Revamp for Tibet

China's Central Government will invest more than 100 billion yuan in 180 projects in the Tibet Autonomous Region by 2010, the regional government announced on March 26.

Though it had reported five consecutive years of GDP growth of more than 12 percent, Tibet remained one of China's most underdeveloped regions due to its harsh natural conditions and a weak economy, and it relied heavily on investment, said Qiangba Puncog, Governor of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Covering a wide array of infrastructure construction, education, social security and environmental conservation, the projects would see 80 percent of Tibet's villages connected by road, safe drinking water for all its 2.76 million people and free education up to high school for all children, said Hao Peng, the region's vice governor.

The funding would also help pay for power plants and telecommunications facilities in remote villages and to protect natural forests.

Mao's Son Dies

Mao Anqing, the only surviving son of late Chinese leader Mao Zedong, died on March 23 in Beijing at the age of 84.

Mao Anqing, born in 1923 in Hunan Province, was sent to Shanghai together with his elder brother Mao Anying and younger brother Mao Anlong after their mother Yang Kaihui was killed in 1930 by a local warlord.

In 1936, Mao Anqing and Mao Anying were sent to study in Moscow.

Mao Anqing returned to China in 1947 and joined the Communist Party of China (CPC). He has worked as a Russian translator in the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee since 1949. He has translated dozens of masterpieces of Marxism and Leninism and some books on political science.

Psychotherapy and Training Behind Bars

Almost 3 million lectures on mental health were provided to China's 1.5 million prison inmates, an official with the Ministry of Justice said. Every prisoner receives a psychological evaluation when they first enter a correctional institute. They are also offered consultations based on their needs, the official said.

Inmates received various types of education last year, with 95.15 percent of prisoners receiving vocational training, of which 65.82 percent received certificates. More than 180,000 prisoners received higher education diplomas last year.

Organ Failure

Huang Jiefu, Vice Minister of Health, told a seminar in Beijing on March 25 that the scarce supply of human organs has been a major obstacle for human organ transplants in China, citing that there is a huge gap between the patients who need functional organs and the limited number of donations.

Statistics show that about 1.5 million patients need organ transplants each year, but only 10,000 can find organs. "Human organ donations are far from the clinical demand," he said.

In China, most organs are donated by ordinary citizens upon their death after the voluntary signing of donation agreements. The lack of brain-dead criteria in China has been blamed for the insufficiency of organ supply. Medical experts believe that if organs were allowed to be removed from people declared brain-dead, supply would be increased significantly.