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NEW RECORD: Water level rises to 270 meters on November 12, the highest in history, in Xiaolangdi Reservoir in Henan Province, a major water control project on the Yellow River, China's second longest waterway (ZHAO PENG) |
Pension Insurance Coverage
China's urban and rural pension insurance systems covered 459 million people at the end of October, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said on November 13.
As many as 125 million elderly people receive pensions every month, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.
Over the past few years, China has taken significant steps to improve the country's pension and social security system. The country kicked off a rural pension pilot program in 2009 and announced a pilot program offering social pension insurance for urban residents in 2011 to expand the coverage of the country's pension system.
Premier Wen Jiabao pledged in October to increase government spending on the social pension insurance system to address the problem of the country's surging aging population.
China will start the construction of around 6 million low-income housing units next year, Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Jiang Weixin said on November 12.
China plans to build more than 7 million government-subsidized units this year as part of its five-year plan to offer 36 million such affordable homes by 2015 in a bid to make housing accessible for low-income families.
"We haven't encountered major financial problems concerning the project," Jiang said.
The minister also said the government will see to it that low-income housing is fairly distributed.
The number of accident-related deaths in China over the first 10 months dropped 13.7 percent year on year, the country's work safety watchdog said on November 11.
Meanwhile, the number of accidents declined 14.1 percent from the same period last year, data released on the website of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) showed.
According to information unveiled earlier by the SAWS, 210,797 accidents occurred in China during the January-September period, down 21.3 percent year on year.
The accidents altogether claimed 45,409 lives, representing a 15.3-percent year-on-year drop, the SAWS said.
In its efforts to improve work safety, the SAWS planned to shut down 625 small coal mines that pose safety risks by the end of the year.
Around 1.16 million convicts in China have served their sentences in the community instead of in prison since 2003 as part of the country's efforts to prepare criminals for a return to society, Vice Minister of Justice Zhao Dacheng said on November 13.
Of those convicts, more than 650,000 have finished their community service, Zhao said.
He dismissed concerns over threats to public safety, saying only 0.2 percent of convicts committed crimes again while serving in the community, an extraordinarily low level compared to other countries.
China began its program of community service in 2003 in Beijing, Shanghai and four other areas, and extended the program to the rest of the country in 2009.
The country has also stepped up the reeducation of prisoners, Zhao said, with 1.25 million criminals having received literacy training and compulsory education in prisons since 2008.
Chinese scientists on November 11 launched a survey of endangered finless porpoises in the country's longest waterway, the Yangtze River.
The survey team consists of researchers from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the World Wide Fund for Nature.
The planned 40-day survey will be the most comprehensive since 2006, when a survey found the population of finless porpoises was down to 1,800.
There are probably only 1,000 finless porpoises in the Yangtze and two lakes linked to the waterway after continuous drops in the number, said Wang Ding, a researcher with the Institute of Hydrobiology under the CAS.
The survey team will trace the porpoises using a sonar system along the middle and lower reaches of the river, collecting data on the species' population, which will assist in making future protection policies.
The initial results of the survey will be published in December.
China plans to launch another manned spacecraft, Shenzhou-10, in early June 2013, a leading space program official said on November 10.
Like in the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft mission in June, the crew might include two male astronauts and a female, to enter the Tiangong-1 space lab module, according to Niu Hongguang, Deputy Commander in Chief of China's Manned Space Program.
"They will stay in space for 15 days, operating both automated and manual space dockings with the target orbiter Tiangong-1, conducting scientific experiments in the lab module and giving science lectures to spectators on Earth," Niu said.
In the coming mission, Shenzhou-10 will offer ferrying services of personnel and supplies for Tiangong-1, further testing the astronauts' ability to work and live in space, as well as the functions of the lab module, he said.
China has become the biggest Bible publisher in the world after printing its 100 millionth, according to the country's only authorized Bible-printing company.
On November 8, Qiu Zhonghui, Chairman of the Board of Amity Printing Co. Ltd. in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, said that the 100 millionth copy was printed in July.
About 60 million holy books, including nine ethnic minority language editions, have been printed by Amity Printing. The company has provided 40 million copies in over 90 languages to around 70 countries and regions in the world, Qiu said.
Amity Printing is a joint venture between China's Amity Foundation and the United Bible Societies. The company has been publishing the Bible since 1988.
China has more than 16 million Christians, 55,000 churches or gathering venues, 36,000 missionaries and 100,000 church volunteers. In addition, it has 18 divinity and Bible schools with 1,800 seminarians. | 
