful to humans that freely pass through water treatment systems.

One expert says pollution from industrial run-off is the major contributor to the algae blooms.

Wen Bo, China Program Director for the U.S.-based activist group Pacific Environment, says algae blooms are not uncommon in China's increasingly polluted lakes.

"This one has just become dramatic because it affects a large city - Wuxi city - and it has contaminated their drinking water," Wen explained.

An environmental activist in Wuxi, Wu Lihong, had warned officials for years about worsening pollution in Lake Taihu but was arrested in April on what friends and family say are trumped up extortion charges.

Wen says the activist pushed too far into investigating the links between local officials and companies that pollute China's lakes.

"He didn't conduct any serious crime. And that's so dramatic that just a few weeks after his arrest there was a serious crisis with drinking water in Wuxi city," Wen noted.

China's state-run media say the recently reported bloom in Lake Chao is not a threat to drinking water in nearby towns and has been diluted by rainwater.

Chinese media also say the water in Lake Taihu is again drinkable after environmental officials seeded rain clouds and flooded the lake with water from the Yangtze River.

(BRAND) FACED WITH A STEEP LEARNING CURVE

At 7ft 1in and 325 pounds, Shaquille O'Neal is one of the most recognised figures in world sport, a 13-time choice for basketball's All-Star game. For the past six months, the American athlete has also been promoting Li-Ning, the Chinese footwear retailer.

Li Ning is locked in a battle with Nike and Adidas for the fast-growing Chinese footwear market and the Chinese group is determined to keep up with the heavy-spending multinationals.

Since Yao Ming, the 7ft 6in Houston Rockets player and the best-known Chinese athlete in the world, uses Reebok (part of Adidas) and Nike has signed gold-medal hurdler Liu Xiang, Li-Ning has taken an imaginative approach – a five-deal deal with Mr O'Neal to sell his Dunkman brand of shoes in China.

Li-Ning, founded by the former Chinese gymnast who won three golds at the 1984 Olympics, started out selling cheap running shoes in smaller Chinese cities, while Adidas and Nike were moving into Shanghai and Beijing.

The company realises that to compete with big international groups – and charge the prices they do – it must develop a coherent brand that appeals to aspirational young Chinese.

Only a couple of years ago, China was associated solely with low-cost manufacturing. But now the listing includes three Chinese brands in the Top 100, with China Mobile ranked number 5.

Li-Ning's ambitious advertising – it has also signed the Cleveland Cavaliers' Damon Jones – demonstrates the rapid strides some Chinese companies are making to build up their own brands.

A frontrunner in efforts to move beyond cheap manufacturing is Lenovo, the computer maker that two years ago bought IBM's personal computer business. The deal was part of a grand plan to turn Lenovo into a global brand, which also involves the group sponsoring of the Turin Winter Olympics and Beijing Olympics. It has to move quickly: in four years, it will not be allowed to use the IBM name.

A new generation of Chinese entrepreneurs is full of confidence about the international potential of their businesses. "A quarter of the world's population is in China, so any brand that wins loyalty here is likely to become a global brand," says Zhou Chengjian, founder of the MetersBonwe shops, one of the biggest fashion chains in mainland China with 1,800 stores. "We need to remain strong in China but we will definitely try to take our brand overseas."

Some Chinese entrepreneurs have tried to resurrect traditional brands and build modern companies round them – such as the Quanjude, the Beijing roast duck restaurant that has expanded to Shanghai and Hong Kong, or YongJiu (Forever) bicycles, which has launched its own scooters.

Yet, while companies realise the need to invest in developing their brands, a number of factors still hold them back.

Despite China's manufacturing prowess, quality can be a problem. In some sectors, consumers in China will buy products that might not be considered acceptable in the US or Europe. The car industry, in particular, is facing this issue at the moment.

Two years ago, several Chinese manufacturers announced plans to export vehicles to the US and Europe from 2008, hoping to reproduce the success that some have had in their home market.

However, in recent months some of those companies have delayed their export plans as they strive to achieve the reliability levels that US consumers demand.

"We have to get it right at home before we go outside of China," says Phil Murtaugh, the former GM executive brought in by Shanghai Auto to lead its international operations. "I do not know when we will start exporting."

Finding the right executives who can lead international marketing initiatives is also a huge challenge. In a much-cited 2005 report about the looming "war for talent" in China, McKinsey found that only 10 per cent of Chinese engineering graduates had the English language and team-working skills necessary to work in a multinational.

And for local companies seeking to tap the relatively small pool of Chinese executives with international experience, they are competing against a growing array of multinationals wanting to hire the very same people.

Chinese companies are also only just beginning to think about the social issues that go with launching international brands – the sorts of topics that are sometimes referred to as "corporate social responsibility".

Multinationals that manufacture in China and other developing countries have become used to regular inspections of working conditions at their factories, investigations into whether their supply chains use child labour and constant media and NGO scrutiny. The new Chinese consumer brands will have to learn to cope with these demands.

Politics could also play a role. The more Chinese brands try to go abroad, the more they will face questions about where their funding really comes from or what their connections are with the Chinese government.

