The Chinese Government on August 4 initiated a program to locate and preserve the most distinct ethnic villages across the country.

The State Ethnic Affairs Commission plans to visit 100 villages that have the most distinct ethnic characters all over the country.

"By going on this tour, we want to raise the social awareness of protecting ethnic cultures and intangible cultural heritage," said Shi Xiaoliang, secretary general of the program's organization committee.

In recent decades, the number of China's villages has dropped from 3.6 million to 2.7 million, meaning 200 villages disappear from the country every day.

Biowarfare Evidence

Chinese experts recently uncovered more than 40 items in southwest China's Yunnan Province that offer fresh evidence of Japanese germ warfare activities during World War II.

The findings came from field research in May that focused on 15 sites affected by germ warfare during World War II in Yunnan, said Yang Yanjun, a researcher with the Harbin Academy of Social Sciences in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province who studies Unit 731, the Japanese troops' biological warfare unit.

The items included protective clothing, rat cages and syringes, Yang said.

The results of the research confirmed that Japanese military forces launched biological attacks in Yunnan when they invaded the region in May 1942.

Legal Training

China will train 300 lawyers to proficiency in foreign-related business within the next four years, under a program launched by the All-China Lawyers Association (ACLA) on August 5.

Initiated by the Ministry of Justice and the ACLA, the scheme has gained the government's financial support and will focus on training 120 lawyers in three area—foreign investment, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and international financial and securities businesses—so they can help more Chinese companies go abroad.

It will also train 150 lawyers in international trade, copyright protection and businesses concerning the World Trade Organization, as well as 30 lawyers in businesses concerning resources, maritime and space rights.

Three Million Jobless

More than 3 million graduates in China are struggling to find jobs this year, according to a report on China's social security, released on August 4.

With nearly 7 million graduates this year, and adding on the unemployed students from previous years, the number of graduates struggling to find jobs before leaving school is estimated to have reached over 3 million, said Wang Yujun, an official with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, at a press conference for the 2012 China Social Security Reform and Development Report.