GETTING READY: Plants are prepared for the main pavilion of the International Horticultural Exposition 2014 in Qingdao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province, on February 20. The exposition will be held from April 25 to October 25 (LI ZIHENG)

Underwater Robot

China has used a domestically built unmanned submersible to study polymetallic sulfide in the southwest Indian Ocean, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) revealed on February 13.

The country signed a 15-year exploration contract with the International Seabed Authority in 2011 to mine for polymetallic sulfide in the area.

Scientists aboard the Dayang-1 oceanic research vessel remotely operated the underwater vehicle Hailong on five occasions from late January to early February, with one of their five attempts failing.

The researches found sulfide in even more parts of China's contracted exploration area, and gained a new understanding of the characteristics of the carbonate area, according to the SOA.

This detailed information gathered is important for China's future research of polymetallic sulfide, which is often found in seabed deposits containing copper, zinc and precious metals such as gold and silver, the SOA added.

Tibetan Internet Users

The number of Internet users in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region reached 2.03 million at the end of 2013, a local official revealed on February 14.

This means 67.5 percent of Tibet's 3 million residents have access to the Internet, according to Qunggyi, head of the Tibet Communications Administration.

Many of Tibet's Internet users surf the Internet using their smartphones. So far the number of 3G network subscribers in Tibet has reached 964,000. The new 4G network will be promoted and launched in 2014, according to the official.

Poisoning Trial

A medical student at the prestigious Fudan University in Shanghai was sentenced to death on February 18 after he was convicted of poisoning and killing his roommate in April 2013.

Lin Senhao used N-Nitrosodimethylamine, a deadly chemical compound he took from the university laboratory, to contaminate a water dispenser in his dorm. His roommate, Huang Yang, drank from the dispenser on April 1 and died of organ failure on April 16.

According to the court, the poisoning that led to Huang's death was motivated by Lin's growing discontent with Huang over trivial matters after Huang moved into Lin's dorm in August 2011.

WWII Documentary

Filming of a documentary about the atrocities of Japan's notorious Unit 731 during World War II (WWII) began in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin on February 19.

The documentary, consisting of five 60-minute episodes, will be jointly shot by the municipal government of Harbin in Heilongjiang Province and state broadcaster China Central Television in China, the United States, Russia and Japan. It is expected to be broadcast by the end of the year. Entitled 731, the documentary will interview witnesses and scholars as well as sharing evidence from historical archives.

Unit 731 was a top-secret biological and chemical warfare research base established in Harbin in 1935, serving as the center of Japan's biological warfare research in China and Southeast Asia during WWII. At least 3,000 people were killed in experiments that were undertaken on humans at Unit 731.