First in Turin and China's contingent at the Winter Games have every reason to celebrate, Han Xiaopeng has made history by claiming China's first ever Olympic gold in the men's freestyle aerial. The 22-year-old stunned many at the competition when he beat Belarus' Dmitri Dashinski. Earlier this week, Wang Meng won the country's first gold in speed skating.

Han Xiaopeng, who has never won a World Cup event topped the qualifications, when he corkscrewed through the night air and nailed both his landings to register 250.77 points, edging final jumper Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus by almost 3 points.

Dashinski had high hopes after his first attempt. He made a back double somersault routine with three twists, and a higher degree of difficulty, but according to the judges, Dashinski had problems when landing and gold was awarded to Chinas Han Xiaopeng.

Liu Peng, Director of General Admn. of Sports, said, "This is a historical moment for China. The gold didn't come about easily. This is the first time a Chinese athlete has won a major competition on the Aerials circuit. It is also the first time a Chinese has won a men's event title in Winter Olympics history. All the athletes and coaches have made great efforts on today's achievement."

The bronze medal went to Russia's Vladimir Lebedev. In the women's figure skating final on the same day, Liu Yan of China finished 11th. The gold medal was awarded to Shizuka Arakawa of Japan. In the Women's 4 x 6 kilometre biathlon relay, the Chinese team, led by Kong Yingchao finished 9th.

[此贴子已经被作者于2006-2-25 10:25:08编辑过]

4th round of China-Janpan consultations

China and Japan will hold their fourth round of consultations on the East China Sea dispute in early march. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Jianchao says the two sides agreed to the meeting during a visit by Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshihiro Nikai. They also reached consensus on improving economic and trade cooperation, especially in environmental protection, energy conservation and two-way investment. Liu says China also urged Japan to deal with historical issues.

[此贴子已经被作者于2006-2-25 10:26:41编辑过]

EU seeks duties on Chinese shoes

European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson is proposing anti-dumping duties on imports of Chinese and Vietnamese shoes. He says there is "compelling" evidence of dumping behavior.

Mandelson is proposing punitive tariffs of up to 19.4 percent on Chinese leather shoes and 16.8 percent on Vietnamese leather shoes. The measures would not affect children's shoes or sports shoes. Under Mandelson's proposal, the tariffs would be introduced at four percent from April the 7th, and progressively increased to the highest levels over six months.

Speaking on Thursday, Mandelson called the action justified. He said an EU investigation had found "compelling evidence" of state financing, non-commercial rates for land use, tax breaks, and improper assets valuation in both China and Vietnam.

Mandelson said he'd raised the dumping issue with Chinese and Vietnamese ministers on Thursday morning. He added the European Commission will continue to discuss the bloc's concerns with the two Asian countries.

By phasing in the penalties, the commission hopes to avoid the kind of distribution blockages that occurred when the EU limited imports of Chinese textiles last year.

Meanwhile, European consumer organizations, including EuroCommerce and the European Consumers' Organization, have attacked the commissioner's plan. The European Consumers' Organization says EU shoemakers can't meet demand because of high costs. And the proposed duties would add as much as 12 US dollars to the average price of shoes within the bloc.

[此贴子已经被作者于2006-2-25 10:28:04编辑过]

Housing tops urbanites´ worries

What makes Chinese citizens toss and turn at night? A recent poll in 16 major Chinese cities shows that housing, education and jobs are the main worries of urban residents. These are the issues they would like to be addressed by the country's top legislators when they meet next month.

According to the poll, nearly four in five respondents said they were worried about rising house prices and poor service provided by property management companies.

Urban real estate prices have seen a rapid rise in recent years. Figures from the World Bank show that housing prices worldwide are equivalent to five to seven years' household income, but in China it is 11 years' earnings.

Meanwhile, about three in five are concerned about limited job opportunities. Despite a record 11 million job openings this year, 14 million urbanites including those entering the job market, laid-off workers and migrants from rural areas might end up with no employment. The pollsters said the laid-off, disabled people and fresh university graduates would find it most difficult to find jobs.