Such questions helped kill CNOOC's bid in 2005 for Unocal, the US oil and gas group. And Lenovo faced these problems when members of the US Congress queried the State Department's purchase of Lenovo PCs.

Whether such questioning has any basis, or whether it is an opportunistic strategy by anxious rivals, Chinese brands will need to develop ways of responding. They face a steep learning curve.

Beijing fines spitters for city's image

More than 50 people in the Chinese capital have been fined for spitting  during the week-long Labor Day holidays, according to officials in charge of the  city's image.  

Beijing's management department and civilization promotion office have  jointly sent five inspection teams to patrol the downtown Wangfujing pedestrian  mall, Tian'anmen Square, commercial centers and railway stations to stop people  from spitting, littering, posting of advertisements and writing on public  property.  

As of Sunday, 56 people had been fined for spitting and refusing to correct  the bad habit, according to the teams.  

The officials also handed out more than 10,000 bags to tourists, reminding  them not to litter.  

Earlier reports said people spitting in the streets in Beijing will be fined  up to 50 yuan (about 6.5 U.S. dollars).  

"Fifty yuan is a fairly hefty fine for spitters," said Zhang Huiguang,  director of the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau.  

In Beijing, 50 yuan is about daily income of a Chinese college graduate and  can buy 16 subway tickets or 100 packs of paper tissues.  

The government is anxious to correct the embarrassing habits of Chinese  travelers ahead of next year's Olympics Games. The May Day holiday week is seen  as a good time to start as an estimated 150 million Chinese tourists will be on  the road.  

The China National Tourism Administration has issued a circular, requiring  travel agencies and tour guides to be responsible for correcting the bad  behavior of tourists during the holidays.  

Jumping a queue, spitting, littering and loudly clearing one's throat in  public are some of the frequently observed bad habits that are giving Chinese  travelers a bad reputation, according to the Spiritual Civilization Steering  Committee (SCSC) of the Chinese Communist Party, the official etiquette  watchdog.  

"We are supposed to remind people constantly throughout the tour, and also  lead an etiquette discussion at the end of the tour," said Huang Xiaohui, a  travel guide with a Beijing-based travel agency.  

"The Olympics are coming, and we don't want to be disgraced," Huang said  succinctly.  

Beijing expects to receive 550,000 foreign tourists during the 2008 Olympics  and an estimated two million domestic tourists will also visit the capital city.  

"Promoting civilized behaviors among Chinese travelers is a long-term task.  To harvest short-term results before the games, we need to focus our resources  on the main problems," said Zhai Weihua, SCSC deputy director.  

"Tens of thousands of reporters will come to China to cover the Games next  year, which means both China's positive and negative sides will be amplified.  Once bad impressions are made, they last, " Zhai said.  

"That's why we should grab the opportunity to change uncouth behavior," said  Wu Jianmin, President of China Foreign Affairs University, in a TV interview.  

The Olympics are now only about 450 days away.

Military pumps up China's influence, Pentagon says

China's modernizing military will make it a more muscular player in world events, a U.S. Defense Department report says.

China's developing capabilities "will increase Beijing's options for military coercion to press diplomatic advantage, advance interests or resolve disputes," the Pentagon says in its annual report to Congress on China.

The Pentagon says that Beijing remains preoccupied with military contingencies in the Taiwan Strait -- but adds that the Chinese military is also improving its ability to win possible conflicts over resources or territory.

To that end, the report says, the Chinese army is transforming itself from a force designed to fight wars of attrition on its own territory to one capable of winning short but intense campaigns against high-tech adversaries.

It says China's military expansion is in part designed to protect its access to raw materials around the world, especially coal and oil supplies. At present, the report says, "China can neither protect its foreign energy supplies, nor the routes on which they travel."

The report notes key developments such as China's testing of an antisatellite missile in January and the greater accuracy and range of its missile forces, including intercontinental ballistic missiles.

"New air- and ground-launched cruise missiles that could perform nuclear missions will similarly improve the survivability and flexibility of China's nuclear forces," it adds.

It also says that China continues to modernize its Navy with better air-defense systems and new submarines, while its offensive air power has been improved with the acquisition of Su-30 strike aircraft and F-10 fighters.

Military spending continues to grow more quickly than the expansion of the economy, with Beijing announcing an increase of nearly 18 percent in its defense budget in March.

Looking at the situation with Taiwan, the report says the balance of forces continues to shift in the mainland's favor, with military exercises and deployments contributing to an atmosphere of intimidation. The report adds that tension could also increase as Taiwan prepares for its next presidential election, planned for March 2008.

Despite the pace of modernization, the report says, the People's Liberation Army remains untested in modern warfare and most of China's leaders lack military experience.

That gives rise to a greater potential for miscalculations, according to the report, which "would be equally catastrophic whether based on advice from operationally inexperienced commanders or from 'scientific' combat models."

Recognition of brain death will aid organ transplants

The question of what constitutes death is at the center of a medico-legal debate in China with important implications for organ transplants, a senior health official said on Saturday.

