The Flagholder

(XINHUA)

Chinese athlete Xu Lijia, gold medalist in laser radial sailing, held China's national flag at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games on August 12.

"This is the biggest inspiration for the sport of sailing," said Xu. "I feel very honored to be the flag-holder in the closing ceremony."

Xu won gold in the sailing regatta with a total score of 35 points on August 6, the second gold ever in Chinese Olympic sailing history. It was the second Olympic medal for Xu, who won the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.The 25-year-old woman overcame great challenges on her journey to success. She was born nearly deaf in one ear and nearly blind in one eye. She started swimming at 4 and was chosen to train for sailing when she was 10.

In 1999, at the age of 12, Xu narrowly escaped death in a sudden storm while training on the open sea off the coast of southeast China's Fujian Province.

Party Delegates

A total of 2,270 delegates have been elected to attend the upcoming 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), according to an official statement released on August 13.

The delegates, who were elected from across the country from April to July when local CPC committees held their own congresses, will need to pass a qualification check to get final approval to attend the congress, according to the statement.

About 30.5 percent of the delegates are from the grassroots level, up 2.1 percent from the previous congress in 2007.

The average age of the delegates is 52, and 64.8 percent of the delegates are under age 55.

There are 114 delegates under 35, accounting for 5 percent of the total, 1.9 percentage points higher than the previous congress.

Female delegates account for 23 percent of the total and ethnic minorities make up 11 percent.

Food Safety

China will accelerate the pace of setting up national standards for food safety in order to safeguard the public, the Ministry of Health said on August 13.

The standards will be put in place by the end of 2015, said Su Zhi, director of the ministry's Food Safety and Health Supervision Bureau, at a press conference.

According to Su, China will further improve the management mechanism of food safety and establish a normative and transparent working model.

The ministry will publish a report on the standards relating to more than 5,000 kinds of food, as well as revising the regulations on food pollutants and pathogenic bacteria, Su added.

Urban-Rural Gap

The ratio of income earned by urbanites to that of rural residents is about 5.2 in China, said a blue paper released by a major government think tank on August 14.

According to The Urban Blue Book: China City Development Report No.5, published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the ratio of urbanites' disposable income to rural residents' net income reached 3.13 last year.

The income gap figure is about 26 percent higher than that of 1997 and 68 percent higher than that of 1985, the report said, adding that it far exceeded the urban-rural divide in many foreign countries.

The blue book also noted that the number of urbanites has surpassed the number of rural residents in China, with the urbanization rate reaching 51.27 percent, a significant change in the country's social structure that ushers in an era of "city-based society."

Gunman Hunt

A fugitive gunman who is suspected of killing 10 people was shot dead by police in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on August 14.

Zhou Kehua was gunned down by police in an alley in Tongjiaqiao Village, Shapingba District, where he was believed to have been hiding, at 6:50 a.m., according to the Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau.

Zhou allegedly shot one person dead and wounded two others in front of a local bank outlet on August 10.

Consequently, Chongqing launched an intensified manhunt for the 42-year-old man, who was described by local police authorities as "ruthless and highly dangerous."

Drug Blacklist

Regulations calling for the blacklisting of manufacturers of unsafe medication will go into effect in October as part of nationwide efforts to enhance medical safety.

According to rules issued on August 15 by the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), information regarding the manufacturers and those found responsible for severe violations of relevant laws will be included in a blacklist that will be posted on government websites for public review.

The blacklist will include those involved in the production and sale of counterfeit or inferior drugs, as well as those who have produced uncertified medical equipment or who have caused accidents by producing substandard equipment, the regulations state.

The regulations also call for the revocation of licenses granted to companies on the blacklist, as well as a 10-year suspension of their operations.

The blacklist should appear in a conspicuous place on the websites of local drug safety regulators and should be maintained by designated personnel in a timely fashion, the regulations state, adding that major drug safety cases will also appear on the list.

China has launched several nationwide crackdowns on counterfeit drugs in recent years after major cases in which the use of the drugs resulted in deaths. The former director of the state food and drug regulatory body was executed in 2007 for abusing his position by approving lethal counterfeit medicine in exchange for money.

Dolphin Protection

A research institute to protect rare endangered Chinese white dolphins has been set up in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The Guangxi Beibu Gulf Chinese White Dolphins Research Institute will focus on the protection of the Chinese white dolphin and other rare wild animals, as well as marine ecological monitoring and marine pollution prevention.

Known as the "maritime panda," the Chinese white dolphin is the country's most endangered marine animal and has first-class state protection in China.

The Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences estimates that about 2,000 of the dolphins are living in China's seas.

Anthrax Cases

Seven cases of cutaneous anthrax have been confirmed in northeast China's Liaoning Province, local health authorities said on August 13.

A village in Liaozhong County where three cases were reported is under quarantine as a ban was placed on livestock and meat products entering or leaving its boundaries, the Liaoning Provincial Health Bureau said in a statement.

It said no fatal cases had been reported.

On the same day, a health ministry spokesman said in Beijing that two cases of cutaneous anthrax had been confirmed in Lianyungang in eastern Jiangsu Province.

"We will closely follow the development of these cases and make sure the disease is under control," he pledged.