A senior Party official said on October 17 that Wan Gang and Chen Zhu, both non-communist experts, are qualified for their cabinet posts. Ouyang Song, deputy head of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Organization Department, said at a press briefing that to recruit non-communist experts for posts at the cabinet level is an important decision the CPC central leadership has made.

Wan, an auto technologist who worked for Audi for a decade, was appointed minister of science and technology earlier this year. The world-recognized hematologist Chen Zhu was named health minister. Both are from the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body.

"Wan and Chen both have solid academic backgrounds, leadership capability and good working style," Ouyang said, adding, "Our Party will continue choosing more qualified experts from outside the CPC to work for the government with their expertise."

Memoir of A Premier

The secretary of the People's Republic of China's first Premier Zhou Enlai published a memoir on the last eight years in Zhou's life on October 17.

Memorable Eight Years was written by Ji Dong, one of the secretaries working for Zhou before his death.

Ji worked for Zhou from 1968 to1976 until Zhou's death at the age of 78.

The book collected 42 stories in around 120,000 words, most of which were about the daily life of Zhou.

"The last words Premier Zhou said to my colleagues and me were 'I am tired.' It was the first time I heard him complaining. He died eight days later," Ji said, adding that the scene impressed him so much that he never forgot in the past three decades.

Panda's Home Visit

Two male pandas born in Japan four years ago will become the first overseas-born twin pandas ever to come back to China in late October.

Ryuhin and Shuhin are due to leave Osaka, Japan at 3:30 a.m. (Beijing time) on Oct. 27, stay in Beijing overnight and arrive at Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, the following day, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding announced on October 17.

They will be quarantined in a newly-built house at the base for two to three months, where they will adapt to their new environment before being shown to visitors, said Huang Xiangming, Curator of the Animal Management Department with the base.

South Pole Mission

China plans to send its 24th science inspection team to the South Pole at the end of this month and build an automatic observatory there next year.

The observatory will be set up at Dome Argus, the highest point of the Antarctic ice sheet, where scientists can obtain data including global climate changes and extraordinary natural phenomena, which is otherwise unavailable in other parts of the world, said experts with the China Antarctic Astronomy Center.

The inspection team has also recruited two astronomers from the National Astronomical Observatory and Purple Mountain Observatory under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. They will be the first Chinese astronomers to visit the Antarctic area.

Treat Hero Better

A Guangzhou charity has raised the maximum amount of money it can award to families of people who lose their lives while trying to save others to 300,000 yuan from 50,000 yuan.

The Foundation of Social Heroes in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, also upped the highest sum given to those who incur disabilities while performing "heroic deeds" to 150,000 yuan.

Research by the China Foundation of Society's Heroes found that families of those who died from rescuing others lack financial support, particularly if the family loses its main bread earner.

Since 1990, 2,600 people have been given the title of "hero" in Guangzhou and received awards from the foundation.