Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Same-sex get married in Mexico after law passed

   Some 570 same-sex couples married on Friday, the first day such marriages were allowed under the city's new Societal Cohabitation Law passed on Nov. 16.
  
  Emilio Alvarez-Icaza, president of the city's Human Right's Commission, said the law not only covers the city's gay, lesbian, transvestite, transsexual and transgender population, but also legalizes all forms of cohabitation.
  
  The law means that couples can inherit property, pension and be the next of kin when one of the couple becomes ill.
  
  Local authorities in the eastern Mexico City region of Iztapalapa were the first to start the same-sex weddings, with Antonio Medina and Jorge Cerpa celebrating a civil wedding at a public event.
  
  The couple's witnesses included playwright Sabina Berman and the mayor of Iztapalapa Horacio Martinez.
  
  The different delegations, as the city's sub-divisions are called, will have special offices for couples who decide to use the Cohabitation law.
  
  Alejandro Diaz Garcia and Rafael Ramirez Arana, two advisors working for a deputy in Mexico's national legislature, formalized their union in the Venustiano Carranza delegation office.
  
  "We know that this is not a wedding, and we don't want to make a spectacle of ourselves, nor to have anyone tell us we are crazy," said Ramirez.
  
  The couple held a joint stag night with friends, and hosted a banquet at a hotel in the city's swank Paseo de La Reforma, before flying to Cancun, a tourist resort in the southeastern Mexico state of Quintana Roo for a honeymoon.

Monday, March 12, 2007

American photographer sells pictures online to aid Chinese ill boy

An American photographer recently started selling his pictures online in order to help a Chinese boy who suffers from leukaemia. The moving story began from his visit to Guilin last year.

60-year-old Ray is a retired engineer living in Seattle. After retirement, he spent much of his time taking scenery pictures and later became a professional scenery photographer.

In April 2006, he travelled to China and met Wu Meijuan in Guilin. Wu was then a sophomore studying in Guilin Tourism College. They talked in English and soon became good friends. Before leaving, the two left their email addresses and kept in thouch after Ray returned to the US.

In November 2006, Wu learned that her cousin suffered from a serious illness and in order to cure his disease, his family had incurred several thousand yuan of debt. When visiting her cousin, Wu was amazed to see that the eight-year-old boy, looked skinny and pale. He was lying in bed quietly.

Her uncle told her that the boy had got leukaemia and had stayed in hospital for half a year. They had already spent nearly 100,000 yuan in order to cure his disease. But since they had run out of money, the boy had had to leave the hospital.

Wu later told Ray about her cousin’s illness in an email. Ray answered her email very soon, saying that he would do anything he could to help them. Ray also asked Wu to fax her consin’s medical reports to him.

In a month’s time, Ray contacted one of his friends, a doctor in Shanghai and talked to a charity organization and a hospital in Shanghai. They all agreed to offer medical treatment for the boy free of charge. When the boy was transferred to the Shanghai hospital, Ray often contacted the doctors in Shanghai asking about the boy’s illness. He also sent some money to the boy.

In February this year, the boy became much better and returned to his native province of Jiangxi after a month’s treatment in Shanghai. His doctor, Ray’s friends, gave him some oral medicine, which could last him through three months, and told him that once he had taken all this medicine, he should return to Shanghai immediately.

At the same time, Ray was always very concerned about how to pay for the boy’s medical costs in his next stage of treatment. On February 26, this year, Ray organized a private exhibition for his pictures in Seattle. He then sent all the money collected from the exhibition to Wu.

Later, Ray wrote an article in his personal website about the boy’s illness, asking the public to donate money for the boy. He also sold his scenery pictures at low prices and said he would use all the money he earned to treat the boy’s disease.

On March 4, Ray sold his first picture at 50 US dollars online and he soon sent the money to China.

China's new space program unveiled

The government has unveiled an ambitious blueprint for developing space science that includes the launch of the country's first astronomy satellite and more extensive international cooperation.

The astronomical satellite will carry a "hard X-ray modulation telescope," which is being developed by Chinese scientists for launch in 2010, according to the Space Science Development Plan.

The plan was released by the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense for the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) over the weekend.

The project will help Chinese scientists make breakthroughs in research of black hole physics and other fields, as hard X-rays originate mostly from regions close to black holes, experts said.

The telescope would be preceded by Shijian-10, a recoverable satellite to be sent in 2009 for scientific experiments, according to the plan.

The document singles out three international cooperative projects to be implemented in the current Five-Year Plan period.

