NEW CPC VICE MINISTER

　　Chen Zhou was recently appointed vice minister of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China （CPC）.
　　Founded in 1951， the CPC International Department conducts all-round， multi-channel， wide-scope and in-depth party-to-party exchanges and cooperation with more than 400 political parties and organizations in over 140 countries， most of which are either parties in office or parties participating in government.
　　Chen， born in August 1966， started to work at the Department of Asian and African Affairs， Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation， in 1985. In 2019， he became chief inspector of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Office of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission at the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs.

Fathers’ Presence

　　Beijing Youth Daily February 4
　　Recently， a primary school in Wuhan， Hubei Province in central China， has come into the limelight due to its new rule. According to it， fathers must pick up their children from school on at least three specified dates each month. It was formulated to ensure fathers share more responsibility in their children’s education and upbringing.
　　According to a report by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences in 2015， the proportion of fathers looking after their children’s education had fallen to 23.7 percent from 30.2 percent in a decade， while mothers’ role had increased.
　　Although some people say the rule might have a psychological effect on children from single-mother families and is not a practical way to ensure a greater role by fathers， it is still a way to make both parents fulfill their duties better.
　　The warm environment created by both parents is vital for the physical and mental wellbeing of youngsters， especially for the development of their personality. Fathers’ involvement cannot be replaced by the material things they contribute.

Social Life in Virtual World

　　Lifeweek January 25
　　Information-sharing platform Douban has a group where people post photos and strangers comment on them， rating their appearance. The group has nearly 30，000 members， the majority of them female.
　　A photoshopped image can help a person win virtual admiration for his or her appearance. Besides beauty， winning recognition in real life is also a matter of money， status and career achievement. 　　Therefore， social platforms have become an important channel for people to be appreciated through images alone. To meet the general aesthetic standard influenced by photo editing software， there are also cases of those who want to become Internet celebrities undergoing plastic surgery.
　　Wang Minan， a professor at the School of Humanities， Tsinghua University， said posting life’s moments or photoshopped pictures have become part of people’s lifestyle on the Internet. Though that may not reflect their life， for those who have many followers and get a lot of praise and thumb-ups from them， the virtual world becomes real.
　　The influence of images in social life was proved in 2015 when the Oxford Dictionary announced the laugh-cry emoji， which shows a face laughing and crying at the same time， as its word of the year. It was the first time it chose a pictograph and not an actual word. It was a signal that interpersonal communication is undergoing a radical change.

Beauty With Medical Assistance

　　People’s Daily February 2
　　Plastic surgery and cosmetic medical procedures such as laser therapy have become popular means for looking younger and glamorous. Even minors are flocking for cosmetic surgery.
　　People who try to improve their appearance via cosmetic surgery should ensure that the procedures are medically required and follow medical safety regulations.
　　The clinics and doctors in the industry should have the necessary industrial certifications and the equipment should meet industrial standards.
　　To guide the industry’s development， the government has issued supervision policies and cracked down on illegal medical cosmetology with the joint efforts of multiple ministries. The authorities should also standardize services and strengthen the management of medical equipment production and application.
　　In addition， consumers need to be cautious about medical cosmetology and choose the cosmetology institutions carefully and rationally. Advertisements targeting minors and other commercial behaviors that encourage children to undergo such cosmetic procedures should be banned.

ANG LEE GETS FRANCE’S HIGHEST HONOR

　　Chinese Oscar-winning director Ang Lee， 67， was awarded the Légion d’Honneur， the highest French order of merit. Instituted in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte， the honor was retained by subsequent French governments.
　　Lee， one of today’s greatest movie directors， won the Oscar for best director twice， in 2013 for Life of Pi， and in 2006 for Brokeback Mountain. His Crouching Tiger， Hidden Dragon won the best foreign-language film Oscar in 2001. Last December marked the 20th anniversary of the release of the martial arts period drama. 　　In 1979， Lee went to the U.S. to study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign， where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in theater. Later， he received his master’s degree in film production at New York University.
　　“It [the Wuhan Institute of Virology] is well-organized. I do not know who criticized them. The laboratory is perfectly equipped. It is hard for me to imagine that something could have leaked from there.”
　　World Health Organization （WHO） expert team member Vladimir Dedkov， refuting the theory of a virus leakage during a visit to the institute with nine other WHO experts on February 4
　　“In order to do that [vaccinating billions of people as soon as possible] we need to work together and use all of the vaccines at our disposal， without any kind of prejudice based upon the country of origin.”
　　Former member of the European Parliament Jonathan Arnott， encouraging countries to evaluate vaccines based upon science， in an article on CGTN website on February 5
　　“Faced with global challenges like COVID-19 and climate change， the areas where China and the United States can and must cooperate get only greater and wider.”
　　Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin at a press conference on February 6
　　“China has immediately shared their experience with the rest of the world…So， it’s time that we quickly got over COVID-19 and all started working together.”
　　Muhammad Faruk Khan， Chairman of Bangladesh’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs， to Xinhua News Agency in a recent interview