HELLO CALLER: President Hu Jintao talks with netizens via a forum on the website of People's Daily on June 20. It was the first time that the Chinese president had gone online to speak to the public

Government Cars Banned

Starting from June 23, half of government cars in Beijing will be ordered off roads to ease congestion, reduce emissions and save resources for a greener Olympics in August.

A statement from the Beijing Municipal Government on June 23 also encouraged the public to use public transport, cycle or walk to work during this period.

Beijing also plans to enforce an odd-and-even license plate rule that will allow the city's 3.3 million cars to drive into the city only on alternate days, between July 20 and September 20. During this period, more government cars will be ordered off the roads.

Tibet Reopened

Tibet reopened to foreign tourists on June 25 after a stoppage of more than three months due to the March 14 riot in the regional capital of Lhasa. Independent domestic travelers have not been prohibited from entering the region.

The first foreign tourists, a Swedish couple, arrived in Lhasa on the evening of June 25.

Tibet has been reopened to domestic tour groups since April 23, followed by visitors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan in May. As of June 20, the region had received more than 160 tour groups.

On June 24, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters in Beijing that Tibet would not change the policy of opening-up.

Anti-corruption Blueprint

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee recently revealed its plan for the Party's prevention and punishment of corruption for the next five years.

A focus of the plan is to correct sybaritic and wasteful spending of the government's money by bosses of state-owned corporations.

It orders leaders in state-owned companies to create legal, clean and democratic management by paying more attention to the appeals and demands of the public.

It vows to establish a supervision system in which the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee regularly reports its work to the plenary meeting of the committee, which supervises the Political Bureau. Meanwhile, it supports pushing forward the government's information transparency through holding more public hearings and professional consultation meetings.

Designing Sun-lit Schools

An international architectural design competition for "Sun-lit Schools" was launched on June 25, to seek solutions for solar-fueled school buildings in the countryside.

The contest was co-organized by the International Solar Energy Society and the China Renewable Energy Society.

Contestants are required to design "sun-lit" school buildings with reference to climatic conditions in earthquake-hit areas such as Mianyang in Sichuan Province.

Professionals from domestic and overseas architectural institutions, universities and research and manufacturing companies related to solar energy are eligible applicants.

Charity Book Released

China's charity icon Yao Li, who launched the country's first charity vocational school for the children of migrant workers, released a book reviewing her philanthropy career.

The book, entitled Dreams Pave the Way, is a first-person account of how Yao and her team started and have run the historic charity school in Beijing since 2004.

Beijing Publishing House declared that they would donate the remuneration and the publisher's profit to the China Youth Development Foundation.

The book, which hit the shelves of major bookstores in Beijing in June, has sold well, according to the publisher.