FOLK FASHION SHOW: A model struts in a Mongol costume at the opening ceremony of the Grassland Folk Culture Festival on June 28 in Xilin Gol League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (JIN YU)

New Filial Law

An amended law that requires children to regularly visit their aging parents came into effect on July 1.

According to the law, family members should care about the psychological needs of their older relatives, and should visit them or send greetings on a regular basis.

The law was enacted to protect the lawful rights and interests of parents aged 60 and older, and to carry on the Chinese virtue of filial piety.

The law also states that China will cope with an aging population as part of its long-term national strategy, and will improve social security for old people.

The number of people aged 60 or older in China reached 185 million at the end of 2011, accounting for 13.7 percent of the population. It will exceed 200 million this year, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. That age group will number 480 million in 2050.

Mobile Malware

A total of 162,981 examples of malware circulating on mobile Internet devices have been detected by the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Center of China (CNCERT/CC) or reported by Internet security companies, with 82.5 percent of the malware targeting phones using the Android operating system, the center said on July 4. The figure is 25 times more than that in 2011.

Most mobile Internet malware spreads through smartphone application stores, forums and sites offering other downloadable content, according to Zhou Yonglin, a department head at CNCERT/CC.

China has the world's largest online population, as well as the most mobile Internet users.

In 2012, over 16,000 websites had been tampered with in China, up 6.1 percent from 2011, according to the center.

A total of 52,324 websites were found to be harboring malicious software last year, among which 3,016 were government websites, the center added.

Animal Show Ban

Animal performances will be strictly banned in zoos in China, according to a guideline on the development of zoos released on July 2.

The guideline, formulated by the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens and released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, also requires all zoos to improve emergency mechanisms to ensure safety in case dangerous animals escape.

Problems still exist in zoo development in China, and a prominent one is that some zoos irregularly utilize animals for profit, such as organizing animal performances or selling wild animal products, according to the ministry.