JOLLY FESTIVAL

Ethnic Tibetans in Baoxing County， southwest Chinas Sichuan Province， celebrate Shangjiu Festival， a local event held on the ninth day of the first month in the Chinese lunar calender to pray for good harvest， on February 18

Grain Acreage

China plans to secure more than 111.27 million hectares of land for grain farming before the end of this year， a senior official said on February 17.

Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu said at a work conference that the country will put forth every effort to ensure that the graingrowing acreage for the spring planting season remains over 61.33 million hectares.

Different regions will take advantage of their respective agricultural features to increase the acreage of high-yield crops， Han said.

Chinas grain output rose 3.2 percent to a record high of 590 million tons in 2012， marking the ninth consecutive year of growth.

Wildlife Protection

More than 200 wildlife product trafficking cases were cracked and more than 100 criminal suspects apprehended in a multinational crackdown， Chinas wildlife watchdog said on February 17.

China led the operation involving 22 Asian and African countries from January 6 to February 5， according to the State Forestry Administration.

Through “Operation Cobra，” forestry authorities confiscated 6.5 tons of ivory， 1.6 tons of Tibean antelope wool， 22 rhino horns， 10 tiger hides， as well as other protected animal and plant species and products derived from them.

The operation marked the first time for China to lead a crosscontinent joint crackdown on such crimes.

Yin Hong， Deputy Director of the administration， said that the operation shows the countrys resolve and capability to push forward multilateral cooperation to crack down on the trafficking of illegal wildlife products.

Free Schooling

China will beef up support for secondary vocational education by expanding the coverage of free schooling for all students， authorities said on February 20.

The Ministry of Education said that it is an “irresistible trend” to offer free schooling to all students at secondary vocational schools.

The ministry said that the policy to exempt students at secondary vocational schools from tuition fees has been adopted in nine provinciallevel regions.

According to a national regulation， urban students majoring in agriculture-related subjects or having financial difficulties and all rural students have been exempted from tuition fees at secondary vocational schools since the autumn semester of 2012.

The ministry also said that insurance should be provided for students who intern before graduation to ensure their personal safety.

Culture Inheritance

The Chinese Government has approved a plan to protect and showcase cultural resources in northwest Chinas Gansu Province as part of efforts to promote cultural prosperity and support economically underdeveloped regions.

The project is primarily inspired by the Silk Road that once spanned the entire province from east to west， as well as abundant resources related to ancient civilizations in Gansu， according to Minister of Culture Cai Wu.

Gansu officials said that the project will focus on the protection of cultural heritage， the inheritance of cultural traditions， collating and publishing ancient books， and organizing contests and exhibitions.

New Criteria

Culture and Internet authorities are planning to develop Chinaspecific criteria for diagnosing minors addiction to online gaming， according to a workplan jointly issued by 15 ministry-level authorities on February 17.

Chinas online gaming industry took in revenue worth 24.84 billion yuan （$4 billion） in the first half of 2012.

However， minors addiction to online gaming has caused serious social problems， which sometimes lead to juvenile crimes， said officials with the Ministry of Culture.

Approximately 150 million of Chinas Internet users are believed to be below the age of 19.