Longer Life

Women from Xiamacheng Community in Hangzhou， capital of east Chinas Zhejiang Province， walk around the West Lake on March 5.

Data from health authorities show that the life expectancy of Chinese women has increased from 73.33 years in 2000 to 77.37 years in 2013. Maternal death was reduced in the period to 23.2 in every 100，000 women， down 56.2 percent from that of 2000.

Water Pollution

Nearly 60 percent of areas in China that were surveyed were found to have a“very poor” or “relatively poor” quality of underground water last year， a new report showed on April 22.

Among the 4，778 spots across 203 cities that were investigated by the Ministry of Land and Resources， underground water quality was ranked“relatively poor” in 43.9 percent of them and “very poor” in another 15.7 percent last year， according to the report， which is released by the ministry annually.

According to Chinas underground water standards， water of relatively poor quality can only be used for drinking after proper treatment. Water of very poor quality cannot be used as a source of drinking water.

The result means 59.6 percent of underground water could not be directly drunk last year， up from 57.4 percent from 2012.

On a year-by-year basis， water quality became worse in 754 monitored spots， but improved in 647 areas.

More Patents

On April 22， Chinas State Intellectual Property Office （SIPO） said the country accepted a larger proportion of invention patent applications in 2013.

Shen Changyu， head of the SIPO， said China accepted 2.38 million patent applications and authorized 1.31 million of the cases last year. The number of patent applications for inventions reached 825，000， up 26.3 percent year on year.

It is the first time in five years that invention patent applications took up more than one third of the three types of applications， Shen commented at a press conference. The other two types are utility models and design.

China ranked third in international patent applications to the Patent Cooperation Treaty， with more than 20，000 submissions last year.

Less Poverty

The number of impoverished people in rural areas of ethnic minority- inhabited regions decreased by 5.59 million in 2013， Chinas State Ethnic Affairs Commission （SEAC） said on April 21.

The commission released a statement， saying there were 25.62 million people living in poverty in eight ethnic minority-inhabited provincial-level regions last year.

The regions were Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region， Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region， Tibet Autonomous Region， Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region， Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region， and the provinces of Guizhou， Yunnan and Qinghai.

About 17.1 percent of people in rural areas of the eight regions live in poverty， 8.6 percentage points higher than the whole country， according to the report.

Poor people in the rural areas of Guangxi， Guizhou and Yunnan account for almost 80 percent of the total in the eight regions， and about a quarter of the total number of poor people in rural areas across the whole country.

Animal Conservation

A draft interpretation of Chinas Criminal Law， tabled for reading on April 21， aims to clear up ambiguities by clearly defining the eating of endangered wild animals， or buying them for other purposes， as illegal.

The bill was submitted for first reading by the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress （NPC）， Chinas top legislature， at its bi-monthly session from April 21 to 24.

The eating of rare animals is not only bad social conduct but also a major reason why illegal hunting has not been stopped despite repeated crackdowns， said Lang Sheng， deputy head of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee， when elaborating on the bill to lawmakers.

Currently， 420 species of wild animals are considered rare or endangered by the Chinese Government. They include giant pandas， golden monkeys， Asian black bears and pangolins.

According to the bill， anyone who eats listed animals or buys them for other purposes， will be consid-

ered as breaking the law and will be sentenced to prison term of five to 10 years， depending on the degree of their offence.

Natural Gas Supply

China will raise its natural gas supply to as much as 420 billion cubic meters per year by 2020 amid rising demand due to urbanization， a government statement said on April 23.

The increased supply will cater to the rising demand for natural gas in peoples daily lives， schools， nursing homes， home heating， as well as in buses and taxis， a statement on the Central Government website said.

The supply increase is also driven by the nations efforts to mitigate air pollution stemming from an overreliance on coal， the statement said.

To expand natural gas production， investment in gas storage facilities as well as their construction and operation will be open to all market players， the statement said.

Meanwhile， companies will also have the option to issue bonds to raise capital for the construction of storage facilities. The government will offer favorable land policies for storage facility projects， the statement said.

Data showed that natural gas consumption in China hit nearly 170 billion cubic meters in 2013.

Glacier Protection

A protected area will be marked out in an attempt to arrest the shrinking of Glacier No. 1 in the Tianshan Mountains of northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region， authorities said on April 23.

All mining sites in the 948-sqaurekm protection zone will be shut down within three to five years， and the regional government will restrict vehicles on a national highway section near the zone and ban tourists from entering it.

The regional government has established a leading team for the construction of the area， where grazing will also be restricted. China has 46，377 glaciers， with 18，311 located in Xinjiang. The autonomous regions glacier melt water accounts for about 25 to 30 percent of its surface run-off， and the thawing of the glaciers could have a disastrous effect on the region， according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Dragon World

A live show imitating the scenes from the movie How To Train Your Dragon preform a costume rehearsal in Beijing on April 21. The show will go on the stage of National Stadium in the capital on May 30

Green Oasis

Fengshuiliang Town， which was built in the Kubuqi Desert in north Chinas Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region， has grown itself into an island of green amongst the sands.

Kubuqi is the countrys seventh biggest desert and suffers from frequent sandstorms and droughts.

With support of the local government and enterprises， the Kubuqi Desert， which used to be barren and sandstorm-stricken， is expected to become a green oasis.

Researchers will evaluate the deserts ecology and try to spread successful desert control initiatives to other countries， according to the United Nations Environment Programme.

Reserve Ratio Cut

Chinas central bank cut the reserve requirement ratio for county-level rural commercial banks and rural credit cooperative unions on April 25 to help increase the flow of credit.

The ratio for county-level rural commercial lenders was trimmed by 2 percentage points and that for rural credit cooperatives was cut by 0.5 percentage points.