They include a joint unmanned mission to Mars with Russia, which will not only bring samples back to Earth but also land on one of the red planet's tiny moons, Ye Peijian, a leading scientist at the Chinese Research Institute of Space Technology, said last August.

China and Russia will also work on the World Satellite Observatory of Ultra-Violet.

Another international cooperation project is the Small Explorer for Solar Eruptions (SMESE), a Chinese-French mission to observe solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections for the next Solar Maximum in about 2011.

The plan does not specify a timetable for the three projects.

It says China will focus on innovation and sustainability of space science development to better serve the national economy and security, and help build China into an "innovative country".

The government will set up a system to ensure scientific projects are chosen in an "open and fair" fashion, and "multiple sources" are encouraged to fund such projects, it says.

The release of the development blueprint coincides with the ongoing sessions of the country's top legislature and political advisory body in Beijing.

Last week, Huang Chunping and Qi Faren, both members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said the country would launch a moon orbiter "some time" this year and stage a space walk in 2008.

Suspect additive found in KFC

Chinese Government health experts are investigating a possible cancer-causing additive in oil used to cook KFC products.
  
  The move comes after some KFC outlets in NW China's Shaanxi Province were found to be using a suspected carcinogenic additive to filter and recycle old frying oil.
  
  However, the restaurant chain's parent company Yum China said in a press release that the additive had been approved by the country as a safe additive in food manufacturing as well as being accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for filtering used frying oil. It said all KFC restaurants in China had used the additive since 1999, and all recycled frying oil met national standards.
  
  While the municipal health authorities were not reachable for comment yesterday, dozens of Shenzhen Daily readers voiced their concerns over the potential health risk.
  
  "My 7-year-old son has often eaten KFC's fried chicken wings over the past four years," said one mother in front of a KFC outlet in Huaqiangbei. She believed it was common sense for food manufacturers not to recycle frying oil, and KFC was risking consumers' health if the additive was proved to be carcinogenic.
  
  The suspect additive, said to be Magnesium Trisilicate by the restaurant, is used as a kind of absorbent to filter unwanted residue from used frying oil. Chinese media reported that it enables KFC to recycle oil up to 10 days old.
  
  The additive's manufacturer, U.S. chemical company Dallas Group, claimed the product could help maintain frying oil's quality by absorbing fatty acids and removing impurities which form in edible oils during the frying process.
  
  "Recycled frying oil contains various carcinogens such as Benzypyrene, and these can't be reduced by additives," said a surgeon surnamed Li from the city's Beijing University Shenzhen Hospital.
  
  The additive "scandal" was first reported in Xi'an, capital city of Shaanxi Province, on Thursday, and soon hit headlines in China's influential newspapers and on Web sites.
  
  Local health authorities in Shaanxi Province seized and halted the use of the suspect additive.
  
  KFC said the reports were inconsistent with the facts, and would consider legal action.

Women control money in half of China's rural families

According to a latest survey, women have control of money matters in half of China’s rural families. The survey was launched by All-China Women’s Federation in 2006, with the aim of protecting women’s legitimate interests in the countryside.

The survey shows that most women in the rural areas have the final say in financial matters in the families, and the financial interests of divorced and remarried women are also concerned. 95.6% of CPC secretaries of villages believe those women who have divorced or remarried can be entitled to the property "as ruled by the court" and 85% of ordinary farmers believe such ruling is reasonable.

The survey also finds that 86% of women villagers and 87% of men villagers think the best way to find marriage partners is by free choice, “which demonstrates that the traditional arbitrarily arranged marriage is becoming obsolete.”

The survey was launched in 8 provinces and autonomous regions including Zhejiang, Jilin, Fujian, Hubei, Henan, Ningxia, Shaanxi and Guizhou, and 4 cities including Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu.

68.5% of Chinese women feel their families harmonious

The second women's living condition report released by All-China Women’s Federation reveals that 68.5% of Chinese women feel their families harmonious, and only 6.5% of them are not satisfied with their family status quo.

According to the report, 87.5% of women in Dalian are satisfied with their living conditions, and the top 5 cities that receive the highest rate of women's content are Shanghai, Beijing, Qingdao, Ningbo and Tianjin. Women in Shanghai believe they are the happiest members in the family.

The survey was launched in 20 cities including Shanghai, Beijing, Qingdao, Ningbo, Guangzhou and Tianjin, and 75% of women respondents are married.