In April, China issued its first regulation on human organ transplants, aimed at banning organ trade in any form and regulating the country's huge organ transplant market. It will go into effect on May 1.

The new organ transplant regulations are a milestone in China's health sector, but the legal framework remains incomplete, vice minister of health Huang Jiefu told a press briefing, pointing out that new legislation on "brain death" is needed.

He said the development of human organ transplants requires a wider medical definition of death besides the traditional notion of cessation of heartbeat.

"Fifteen minutes at most after the cessation of heartbeat and breathing, organs are irreparably damaged and can no longer be harvested for transplants," said Huang, a liver transplant specialist, who completed his postdoctoral research at the University of Sydney, Australia.

Most western countries stopped using cessation of heartbeat as a sign of death before organ removal in 1968. Instead they use the concept of "brain death", the criteria for which include absence of brain-stem reflexes, no evidence of breathing and total lack of consciousness.

Organs can be successfully harvested from a person who is brain dead but whose heart and lungs are kept functioning by machines.

However, the traditional Chinese view that "life goes on until the last breath and until the heart stops beating" has held back the introduction of legislation on brain death even though academics have been urging the promulgation of such a law since the 1980s.

Chinese medical experts say that if the law was amended to allow organs to be removed from people declared "brain-dead", organ supply would increase significantly.

China has been carrying out organ transplants for more than 20 years and is the world's second largest performer of transplants after the United States. But there is a terrible shortage of organs. Official statistics show that while 1.5 million patients need organ transplants each year, only 10,000 can find organs.

Most organs are donated by ordinary citizens at their death who have voluntarily signed a donation agreement.

As China's human organ transplant regulations do not recognize brain death, it is currently illegal to take organs from a brain-dead patient for transplant purposes, Huang previously said.

Huang, who has long advocated the recognition of brain death, said an academic seminar planned for the second half of the year will examine the concept of brain death, which is widely misunderstood by ordinary Chinese.

"China will seek to change people's traditional views and -- in a context of worldwide shortage of organs -- encourage a humanitarian spirit of helping each other," Huang said in an earlier interview in March.

"The country will probably establish a range of death criteria covering brain activity, breathing and cessation of heartbeat and allow people to choose the criteria that seem most appropriate to them," he said.

Huang gave no more details of the legislation but stressed that the drafters will ensure the doctors who pronounce "brain death" are not the ones responsible for organ transplants.

Recognition of brain death is part of a package of criterion the ministry of health is drawing up to implement the human organ transplant regulation, Huang said.

Most of the criterion will be completed in three to five years, he said, adding that a manual on liver transplant, the first of its kind, will be released in this August, followed by the manual on kidney transplant.

On Saturday, the health ministry also announced that the first batch of more than 160 medical institutes have been granted the licence to transplant human organs.

About 600 hospitals and clinics have applied, the ministry said.

China boosts nuclear energy sector to reduce pollution caused by the coal industry

A newly inaugurated state nuclear company is tasked with developing third generation nuclear power technology for China. In the next fifteen years, the government will give the nuclear sector a major boost to exploit this clean alternative energy source.

Tuesday's inauguration is the first step in the country's adjustment of its energy structure.

Co-funded by the government and four large enterprises, the State Nuclear Power Technology Company is in charge of developing third generation nuclear power.

The company is expected to import four nuclear reactors from American company Westinghouse Electric next month.

By 2020, China aims to have installed reactors capable of generating 40,000 megawatts of nuclear power annually.

To reach this target, two or three 1,000 megawatt reactors will need to come into operation every year for the following decade.

Currently, China has three nuclear power bases, in Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Jiangsu, with a total of ten nuclear reactors. Another 11 new reactors are under construction, mainly located in Zhejiang, Shandong, and Liaoning.

Nuclear fuel is cleaner and much more efficient than coal. The government hopes the nuclear sector will be able to sustain economic development needs, and reduce pollution caused by the coal industry.

More than 38% of Chinese officials are women

More than 15 million Chinese officials are women, accounting for 38.5 percent of the total, an official report said here Friday.

    The proportion of female officials above the provincial level has reached 10.3 percent, up 1.3 percentage points from 2003, according to the report, written by the National Working Committee on Children and Women under the State Council.

    The percentages of women officials at the municipal and county level have increased to 12.9 percent and 17.2 percent, up 0.7 and 0.5 percentage points respectively, the report said.

    Observers say that Chinese women's status has improved enormously since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 as the country has issued a series of laws and regulations to safeguard gender equality.

    At the end of 2005, there were 241 women in ministerial posts, key provincial decision-making positions, or in equally important posts at state agencies.

    To promote women's political involvement, China's Election Law stipulates that the National People's Congress and local people's congresses should all have women deputies and the percentages of women deputies should be gradually increased.

    However, the report pointed out that women in rural areas are still reluctant to take part in political and administrative affairs.

    Despite the slight rise of female village officials in recent years, women currently only occupy 16.7 percent of the seats in village committees nationwide, the report said.