图片新闻

图片新闻

SOCIETY

Completed Relocation

The resettlement of about 92,000 residents originally living around the Danjiangkou Reservoir in central China’s Hubei Province, a source of the south-north water diversion project’s middle route, has been completed.

The water diversion project will take water from China’s longest river, the Yangtze, to supply drought-prone areas in the north from 2014. Water will flow north via eastern, middle and western routes. Construction of the eastern and middle routes started in 2002 and 2003, respectively. Pre-construction evaluations of the western route will begin soon.

The construction of the middle route involved the relocation of 330,000 people from Hubei and Henan provinces. The relocated residents have been settled in new communities in other parts of the two provinces.

Green Targets

Minister of Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian signed agreements on emission reduction targets with provincial-level governments and major state-owned enterprises on December 20.

The agreements, which were endorsed by the State Council, specify mandatory emission reduction targets and pollution control targets that these local governments and enterprises must meet during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-15). Signatories are also obliged to complete a series of emission reduction projects within a designated time frame.

According to the projects listed for 2011-15, China will build at least 1,184 new sewage treatment plants that will be able to treat 45.7 million tons of sewage daily, and equip thermal power plants with a total generating capacity of 400 million kw with desulfurizing facilities.

ON PATROL Chinese patrol ship Haijian 50 takes part in a joint sea and air patrol in the East China Sea on December 17, 2011

Settling Disputes

The Guangdong Provincial Government set up a special work team on December 20 to deal with land disputes and other issues in Wukan, a village overwhelmed with demonstrators.

On September 21 and 22 some villagers in Wukan vented their anger against village authorities over issues related to land use, financing and the election of local officials, and on November 21 and 22, large-scale protests occurred in the village. Another demonstration took place on December 11 after Xue Jinbo, who was suspected of leading the demonstrations, died suddenly in police custody.

“The major demands of the Wukan villagers are reasonable. There were some mistakes made by grassroots Party committees and government organizations,” said Zhu Mingguo, head of the team. Zhu said that corruption amongst involved officials would be severely punished.

More Pandas

The number of wild pandas in the vicinity of Xi’an, capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, has risen from 18 to 41 over the past decade, according to the latest research.

The increase is attributed to the pandas’improved reproduction rates and migration from surrounding areas, said the city’s Bureau of Forestry. Forest coverage in the region has increased from 384,100 hectares in 2000 to the current 454,760 hectares.

Wild pandas in the vicinity of Xi’an belong to the Qinling subspecies, which live in Shaanxi’s Qinling Mountains.

Most of China’s 1,600 pandas inhabit southwestsern Sichuan Province and there are only 200 to 300 Qinling pandas.

ECONOMY

SOE Profits

The combined profits of China’s stateowned enterprises (SOEs) and state-holdings companies rose 13.7 percent year on year to 2.04 trillion yuan ($322.01 billion) in the first 11 months of the year, said the Ministry of Finance.

Industries such as the chemical, construction materials, non-ferrous metals and coal sectors saw big increases in their profits in the first 11 months. However, others, including the transportation, power generation and steel sectors and the medical industry, all posted heavy losses.

Toy Orders Plunge

Most of the toy businesses in Shenzhen of Guangdong Province have seen 20-30 percent drops in overseas orders this year due to the economic downturns in Europe and the United States.

“Some businesses’ orders have even plunged by half,” said Liu Yanfang, Secretary General of the Shenzhen Toy Industry Association.

Many toy businesses in Shenzhen have given holidays to their employees ahead of schedule because of the sharp decline in orders, Liu said.

China exported $21 billion worth of toys in 2010, and sales in Shenzhen alone accounted for almost one fifth of this total.

“The economic downturn and the upgrading of toy safety standards in Europe and the United States, as well as the sharp rise in costs of labor and raw materials, have all led to the shrinking toy market in Shenzhen,” Liu said.

Xiaomi Gets VC

China’s smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp. has secured $90 million in venture capital fund-raising less than two months after its popular budget smartphone hit the market.

The latest round of fund-raising attracted foreign investors such as IDG Capital, Temasek Holdings and Qualcomm Inc., and brought the total investor financing to $130 million for the 18-month-old firm.

Founded by Chinese Internet guru Lei Jun, Xiaomi aims to make high-end performing smartphones with affordable prices. The company’s first phone, which cost only 1,999 yuan ($315) or less than half the price of an Apple iPhone 4, has sold more than 300,000 units since it hit the market on October 20.

Logistics Meeting

On December 19 the Ninth China Logistics Entrepreneurs Annual Meeting was held in Beijing. A total of more than 1,000 representatives from logistics enterprises, government departments, academia and media attended the meeting.

The value of China’s logistics industry rose 12.5 percent year on year to 146.3 trillion yuan ($23.04 trillion) in the first 11 months, but the pace of growth has slowed for five consecutive months, said He Liming, Chairman of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, at the meeting.

He attributed the deceleration in growth to the country’s macro-control policies on inflation and economic structural adjustments. Chinese logistics enterprises have suffered from high costs. In the first 10 months of this year, business costs grew 31.7 percent, while revenues climbed 29.4 percent year on year.

NEW DUTY-FREE STORE Travelers walk in the Meilan Airport Duty Free Store on its opening day on December 21. It’s the second store of its kind to open on Hainan island following the first one in Sanya