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Nation
Special> 2010 in Retrospect> Nation
UPDATED: December 27, 2010 NO. 52 DECEMBER 30, 2010
Top 10 Events in 2010
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China's 11th Five-Year Program (2006-10) for National Economic and Social Development set targets to reduce the total pollutant emissions by 10 percent and energy consumption per 10,000 yuan ($1,500) of GDP by 20 percent.

To achieve the targets, China has conducted a nationwide campaign to eliminate excessive energy consuming and polluting facilities in industries such as electricity generation, steel making and coal-related production.

In the same period, the country had an average annual GDP growth rate of 11.4 percent, while the average annual energy consumption growth rate was 6.8 percent.

Education Guideline

(XINHUA)

May 5, the Chinese Government approved the Medium- and Long-term National Educational Reform and Development Plan (2010-20) after a drafting process of a year and nine months. The outline of the plan was published in full on July 29.

The outline says government investment in education will be raised to 4 percent of GDP by 2012.

It says giving students fairer access to quality education would be a "fundamental policy," with more public educational resources to be arranged for rural, impoverished and ethnic areas.

The 22-chapter document also says by 2020 the enrolment rate for senior middle school should be 90 percent of those of school age, while the enrolment rate for higher education should be 40 percent of high school graduates.

The outline also sets the goal of eliminating illiteracy among young and middle-aged people by the end of the decade.

Landmark Pact

(CHEN JIANLI)

June 29, the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.

The ECFA, taking effect on September 12, aims to establish an institutionalized mechanism for enhancing cross-Straits economic cooperation. Under the agreement, the two sides agreed to gradually reduce and remove trade and investment barriers.

According to the "early harvest" program, an integral part of the ECFA, the duties on 539 Taiwan goods and 267 mainland products will be reduced to zero in three phases within two years beginning January 1, 2011.

ARATS and SEF signed a medical and health care cooperation agreement in Taipei on December 21 at the sixth meeting of their heads since 2008.

Asian Games

(LIU DAWEI)

November 12, the 16th Asian Games opened in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province.

The 15-day Games included the most sports ever in the Games' 59-year history, as it covered 28 Olympic and 14 non-Olympic sports featuring 476 events.

A total of 9,704 athletes from 45 countries and regions, 4,983 team officials, 4,191 technical officials and 9,939 journalists congregated for the largest-ever Games. Three world records were broken and 12 Asian records were set in swimming and cycling.

China stayed at the top of gold medal tally for the eighth straight time, collecting 199 gold medals, 119 silver and 98 bronze.

Opening on December 12, the inaugural Asian Para Games in Guangzhou attracted 2,512 athletes from 41 countries and regions taking part in a total of 19 sports.

Workplace Fatalities

(SHI YANYAN)

March 28, underground water gushed in the tunnel of Wangjialing Coalmine in Shanxi Province where 261 miners were working. Only 108 managed to escape while 153 others were trapped.

One hundred and fifteen miners were rescued on April 5, while 38 died. Neglect of signs of flooding was blamed for the accident.

Other major workplace accidents in 2010 included an oil spill after two pipelines exploded off the coast of Dalian in Liaoning Province on July 16; an explosion at an abandoned factory in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province on July 28, killing 22 people and hospitalizing another 120; a crash of a passenger aircraft in Yichun, Heilongjiang Province on August 24, killing 42 people and injuring 54, and a fire of a 28-story apartment building in Shanghai on November 15, leaving 58 dead and more than 70 injured.

Disastrous Landslides

(XINHUA)

August 8, downpour-triggered landslides, mixed with more than 2 million cubic meters of mud, hit Zhouqu County in northwest China's Gansu Province, affecting more than 20,000 people in the mountainous county and leaving at least 1,493 people dead and 272 missing.

The disaster in Zhouqu is just one of the flood-triggered geological calamities in China in 2010. All of the country's seven major rivers flooded while the upper reaches of the Yangtze River's mainstream were hit by the worst floods since 1987. Many regions in the southwest, northwest and south were struck by flash floods, mudslides and landslides.

China's southwest was hit by a once-in-a-century drought spell in the spring of 2010. Nationwide, a total of 23.3 million hectares of farmland suffered from drought, with 2.32 million hectares becoming arid as a result. Around 30.5 million people were subjected to drinking water shortages during droughts and direct economic losses from droughts added up to 95 billion yuan ($14.4 billion).

The most catastrophic natural disaster in China in 2010 was a 7.1-magnitude earthquake that rocked the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu in northwest China's Qinghai Province on April 14. The death toll reached 2,698.

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