The Chinese language books will explain the Koran and the instructions and doctrines of Allah in accordance with contemporary Chinese views on the religion, according to Khalid Yang Zongshan, vice president of the China Islamic College and director of the project.

He noted that the compilation effort will require at least five years. Islamic colleges, religious associations and various other institutes nationwide will participate in the compilation effort, he added.

The central government fully supports the effort, according to Li Ge, an official with the State Council's Religious Bureau. He noted that China has always supported Islamic education and called for completion of the compilation project at the earliest possible date. "The government will provide funding and personnel for the project," said Li.

Mohammed founded Islam, one of the world's four major religions, on the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century. Islam entered into China along the ancient Silk Road during the Tang Dynasty.

Islamic doctrines had been imparted orally in mosques over a long period of time. However, the establishment of Islamic colleges following the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 sparked a change in the style of presentation. Nonetheless, the basic teaching method is to recite the Koran.

"Sutras are often difficult and some people fail to fully understand what they are reciting. Young believers need access to thorough and systematic illustrations and analyses," said Huang Xinman, 26, a former imam currently studying at the China Islamic College.

He said the textbooks will provide explanations of the sutras in line with modern development.

Khalid said other countries, especially the Islamic countries, largely rely on textbooks to help spread Islam.

Haji Shamsiddin Mahmud, vice president of the China Islamic Association, pointed out that the textbooks will be used in colleges and mosques.

"Chinese Muslims were tortured and the religion trampled upon during the tumultuous Cultural Revolution period (1966-76), leading to the current lack of highly experienced imams," said Haji, adding that "many experienced elder teachers have since passed away."

According to the China Islamic Association, China has restored 30,000 mosques since the end of the Cultural Revolution, but a large majority of the over 40,000 imams in the country had primary or at best secondary school education.

"A set of textbooks is essential to help them improve their educational levels," said Haji.

China has nine Islamic colleges and voluminous research books on the religion, providing a base for the compilation project.

The level of Qingdao's coastal waters was 249 cm in 1998, compared with 239 cm in 1956. It was found to be rising continuously this year, says the report based on the data from the SOA's oceanological forecasting station here.

However, the station's senior engineer, Guo Mingke, ruled out any serious impact on the nearby coastal areas as a result of the rise of the sea level, such as a shrinking coastline, damage to dykes, or soil salinization.

The huge carving, 23.5 m high and weighing 110 tons, and said to be the tallest wooden statue in the world, is located in the Puning Temple in Chengde, in north China's Hebei Province. It was put on the World Heritage list in 1994.

Before the repair work, the statue was in danger of collapsing at any moment, since it was badly rotten and worm-eaten.

Chinese experts led by the State Cultural Heritage Administration, steamed the statue and replaced the damaged portions.

The restoration work, costing nine million yuan (about 1.1 million U.S. dollars), lasted about nine months.

The document voiced support for market economy and proposed to seek "a just distribution" of the benefits produced by economic globalization.

It said that globalization does offer opportunities for social progress and the creation of wealth but it also constitutes a challenge to the regions and nations of the world.

"The challenge is to link material advances with social progress in a new consensus that will assure that political considerations will prevail over purely economic considerations," said the document.

The Council also adopted another document, urging Argentina and the United Kingdom to solve their dispute over the Malvinas island through dialogue.

During the meeting, about 300 delegates from 139 countries prepared the guidelines for the SI Congress in Paris, to be held in November this year.

Socialist International, founded in 1864, is the world's oldest and largest association of political parties, that groups democratic socialist, labor and social democratic parties around the world.

The preparatory work is proceeded well, an official from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC), who declined to be named, told the newspaper.

Contracts have been signed between the two countries, sites have been fixed and real estate purchased. Only some details remain to be thrashed out, the report said.

Tiankelong, a well-known supermarket chain company in China, will run one of the two markets, and the other will be contracted by four separate businesses, the official said.

Nothing but high-quality and famous-brand Chinese commodities will be available on the shelves of these supermarkets.

As one of the fruits of Premier Zhu Rongji's visit to Russia in February, the two supermarkets have received high attention from the Chinese Government.

"We should view the issue of the two supermarkets from a strategic perspective regarding the development of the Sino- Russian relationship," said State Councilor Wu Yi.

"No matter from the economic or political perspective, it is both necessary and significant to open the two markets in Russia," said Qin Xuanren, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics.

China and Russia have been seeking to increase the range of their economic cooperation as both have realized that hugs and friendliness should not be the sum of the bilateral relationship.

Although China's exports to Russia have been declining since last year, largely due to the poor economic situation in Russia and the shrinkage of Russian consumers' purchasing power, the Russian market is still regarded as possessing huge potential.

"High-level consumption only accounts for 10 percent of the total consumption volume in Russia, and what the majority of Russian consumers demand is medium- and low-grade products," said the MOFTEC official.

Chinese exports, characterized by relatively low prices and high durability, have been popular mainly in the medium- and low- grade product markets overseas.

Statistics from the General Administration of Customs indicate that the Sino-Russia bilateral trade volume reached 5.48 billion U. S. dollars in 1998, down 10.5 percent from 1997.

High temperatures above 37 degrees centigrade have hit the capital since last Thursday and will last until at least the end of the month, said the station.

