GROUNDBREAKING FLIGHT: Yangtze River Express Airlines Co. Ltd., the first airline jointly invested by China's mainland and Taiwan, completes its inaugural cross-Taiwan Straits freight flight from Chongqing to Taipei on April 12 (XINHUA)

Helping the Children

The Ministry of Public Security said on April 12 it was carrying out a six-month campaign to identify unattended children found by authorities.

Local police will conduct DNA tests on children with unknown identities and, to learn whether they have been abducted, compare the results with information contained in a national anti-trafficking DNA database.

In 2009, the ministry set up a national DNA database to aid rescue efforts of abducted children. It has collected 20,000 blood samples from unidentified children and from parents whose children are missing, which has helped to confirm the identities of 1,040 children.

Curbing Antibiotics

China will curb the misuse of antibiotics, mainly at large hospitals, to deal with rising drug resistance, said the Ministry of Health on April 11.

By the end of this year, rates of antibiotics use among inpatients and outpatients on the Chinese mainland are expected to be lowered from 70 percent and 50 percent to around 50 percent and 20 percent, which is in line with international standards.

"The long-time overuse is related to factors including medical workers' lack of self-discipline and the current system whereby hospitals rely on drug sales for revenue," said Zhao Minggang, Deputy Director of the Department of Medical Administration of the ministry.

Hi-Tech Aid

China donated integrated satellite broadcasting and receiving stations and its home-developed, comprehensive meteorological information analysis and processing system to 16 Asian countries on April 11.

The recipients of the equipment were Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Burma, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Viet Nam.

The analysis and processing system provides meteorologists an integrated working platform to forecast disastrous weather conditions such as typhoons, as well as the ability to forecast medium-, short-term and momentary weather conditions.

The China Meteorological Administration said the donations could help improve meteorological disaster prevention and mitigation capabilities as well as the ability to address climate change in developing Asian countries.

Underground Haven

China's most advanced coalmine refuge shelter completed a test run in a coalmine in Shanxi Province on April 10.

Eighty volunteers stayed in the underground rescue facility for 48 hours, which is equipped with oxygen, electricity, and telecommunications equipment. A permanent borehole connects it to the outside world, allowing air, fresh water and food to be lowered down.

Built in May 2010, the newly developed facility is designed to be able to sustain 80 to 100 miners after a coal mine disaster.

Traditional rescue shelters in China's coal mines can only hold five to eight people at a time.

Tourism Stimulus

China's first and largest rocket and satellite launch base, the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu Province, will boost tourism by offering new attractions in the next five years.

The satellite launch center, established in 1958, is where China's three manned spaceships have blasted off since October 2003.

Jiuquan will build an aerospace-themed cultural town and add to its interactive aerospace experience programs and facilities. Additionally, a wind power museum will be built near China's first 1-million-kw wind power station in the city.