The survey also shows that high family income can help to raise satisfactory rate among family members, and "husband and wife living in different places" and "incompatibility of temperament" are the main negative elements affecting women's satisfaction.

The survey reveals that most women hope their boyfriends or husbands need basic qualities like "sense of responsibility toward family members," "consideration for loved ones," and "knowing the art of life." Other things like "high income", "good careers" and "good looks" are among the least qualities for they care about while choosing their husbands or boyfriends.

Transnational marriage: not happy

According to a report by Shanghai Morning Post, many young women in Shanghai would like to marry foreigners. However, quite a number of transnational marriages have ended up in divorce. The first “divorce agency” in Shanghai said that they had received several such cases from the US.

Many transnational couples got married in a rush, without learning each other's character as well as cultural backgrounds. Some of the young women in Shanghai even got married for money or visas only. No wonder their marriages should end up unhappily.

Last Thursday (March 8), 13 experts on marital problems from Germany came to Shanghai to join their local counterparts to help transnational couples via the Internet, particularly to offer them a space to pour out their anxiety. Most German experts in this field are also lawyers, thus they can also give legal aid to their clients, while Chinese experts know a lot more aoubt traditions and customs of the Chinese.

All the transnational couples with problems can submit an application online to make an appointment with experts. The experts are also available to those who are about to marry foreigners, from whom they can get useful advice on how to manage a happy life after marriage.

It can be estimated that the help of the experts will mean particularly more to the children of the transnational couples.

Friday, March 9, 2007

Sexy dancing girls in a club of Wuhan








78.5% Chinese urbanites worry about old-age care

Horizon Research published its “Report on the Life Quality of the Chinese 2006” recently, finding that the Chinese felt much more satisfied with their life in 2006 than in 2005. It was also the first year for Chinese urbanites to feel happier than rural dwellers. However, 39.6% of the urbanites worried about old-age care, and another 38.9% about their pension. Besides, 62.3% of responders from rural areas also expressed their anxieties about old-age care.

Most of the responders feel it is necessary to improve social security system to support the old, rather than the traditional way of relying on children.

The report is based on data collected from Beijing, Shanghai Guangzhou (Guangdong Province), Luoyang (Henan Province), Mianyang (Sichuan Province), Zhuji (Zhejiang Province), Beining (Liaoning Province), Lingxiang (Hunan Province), Pengzhou (Sichuan Province) and Xingping (Shaanxi Province), including their suburbs and rural areas around them, covering 3,780 responders.

Researchers don't think that the general public have more confidence in the government, despite the fact that China has achieved a lot in of economic development. Actually, the urbanites' confidence in the administration of the government has been decreasing since 2004, particularly in the campaign against corruption and the improvement of social morals.

Study: Over half of U.S. women get no enough sleep

  More than half of American women say they get a good night's sleep only a few days a week or less, media reported on Thursday.
  
  According to a poll released by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), American women are very, very tired. Sixty percent say they don't get enough rest most nights of the week while 43 percent report that daytime sleepiness interferes with their regular activities.
  
  "American women are not sleeping well, and that is affecting all aspects of their life," said Kathryn Lee, a professor of family health care nursing at the University of California, who worked on the survey.
  
  The survey found 80 percent of women who don't get enough sleep experience high stress. Others spend less time with family and friends, are too tired for sex, drive drowsy and are late for work, she said.
  
  What should women do if they're having trouble keeping their eyes open during the day?
  
  The first step, sleep experts say, is to get help from the doctor. So many emotional and physical factors can affect sleep that it's often impossible to make a diagnosis without taking a thorough medical history.
  
  Lifestyle changes such as cutting down on caffeine or reducing stress at night can make a huge difference. The bedroom should be cool, dark and quiet with comfortable bedclothes. Nicotine can also interfere with sleep; smokers should quit.
  
  If the problem is physical, such as a sleep disorder, doctors have many resources from medication for restless-leg syndrome to mechanical devices for breathing problems.
  
  Sometimes, patients spend the night in a sleep lab where doctors study and record every breath and movement during the night to pinpoint where things are going wrong. So don't just yawn; get the help (and the sleep) they need.
  
  The NSF survey, called the 2007 Sleep in America poll, is based on a telephone survey of more than 1,000 women, ages 18 to 64.

Most people believe China lacks social justice

Chinanews, Beijing, March 8 – International Herald Leader and Sina jointly conducted an online survey to find out “What China might lack in 2007”. By February 27, 8,460 responders had sent in their replies, 58.9% of whom believe China needs to improve social justice.

