The website, which also features information on welfare policies, is expected to offer, in three to four months, more specific services concerning the elderly, the disabled and orphans, said Feng Xiaoli, Director of the ministry's Social Welfare Center.

The center will recommend, through the website, care service products, Feng said. Visitors will also be able to book places in care homes, ask questions and discuss problems, and the ministry will organize experts to respond, she added.

Ancient Voices

The discovery of more than 2,000 bamboo strips, dating back to the late Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.), is exciting historians for the light it could shed on early Chinese history.

A former pupil who wishes to remain anonymous donated the 2,100 strips to Tsinghua University in July.

Most words on the strips-some are as long as 46 cm and some a mere 10 cm-remain clear and neat. The short strips may have been used as "pocket books" that could be carried around more easily, according to professor Li Xueqin, a leading historian at Tsinghua University.

"These bamboo strips are like a newly-found historian. Together, they make up one of the oldest books found so far in China," Li said.

Successful Women

The First Annual Women in Business Conference, sponsored by Yi Ming Consulting Co. Ltd., was held on October 24 in Beijing. About 150 businesswomen delegates from China, the United States, the U.K., France, Germany and Australia attended the forum.

The forum focused on the role of women as business leaders in companies and chambers of commerce and examined the reasons for success.

About 40 speakers, most of them female business leaders, shared their experiences and thoughts. According to the event's sponsor, the forum will be held each year from now on.