Focus

Shanghai epitomizes China's heightened competitiveness.

China 19th Most Competitive Economy on Earth

The IMD (Lausanne-based International Institute for Management Development) 2006 World Competitiveness Yearbook has promoted China to number 19 from last year’s 31 slot in its World Competitiveness List. The list comprises 61 nations and regions that are ranked according to 312 criteria concentrated into four groups of competitiveness factors: infrastructure, enterprise efficiency, economic performance and government efficiency. The U.S., Hong Kong, Singapore and Iceland have maintained top positions in the list, followed by Denmark, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Luxemburg and Finland. China has made considerable progress in the four competitiveness factors over the past year. It leapt to third position in economic performance, to number 17 in government efficiency, came 30th in enterprise efficiency, and 37th in infrastructure.

China is to embark on its own lunar venture.

China Ventures Farther into Space

China is moving ahead with its Chang’e lunar probe project. The launch of the first moon orbiter, which will carry out comprehensive, panoramic observations and create three-dimensional graphs of the moon, is expected next year. A lunar rover will then be sent to the moon for on-the-spot investigation and moon-based astronomical observations. At the third stage of the probe a capsule will return to earth bringing soil and rock samples from the moon. The Chang’e mission is a key project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, headed by the Institute of Intelligent Machines of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The CAS Shenyang Institute of Automation and Harbin Institute of Technology are also participants in the probe, which is scheduled to be completed in four years.

Chinese Mayors Take Yale Environmental Sustainability Courses

Mayors from 11 Chinese cities completed courses on environmental sustainability at Yale University last May. Prior to leaving for the U.S. they all took a foundation course at Beijing-based Tsinghua University. The Yale/Tsinghua Environment and Sustainable Development Leadership Program (ESDLP) was launched in 2005 by the China Association of Mayors, Tsinghua University and Yale University. Mayors of cities around the nation, such as Haikou, Weifang, Lhasa and Shenyang participated in the 2006 session. The curriculum at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies encompasses American laws and policies on environment, urban transport and planning, the relationship between sustainable development and human ecology, green architecture, and industrial ecology. Upon finishing their courses, the mayors went on an inspection tour of American cities that included New York, Chicago and Portland.

Cyber Cops to Patrol the Internet

As from June 2006, the Ministry of Public Security has assigned “virtual police” to supervise and enforce the law on the Internet in eight Chinese cities --- Chongqing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Qingdao, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu. Cyber world law enforcement was first enacted in Shenzhen on a trial basis. Cyber cops go about their business in the same way as their earthbound counterparts, patrolling an on-line beat, responding to reports and field questions from netizens and offering consultations on net safety and relevant laws and policies.

China’s Telephone Subscribers Exceed 770 Million

At the end of April 2006, the total number of telephone subscribers in China stood at more than 770 million, comprising 360 million landlines and 416 million mobile phones. There are, on average, 27 fixed-line and 30.3 mobile telephone subscribers among every 100 Chinese people. The number of cell phone service subscribers soared during the early months of 2006 at a rate of an additional 5.8 million per month, compared with 2.62 million more fixed line subscribers per month. The volume of short text messages also rocketed, having reached 132.25 billion between January and April -- 46.5 percent up from the same period last year.

A sculpture drawing public attention to the issue of education in the undeveloped west of China.

China to Shell out RMB 1.5 Billion on Education in Western Regions

The ministries of education and finance have jointly staged a plan to encourage college graduates to teach in rural primary and middle schools in the nation’s underdeveloped western regions. Starting this year, the project will be implemented in 11 provinces, municipalities, directly under the central government and autonomous regions in western China, as well as counties in Hubei and Hainan provinces that are included in the Developing the West campaign. The project will also be applied in certain sections of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. The aim of the scheme is to fill the 111,000-teacher shortfall in primary and middle schools at county, township and village levels in these areas. Funding will come mainly from the central government, supplemented by local governments. On the assumption that each teacher is paid RMB 15,000 annually, this 5-year plan will cost the state treasury RMB 1.5 billion.

China and Japan to Open Water Tour Route

Participants in the China/Japan Cultural and Tourism Exchanges Seminar in May proposed a water tour route through China, Japan and several Southeastern Asian countries. Starting from Jinghong Port in China’s Yunnan Province, the tour gives travelers the chance to sail down the Mekong River, known as Lancang River in China, through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, where they transfer to an ocean liner in Saigon and head for Okinawa, Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya and Kyoto. They will return to Yunnan via Shanghai on the Yangtze River.

China ranks second worldwide in expressway mileage.

China’s Expressways World Second Longest

Expressways in China add up to a total 40,000 kilometers in length -- second longest in the world. From 2000 to 2005 China invested more than RMB 2.23 trillion in transportation estate, an amount that exceeds that spent during the 51 years since the founding of New China in 1949. From 2003 to 2005 it built 630,000 km of cement roads in rural areas, twice that constructed from 1949 to 2002. The government plans to build another 380,000 km of highways in the coming five years.