Three Gorges Project

Chinas Three Gorges project celebrates its 20th anniversary on December 14 with a record-high throughput of its five-tier ship lock.

The throughput of 2014 is expected to reach a record 110 million tons， and the total throughput has reached 700 million tons.

The Three Gorges project is a multi-functional water control system. It generates electricity， controls floods by storing excess water and helps regulate the rivers shipping capacity.

Earthquake Network

China Earthquake Networks Center（CENC） will provide an earthquake notification service to the public through its microblogging account， the center said on December 17.

CENC joined forces with Weibo.com and promised that earthquake information would be pushed to all terminal users in the epicenter regions within 10 seconds of the earthquake.

Earthquake alerts will also be available through the centers official Weibo platform， according to Pan Huaiwen， Director of CENC.

“The move is to ensure fast and accurate earthquake information access for the people， and to help mitigate panic after the earthquake，” Pan said.

More Media Exposure

Chinas State Council Information Office（SCIO） plans to hold regular media briefings on key policies to address public concern， a senior official said on December 16.

From January， the SCIO will hold weekly briefings on important decisions by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council as well as economic and social policies， said Cai Mingzhao， Minister of the SCIO.

Cai urged the voices of the Party and government departments to be more helpful to the media in terms of information and interviews.

The SCIO has held a total of 87 news conferences and briefings this year， the most in its history.

Literature Database

A database of Chinese poems and classics of literature will soon be open to viewers both home and abroad.

The database， still in its first phase， is made up of about 500 hours of video on the 100 most popular classic of Chinese poetry and short essays， according to a press release from the Peoples Education Press， the databases publisher， on December 17.

The videos show readings and elaborations on the classics， including some from ethnic minorities like Mongolians， Tibetans， Uygur and Koreans. These works are presented in both their original languages and in Mandarin.endprint

The public will be able to access the database through www.pep.com.cn， www.china-language.gov.cn and www. zhonghuayuwen.org.

Bird Family Tree

An international team led by Chinese researchers has sequenced the genomes of 48 species of birds to create the most reliable avian tree of life to date.

This massive project， which took more than four years to complete and involved hundreds of researchers from 20 different countries around the world， analyzed at least one genome from every major bird lineage， including the woodpecker， owl， penguin， hummingbird and flamingo lineages， and produced dozens of reports， eight of which are published on December 11 in Science.

The findings supported a “big bang” theory for the evolutionary expansion of birds during the 10 million to 15 million years that followed a mass extinction event about 66 million years ago that killed off all dinosaurs and left some species of birds.

This contradicted the idea that birds blossomed 10 million to 80 million years earlier before the mass extinction event， as some recent studies suggested.

Based on this new genomic data， a few bird lineages that survived the mass extinction gave rise to more than 10，000 species that comprise 95 percent of all bird species living with us today， the researchers said.

The researchers also found that birds lost thousands of genes in their early evolution after birds split from other reptiles， many of which have essential functions similar to mammals.

Shrinking Glaciers

Chinas glaciers have retreated by about 7，600 square km， an 18-percent decline since the 1950s， Chinese scientists have found.

A survey using remote sensing data between 2006 and 2010 showed China had 48，571 glaciers covering 51，840 square km in the western region， according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences（CAS）， which released its second catalog of the countrys glaciers on December 13.

An average of 243.7 square km of glacial ice had disappeared every year over the past half century， according to the survey by the CAS Cold and Arid Regions Research Institute.

The worst shrink was detected on the Altai Mountains located in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the Gangdise Mountain in Tibet Autonomous Region， with retreat hitting 37.2 percent and 32.7 percent respectively over the past five decades.

Major glaciers on the QinghaiTibet Plateau， especially the east part of Gangdise as well as the southern and western Himalayas were melting at the most rapid pace， with areas shrinking by 2.2 percent every year， according to the survey.endprint

Taiwan Tourism

Individual tourists from the Chinese mainland to Taiwan this year had reached 1.07 million by the end of November， the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office said on December 17.

Office spokesperson Fan Liqing said on the day that this represented growth of 123 percent compared to the same period of last year.

Taiwan opened its doors to group tourists from the mainland in 2008 and to individual tourists in June 2011. According to statistics from Taiwan， of all mainland tourists that visited the island province， only 51 did not return home.

City Space

Vertical Village， part of an art exhibition， is on display in Shanghai on December 12. The exhibition， the 10th Shanghai Biennial， will last till March 2015.

Newly Named Pandas

On December 15， Chime Long Safari Park in Guangzhou， Guangdong Province， announces names for the worlds only surviving giant panda triplets， choosing from over 1 million names proposed by the cubs fans across the world.

The female cub of the trio， born on July 29， was named “Meng Meng，” translated as “cute，” and the two males were named “Shuai Shuai” and “Ku Ku，” meaning “handsome” and “cool” respectively.

