An officer from the US Embassy in Beijing said on November 20 that the student and exchange visitor visas issued to Chinese nationals in the 2008 fiscal year increased by about 40% year-on-year with the US Administration welcoming more Chinese students to study in the US. The visa officer said that the US has no limit on the number of foreign students entering the country for study purposes, and it warmly welcomes all Chinese students who meet the relevant requirements to study in the US. ...

The Three Gorges Project has turned over a total 20.277 billion yuan in national taxes since its first generating unit began operation on July 10, 2003, according to the State Administration of Taxation of the Three Gorges dam zone in Yichang, Hubei province. Since the first turbine generator was put in use, there are now 26 turbine generators in operation as of October 30 this year. By adding 100 megawatts of electricity from the electrical power supply plant, the project's installed cap ...

Beijing municipality decided to add 6 billion yuan in government investment in the fourth quarter of this year to the original amount allocated. Wang Haiping, deputy director general of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, revealed on Nov. 19. The fund will be used for rail transit construction, improvement of unsafe buildings, electric heating of urban single-story houses, promotion of agricultural development and rural construction, as well as the enlargement of the s ...

Individual investors were allowed to buy and sell Au99.95-category gold as of Friday at the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), the Shanghai Securities News reported. In a notice issued on Thursday, the SGE said from Friday it would allow individual traders to buy and sell Au99.95, the type of gold used in the manufacturing of ornamental items. It also said Chinese commercial banks were free to decide the date to start individual gold investment services. The minimum trading lot size w ...

China Telecom and Microsoft recently signed a strategic cooperation agreement. They announced that they will jointly develop in China a co-branded Messenger, instant communication software, based on the new generation Windows Live service platform released by Microsoft. The person-in-charge of China Telecom said that this cooperation will further support China Telecom's strategy to make itself a world's leading provider of comprehensive information. According to the terms of the agreemen ...

As winter approaches, post-disaster reconstruction in the earthquake-stricken areas of Sichuan Province is underway in an intensive and orderly manner. Thousand volunteers from the "Special Task of Earthquake Relief by Volunteers from the College Graduates Serving the West Program" have joined the effort. After the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake, the Central Committee of Communist Youth League of China, the PRC Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Human Resources and So ...

It is estimated that by the end of this year, the number of sewage treatment plants in operation in Shanghai will reach 50, and the designed treatment capacity will climb to 6.73 million cubic meters, enable Shanghai to rank No. 1 among all cities in China, according to information released on November 19 by Shanghai Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau (SEPB). Starting next year, Shanghai will carry out a new round of the Three-Year Environmental Protection Action Plan, with a total inv ...

Chinese shares ended the morning trade 4.3 percent lower on Friday, as investor sentiment got hard hit by massive sell-off on Wall Street overnight sparked by fears of a deep and prolonged recession. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, slid 84.95 points, or 4.28 percent, to 1,898.81. It opened 2.65 percent lower at 1,932.60. Buying interest was becoming weaker after earlier broad market rally and continued declines on regional markets, Everbr ...

China has published a list containing identities and other basic information of 19,065 people killed during the May earthquake in southwestern Sichuan Province, a local official said Friday. The list includes the name, birth place, where he or she was killed and other personal information of the dead, Wei Hong, executive vice provincial governor of Sichuan told a press conference. It is the first time for the government to announced such detailed information about the dead and mo ...

A Chinese official warned Friday freezing weather would hit parts of quake-stricken areas in southwestern Sichuan Province this winter, expecting more donations of quilts to residents there. The province has seen more rainy and cold days this winter than past years and the temperature was 0.5 to 1 degrees Celsius lower than usual, executive vice provincial governor Wei Hong told a press conference in Beijing. Residents living in quake-affected and remote mountainous areas need 3. ...

Hong Kong and Peru signed a Cooperation Arrangement on Trade and Investment Facilitation on Thursday in Peru, a press release from the Information Services Department of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said on Friday. According to the press release, Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Rita Lau signed the cooperation arrangement with Peruvian Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Mercedes Araoz Fernandez. The signing ceremony took place at the ...

The research and development of China's new generation of turboprop regional aircraft Modern Ark 700 (MA700) recently started, said Geng Ruguang, deputy general manager of China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I), at the Commercial Aircraft Forum China 2008 on November 20. This new generation, updated from the MA 600, will be more energy-efficient and fit for high altitude aviation, said Geng at the forum. The 70-seat MA700 regional aircraft, developed by Xi'an Aircraft Industry Comp ...

Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong said in Nottingham in England Thursday that China would continue to apply the experience gained in its 30-year reform and opening up drive and adhere to a scientific, peaceful, harmonious and coordinated development. Speaking at an international forum for contemporary Chinese studies organized by the University of Nottingham on Nov. 19-21, Liu briefed her host on China's profound changes after the 30 years' reform and opening up drive, saying the Chine ...

According to the Academic Divisions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Chinese scientists have been recently elected as academicians of The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World(TWAS). 12 of them are from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and one from the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Yang Pan-Chyr and Lee Der-Tsai are both academicians of Taiwan's "Academia Sinica". The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World was formerly known as the Third World Academy of Sciences and wa ...

Hong Kong and Peru signed a Cooperation Arrangement on Trade and Investment Facilitation on Thursday in Peru, a press release from the Information Services Department of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said on Friday. According to the press release, Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Rita Lau signed the cooperation arrangement with Peruvian Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Mercedes Araoz Fernandez. The signing ceremony took place at the ...

Authorities in quake-hit Sichuan Province in southwest China plans to invest at least 3 trillion yuan (441 billion U.S. dollars) for reconstruction by 2010, vice provincial governor Wei Hong said Friday. The investment will be 790 billion yuan for this year and 1.2 trillion yuan next year, Wei told a press conference in Beijing. &$&$Source: Xinhua&$&$ ...

Chinese shares opened 2.65 percent lower on Friday, as investor sentiment got hard hit by massive sell-off on Wall Street overnight sparked by fears of a deep and prolonged recession. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, fell 51.16 points, or 2.65 percent, to 1,932.60 at the opening. Overnight the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 444.99 points, or 5.56 percent, to 7,552.29, the lowest level in more than five and a half years. &$&$So ...