Happy 60th Anniversary

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  A plaque with an inscription by President Xi Jinping, also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, is presented as a gift to northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in honor of its 60th anniversary on September 19 in Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia.
  The plaque reads: Building a beautiful and new Ningxia, jointly realizing the great Chinese dream. It was unveiled by Wang Yang (left), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.


  Science Literacy Conference
  Science and technology (S&T) is the primary productive force and innovation is a crucial driving force behind development, said President Xi Jinping in a congratulatory message to the World Conference on Science Literacy 2018, which opened in Beijing on September 17.
  Strengthening the coordinated innovation of the S&T industry and all sectors of society while advancing openness and cooperation between countries is a signifi cant way to enhance the role of S&T development in the progress of human society, Xi said.
  He stressed that China had been active in exchanging ideas with other countries on promoting science and enhancing science literacy.
  Themed Science Literacy for a Shared and Better Future, the conference had over 1,000 participants, including representatives from 23 international science organizations and 58 national science organizations from 38 countries.
  Xi said he hoped participants at the three-day conference would exchange opinions, learn from each other, contribute to improving science literacy, help share scientifi c achievements and advance the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
  UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also sent a congratulatory message to the conference.
  Polluters Exposed The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has named and shamed 158 companies that discharged major pollutants at seriously excessive levels in the fi rst quarter of 2018.
  Nearly half of the polluters were urban sewage treatment plants, and others included heat suppliers, coal chemical processing fi rms, and printing and dyeing companies, according to the ministry.
  Over 60 percent of the polluters were based in the provincial regions of Xinjiang, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Zhejiang, Liaoning and Hebei.   The ministry has demanded local authorities thoroughly investigate the 26 most severe and persistent polluters, rectify their wrongdoings, and publicize the progress.
  Authorities will continue to strengthen regulation and strictly punish those responsible for environmental offenses, it said.
  The move is part of China’s campaign to fi ght pollution and environmental degradation.
  Tackling pollution has been listed as one of “the three tough battles” that China aims to win in the coming three years, in addition to addressing fi nancial risks and eliminating poverty.
  Job Creation
  China added around 375 million jobs from the start of the reform and opening up in 1978 to 2017, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
  The number of rural and urban jobs in the country totaled 776 million at the end of last year, up 93 percent from 1978, an NBS report showed.
  Urban jobs reached 425 million at the end of 2017, up 346 percent from 1978.
  The surge in job creation was accompanied by robust economic growth. China’s GDP recorded average annual growth of around 9.5 percent over the past 40 years.
  During the past decades, the registered unemployment rate in urban areas has stayed at a relatively low level. It remained less than 3.1 percent between the mid-1980s and the end of the 20th century, and stayed between 4 percent and 4.3 percent thereafter before declining to 3.9 percent in 2017, according to the report.
  In the fi rst half of the year, China’s job creation fi gures remained positive as the economy largely held up well despite escalating trade tensions with the United States.
  A total of 7.52 million new jobs were generated in urban areas in the fi rst six months of the year, 170,000 more than the same period in 2017. The registered urban unemployment rate stood at 3.83 percent at the end of June.
  Dental Health
  About 1.49 million children aged 7 to 9 in China benefi ted from a dental care service program in 2017, offi cial data showed.
  The government-funded program has effectively come up with a method to prevent cavities from developing in children’s teeth. The procedure involves applying a special varnish to seal pits and fi ssures in children’s teeth. The dental program is being spearheaded under the guidance of the Ministry of Finance and the National Health Commission.
  Nearly 2.67 million school-age children across the country went through oral examinations under fi nancial support by central and local governments last year.   No Data Fraud
  The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has pledged a hardline stance on and zero tolerance to statistical fraud.
  On September 18, it disclosed fi ve typical cases in areas in which local offi cials were found falsifying business operation fi gures to exaggerate regional industrial performance.
  For instance, inspectors discovered offi cial interference in business statistical reports in Kailu County, north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which led to false data in 20 major industrial enterprises, 11 key retailers and three leading service companies.
  In Lingwu, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, some businesses and government agencies used fake data to make material gains and resisted NBS inspections.
  The NBS said it has transferred the cases to related authorities and put forward suggestions on punishment.
  The move marked the strengthened efforts of the Central Government to crack down on local statistical fraud, as the country has put more emphasis on the authenticity of data amid lingering economic headwinds.
  Progress has been made and basic statistics are generally real and reliable, the NBS said, while acknowledging data falsifi cation still exists in some places. It vowed to step up inspections, improve accountability systems, increase the exposure of data fraud and toughen punishment for businesses and individuals with poor records.
  The Chinese Government has introduced a new regulation to prevent statistical fraud, with the NBS responsible for conducting inspections and pushing for rectifi cation.
  A First for Farmers
  Performances are held in Deqing County, east China’s Zhejiang Province, ahead of the fi rst ever Farmers’ Harvest Festival, which fell on September 23 this year.
  China created the festival in June, as the fi rst national festival specifi cally honoring the country’s farmers. The event is set to be marked every year on the Autumnal Equinox.