From noon to 14:00 pm on Friday, the city's temperature reached 40 degrees centigrade. The temperature was the highest measured in Beijing during the same exact period in the past 14 years, Beijing Daily reported.

Beijing has experienced record high temperatures above 35 degrees centigrade during corresponding periods in the past.

From June 20-24, 1995, the capital's temperature was 33 to 37 degrees centigrade.

On June 21, 1997, the daytime temperature registered 37.2 degrees centigrade.

On June 15, 1942, the city's temperature was 42.6 degrees centigrade, according to Beijing Youth Daily.

In the past few days, people toted umbrellas, wore short dresses, ate ice cream, turned on air conditioners and dove in swimming pools to keep cool in the scorching heat.

Because of the wide use of air-conditioners and electric fans, the capital has seen a peak of power consumption since the summer began, registering more than 4.62 million kilowatts.

The peak came a little earlier than in previous years, as heat waves typically sweep over Beijing from July through August, according to Beijing Municipal Power Supply Bureau.

But apparently there is little to worry about when it comes to power reserves.

"Relax, sufficient power supply will be surely guaranteed in Beijing, because the country, including the capital, has invested heavily over the past few years in constructing power generation facilities," said the bureau's spokesman Tang Songhan, in a telephone interview with China Daily.

Beijing Observatory attributed the unusual hot weather to the following factors:

_ North China has been dominated by a warm high pressure current in the past few days, resulting in high temperatures.

_ Persistent sunshine has also caused temperature to rise.

The observatory warned residents and work units to take measures to protect themselves against sunstroke.

In the Beijing Shougang Iron and Steel Corporation, everything is ready for workers to avoid heatstroke, according to the corporation's publicity department.

Based on previous experience, all workshops have been equipped with air-conditioners and ventilation installations.

Also, cool drinks, fruits and sunstroke-prevention medicine are freely distributed to workers, said the department's spokeswoman Fu Chaoying.

Doctors from the corporation's hospital and clinic go to workshops regularly to check up on the health of workers.

All workshops and workers' lounges have air-conditioners or electric fans to help relieve the summer heat, said Fu.

Despite the hot weather the capital experienced, the newly opened centre had more than a dozen volunteers donating their blood within the first half-hour, said a doctor at the donation centre.

"Many of them came very early in the morning waiting to donate their blood," she said.

Zhang Shihai, from Zhangbei County in North China's Hebei Province, was one of the first voluntary donors at the centre.

The young man said it was his way of thanking the government who helped him when he lost his home in a disastrous earthquake that took place in his hometown last year.

Zhang Lan, a student from the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC was another volunteer who came with three other classmates.

"Since it is of no harm to my health, why shouldn't I donate my blood, which might be precious to others?" she answered when asked why she became a blood donation volunteer.

However, according to Sun Aiming, an official of the Red Cross Society of China, although they had more volunteers than expected on the centre's opening day, people like Zhang Shihai and Zhang Lan are few in China.

According to James Robertson, representative from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society, the average number of volunteers a free blood donation centre in Great Britain usually receives a day totals 300.

Yet, the figure for a local Chinese centre is only about three, said Sun.

Furthermore, in China a large number of blood donors still get high payments or even long holidays in return for their blood donation, let alone those who make a living selling blood.

Officials from the Red Cross Society of China pointed out there is still a long way to go before China could finally keep up with many other countries in the world where donating blood without payment has already become a fact of life for people.

China Red Cross aims to further promote the voluntary blood donation system in China. Following the implementation of the State's law on voluntary blood donations which came into effect on October 1, 1998, the situation has greatly improved in China, they said.

The setting up of this blood donation centre is aimed at establishing an advanced free blood donation station that not only encourages passers-by to donate their blood without any payment, but is also designed to publicize related information and provide people with consulting services on voluntary blood donation.

The centre was funded by the Red Cross Society of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region which poured a total of 6.2 million yuan (US$747,988) into the project.

Vehicle manufacturers touted cleaner-burning, more efficient engines, while leading US and German producers were out in greater force than ever before to show off state-of-the-art catalytic converters and other emissions-cutting devices.

Michael Dunne, the president of industry consultancy, Automotive Resources Asia Ltd., called it "a strong showing of environmental technology ... a response to a directive from Beijing high up that it's time to clean up China's air."

Shanghai and Guangzhou are expected to follow suit before the end of the year, and the standards are set to become a nationwide standard next year. "It's the most significant development in the auto industry in the last 12 months," Dunne said.

It is reported that Volkswagen AG, whose two joint ventures dominate the Chinese car market, launched a "diesel initiative for China" at the June 15-20 Shanghai car show.

The company displayed a Lupo model capable of consuming less than three litres of diesel per 100 kilometres, while US maker Ford spotlighted its 482 million dollar global investment in developing emission-free fuel cell engines

According to the new standard, worked out by related national department, foreigners in Dalian will not pay more but the same as Dalian citizens.

Patients either Chinese or foreigners have right to choose between common medical service and special medical service.

Some former medical departments set specially for foreigners will be cancelled and a new batch of medical institutes, after approved by related departments will be allowed be supply medical service to foreigners.

Foreign guests, Taiwan compatriots, Macao compatriots, overseas Chinese, if need medical treatment, their expenses should be covered by reception units.

payment and settlement of medical expenses of foreign experts or students in China keeps the same as before.