Other 22.52% of the responders think China lacks a complete legal system. “If laws and regulations are well carried out, we will not have to worry about social justice any more, ” said Huang, a worker in Shenzhen.

Besides, other 34.5% of the responders express their anxiety about the limited humanitarian knowledge of the general public.

China issues one-yuan "CN" domain name to attract registrants

For less than the cost of a bus ticket, people can register a website name under China's national domain name ".cn".

China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the country's domain name administrator, says the first-year registration fee for domain names ending in ".cn" will be one yuan(one U.S. dollar equals 7.74 yuan).

CNNIC is hoping the move will attract registrations from enterprises and netizens. Previously is cost between 80 and 100 yuan to register a domain name in China.

People who register a domain name before May 31 will be charged only one yuan for the first year, while subsequent years will still cost 80 to 100 yuan a year, according to the CNNIC.

At the end of 2006, China had 1.8 million websites that ended in ".cn", up 64.4 percent year on year. The "CN" suffix is Asia's largest and the world's fourth largest, statistics from the CNNIC show.

In all there are 4.2 million registered domain names in China with most using the suffix .com or .net.

Observers said with 137 million netizens and more than 40 million enterprises huge potential remains for the development of domain names ending with ".cn".

Girls Crowded the Job Fair



A special job fair for female graduates was held in Beijing on March 7, drawing tens of thousands of girl students. It is learned that 203,000 students will graduate from colleges and universities in Beijing this year.

Bomb the floating ice in Yellow River


Two bombs fall on the floating ice at a section of the Yellow River in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, March 7, 2007. Three fighter planes from China's Air Force dropped 24 bombs on the floating ice that threatened the cofferdams.



A fighter plane flies before bombing the floating ice at a section of the Yellow River in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, March 7, 2007. Three fighter planes from China's Air Force dropped 24 bombs on the floating ice that threatened the cofferdams.



A general view shows the floating ice at a section of the Yellow River in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, March 7, 2007. Three fighter planes from China's Air Force dropped 24 bombs on the floating ice that threatened the cofferdams.



A general view shows the floating ice at a section of the Yellow River in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, March 7, 2007. Three fighter planes from China's Air Force dropped 24 bombs on the floating ice that threatened the cofferdams.

British man woos Chinese girlfriend in romantic way

"Will You marry me?" A British man named Tom wooed his Chinese girlfriend on the scenic Purple Mountain. He decided to court Li Xin (alias) in such romantic way.

According to Modern Express, Tom currently works for an international school. He settled in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province from Yorkshire two years ago. "When I just arrived in Nanjing I was lonely, and it was she who gave me necessary help. She was kind and full of enthusiasm," he said. When Li Xin said she had never ridden the cable car up Purple Mountain, he vowed to help his girlfriend fulfill her dream one day.

He finally invited her to take the cable car to the famous Purple Mountain Observatory early one day. When Li arrived on the scene on time, she found nobody around except her boyfriend. He got the ring out of his pocket, and said "Will you marry me?" Her girlfriend was a little astonished, but she quickly accepted his proposal.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

An implement of punishment for the lady who had extramarital relations in ancient China


In acient China ,if a lady had extramarital relations, she would be publishd with this implement which called wood horse. She would be forced to ride on the wood horse and be paraded through the streets.It is so cruel and terrible!

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Traditional Play of Temple Fair in Beijing


performer wears a traditional costume during a temple fair in Beijing held to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year, on Tuesday, February 20, 2007.


A performer participates in a temple fair in Beijing held to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year, on Tuesday, February 20, 2007.


Performers walk through a traditional Hutong neighborhood as they return from a temple fair in Beijing held to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year, on Tuesday, February 20, 2007.

Lottery made 1 millionaire every 2.4 days in Guangdong

In 2006, 151 people in Guangdong Province won a-million-yuan or above prizes in lottery. That is to say, averagely a millionaire got his/her fortune through lottery every 2.4 days, Guozhou Daily reported citing the data released on March 4th by the Guangdong Welfare Lottery Sales Center.

Meanwhile, Guangdong led the whole country with a total of 4.87 billion yuan welfare lottery sales.

These prizewinners included factory workers, car repairers, civil servants, and car business managers. A migrant worker, for instance, spent 30 yuan for lottery regularly every time, and finally won the top prize of 5 million yuan last April. Another top prizewinner, a car business manager, bought more than 300-yuan lottery tickets at one time, one of which earned him 5 million yuan.

Most of these fresh millionaires will choose to buy houses at first with the money, some of whom will go to pay the housing mortgage as soon as possible.

