TEMPLE VERIFICATION: The mediation room of Nengren Temple in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province. The State Administration for Religious Affairs said on December 17 that it will publish a list of officially approved Buddhist and Taoist temples online next year to prevent scams (XUE DONGMEI)

School Funding

High schools in China's impoverished areas received 5 billion yuan ($824 million) between 2011 and 2013 from the Central Government, the Ministry of Finance announced on December 16.

This year, the Central Government provided 2 billion yuan ($329 million) for equipment, books, as well as the expansion and renovation of high schools, according to the ministry.

Local governments in central and western regions pumped 1.1 billion yuan ($181 million) into high schools in poor areas from 2011 to 2012 to improve basic schooling standards, the ministry stated.

So far, local and central funds have benefited 2.56 million students in 796 schools, expanded and renovated 2.23 million square meters of school infrastructure and provided books worth 69.62 million yuan ($11 million) and equipment worth 553 million yuan ($91 million).

Organ Allocation

China's computerized organ-allocation system was used successfully for the first time in Beijing on December 17, as donated organs from a 47-year-old man were transplanted into three patients.

The donor died on December 7 from a cerebral hemorrhage in a suburban Beijing hospital.

The man's liver and both of his kidneys were then given to patients waiting for transplants at Peking University People's Hospital.

It is the first time in Beijing that donated organs were allocated by the China Organ Transplant Response System and transplanted to patients in need, according to a hospital news release. Previously, organ allocation would have been likely to have been dealt with internally by a hospital.

The China Organ Transplant Response System was launched in 2010 to more fairly distribute organs from donors from across the country after their deaths.

Lottery Sales

China's lottery sales reached 279.05 billion yuan ($46 billion) in the first 11 months, up 18.9 percent year on year, the Ministry of Finance announced on December 17.

During this period, welfare lottery sales reached 158.89 billion yuan ($26 billion), an increase of 16.9 percent year on year, and sports lottery sales rose 21.7 percent year on year to 120.16 billion yuan ($20 billion).

The ministry attributed the jump in sales to the introduction of new lottery products, promotion of quiz-style games and more outlets for online lottery games.

Money raised through lotteries is used for the jackpot, management fees and public lottery funds.