  AI Fund
  Shanghai will launch a fund of an estimated 100 billion yuan($14.6 billion) for developing the artifi cial intelligence (AI) industry, the municipal government said on September 17.
  Major AI projects and platforms will be offered fi nancial support of up to 100 million yuan ($14.6 million), and AI enterprises will also be granted access to data resources in areas including education, healthcare and tourism, the Shanghai Municipal Government said at the World Artifi cial Intelligence Conference 2018.   The measures are part of Shanghai’s efforts to promote the AI industry with a focus on attracting more talent and capital as well as optimizing the use of data resources.
  “Shanghai needs to seize the opportunity that the AI industry has created, and take full advantage of the city’s abundant resources in scientifi c research, talent, data and policy support to implement more new AI technologies,” said Ma Chunlei, Deputy Secretary General of the Shanghai Municipal Government.
  The World Artifi cial Intelligence Conference 2018 was held in Shanghai from September 17 to 19. Themed A New Era Empowered by Artifi cial Intelligence, the event is seen as an opportunity to boost AI development for both China and the world.
  Noodle Master
  A chef displays his skills in making hand-pulled noodles during a cooking contest in Ledu District in Haidong, northwest China’s Qinghai Province, on September 18.


  Additional Tariffs
  China announced on September 18 that it will impose additional tariffs on U.S. products worth $60 billion starting on September 24 in response to the newly announced U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.
  The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council unveiled a list of 3,571 U.S. products subject to a 10-percent tariff, and a second list of another 1,636 items subject to a 5-percent tariff.
  The United States has announced that it will impose a 10-percent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese products effective on September 24, and that it may also take other escalating tariff measures.
  “We deeply regret the decision. China will be forced to take synchronous countermeasures to safeguard our legitimate rights and interests as well as the global free trade order,” said a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on September 18.
  The additional U.S. tariffs have created new uncertainties for bilateral talks, according to the spokesperson.
  “[We] hope that the U.S. side recognizes the potentially harmful consequences of such an action and that it will rectify the situation in a timely manner with convincing means,” the spokesperson said.
  The willful decision of the U.S. Government has led to the escalation of trade friction between the two countries. And China was forced to take countermeasures in defense of free trade and multilateralism, in addition to its own legitimate rights and interests, said a MOFCOM statement.   Big and Hefty
  A ship loads up at a container terminal of the Port of Tangshan in north China’s Hebei Province on September 17.
  The Port of Tangshan handled 404.8 million tons of cargo in the fi rst months of this year, an increase of 6.16 percent year on year.


