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Zheng Yuanjie, a renowned Chinese writer for children's literature, was honored as one of the 2011 Hot Figures by New Weekly magazine. Zheng was awarded this prize after using his microblog to participate in many ongoing topical issues in society, such as supervising environment protection departments and launching online voting on Beijing's air pollution.
Zheng, 56, began writing in 1977 and set up the King of Fairy Tales magazine in 1984, which has been in circulation for 19 years. At its peak, it had a monthly circulation of over 1 million copies. The characters Zheng created—such as the naughty but kind-hearted boy Pipilu, his little sister Luxixi, Shuke the Mouse and Rock the Wolf—have attracted millions of young readers as well as adults over the years.
Besides his writing career, Zheng is also enthusiastically devoted to charity. During the Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008 and Yushu Earthquake in 2010, Zheng donated 380,000 yuan ($60,192) and 1 million yuan ($158,400). It was reported that Zheng was planning to set up a literature foundation to honor good literary works, and the standard would be set by the public.
Han Meilin, a well-known Chinese artist who designed the mascot Fuwa for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, will hold a solo art exhibition from December 26, 2011, to February 8, 2012, in the National Museum of China. Occupying an area of nearly 6,000 square meters, the exhibition is showcasing over 3,000 pieces of Han's artworks ranging from painting, sculpture, ceramic to design. This is the largest-scale solo exhibition held in the newly-renovated museum.
Han, 75, is famous for his painting, calligraphy, sculpture, ceramics, logo design and writing. He was topped the list of the most global-concerned Chinese characters by Global Times in 2011. He has established the Han Meilin Art Galleries in Beijing and Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, and donated thousands of his artworks to the country.
Fifty-four people were found responsible for a fatal high-speed train crash in July. They included Liu Zhijun, former Minister of Railways, and Zhang Shuguang, former Deputy Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Railways.
On July 23, a high-speed train rammed into a stalled train near Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province, leaving 40 people dead and 172 injured.
According to a final investigation report released on December 28, the train crash was caused by major design flaws in train operating equipment, loose safety controls and poor emergency response to equipment failure.
Liu, Zhang, and Ma Cheng, Board Chairman of China Railway Signal and Communication Corp. that produced the railway signaling system, were chiefly responsible for the crash, according to the State Council.
Liu and Zhang have been removed from office over an alleged "severe violation of discipline."
China's homegrown Beidou Satellite Navigation System began providing positioning, navigation and timing services to China and its surrounding areas on December 27.
"Six more satellites will be launched in 2012 to further improve the Beidou system and expand its service area to cover most parts of the Asia-Pacific region," said Ran Chengqi, Director of the Management Office of the China Satellite Navigation System.
China began to build the Beidou system in 2000 with the goal of creating its own global positioning system by 2020. Ten satellites have been launched for it.
The Beidou system is compatible and interoperable with the world's other major global satellite navigation systems, according to Ran.
The Chinese Government has issued a five-year plan to boost social services for the elderly.
By 2015, the country expects to provide 30 beds in nursing homes and community care centers for every 1,000 elderly people.
China has a total of 178 million people aged above 60, accounting for 13.26 percent of the total population. That figure is expected to rise to 221 million in 2015 and 243 million in 2020.
In 2010, the number of beds in nursing homes and community care centers for the aged totaled 3.2 million across China, or 18 beds for every 1,000 elderly people.
To meet the 2015 target the country plans to add 3.4 million beds and renovate 30 percent of the current facilities.
Over the next five years, at least 50 percent of the revenue from the state welfare lottery program will be spent on social services for the elderly.
According to the plan, the government will provide preferential land use policies and credit to attract more investment in the sector.
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, held the first reading of a draft law on exit and entry administration on December 26.
The duration foreigners should be allowed to stay in China and regulations concerning the employment and residence of foreigners were the main focus of the draft.
According to the draft foreigners must receive work permits and residence certificates prior to commencing their employment in China. Foreigners who work illegally in China will be fined between 5,000 yuan ($792) and 20,000 yuan ($3,170), and may be detained for 5-15 days for serious violations.
The draft legislation also allows the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make requirements on the collection of human biological identification information such as fingerprints from people who are entering or leaving the country.
Official statistics show the number of people entering and exiting China has increased by 10 percent annually since 1990. In 2010, the number reached 382 million, including 52 million foreigners.
China has promulgated two separate laws on the administration of the exit and entry of Chinese citizens and foreigners since 1985.
As of December 20, 2011, natural disasters left 1,081 people dead or missing in China over past year, said the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Various natural disasters struck China during the year affecting 440 million people and causing 311 billion yuan ($49.37 billion) worth of direct economic losses.
Last year, the Chinese Government allocated 8.64 billion yuan ($1.37 billion) as relief funds to help the country's 75 million disaster affected people. | 
