(XINHUA)

Wu Renbao, retired Communist Party of China chief of Huaxi Village in east China's Jiangsu Province, died of cancer at the age of 85 on March 18.

With annual sales revenue of more than 50 billion yuan ($7.93 billion), the village is one of the richest in the country.

Wu worked hard over the past decades to turn the once poverty-stricken area into a well-off village featuring villas, cars and a high per-capita income.

He has been hailed as an outstanding example among the country's many rural Party leaders.

Central Bank Governor

(XINHUA)

Zhou Xiaochuan, China's central bank governor, was voted, although not unanimously, by the National People's Congress deputies to extend his tenure on March 16, making him the longest-serving official for that position.

Under his watch, China has successfully steered the four state-owned banks from the brink of bankruptcy into listed commercial lenders, loosened the reins on its currency and accelerated the opening up of its capital accounts.

At a press conference held on March 13, 65-year-old Zhou said the priority this year is to guard against inflation and the country should be on high alert for rising prices.

"If the Central Government refuses to cover part of the debt, the corporation will have no choice but to raise ticket prices. Some fares for high-speed lines will probably cost more than airline flights."

Wang Mengshu, deputy chief engineer of the China Railway Tunnel Group and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, commenting on the huge debt of the just dissolved Ministry of Railways at the annual session of the National People's Congress in March

"People's craze for English learning has wasted education resources and threatened the study of Chinese."

Zhang Shuhua, Dean of the Information and Intelligence Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, speaking at a meeting during the annual session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in March

"The cause of cancer is not entirely clear, but a large number of investigations and basic research have confirmed that it is closely related to the degree of pollution in the environment in which we live, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and the lifestyles we lead."

Hua Yawei, deputy head of the Henan Tumor Hospital, calling for the introduction of a pollution index directly related to human health

"School performance should be evaluated in a comprehensive manner, not solely on students' test scores."

Liu Limin, Vice Minister of Education, commenting on a recently launched national campaign aimed at alleviating students' heavy workload