Chinese Mongols at pains to pass on culture in modern life

Yaru can sing popular songs in Chinese to great effect but her real preference is for traditional Mongolian folk songs that she sings to guests in a big restaurant in downtown Hohhot.


"I'm proud to sing Mongolian songs," says Yaru. "And it's much better singing them in the original than in a version translated into Mandarin Chinese."


The 27-year-old, an ethnic Mongolian who grew up on the grasslands in northeastern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, has been working for three years at the Caoyuancheng restaurant where servers dress in traditional Mongolian costume and customers eat in compartments shaped like Mongolian yurts.


As rapid economic development transforms the vast, resource-rich autonomous region, hundreds of thousands of people over the past decade have done what Yaru did and move to towns or cities from pasturing and farming areas in pursuit of a better life.


But they are also increasingly aware of the efforts needed to ensure the survival of their language and culture in a modern world where the lifestyle is vastly different from centuries-old nomadism.


China has about 5.8 million ethnic Mongols, 4.2 million of whom live in Inner Mongolia which has a total population of 24 million. The rest mainly live in northeastern Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, and northwestern Gansu and Xinjiang provinces or region.


In traditional yurts -- now very rare -- and in Mongolian family houses, portraits of Genghis Khan -- the man who united Mongolian tribes eight centuries ago and ruled an empire that stretched from Southeast Asia to Central Europe -- are commonplace.


Ethnic Mongolians in the region regard him as a hero.


Every year, thousands of Mongolians from all over China and from Mongolia attend grand sacrificial rituals at the Genghis Khan Mausoleum, located in Erdos City, some 200 kilometers southwest of Hohhot, the regional capital.


The mausoleum, rebuilt in 1956, contains sacrificial tablets. It has become a gathering place for Mongolians to offer sacrifice to the spirit of Genghis Khan.


"I have not attended such rituals yet, but I will some day," said Yaru, for whom Genghis Khan is a brave, wise man.


The sacrificial rituals, with a history dating back 780 years, are now presided over by the descendants of the Mongol tribe of Dalhut, who were once Genghis Khan's garrison army.


Nowadays, more Mongols in the region prefer to give their children Mongolian names, rather than use three-character names standard among Han Chinese. Some Mongolians have even started to reconstruct their family trees.


"Offering sacrifice to ancestors, giving children Mongolian names and building family trees, all these phenomena indicate that ethnic Mongolians are keen to protect and pass on their cultural legacy to the generations to come," said Bao Siqin, director of the Literature Studies Institute of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Academy of Social Sciences.

Chinese Mongols at pains to pass on culture in modern life

Yaru can sing popular songs in Chinese to great effect but her real preference is for traditional Mongolian folk songs that she sings to guests in a big restaurant in downtown Hohhot.


"I'm proud to sing Mongolian songs," says Yaru. "And it's much better singing them in the original than in a version translated into Mandarin Chinese."


The 27-year-old, an ethnic Mongolian who grew up on the grasslands in northeastern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, has been working for three years at the Caoyuancheng restaurant where servers dress in traditional Mongolian costume and customers eat in compartments shaped like Mongolian yurts.


As rapid economic development transforms the vast, resource-rich autonomous region, hundreds of thousands of people over the past decade have done what Yaru did and move to towns or cities from pasturing and farming areas in pursuit of a better life.


But they are also increasingly aware of the efforts needed to ensure the survival of their language and culture in a modern world where the lifestyle is vastly different from centuries-old nomadism.


China has about 5.8 million ethnic Mongols, 4.2 million of whom live in Inner Mongolia which has a total population of 24 million. The rest mainly live in northeastern Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, and northwestern Gansu and Xinjiang provinces or region.


In traditional yurts -- now very rare -- and in Mongolian family houses, portraits of Genghis Khan -- the man who united Mongolian tribes eight centuries ago and ruled an empire that stretched from Southeast Asia to Central Europe -- are commonplace.


Ethnic Mongolians in the region regard him as a hero.


Every year, thousands of Mongolians from all over China and from Mongolia attend grand sacrificial rituals at the Genghis Khan Mausoleum, located in Erdos City, some 200 kilometers southwest of Hohhot, the regional capital.


