News in Chinese Media

Xinhua News Agency

    The Chinese Red Cross Society ( CRCS) has begun its disaster relief work in flood-stricken areas along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

     The CRCS has sent two teams to Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces to study the situation there and the its branches in the provinces of Hubei, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangxi provinces have sent 1,522 medical teams and provided 11 million yuan (1.3 million U.S. dollars) worth of relief materials like drugs, food, clothing, quilts, tents, and pumps.

     Information about the disaster relief work and donations can be obtained from the CRCS hotline: 8610-65139999 and its Website: http//www.chineseredcross.org.cn.

     The CRCS got 802 million yuan worth of funds and materials for disaster victims after last summer's devastating floods.

Xinhua News Agency

    China has begun setting up its first marine environment monitoring system in the East China Sea off Shanghai, the country's leading industrial and commercial city.

     The system, scheduled to be operational next year, will consist of satellites, platforms on the sea, radar, underwater instruments, and other facilities.

     The system is jointly funded by China's Ministry of Science and Technology, the State Oceanic Administration, and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, and will be connected to local information networks and the Internet.

     Experts have referred to this system as a new step toward a standard global oceanic environment monitoring system.

     They note that, by providing information on the environment of the seas, the new system will greatly help raise China's capability to combat ocean-related disasters and pollution, and better develop marine resources.

     Nearly 60 percent of China's ocean disasters occur in the East China Sea, causing huge economic losses each year.

Xinhua News Agency

    China has put a new ship into operation with devices capable of monitoring and controlling rocket launches at sea.

     The new Yuanwang IV oceanic measuring vessel will make its maiden voyage together with the Yuanwang I, II and III this year to form a measuring and control network simultaneously on the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.

     China is the fourth country to have space measuring ships following the United States, Russia, and France.

     Three other vessels have navigated a total of 500,000 nautical miles to accomplish oceanic monitoring procedures as part of China 's space technology experiments and commercial launch programs, including the launch of the carrier rocket to the South Pacific, the submarine carrier rocket, and the earth synchronous telecommunication satellite.

Xinhua News Agency

    A U.S. biogenetic company said Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with partners in China to market and sell traditional Chinese medicine worldwide.

     Under the agreement, American Biogenetic Sciences (ABS), a research and development company, will have the opportunity to select herbal products and components from its Chinese partners' vast array of traditional medicine products, components and extracts for sale worldwide.

     According to ABS, sales for herbal medicines on a worldwide basis, of which Chinese traditional medicine is the fatest growing segment, are expected to reach 6.6 billion U.S. dollars in retail sales by 2003, with an annual growth rate of over 20 percent.

     The Chinese partners include the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, the Institute of Medicinal Plant Development and a Beijing-based pharmaceutical company.

     ABS said in a statement that the agreement would bring together the best of traditional Chinese and Western clinical medicine in a marketing package of intense interest to the global consumer.

     In an earlier agreement, ABS and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences will share technology for monoclonal antibody production.

China Daily

    Thousands upon thousands of windmills, scattered on the prairie in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, are bringing joy to some 1 million local farmers and herds people. They were used to the whistling wind but never thought of using it to generate electricity for their own benefit.

    "If it were not for the windmill generators, we cannot watch TV, and lighting at night would still be a problem," said a herdsman sitting inside his tent enjoying TV programmes together with his three children. Outside the tent, a 200 kilowatt wind-driven generator kept turning like the blades of a small helicopter.

    "Wind generators are much cheaper than the diesel generators and they are noiseless and free of pollution," he said. Many of the herds folk living in remote grasslands depend on windmill generators for their electrical power.

    The wind has become an important resource on the prairie with the erection of wind mill parks. Five such parks have emerged since the late 1980s, and the total installed capacity reached 46,000 kilowatts by the end of last year, generating 100 million kilowatt hours of electrical power annually.

    Funding from overseas, including loans from the governments of Denmark and the Netherlands and the Export and Import Bank of the United States, have contributed to nearly 20,000 kilowatts in installed capacity, according to Qi Laisheng, president of the Inner Mongolia Wind Power Co Ltd.

    Moreover, Qi said, new loans totalling US$146 million from the World Bank and Danish, Dutch and Spanish governments will contribute to 220,000 kilowatts in additional installed capacity.