Monday, March 5, 2007

WWII Aerial Bomb Salvaged



  Police officers drag the bomb out of the river on Mar.5, 2007. [Photo: Xinhua]
  
  A 500kg aerial bomb was salvaged from the Yangtze River in Shanghai, east China on Mar. 5, 2007. The undetonated bomb was dropped by a Japanese war plane during WWII. Experts have said that the bomb is still intact and that, because of the danger it poses to passing ships, it must be removed.



  Police officers move the bomb to safety on Mar.5, 2007. [Photo: Xinhua]
  
  A 500kg aerial bomb was salvaged from the Yangtze River in Shanghai, east China on Mar. 5, 2007. The undetonated bomb was dropped by a Japanese war plane during WWII. Experts have said that the bomb is still intact and that, because of the danger it poses to passing ships, it must be removed.



  Police officers measure and photograph the salvaged bomb on Mar.5, 2007. [Photo: Xinhua]
  
  A 500kg aerial bomb was salvaged from the Yangtze River in Shanghai, east China on Mar. 5, 2007. The undetonated bomb was dropped by a Japanese war plane during WWII. Experts have said that the bomb is still intact and that, because of the danger it poses to passing ships, it must be removed.

Unveiling of porn-culture mania in HK KTV










Old man work as volunteer "travel guide" for 6 years

Xie Liang, 78, has offered free guidance to people asking for directions for 6 years.

Every day, Xie goes to the Dongzhimen Long-distance Bus Terminal, and give help to at least 1,200 people asking for directions. During holidays, the figure might even exceed 3,500. There are more than 50 roads and streets meeting at Dongzhimen, and at least 100 thousand people pass by here daily.

Last Saturday (March 3), the reporter of Beijing Youth Daily had an interview with Xie, when he arrived at the bus terminal and placed his little table with maps and guidebooks (written by himself) on it.

“Is it really free to ask you the way?” said one with a strong southeast Chinese accent.

“Of course, where would you like to go?” responded Xie with a smile.

“Quite a number of people have asked me the same question. I am a volunteer,” said Xie proudly.

The reporter found that at least 5 people came to ask him the way in a minute, and Xie gave every one of them a note telling them where to go in detail.

Xie has a husky voice, which is the result of his hard work. Now he can give precise answer to any direction inquiry within seconds. Xie has inspired several other volunteers to join him, though they can’t work fulltime like him.

Chinese spend at least 120,000 yuan on wedding

How much will ordinary Chinese people spend for marriage? The answer is 120,000 yuan, according to the "Investigation Report on the Development of the Chinese Wedding Industry 2006-2007" released on March 4.

The survey was conducted by the Organizing Committee of the China Wedding Expo on 60,000 pairs of newlyweds over the last whole year. It shows the average cost on marriage hits 125,081 yuan. If expenditure on housing and car purchases is included, the figure will reach up to 557,478 yuan.

The report reveals that residents in the East China region spend most in marriage, with at least 130,000 yuan on wedding, excluding car and house purchase.

Shanghainese, leading the newlyweds in the East China region, are more willing to spend most on new residence's facelifts, while Beijingers, leading those from the North China region, are fascinated with wedding photos, feasts, and honeymoons.

However, such high expenditure has gone far beyond the newlyweds' sustainability. Statistics show 86% of the respondents earn less than 8,000 yuan every month. Parents are the financial supporters for their children's weddings, said Liao Junguo, director of the Data Center of the China Wedding Expo.

According to the survey, 47% of the newlyweds will seek 20% to 60% of their wedding expenditure from their parents, while 14% even gain 80% to 100% of the financial aid from their parents.

Chinese Performers Promote Olympics in Hollywood


  Nearly 600 performers from Beijing on Saturday staged a large parade for nearly two hours in Hollywood in an effort to showcase traditional Chinese culture to the American public and promote the 2008 summer Olympics, which will be held in the Chinese capital next year.
  
  
  Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa poses for a photo with young girls from Beijing. Around 600 performers from Beijing participated in a large parade in Hollywood on Saturday, March 3, 2007, to showcase traditional Chinese culture to the American public and promote the 2008 summer Olympics.
  
  The event, jointly sponsored by the Beijing and Los Angeles municipal governments, attracted thousands of local residents and tourists, who gathered along Hollywood Boulevard to watch various culturally rich programs by those in colorful classic costumes.
  
  Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, while inaugurating the event, said that it was a great honor for Los Angeles that Beijing chose it as the only U.S. city to hold such a gala.
  
