society

China to Expand the Use of Online Courts

Chinas top court said it will further encourage the countrys courts at all levels to handle cases via online means.

By the end of the year， online case filing， fee payment， and document delivery should be available at all courts nationwide， Liu Guixiang， a full-time member of the judicial committee of the Supreme Peoples Court， said at a recent conference held in Shijiazhuang， North Chinas Hebei Province.

By the same time， at least 10 percent of first instance civil cases should be registered online， Liu said， adding that online evidence exchanges and hearings should be fully practiced at more than 10 provincial- or municipal-level courts.

In the past five years， China has pushed forward court service reform based on information technology. More than 86 percent of courts， 3，525 in total nationwide， have established smart service centers which are currently open to the public， while 76 percent have set up online portals for the service.

All parties， including defendants and lawyers， can handle their affairs through the Internet. For some， they dont even need to physically show up to the courthouse. Instead， they can“appear in court” through computers and mobile devices.

In August last year， the worlds first Internet-based court was inaugurated in Hangzhou， Zhejiang Province. The average online hearing lasted about 25 minutes.

New R esearch to R educe Birth Defects

Research involving half a million pregnant women across China is expected to greatly improve control and prevention of risks related to birth defects， which are likely to increase with the adoption of the universal second-child policy and the growing number of women conceiving at later ages.

Headed by Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital and with the participation of 33 medical institutions in 17 provinces and municipalities， this research analyzes risk factors for major birth defects， uses big data technology to single out factors that may cause birth defects， and will establish a risk evaluation system.

Based on its results， China will build its first database of birth defect risks， and map out monitoring and prevention strategies. The database is expected to store more than one million samples， which will be open for sharing with the international community for cooperation.

Migrant W orkersNumber Continues Uptick

A survey by the National Bureau of Statistics in late April revealed that Chinas population of migrant workers stood at 286.52 million last year， growing by 4.81 million， or 1.7 percent， over 2016. Among them， 171.85 million sought employment outside their home regions， a markup of 2.51 million year on year. They include 137.1 million moving to cities.

Super H igh-Speed Train in the W orks

A team from Southwest Jiaotong University in Sichuans capital， Chengdu， is working on an ultra high-speed train that could theoretically run as fast as 1，000 km/h， reports China Central Television.

A team led by associate professor Deng Zigang has been carrying out tests on the worlds first high-temperature superconducting maglev vacuum tube， which was built in 2014. The 45-meter tube can currently run a carriage at 50 km/ h at 20 millimeters above the track. Dengs team is competing against other developers from Japan and the U.S. to try to reach the next step in the future of global rail transportation.