    Nevertheless, the wind resource in Inner Mongolia is still far from being explored to its full extent. The wind power potential could exceed 100 million kilowatts in the region, compared to the current 46,000 kilowatts in installed capacity, estimated experts from China Meteorological Administration.

    "Inner Mongolia is expected to surpass the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in terms of installed capacity in one or two years' time, and thereby turning itself into the country's largest wind power base," Qi noted.

    Energy experts are currently conducting feasibility studies on setting up a large wind mill park in Inner Mongolia which will provide electricity to Beijing.

    "If this plan is proved feasible, some of the thermal power plants in and around the Chinese capital will be removed, thus helping substantially to reduce the severe pollution in the capital," Qi said.

    

    

China Daily
Author:  Guo Nei

    REFORM of the fund-raising welfare lottery system to improve the country's social welfare services and charity facilities will speed up, according to Doje Cering, minister of civil affairs.

    Doje was speaking at a national work conference on lottery management held on Wednesday in Kunming, the capital of Southwest China's Yunnan Province. The minister said Chinese people are now showing increasing enthusiasm to buy lottery tickets.

    "It is noticeable that more and more people now are able and willing to buy welfare lottery tickets as they become well-off," he said. "There is a bright future for the development of our welfare lottery system."

    He highly praised civil affairs officials at various levels for their successful work in selling lottery tickets valued at 11 billion yuan (US$1.32 billion) in 1998.

    This included 5 billion yuan (US$600 million) special welfare lottery tickets to aid areas battered by last summer's floods to reconstruct homes.

    Through selling welfare lottery tickets, the ministry has collected billions of yuan to aid residents in financial difficulty, and to establish more public welfare facilities such as rehabilitation centres and training schools for disabled people.

    He said to improve the welfare lottery system, civil affairs officials should go all out to smooth out the wrinkles in the management of the lottery system, enhance ways, including the use of computers, to sell the tickets, keep close watch on market demands and upgrade the quality of teams who sell the tickets.

    Only lottery tickets issued by the State-approved official institutions _ the China Welfare Lottery Centre and China Sports Lottery Centre _ are legal.

    

    

Dalian Daily

    According to data of the city statistics bureau, economy of Dalian has kept growing momentum during the first half of this year and recorded better performance report than the same period of last year.

    This is reflected in the following six aspects.

    Firstly, the total economic turnover registered a rapid increase. GDP increased by 10.5 per cent to 35.74 billion yuan, 1.8 percentage points higher than the same period of last year. Growth of the first industry, the second industry and the third industry is 12.3 per cent, 12.8 per cent and 5.8 per cent respectively.

    Secondly, turnover in agriculture, forestry, stockbreeding and fishing sectors totaled 5.79 billion yuan, up 9.6 per cent than the same period of last year. Output of main agricultural by-products saw stable increase, with meat output up 10.8 per cent and aquatic products up 12.4 per cent.

    Thirdly, total industrial turnover grew by 23.3 per cent to 90.5 billion yuan, with light and heavy industries up 22.3 and 24 per cent respectively. Total profit and tax of 924 industrial enterprises increased 1.83 times in the first five months this year, with total profit being 363 million yuan other than the loss of 576 million yuan of the same period of last year.

    Fourthly, consumer goods market kept flourishing. The total retail volume of consumer goods is 18.59 billion yuan, up 10.7 per cent, with retail volume of non-state owned commerce up 15.7 per cent to 14.71 billion yuan. Residents consumption price general index is 99.9 per cent, consumer goods retail price general index is 95.2 per cent, lower by 1 per cent and 3.4 per cent respectively than the same period of last year.

    Fifthly, foreign-trade and export turned for the better. The self-run import and export of the city increased by 7.9 per cent to US$ 3 billion yuan, with export increased by 8.1 per cent to US$1.7 billion. Export made by foreign-funded enterprises accounted for 73.2 per cent of the whole, which is US$ 1.25 billion, an increase of 13.2 per cent.

    Sixthly, fiscal and financial sector run smoothly. Local fiscal income is 2.99 billion yuan and local fiscal expenditure is 3.14 billion yuan, up 12.6 per cent and 11 per cent respectively. Deposit and loan volume is up 6.9 per cent and 6.1 per cent respectively than that at the beginning this year. Deposit volume of urban and rural residents is 75.6 billion yuan, an growth of 6.73 billion yuan.