SAFETY NET Workers repair a landslide net designed to stop rocks from falling on the Baoji-Chengdu railway

Premier Wen Jiabao announced on May 21 the Central Government will allocate 70 billion yuan ($10 billion) this year for a reconstruction fund to the ravaged regions of the deadliest earthquake in decades on May 12.

He also pledged to arrange funds for the reconstruction over the next two years. He admitted the devastating earthquake had caused huge losses in quake-hit regions and said reconstruction would be an arduous task.

Wen announced that the Central Government's spending would be slashed by 5 percent this year to fund quake relief efforts.

Wen ordered government organizations and public institutions at all levels to decrease their spending on meetings and business travel and freeze the approval of any new office buildings for government bodies.

Torch Route Change

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) decided on May 22 to adjust the route of the Olympic torch relay because of the May 12 earthquake.

The relay in quake-hit Sichuan Province, which was scheduled between June 15 and 18, is now postponed to August 3 to 5 before the torch is taken to Beijing, officials with the BOCOG said. Adjustments will also be made to future legs of the relay route.

The relay was suspended for three days between May 19 and 21 during a national mourning period after the earthquake. It was resumed in Ningbo City in east China's Zhejiang Province on May 22.

Cross-Straits Visit

Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung is due to visit the mainland from May 26 to May 31, an official with the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee announced on May 18.

Invited by the CPC Central Committee and General Secretary Hu Jintao, Wu Poh-hsiung will visit the three mainland cities of Nanjing, Beijing and Shanghai during his six-day tour.

Chen Yunlin, Director of the Taiwan Work Office, said that with positive changes in the current situation in Taiwan, "Wu's visit will be conducive to strengthening communication and dialogue of the two parties and will push forward the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations."

Earthquake Insurance

Shortly after the catastrophic earthquake in Sichuan, Chinese insurers sent emergency teams to offer indemnity to policyholder victims, smooth indemnity procedures and donate 164.23 million yuan ($23.5 million) as of May 19 to support the victims of the earthquake.

Insurers had paid indemnity of 14.63 million yuan ($2.1 million) in claims related to China's deadliest quake in decades as of May 18, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission announced on its website on May 19.

Insurers received about 100,000 claims with 4,434 insured people certified dead and another 2,841 injured.

The massive earthquake would eat into insurers' profits over the short term, but increase insurance awareness and help China's disaster insurance industry in the long run, analysts said.

Higher English Scores

Officials with the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), most widely accepted academic English exam, report that scores for Chinese test takers increased in 2007. Results show that students are making strong progress in mastering communicative English skills.

According to data on examinees' performance on the TOEFL Internet-based test between January and December 2007, the mean score for Chinese test takers was 78, a 2-point increase from 2006. The mean score for Chinese test takers now matches the worldwide average of 78.

According to the Ministry of Education, in 2007 the number of Chinese students studying abroad reached 144,000, an 8-percent increase over 2006, and the number of Chinese students coming back to the country also increased, as 44,000 overseas students returned home in 2007.