FISH SEASON: Fishermen unloading their haul at a harbor in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, on September 15 (CHEN WENWU)

Investment Plans

The State Council, China's cabinet, encouraged private investment in care services focusing on the elderly as part of a program announced on September 13. China currently has the largest population of senior citizens in the world.

China aims to complete a social care network for its elderly by 2020, when the total number of senior citizens is expected to reach 243 million, according to the program.

Of the 44,000 retirement care institutions in China, an estimated 75 percent are sponsored by the government. Non-governmental institutions are having difficulty finding land and investment opportunities.

The new program marked breakthroughs in the areas of land allocation, tax and government subsidy policies, said Dang Junwu, Deputy Director of the China Research Center on Aging.

According to the new program, non-profit retirement care institutions sponsored by private investors will enjoy land use policies equal to their state-owned counterparts and be exempt from all administrative fees.

Expat Permits

Last year, China granted 1,202 permanent residency permits to foreign nationals, up more than 83 percent from 2011, China Daily reported on September 16.

More than half of the recipients came for reunions with family residing in China, while the rest were mostly professionals, executives and professors, according to the Ministry of Public Security's Bureau of Exit and Entry Administration.

People with higher education backgrounds and business experience are more likely to get the permits.

Female Pilots

China's State Oceanic Administration (SOA) recently began recruitment procedures in the search for two highly skilled female pilots to operate its deep-sea submersible.

The administration said that it had received nearly 100 applications and most are recent graduates holding master's degrees or doctorates.

The SOA will choose two female graduates with bachelor's degrees or higher between the ages of 22 and 30, with a height between 1.6 to 1.7 meters and good eyesight.

In the meantime, four male pilots aged 22 to 35 with heights ranging between 1.65 to 1.76 meters are being selected, according to the SOA.

Aside from the physical requirements, potential candidates must also have an academic background in mechanical or electrical engineering.

Occupational Hazards

China reported a total of 24,206 new cases of pneumoconiosis in 2012, down 2,195 from the previous

year, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said on September 16. Pneumoconiosis is a disease caused by the excessive inhalation of dust, usually during mining.

Cases of pneumoconiosis accounted for more than 88 percent of the country's total reports of new occupational disease cases, which also included around 600 cases of acute poisoning, more than 1,000 cases of chronic poisoning and 1,500 others cases of occupational diseases.

Nearly 50 percent of the new occupational disease cases were from the coal sector, while reports from the coal, railway, nonferrous metals and construction material sectors combined accounted for 72 percent of the annual total.