| Heroic Teacher
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(FILE) |
Zhang Lili, a middle school teacher in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, inspired the nation in a life-saving act of selflessness.
Zhang, 29, a Chinese language teacher at a middle school of the city of Jiamusi, was crossing the road just outside the school's gate when a school bus suddenly came rushing toward nearby students in the morning of May 8. Zhang pushed two students out of the way before being struck by the bus. After doctors spent 58 hours working on her, Zhang finally regained consciousness on May 15.
As news of her actions spread, she won national praise. Donations to Zhang's family from schools, companies and the government have been pouring in. She was honored by the Heilongjiang Provincial Women's Federation the title of "Excellent Female Worker" on May 14. The Chinese Ministry of Education has also called on the country's teachers to learn from her.
Beijing began a crackdown on foreigners illegally entering, residing or working in the city on May 15.
The campaign, which will run until the end of August, will include household checks in areas of high concentrations of foreign residents, as well as on-the-spot street checks that will require foreigners to present valid identification, according to a spokesman for the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.
Police authorities had opened a tip-off hotline and would tighten reviews of visa applications during the period, the spokesman said.
Foreigners found to be violating relevant laws may face penalties ranging from fines or detention to deportation, according to the police.
Official statistics show Beijing is home to about 120,000 foreigners.
According to Chinese law, it is illegal for foreigners to enter China without a valid visa issued by Chinese authorities or a legal passport, as well as through unofficial ports of entry.
It is also illegal for foreigners to live in China on expired visas or residence permits, as well as acquire paid jobs without a proper work visa.
China will increase residential land supplies by more than 20 percent this year in order to further restrain property prices, according to a plan released by the Ministry of Land and Resources on May 15.
The ministry said in a statement that the government would provide a total of 172,600 hectares of residential land this year, up 21.3 percent from 2011.
The amount of land to be doled out doubles the annual average of 87,300 hectares supplied over the last five years.
The ministry said that 79.3 percent of the land supplies would be used for affordable housing development, as well as for small and medium-sized commercial housing, up 0.7 percentage points from last year.
The Chinese Government plans to begin construction on more than 7 million affordable housing units this year.
The State Council, or China's cabinet, announced on May 16 that the government will earmark 26.5 billion yuan ($4.22 billion) to subsidize the consumption of household electrical appliances for a one-year period.
The appliances include air conditioners, flat-panel television sets, refrigerators, washing machines and water heaters that meet energy-saving standards, according to a statement released on May 16 after an executive meeting of the State Council.
Meanwhile, the government will allocate another 2.2 billion yuan ($350 million) to promote the consumption of energy-saving light bulbs and LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs and 6 billion yuan ($954.55 million) for purchases of vehicles with engine sizes below 1.6 liters, the statement said.
Another 1.6 billion yuan ($254 million) will be earmarked to promote the consumption of highly efficient electrical machinery, according to the statement, which did not elaborate on how the subsidies will be implemented.
Chinese scientists have identified a new sup-species of snub-nosed monkey living in southwestern Yunnan Province, making China home to four of five varieties of the endangered primates.
The species, identified as Rhinopithecus strykeri, was first discovered in Myanmar in 2010, and is known as the Nujiang Golden Monkey in Chinese, said Long Yongcheng, chief scientist for China program of the Nature Conservancy, a U.S. charitable environmental organization.
"The newly discovered snub-nosed monkeys are covered in black fur, weigh 20-30 kg, measure 1.2 meters long and are visibly distinct from the Yunnan Golden Monkey," Long said.
Long, who is also director of the China Primate Specialist Group, said that researchers located 50 to 100 such monkeys in March, but more studies are needed to reveal the exact population and habitat of the animal.
Snub-nosed monkeys, or golden monkeys, are an endangered species. Among the estimated 25,000 currently living, three varieties are endemic to China and the fourth inhabits Viet Nam.
The Chinese Government has allocated 7.63 billion yuan ($1.21 billion) in meal subsidies to improve the nutrition of rural elementary and junior middle school students, the Ministry of Finance said on May 16.
The subsidies are expected to benefit 25.42 million rural students.
The ministry said that the money should only be used for providing nourishing meals to rural students during the spring semester.
China started a nutrition improvement program in 680 poverty-stricken counties in 2011. Under the program, each rural student in the nine-year compulsory education period in the 680 counties is entitled to a 3-yuan ($0.48) meal subsidy per day.
More than 4.2 million government or Communist Party of China officials were punished on account of violations of discipline between 1982 and 2011, according to a Chinese anti-corruption official.
Cui Hairong, Deputy Director of the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention, made the figures public at an international meeting in Hong Kong on May 11.
Cui said that 465 of the guilty officials were at the ministerial or provincial level, and more than 90 of them were convicted of corruption over the last three decades.
More than 42,000 officials were transferred to judicial organs on charges of corruption between 2003 and 2011, he said.
China has adopted three-dimensional (3D) visual management over 4,000 islands, according to an annual report released on May 10 by the Ministry of Land and Resources.
Meanwhile, 2,851 islands have been put under aviation monitoring and surveillance, and 45 islands along baseline points of China's territorial waters are under ground watch, the report said.
All the historical data of Chinese islands have been processed and put into a database to strengthen island management, the report said.
According to the report, China's ocean-related industries totaled 4.56 trillion yuan ($724.49 billion) in output in 2011, an increase of 10.4 percent from a year earlier.
The figure accounted for 9.7 percent for the country's total GDP, the report said. | 
