SHARING EXPERIENCES: Chinese President Hu Jintao meets North Korean top leader Kim Jong Il in Beijing on May 25. Kim visited Beijing as well as Heilongjiang, Jilin and Jiangsu provinces on May 20-26 (LI XUREN)

Water Plight

A severe drought has hit regions along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the country's longest waterway.

Data from meteorological authorities shows rainfall in these regions in east and south China is 30 to 80 percent less compared to levels in normal years. Anhui, Jiangsu, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai Municipality are suffering from the worst drought since 1954.

Water levels in the mainstream of the Yangtze are 25 to 70 percent less compared to normal years.

In order to ensure steady supplies of water and safe passage for vessels on the Yangtze River, the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters has ordered more water discharges from the Three Gorges Dam, the country's largest hydropower project.

Health Benefit

China will appropriate 30 billion yuan ($4.62 billion) this year to expand basic public health services for the public, said the Ministry of Health.

Regular physical examinations and vaccinations would be offered to all children under the age of 6, said Qin Huaijin, Director of the ministry's Women and Children Health and Community Health Department. These services were previously available to only children aged 3 and younger.

Under government-funded programs, each child is accessible to a total of 13 free basic health services at community clinics until they turn 6. The services include growth evaluation and guidance for children's growth.

Pregnant women and people aged above 65 will receive regular and comprehensive physical examinations. The latter are also eligible for one free healthcare visit each year.

Moreover, the funds will be used to improve the food safety monitoring system of grassroots medical institutions in communities, villages and towns.

Real-Name Tickets

A "real-name" ticket booking system for high-speed trains came into effect on June 1 throughout China.

The new system allows passengers to buy train tickets with 23 kinds of identification, including ID cards, driver's licenses, and passports, according to the policy issued by railway authorities.

The real-name ticket buying system was launched to curb rail ticket scalping and improve security.

Fish Cleaner

China has begun the second phase of a research project to explore the use of fish to clean up water pollution in the Three Gorges Reservoir on the Yangtze River.

China Three Gorges Corp., operator of the world's largest hydroelectric station at the Three Gorges Dam, has released 600,000 carp into the Gaolan River that flows into the Three Gorges Reservoir, to study how well they could clear algae blooms.

The first-phase test, between 2008 and 2009, showed certain species of fish did help prevent algae outbreaks in the highly polluted Gaolan River.