As tuition fees continue to rise in educational institutions, nearly three in five surveyed complained about the increasing cost. High medical expenses, rising inequality, personal safety, financial fraud and the rule of law are also listed as major worries. The country's 11th Five Year plan is listed as the 12th hottest topic among nearly a-third of urban residents.

[此贴子已经被作者于2006-2-25 10:29:54编辑过]

China issues aging report

Even with its explosive economic growth, China's population will become old before it becomes rich. And with the number of elderly bearing a heavier weight on the entire population, more and more people are now calling for care for the elderly. Meanwhile, the government says it is encouraging both domestic and overseas investors to step in and help.

A report, issued Thursday by the National Elderly Office, made an in-depth study of the aging trend of the Chinese society. The report pointed out that China has entered an aged society since 1999. From 2001 to 2020, nearly 6 million more elderly people will be part of the population. China's elderly population will reach 250 million by the year 2020.

Data shows that the potential market for the elderly in China stands at 50 billion US dollars, but supplies account for only 10 percent now. The figure is expected to reach more than 120 billion dollars in 2010 and more than 600 billion by the middle of this century.

The government is calling up industrial forces to help the campaign. Companies are encouraged to launch products or services targeting the elderly market. The care of old people involves various aspects, including daily care, emotional support, and emergency aid.

[此贴子已经被作者于2006-2-25 10:31:34编辑过]

Medical care for rural residents

Shanghai has instructed hospitals to reduce fees; and has unveiled plans to increase medical funds for rural residents. The plan follows the central government's pledge to help the rural population in China over the next 5 years.

Under the plan, Shanghai will ensure a minimum of 40 percent reimbursement for rural residents' emergency and outpatient fees. Up to 80 percent of the funds will be used to cover emergency, outpatient and in-patient charges that are under 5,000 yuan. Shanghai's current medical funds cover more than 85 percent of its rural population. Each rural resident in Shanghai gets around 250 yuan in medical subsidies, each year.

[此贴子已经被作者于2006-2-25 10:33:37编辑过]

"Economist": China´s economy to slow in 2006

The Economist magazine is forecasting a slowdown in China's economy this year, with growth rate at 8 percent.

The magazine believes China's GDP growth will slow, following the country's measures to rein in some of the over-heated sectors. The Economist forecasts that China's GDP will reach over 2.2 trillion US dollars in 2006. Meanwhile, it expects China to control its inflation rate at 2 percent.

[此贴子已经被作者于2006-2-25 10:34:58编辑过]

China´s SOEs report record earnings

China's state-owned enterprises reported record earnings last year. The Ministry of Finance says that of the SOEs jumped 25 percent last year to a record 900 billion yuan.

Sales revenue of the SOEs totaled 11.5 trillion yuan last year, up nearly 20 percent from 2004. Officials attributed the rapid growth to sound macro-economic practices, improved corporate governance, restructuring, and higher commodity and petrochemical prices. Driven by high demand and rising prices; the energy, petrochemical and raw material sectors contributed 84 percent of the total profit growth of SOEs. Profits of SOEs that are under direct control of the central government totaled 640 billion yuan in 2005, accounting for about 70 percent of all profit earned by the SOEs.

Postal system posts losses

China's postal industry posted a loss in profit equivalent to 50 million US dollars last year. It massively trimmed losses from 2004, but still has a long way to go to get back into the black.

Last year the country's postal savings deposit had a balance of 1.35 trillion yuan, with a net profit of over 57 billion yuan. Profits from express mail services was 6.5 billion yuan. But declining margins were seen in general service sectors, including package, logistics, and newspaper delivery. China's postal service is divided into general and competitive services. But general services has always posted huge losses due to high overhead charges. The country's postal industry suffered losses running into tens of billions of yuan, when it was separated from the telecoms sector. Losses were reduced to 1.1 billion yuan in 2004.

China boasts 400 million cellphone users

The world's biggest mobile phone market just got bigger. China's cell-phone market is the largest in the world, and has just topped 400 million subscribers.

That's an increase of nearly 50 million subscribers from the end of 2004. China adds nearly 5 million new cellphone subscribers each month. China imported its first mobile phone telecom facilities in 1987 with a capacity of just 700 users. It took the country two decades to build the world's largest cellphone-users group.