The mausoleum, rebuilt in 1956, contains sacrificial tablets. It has become a gathering place for Mongolians to offer sacrifice to the spirit of Genghis Khan.


"I have not attended such rituals yet, but I will some day," said Yaru, for whom Genghis Khan is a brave, wise man.


The sacrificial rituals, with a history dating back 780 years, are now presided over by the descendants of the Mongol tribe of Dalhut, who were once Genghis Khan's garrison army.


Nowadays, more Mongols in the region prefer to give their children Mongolian names, rather than use three-character names standard among Han Chinese. Some Mongolians have even started to reconstruct their family trees.


"Offering sacrifice to ancestors, giving children Mongolian names and building family trees, all these phenomena indicate that ethnic Mongolians are keen to protect and pass on their cultural legacy to the generations to come," said Bao Siqin, director of the Literature Studies Institute of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Academy of Social Sciences.

With the Olympics looming, China goes green

In Beijing, 1,600 students attend the Number Two Middle School, an institution widely regarded as one of the best secondary schools in China.

The school is revered for producing some of the country's best and brightest, yielding students who receive top scores on China's annual college entrance exams.

The students at Number Two stand out, however, not only because of their academic achievement, but because of their enlightened attitude toward the environment.

Over the last few years, especially since Beijing was awarded the 2008 Olympic Games, environmental awareness has gotten a new emphasis among those who will be the next generation of China's educated leaders.

At the school, there is an environmental curriculum and an active environmental club. All of the attention paid to the environment poses a fundamental question: Can China sustain a booming economy and also protect its environment?

China's Schools Going Green

Many at this specific school would say yes, a better environment makes for a better economy. But the balance is not easy to accomplish. In fact, Beijing is struggling to improve its air quality in time for the looming Olympic Games yet the city itself is under construction 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

There is no question China wants to put its best foot forward for the Olympics, but there is a lot of work to be done. For example, because the air in China is still many times dirtier than the air in Los Angles, America's smoggiest city, the government is determined to increase China's air quality and reduce the amount of air pollution.

"We are faced with challenges in our environmental protection work," said Du Shaozhong, Beijing's deputy director of the municipality's Environmental Protection Bureau.

He showed ABC News how the city measured air quality around the clock. It turns out the most polluted time of the day is 10 p.m., when the exhaust-belching commercial trucks make their deliveries to the city.

Olympics and the Environment

In fact, officials like Du believe the constant clash between economic development and the environment must be dealt with independent of the Olympics.

"If we fail to balance the relationship between development and the environment, we would not be in a position to sustain development," he said.

In economic terms alone, pollution has been expensive for China. The World Bank estimates that 10 percent of China's gross domestic product is lost to pollution, from workers calling in sick to factory shutdowns.

"China itself, it's facing an environmental crisis across the board," said Elizabeth Economy, director of Asia studies at the Counsel on Foreign Relations in New York. She says a major problem is 30 percent of the water in China's rivers is too polluted, even for industrial use.

"Just this past year they're talking about $42 billion lost in industrial output because the factories don't have enough water to run," she said.

At the moment, however, the Olympics are at the top of the Chinese agenda, not just in Beijing but all across this country. Six years ago when it was awarded the Olympics, the city of Beijing pledged $13 billion to clean up the city.

China's Solar Cities

Before the games, coal-burning factories around the city will be shut down. Already Beijing's biggest industrial polluter, a steel plant, has been moved to a neighboring province. Traffic will be sharply curtailed during the Games as it was during the China-Africa summit in the fall.

Despite all of this action, some worry that fundamental changes have yet to come, and that the changes in Beijing are just cosmetic and temporary.

"I think that probably is the case at this point in time," Economy said. "What we're going to get with these Olympics really is just a shutdown of the city to make it work for those few weeks."

At the same time there are visible signs of change: Millions of electric bikes have been sold, alternate energy sources are gaining popularity and China has become a world leader in solar thermal production and use.

The city of Dezhou is the world's largest producer of solar water heaters and the city of Rizhou is increasingly becoming a solar city. One in 10 Chinese homes has solar hot water.

"Change in China has got to come from the bottom up," Economy said. "I think it's going to have to come from a new understanding by the Chinese people of how to treat the environment ¡­ and why the environment matters so much to us."

