CELEBRATING THE SPIRIT OF YOUTH

Children learn to make dumplings at a kindergarten in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, before International Children's Day on June 1.

This year, the day had a special gift in store for China's 300 million population aged below 15 years, as it saw the country's revised Law on the Protection of the Minors take effect. The law, adopted last December, has greatly extended its jurisdiction compared with the previous version, by including provisions that ensure compulsory education to children from all families in difficulties and bar schools from prolonging study hours and increasing students' workloads.

During his May 26 visit to "abandoned" children of rural migrant workers in cities, Premier Wen Jiabao also pledged that the government would establish effective mechanisms to protect and care for the 20 million underprivileged children in China's vast rural areas.

SOCIETY

Capital Punishment for Corrupt Official

Zheng Xiaoyu, former head of China's State Food and Drug Administration, was sentenced to death by a Beijing court on May 29.

Zheng, 63, was convicted of taking bribes and dereliction of duty, according to the first instance hearing of the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.

He received the death penalty on the graft charge and seven years in prison for dereliction of duty. All his personal property was confiscated and he was deprived of his political rights for life.

The death sentence was appropriate, according to the court, given the "huge bribes involved and the great damage inflicted on the country and the public by Zheng's dereliction of duty."

The bribes taken by Zheng, including cash and gifts, were worth more than 6.49 million yuan, according to the court. The bribes were given either directly or through his wife and son.

New Party Chief for Shanghai

Xi Jinping was elected Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Shanghai Municipal Committee on May 28.

Xi, born in June 1953, was elected to the post at the first plenary session of the Ninth CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee.

Former Party chief of Shanghai Chen Liangyu was removed from his post in September 2006 due to a corruption scandal.

Before he was appointed Shanghai Party chief, Xi was Party chief of neighboring Zhejiang Province.

Xi said in a report to the municipal CPC congress, which opened on May 24 that lessons had to be learnt from the social security fund scandal. He said the scandal had revealed inadequate supervision of senior officials and a lack of integrity among some leaders who put their personal interests before those of the Party.

Mentally Healthy Recruits

Starting in June, Chinese citizens need to pass psychological tests if they want to pursue a career in the military, the Liberation Army Daily has reported.

The tests, which have been piloted for two years, will become standard when military academies start annual recruitment, the newspaper said.

The newspaper said the tests, which include computer-based written tests and a face-to-face interview, aim to find out whether applicants are suited to a military career.

Psychological tests have been used by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) since the 1950s to help select pilots and astronauts.

With China increasingly aware of the importance of good mental health among its armed forces, the PLA headquarters issued a set of new recruitment rules last year, requiring that China's military colleges carry out drug and psychological tests when recruiting would-be military officials.

Strengthen Children's Physique

Chinese State Councilor Chen Zhili recently called for the development of school physical education in order to build up the health of youngsters.

The health of Chinese students is deteriorating because of their heavy study burden, as well as lack of sleep and physical exercise, according to the circular released this week.

At a national teleconference on physical education, Chen asked schools to make sure students have one hour per day to do physical exercise, to ensure the quality of physical education and to reduce students' homework burden.

Local governments should increase investment into school sports facilities while families and communities should also encourage sports activities among young people, Chen added.

Tightening China-Caribbean Ties

To deepen the cooperation between China and Caribbean countries in the six key fields of trade, investment, agriculture, tourism & logistics, finance and human resources, the Chinese Government will simultaneously hold the Second China-Caribbean Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum in Xiamen as well as the 11th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT).

The cooperation forum will be sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the China Council for International Investment Promotion, with the theme "Deepen the Cooperation on Economy and Trade to Develop Together." During the forum, the sponsors will hold a series of activities, such as the Second China-Caribbean Ministerial Conference, Series of Seminars on Agriculture and Tourism Cooperation, Caribbean Pavilion Day, Pictures Display on China-Caribbean Cooperation and Entrepreneurs Conference. The cooperation forum will take full advantage of CIFIT's abundant resources to set up a platform for officials, representatives and entrepreneurs from China and Caribbean countries to discuss cooperation and development.