The triplets born at Chime Long are the fourth set of panda triplets ever recorded. In all previous instances， at least one of the triplets died from physical defects or being underweight.

College Enrollment

Math， science and sport competition winners will no longer receive extra points on their college application， the Education Ministry announced on December 17.

The ministry also canceled bonus points added to results on the national college entrance exam， or gaokao. In China， gaokao results are the major assessment standard for college enrollment of students.

The latest move does not mean that the students achievement in some areas have become useless， according to the ministry. The specialty and achievement of students will be recorded for college references and in a pilot program， some “extra special”students may be directly enrolled by some colleges through an internal selection without assessing their performance in the national exam.

On December 16， the ministry issued two documents to stress evaluating the students by overall competency， including their skills， physical health， art cultivation and social practice， as opposed to exam scores alone.endprint

Home Prices

Chinas property sector continued to cool down in November， but the declines have been narrowing， data from the National Bureau of Statistics （NBS） showed on December 18.

New home prices in 67 out of 70 major cities reported month-on-month drops in November， the NBS said， whereas prices in three cities remained flat.

New home prices in Beijing and Shanghai dropped by 0.3 percent and 0.5 percent， respectively， narrowing from 1.3-percent and 0.7-percent decreases a month earlier.

For existing homes， only 58 cities saw month-on-month price drops in November， compared with 64 in October. Six cities， mostly first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shenzhen， saw second-hand home prices rise.

NBS senior statistician Liu Jianwei attributed the narrowing decreases to government policy changes intended to avoid a sharp slowdown in the sector out of fear of jeopardizing the broader economy.

Those moves include fewer restrictions on home purchases and eased mortgage rules. In addition， the central bank in November lowered the oneyear benchmark lending rate and deposit rate to cut financing costs.

Combined， the policies did have a positive impact on the sluggish market. In November， home sales reached a monthly high for this year， registering 809.6 billion yuan （$132.3 billion）， 93.8 billion yuan （$15.09 billion） more than October.

FDI Surges

Foreign direct investment （FDI） into the Chinese mainland jumped 22.2 percent in November from a year earlier， settling at $10.36 billion， the Ministry of Commerce said on December 16.

The growth quickened from a 1.3-percent rise in October and 1.9 percent in September， as investments to the countrys service industry continue rising steadily.

For the first 11 months， inward FDI， which excludes investment in the financial sector， stood at $106.24 billion， up 0.7 percent from the same period last year， the ministry said.

Around 55.1 percent of the FDI went into the countrys service sector during the January-November period. The FDI in the manufacturing sector dropped 13.3 percent to $35.93 billion， accounting for 33.8 percent of the total.

Investments from the Republic of Korea and Britain saw fast growth， up 22.9 percent and 28 percent respectively. In contrast， investment from Japan plunged 39.7 percent， followed by a 23.6-percent drop from the ASEAN nations and 22.2-percent slump from the United States.endprint

During the January-November period， Chinas outward FDI by nonfinancial investors rose by 11.9 percent to $89.8 billion. As of the end of November， non-financial outward FDI totaled 3.89 trillion yuan （$633.2 billion）.

Gas Field Operational

Chinas largest producer of offshore oil and gas， CNOOC， announced production has begun at the Liuhua 34-2 gas field in the South China Sea on December 15.

CNOOC has a 51-percent working interest in the Liuhua 34-2 gas field， while Husky Oil China Ltd.， a wholly owned subsidiary of Canada-based Husky Energy， holds the remaining 49 percent working interest.

Liuhua 34-2 gas field is located in the Eastern South China Sea， with the water depth in the range of 850-1，250 meters. The gas field consists of one producing well and is producing approximately 30 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

The field is expected to reach its designed peak production of approximately 45 million cubic feet per day in 2015.

In March this year， CNOOC and Husky Oil China put another deepwater gas field， Liwan 3-1， into operation.

Safety First

Zhoushan Qiming Power Co. finishes the construction and installation of a carousel on a ship for laying submarine cables on December 16， which can greatly improve the safety and efficiency of laying cables in the seabed. The company based in east Chinas Zhejiang Province runs the countrys most advanced power cable laying ship.

All Aboard！

Chinas CSR Corp. Ltd.， one of the countrys two leading rolling stock manufacturers， has secured a contract worth 1.7 billion yuan （$278 million） to supply locomotives and rail cars to Argentina， CSR said on December 15.

CSRs locomotives and trains will be used on Argentinas Belgrano Cargo Railway Rehabilitation Project， in which China Machinery Engineering Corp.， a state-owned international engineering and trade company， is the main contractor.

The contract included 80 locomotives and more than 2，000 freight rail cars， said CSR.

CSR said it has become an important supplier of locomotives and rail cars to the South American country. Supply services began as early as 2006.

Private Banking

The China Banking Regulatory Commission （CBRC）， the countrys top industry watchdog， has approved the operation of private bank Webank， a major step in deepening financial reform.endprint