Talent Show Champion

(WEI YAO)

A 21-year-old college student named Liang Bo earned the top prize of the first season of The Voice of China , a popular singing competition program on Zhejiang Satellite TV, on September 30.

The program, which premiered in July, is based on Dutch program The Voice of Holland . It captivated viewers because of its emphasis on talent rather than appearance. Contestants are selected through blind auditions by four coaches who cannot see the singers, but only hear their voices.

Born in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, Liang is now a senior student at the Jilin College of Arts.

Groundless Assertion

China-based telecommunications companies Huawei and ZTE have denied accusations that they threaten U.S. national security.

A report released on October 8 by the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee says that Huawei and ZTE pose a threat because of concerns over cyber-attacks allegedly traced to China.

In a conclusion to a yearlong investigation, the report recommends that the U.S. government computer system exclude equipment from the two firms. It also urges the Committee on Foreign Investments in the Unites States (CFIUS) to block acquisitions, takeovers or mergers involving the two companies.

"Huawei is a business in the business of doing business," William Plummer, Huawei's U.S. Vice President of External Relations, told Xinhua News Agency. The report "is an unfortunate political distraction from very real issues related to cyber vulnerabilities on a global scale," he added.

Huawei made "$32.4 billion in revenue last year across 150 different markets, or 70 percent of our business outside of China. Huawei is not going to jeopardize its commercial success for any government, period," he said.

In a statement, ZTE said it "has been forthcoming in responding to this assertion."

The two global leading telecom companies operate in over 140 countries. Huawei is servicing 45 of the world's top 50 telecom operators, including Vodafone, Motorola, France Telecom and T-Mobile. ZTE is also servicing 500 telecom carriers across the world.

Polysilicon Price

China's polysilicon imports jumped during the first eight months of this year but prices slid, further squeezing profit margins for domestic producers, official data have indicated.

China imported 56,000 tons of polysilicon, a raw material used to make solar cells, from January through August, up 32.8 percent year on year, with import prices averaging $26.92 per kg, down 54.2 percent compared with last year's average, according to a statement posted on the website of the General Administration of Customs.

South Korea, the United States and Germany accounted for 87.8 percent of China's polysilicon imports in August.

The average import prices from South Korea and Germany fell from the previous month to $23.33 per kg and $29.1 per kg, respectively, according to the statement.

China has been suffering from an overcapacity of polysilicon following massive investment in the sector after prices peaked four years ago.

Customs data showed that China only exported 166 tons of polysilicon in August, bringing total exports in the first eight months of this year to 897 tons, mainly due to waning demand in Europe.

Boosting Innovation

Authorities overseeing state-owned companies signed an agreement on October 10 with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), a major government think tank, to boost technological innovation in state enterprises.

According to the deal inked by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council and the CAS, both sides will jointly conduct research on technological innovation, share resources and cooperate in other ways.

CAS-affiliated institutes and large state enterprises have collaborated on key state programs such as manmade satellites, the manned space program, the lunar exploration project and the development of the manned deep-sea submersible Jiaolong, said an official statement released after the pact was signed.

Under the agreement, state companies and the CAS researchers will further cooperate in areas such as information technology, energy conservation and environmental protection, biology, high-end equipment manufacturing, renewable energy, new materials and green vehicles.

New District

The State Council has approved a plan to develop the Nansha New District in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province.

Located in the southern tip of Guangzhou, the Nansha New District has a planned area of 803 square km. It is 38 nautical miles away from Hong Kong and 41 nautical miles away from Macao.

The district will serve as a cooperative zone between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, the plan says. After 10 years of development, the zone is expected to be a model of urbanization, a new hub for service industries and a pilot zone for innovation in public services.

Afforestation Efforts

The Chinese Government allocated 46.2 billion yuan ($7.22 billion) to the return-farmland-to-forests program between 2008 and 2011, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner.

As of the end of 2006, around 9.3 million hectares of farmland had been converted to forests since the government launched a national campaign in 1999. Around 15 million hectares of hillside was closed to facilitate afforestation during the period, said the NDRC.

Under the program, farmers received grain and cash subsidies if they converted their farmlands to woodlands to combat soil erosion.

By 2006, some 124 million farmers had been subsidized, giving an added boost to the environment, the NDRC said.

The emphasis on boosting forest coverage came amid the country's efforts to increase its "forest carbon sink capacity," or using forested areas to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thereby helping address global climate change.

China's forest coverage reached 20.36 percent in 2010, up from 18.2 percent in 2005, and is expected to further increase to 21.66 percent by 2015.