MOTHER AND CHILD: Giant panda Yuan Yuan holds its cub, nicknamed Yuan Zai, at Taipei Zoo in Taiwan on August 19. Yuan Zai is the first baby of Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, who were given as a goodwill gift to Taiwan by the Chinese mainland in 2008 (XINHUA)

Pension Reform

Chinese policymakers and advisors have proposed a new pension scheme, suggesting a raise in the retirement age, in order to ease the financial strain of China's aging population.

The new scheme suggests that the initial pension age for both men and women should be raised to 65 as of 2030 from the current retirement age of 60 for men and 50 for women.

The age of 65 was chosen based on the pace of aging in China, but it could still be adjusted for laborers undertaking especially arduous work, said Yang Yansui, an expert from Tsinghua University, in a report released on August 21.

By 2035, China will have become what has been termed a "super aging society." This means that every two workers will be supporting one elderly person, said Yang.

Universal Education

School enrollment was available to 99.85 percent of China's children in 2012, according to a report from the Ministry of Education on August 16.

There were a total of 181,300 kindergartens in China last year, representing an increase of 14,500 over the previous year, the report revealed.

The gross enrollment rate for junior high school students stood at 85 percent in 2012, up 1 percentage point over 2011. China's colleges and universities admitted 6.89 million students last year, representing a year-on-year increase of 1.08 percent.

As many as 589,700 postgraduates were enrolled in universities and research institutes, indicating a 5.27-percent rise against a year earlier period, the report added.

Eco-improvement

The Ministry of Water Resources on August 15 unveiled a new program to treat water and soil loss over the next five years.

The program, which covers 279 counties across 20 provincial-level regions, aims to treat water and soil loss occurring over 30,000 square km of land.

It is expected that the forest coverage ratio in these regions will be raised to 50 percent and 13 million residents will be lifted out of poverty through the planned expansion of farmland and forest.

China first launched a program of this kind in 1983. Over the years, a total of 58,300 square km of land affected by water and soil loss has been treated.

Culture Showcase

Various events aimed at raising the profile of Chinese culture will be held in September across the world.

From August 27 to September 6, a series of performances, exhibitions, movie screenings and displays of gourmet food centering on the rich culture of the peoples in southwest China's Yunnan Province will be held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. From September 25, similar activities featuring Inner Mongolian culture will be held in the state of Kentucky in the United States.

Activities arranged to take place in Nigeria and Kenya are scheduled to begin on September 10, while those taking place in Kazakhstan and Germany will be starting on September 16.