RUN TIME: Ann, a three-legged dog, ranks third in a dog competition held by China's largest Internet company Tencent in Beijing on April 12 (WEI YAO)

Purified Seawater

Construction of a desalination project that will deliver purified seawater to Beijing from its neighboring Hebei Province's coast will start at the end of the year, local authorities announced on April 16.

The project will be located in Caofeidian, the second largest port in Hebei, with a daily desalination capacity of 1 million tons of seawater, said Wang Xiaoshui, director of the seawater desalination department of Beijing Enterprises Water Group Ltd.

After the project goes into operation in 2019, Beijing will receive more than 300 million cubic meters of desalted Bohai seawater annually, about 10 percent of its current water consumption volume.

"Beijing residents will be able to enjoy desalinated seawater," said Wang.

The project will include a facility and a 270-km-long pipeline extending to Beijing.

University Cooperation

Duke Kunshan University (DKU), a Sino-American joint venture university in east China's Jiangsu Province, will officially open in August, local authorities said on April 15.

DKU, in the city of Kunshan, was jointly created by U.S.-based Duke University and Wuhan University in China's Hubei Province. The Ministry of Education formally approved its establishment last September.

"We plan to enroll the first 100 students, including 50 Chinese, offering master's degree programs in global health, medical physics and management studies. Graduates will be granted degrees from Duke University," said Liu Jingnan, chancellor of DKU.

In addition to academic degree programs, the university will provide non-degree courses for undergraduate students. Students who successfully complete the program will receive Duke University course credit that can be transferred to other degree-granting institutions.

China currently has about 1,500 Sino-foreign joint institutions and programs, including Shanghai New York University, Wenzhou-Kean University and DKU.

Crop Insurance

China will intensify its efforts to promote crop insurance, with insured farm produce expected to cover 60 percent of the country's cultivated land by 2020, the country's top insurance regulator said on April 14.

The country will improve its crop insurance mechanisms, especially services for the animal husbandry and planting sector, in a bid to guarantee food security, said Wang Zuji, deputy head of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission.

Insurers will be encouraged to cover farm produce prices, rural houses and infrastructure, according to Wang.

The bureau is also considering subsidies for insurers to promote agriculture-related business, he said.

China had 1.11 billion mu (74 million hectares) of crops insured last year, accounting for 45 percent of the overall seeded area. A total of 33.67 million rural households received combined compensation worth 20.9 billion yuan ($3.4 billion).