  Villaraigosa, who visited China while leading a trade and business delegation several months ago, said the two cities signed a friendship agreement last year and look forward to great prospects in fields like trade and tourism cooperation, noting that Los Angles has become the only foreign city with a tourism office in Beijing.
  
  Besides more than 580 performers, aged from 7 to 70, from all walks of life in Beijing, some 200 schoolchildren and high school students from Los Angeles participated in the parade.
  
  Los Angeles is the only US city where the parade has been shown, after those Beijing performers staged a similar annual parade in Paris, London, and Sydney in the past three years, organizers said.
  
  The Hollywood Boulevard parade was presented to Los Angeles, which has hosted two Olympic games separately in 1932 and 1984, to announce "Beijing Welcomes You" to encourage visitors to attend the 2008 Olympics, said Yu Debin, deputy director of the Beijing Tourism Administration.
  
  The official said the event also served as an opportunity for those Chinese performers to share their traditional folk culture with the American public.

True life of children in western China





Heaviest baby in China born in Beijing

Last Friday, Zhao Xiaoju (27 years old) gave birth to a 6,250-g baby in Fengtai Hospital of Beijing, to becomethe heaviest baby born in China ever. Currently, both mother and baby are well.

Zhao is a conductor of the No.702 bus in Beijing, and she is 120 kg heavy.

“Giant babies are usually the result of excessive nutrition, heredity or diabetes,” said Tu Jinghui, vice director of the department of gynecology and obstetrics of Fengtai Hospital.

The previous heaviest baby in China,6,150 g in weight, was born in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province on February 3, 2006.

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Great Wall not visible to human eye from space

Chinese scientists have reopened the debate on whether or not the Great Wall is visible from space with the human eye, labeling it "impossible".

In a report published in Chinese science magazine Science & Technology Review, Dai Changda, Jiang Xiaoguang and Xi Xiaohuan, all researchers with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), argue that the claim, made by American and Russian astronauts, defies the laws of biological science.

"The Great Wall contains some sections that are approximately 10 meters wide. But a 10-meter-wide object can only be seen with a naked eye from a maximum distance of 36 kilometers in extremely good weather conditions," Jiang Xiaoguang told Xinhua.

"The distance of 36 kilometers is well below the widely-acknowledged distance of space from the earth, which is at least 100 kilometers," he said. "Therefore the Great Wall is indeed invisible from space with the human eye."

Jiang acknowledged the fact that the Great Wall had been photographed from space but said it was not related to whether or not the structure could be seen with the human eye.

"Obviously the human eye is very different from a camera and can not pick up details that advanced photographic equipment can," said Jiang.

In March, 2004, U.S. astronaut Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon as commander of the Apollo 17 mission, told a Singapore newspaper during an interview that "in Earth's orbit at a height of 160 to 320 km, the Great Wall of China is indeed visible to the naked eye".

However, during China's first manned space flight in 2003, Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut, confirmed that he did not see the Great Wall while in orbit.

87% of Shanghai families living under pressure

The main characteristics of modern life in cities include heavy work pressure and intense competition. A recent survey on 875 ordinary citizens from 78 families finds that 87% of families feel the living pressures, especially poor families and middle-aged people.

The survey was launched by Shanghai Association of Marriage and Family Research. Its organizers said that they hope to know the reasons of Shanghai families' pressure, and help to find solutions to ease the problems. The survey shows that the top five reasons of citizens' living pressures are: children's education, their education expenses, economic burden, unemployment, and housing.

The survey finds that more men are worried about their jobs, while more women feel pressures from household chores. Young college graduates hope to learn more and find a decent job, and the middle-aged have to think about a lot of things in their life: their old parents have to be kept healthy, and their children need to get employed and married. If they lose their jobs or divorce, their life will turn harder.

'One-child' policy violators to be put on shame list

The rich and famous who have ignored the country's family planning policy by having more than one child will have to pay a heavy price, China Daily reported citing a senior official with the National Population and Family Planning Commission.

In addition to hefty fines, they will have their names recorded in an official "bad credit" file and be disqualified for any awards and honours from society, Yu Xuejun, director of the commission's Department of Policies and Laws, was quoted by China Daily as saying.

Yu said the commission is drafting a regulation with "concrete measures" to punish the rich and famous for having more than one child, but he did not give details.

China has maintained its family planning policy since the early 1970s. It has helped reduce the country's population by 400 million and had delayed the present 1.3 billion population mark by four years.