  Financial Opening Up
  Yi Gang, Governor of the People’s Bank of China, has called for continued efforts to expand the opening up of the country’s fi nancial sector in a proactive and orderly manner.
  The central banker urged the further easing of restrictions on foreign equity, forms of establishment and qualifi cations of foreign shareholders of fi nancial institutions.
  Law- and policy-making should be more transparent to create a better environment for foreign-funded fi nancial institutions, Yi noted.
  The Shanghai-Hong Kong and Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect programs should be improved, and the Shanghai-London stock connect program should be launched as early as possible, he said.
  More efforts are needed to deepen reform of the renminbi exchange rate formation regime so that the market plays a more decisive role in the process and the yuan has more fl uctuation fl exibility, according to Yi.
  He also called for more convertibility of the yuan under the capital account and better macro-prudential regulation over cross-border capital fl ow, as well as an enhanced regulatory framework and stronger fi nancial infrastructure that match the pace of fi nancial opening up.
  Home Prices Up
  Only one of the 70 major cities in China saw a decline in housing prices month on month in August, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), with observers predicting further curbs to rein in price increases.
  The price of newly built commercial property in Xiamen dropped by an average of 0.1 percent compared to July, while the market in Beijing remained stable with the average price unchanged from the previous month.
  According to the NBS, the average price of new property rose by 0.1 percent in Shanghai and 0.9 percent in Guangzhou in August.
  Liu Jianwei, a senior NBS statistician, said local governments consistently carried out measures to control housing prices and sought to create a healthy and stable market.
  “The average price from January to August showed a 0.1-percent yearly decrease, while in the same period last year it soared by 14.6 percent.”   Yan Yuejin, Research Director with the consultancy fi rm E-House China R&D Institute, predicted that the property market will continue to heat up as a growing number of cities showed no sign of cooling down in August.
  “The data in August indicated that there will be a relative strong drive for prices to rise in the following months of the year, and such a trend will encourage local authorities to roll out more curbs,” he said.
  Aviation Cooperation
  The Aviation Industry Corp. of China(AVIC) has cooperated with 28 countries along the routes of the Chinaproposed Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, according to the state-owned aircraft maker.
  AVIC cooperated with Belt and Road countries in fi ve major fi elds: civil aircraft development and sales, services and infrastructure construction, general aviation operation and services, capital operation, and security products and services.
  More Belt and Road countries are embracing China-made aircraft, such as the MA60 series turboprop passenger planes, the LE500 and Y-12 series general planes and the Y-8 transport aircraft.
  As of June, AVIC had delivered 57 MA60 series planes to 18 Belt and Road countries, and 103 Y-12 series planes to 28 such countries.
  In 2017, AVIC had international business revenue of 96.7 billion yuan ($14.08 billion), about 24 percent of its total revenue.
  Road to Tibet
  Workers lay the fi rst switch of the Nyingchi-Lhasa segment of the SichuanTibet Railway on September 16.
  The completion of the switch will provide more convenient transportation for the subsequent construction of the Nyingchi-Lhasa railway, the fi rst electric rail in southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.


  AI Boom
  China is home to 1,040 artifi cial intelligence (AI) enterprises, ranking second in the world, according to a blue paper published on September 17. The United States has 2,039 such companies.
  China has, however, surpassed the United States to become the country with the largest number of AI patent applications worldwide.
  Liu Duo, President of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology(CAICT), said that the number of AIrelated patent fi lings has spiked in China since 2015 and the size of the AI market has also developed drastically, especially in the fi elds of vocal and facial recognition technology.   Beijing, Shanghai and the provinces of Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu are the regions where AI companies are developing the fastest, Liu added.
  Stock Debut
  Chinese service giant Meituan Dianping debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on September 20, the second company with dual-class shareholding structures listed in Hong Kong after Xiaomi.
  The company priced its shares at HK$69 ($8.85). It aimed to raise$4.9 billion through the listing and bring its value to $53.4 billion.
  The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. announced new rules in April to allow companies with dualclass shareholding structures and biotech fi rms with no revenue to apply for listing to attract innovative fi rms.
  Meituan was founded in 2010 to provide group-buying services, and fi ve years later it merged with Dianping which allows users to provide reviews of restaurants and other services.
  Let’s Go Fishing
  A fi sherman packs his gear at Liandao Fishery Harbor in Lianyungang, east China’s Jiangsu Province, on September 16, after a four-and-a-half-month fi shing off season in the Yellow and East China seas ended.


  Didi in Mexico
  China’s ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing launched operations in Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city, on September 18 as part of its overseas expansion plans.
  “The next step will be Mexico City,” said Pablo Mondragon, the company’s head of operations for Mexico City and nearby Toluca.
  Toluca is where Didi fi rst tested the waters in Mexico starting in April. In August, the company expanded to the northern industrial city of Monterrey.
  “We want to continue to learn about the Mexican market,”Mondragon said. Mexico is Didi’s fi rst international foray outside of Asia.
  Guadalajara, capital of the state of Jalisco, has a large metropolitan area. Local residents spend up to 40 percent of their income on transport, according to Didi.
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