China's top legislature has designated December 4 as national Constitution Day amid efforts to advance the rule of law.

Nationwide activities to promote the Constitution will be held on the day, according to a bill adopted at a bimonthly session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) from October 27 to November 1.

The Fifth NPC adopted the current Constitution of China on December 4, 1982, based on a previous version enacted in 1954.

At the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee held on October 20-23, the Party pledged to improve the socialist system of law with Chinese characteristics, of which the Constitution forms the core.

"To realize the rule of law, the country should be ruled in line with the Constitution," read the communiqué issued after the plenary session.

Space Launch

China's fourth space launch center in Wenchang, south China's Hainan Province, will launch the country's next space station and cargo spacecraft, according to Tao Zhongshan, chief engineer of the Xichang launch center.

Tao told Xinhua News Agency on October 26 that the new center will be used mainly for geosynchronous satellites, large-tonnage space stations, cargo spacecraft and large polar orbit satellites.

Wenchang has an advantage for the transportation of modules of spacecraft, as it is located near a seaport. The site's low latitude will also allow an increase in carrying capacity of rockets by about 10 percent, compared to the Xichang Space Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The Chang'e-5 moon lander, which will collect samples and return to Earth, will be launched from Wenchang, probably in 2017.

Once put into use, the Wenchang Space Launch Center, along with the three other centers in Xichang, Jiuquan in Gansu Province in the northwest, and Taiyuan in Shanxi Province in the north, will all have different functions.

China's Manned Space Agency recently announced that the Tiangong-2 space lab will be launched around 2016, followed by the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft and Tianzhou cargo craft to rendezvous with the lab.

A core module for the space station will be launched around 2018 and the station will be completed around 2022.

Disgraced Ex-General

Xu Caihou, former Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission (CMC), has confessed to taking bribes, military prosecutors announced on October 28.

The investigation into Xu's case has concluded and the filing of the case has begun, said a statement from the military procuratorate.

Xu was found to have taken advantage of his position to assist the promotions of others, accepting huge bribes personally as well as through his family, and to have sought profits for others in exchange for bribes. The amount of the bribes was "extremely large," the statement said.

The Communist Party of China Central Committee decided to expel Xu from the Party and hand his case to prosecutors at a meeting in June. Xu had been under investigation since March.

Xu, 71, was CMC vice chairman from 2004 to 2012 and was made a general in 1999. He has been discharged from military service with his rank revoked.

Xu was diagnosed with bladder cancer in February 2013 and is still undergoing treatment, a statement on the Ministry of National Defense website said on Tuesday.