New Tibetan Words

Nearly 1,500 new words and terms were given standardized Tibetan equivalents in 2014, the Tibetan Language Committee said on January 7.

Among the new terms are popular online phrases such as "lightning marriage," referring to when a couple decides to wed soon after meeting. The term was changed from the Chinese shanhun transliterated into Dobdob Nyatri when written in standardized Tibetan.

New words related to politics and the economy, including "the new normal" and "the Silk Road economic belt," have also been translated into Tibetan vocabulary, said Yezang, head of the agency for standardization of Tibetan terminology under the committee.

After being translated correctly, the new words can be widely used by translators, school teachers and government officials in Tibet, Yezang added.

Tibet began collecting and translating new vocabulary in 2002. As of 2014, a total of 9,000 emerging phrases and 60,000 technical terms were released after examination.

The move can help standardize the Tibetan language and keep it up to date with the changing times while promoting Tibetan culture, Yezang said.

Potato Cultivation

China is boosting potato acreage to transform the crop into the country's fourth staple food after rice, wheat and corn, said Yu Xinrong, Vice Minister of agriculture, at a seminar on January 6.

It is time for potatoes to become a staple food, given China's rapid urbanization, and they can diversify the dinner table, said Wan Baorui, Director of China's State Food and Nutrition Consultant Committee.

The potato has been grown for about 400 years in China and now covers 5 million hectares in China, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Acreage will expand to 10 million hectares in the future to better safeguard the country's grain supply, according to the ministry.

The country will see 50 billion kg of new food demand by 2020. China has a shortage of farmland and although it is hard to improve the yield efficiency of wheat and rice, it is comparatively easier to improve that of potatoes, according to the ministry.

The country has set a "red line" minimum of 120 million hectares of cultivated land, but pressure on arable land is still great, largely due to rapid urbanization.

Anti-Graft in 2014

After caging dozens of high-level "tigers" and swatting thousands of lowly "flies," China's anti-graft campaign will continue to carry out strong measures to root out corruption, said a senior graft-buster on January 7.

Huang Shuxian, Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), said cases involving 68 high-level officials are under investigation or have been closed.

According to Huang, the cases involving some top-level officials have been transferred to judicial organs, while the cases of some others are still under investigation.

The campaign also made efforts in reducing corruption opportunities for discipline inspectors, prosecutors, and others tasked with fighting graft. Huang said 1,575 corrupt graft-busters were rooted out during the campaign.

China also sought international help in hunting those who fled the country, said Huang. China brought back more than 500 fugitive corrupt officials from overseas and recovered more than 3 billion yuan ($483 million) in 2014, he said, adding that China has inked deals with several countries to cooperate in the anti-corruption efforts, including the United States, Canada and Australia.

A total of 71,748 Chinese officials were punished in 2014 for violations of the CPC's anti-graft rules.

Since the anti-graft campaign started in 2012, China has finished regular inspections across 31 provincial-level regions as well as in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. In 2014, special inspections have been carried out in 19 ministries, state-owned enterprises and institutions.