[此贴子已经被作者于2006-2-25 10:37:37编辑过]

Experts call for wireless monitoring

Modern technology has enabled cell phones to perform sophisticated multimedia tasks. But it has also helped the spread of mobile pornography. Experts are now calling for laws specifically dealing with cellphone indecency, and want more government supervision of wireless Internet services.

This cell phone website is called the "Hut of Temptations." It's filled with obscene pictures. Another site offers adult novels. The emergence of these websites has become a major concern for parents.

Parent, said, "We can set passwords on the computer to prevent the children from logging onto the Internet and viewing those unhealthy websites. But cell phones are different. It is impossible to block or even discover the bad messages they send to each other."

Over 16,000 service providers are offering wireless Internet services for cell phone users in China, but only a few telecommunications carriers, including China Mobile and China Unicom serve as supervisors.

Hao Weimin, Vice Direcotor, China Assoc. of Communication Enterprise, said, "The service providers are located across the country, which poses great difficulties for our supervision."

The ever-improving telecommunication technology is another challenge. And most importantly, carriers lack legal support in their supervision work as the country still doesn't have any laws or regulations aimed at mobile pornography.

[此贴子已经被作者于2006-2-25 10:38:47编辑过]

Iron ore price talks in lockup

The latest round of talks on iron ore prices has failed to make any progress. But China is still insisting on stability of iron ore prices in 2006.

Baosteel, China's largest steel maker recently failed to reach an agreement for 2006 iron ore prices with major overseas miners, such as Australia's BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto Group. Baosteel says, since domestic steel manufacturers are in over supply and overseas suppliers are so diversified, a price increase for iron ore is not justified. Baosteel is the only representative of Chinese enterprises in talks with miners this year, and the prices Baosteel agrees to will be acceptable by all domestic mills and iron ore traders.

China, Japan discuss trade

Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai has met Japan's Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry, Toshihiro Nikai. Some analysts say Nikai's trip is an attempt to warm chilly political ties through economic cooperation.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao also met Nikai. The two discussed bilateral ties and other issues of common concern.

Nikai discussed economic and trade issues with Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai. The closed-door talks lasted about two hours.

Nikai is in Beijing for a three-day official trip at the invitation of Bo Xilai.

One expert describes the current Sino-Japanese relations as "chilly on the political side, but hot in the economic field." He says Nikai's purpose is to melt the political coldness through closer economic ties. He also noted economic exchanges have already suffered.

Lin Xiaoguang, Research Fellow of CPC Party School said: "Japan has dropped from the first to the third in terms of foreign trade with China, after the European Union and the US. This is proof political coldness has hurt economics, and this is why Japan is trying to break the political impasse through economic cooperation."

Lin identified two things both sides should take into consideration in their negotiations. First, a genuine wish to develop healthy relations. And second, China and Japan will always be neighbors, so they must look to themselves to make any changes.

[此贴子已经被作者于2006-2-25 10:41:08编辑过]

Enterprises join in IPR protection

China is once again ready to fight against piracy, as its enterprises are on the move to make commitments. More than 350 enterprises have gathered at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing this morning, to pledge for fighting pirated intellectual goods and promote self-owned innovations.

It is the first large-scale IPR movement by the enterprises themselves. Initiated by the China Enterprise Confederation, the movement is going to involve millions of enterprise staffs to jointly reject piracy.

Participating enterprises will sign two agreements on IPR protection and reject the pirated software. Meanwhile, the enterprises are going to use patent, trademarks and copyrights to protect their own innovations.

Chen Lantong, Director & Vice Chairman of China Enterprise Confederation said: "This event is an occasion to express our determination to protect Intellectual Property Rights in the international society. We have also made commitments to take the responsibility of fighting against piracy."

Officials at the conference said that the implementation of the commitment requires detailed plans. The Enterprise Confederation will support the government IPR regulators and carry out the moves gradually in different industries and regions.

[此贴子已经被作者于2006-2-25 10:42:10编辑过]