And that understanding is beginning in places like the Number Two Middle School, as well as the 4,000 environmental groups that have sprung up in China since 1994.

40 rare coffins unearthed from 2,500-year old tomb

Chinese archaeologists have discovered a 2,500-year old tomb containing more than 40 coffins made of a rare wood called nanmu, after a three-month excavation project in east China's Jiangxi Province, local sources said on Sunday.

A tomb with so many coffins all together has never been unearthed before, said Fan Changsheng, director of the Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Archeology.

The tomb, 16 meters long, about 11.5 meters wide and three meters deep, is located at Lijia village in Jing'an county. It is believed to date back to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-221 B.C.).

The coffins,2.5 to 2.8 meters long and 0.5 meters wide,were laid out side by side in an orderly fashion. Archaeologists have not been able to measure their height because they are still sunk into the silt.

Archaeologists are now wondering about the identity of the remains, the cause of death, the burial date and why the people were buried together, said Fan, adding that care and sophisticated technology is needed to open the coffins in order to preserve the cultural relics and the remains inside.

A group of senior experts from prestigious archaeological institutes across China have arrived at the tomb site and will open the coffins in May.

"The mystery inside the coffins will be revealed then," he said.

Archaeologists began the excavation on January 6 to protect the cultural relics after grave robbers attempted to open the rare coffins at the tomb site.

Although the coffins were not damaged by the grave robbers, a dozen cultural relics near the coffins vanished, local police said.

Police have arrested the robbers, seizing cultural relics including bronze woodworking tools, lacquered spoons and wooden combs.

The discovery will provide valuable clues to the study of social customs, funeral rites and lifestyle in the area, archaeologists said.

'One Thousand Hands Bodhisattva'

A group of 21 hearing-impaired members of the China Disabled People's Performing Arts Troupe perform dance repertoire 'One Thousand Hands Bodhisattva' in Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei Province, Friday, April 27, 2007. It was a charity performance, appealing for public donation and support for the handicapped in the province.

Rebels release Chinese hostages in Ethiopia

Seven Chinese oil workers kidnapped by Ethiopian rebels after a deadly raid on an oil venture arrived in Addis Ababa on Monday, a Chinese official said.

The staff, who worked for an exploration bureau of the China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, arrived aboard a military plane from the eastern Ogaden state, where they had been kidnapped Tuesday, Wang Shengwen, head of the special Chinese team sent to rescue the kidnapped workers, told Xinhua.

The workers were scheduled to fly back home to China on Tuesday, Wang said.

All seven were in stable health condition despite obvious tiredness.

The kidnappers, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), released the workers on Sunday and handed them to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The Chinese staff were kidnapped on Tuesday at one of the oil company's premises in Ethiopia's Somali state. Some 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese workers were killed during the attack.

Dead sturgeon found in Hubei province, China

A dead female Chinese sturgeon is found in the Binjiang River in Yichang, central China's Hubei Province, April 29, 2007. The sturgeon weighed more than 300 kilograms, and has been the second one found dead in this water area since last winter.

Car-motorcycle collision kills 3 in Lianyungang

Police officers survey the site where a car rammed into a motorcycle on a street in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu Province April 28, 2007. The accident occurred at 6 pm on Saturday, killing three on the spot with three others in a critical conditon.



An ambulance tries to give emergency treatment on three injured after a car-motorcycle collision on a street in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu Province April 28, 2007. The accident occurred at 6 pm on Saturday, killing three on the spot with three others in a critical conditon.



A car is severely damaged when it rammed into a motorcycle on a street in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu Province April 28, 2007. The accident occurred at 6 pm on Saturday, killing three on the spot with three others in a critical conditon.



The site of a car-motorcycle crash on a street in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu Province April 28, 2007. The accident occurred at 6 pm on Saturday, killing three on the spot with three others in a critical conditon.

Teenage Abortions on the Rise in Beijing

Thousands of teenage girls in Beijing have abortions each year, according to teenage sex clinics.

Sources with Beijing Tian'an Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the first in Beijing to open a hotline for pregnant teenagers, said more than 100 teenage girls received abortions during the first three months of the year.

Of nearly 5,000 phone calls from teenagers, 7 to 8 percent are from unmarried girls asking about abortion. The proportion was only about 5 percent last year, said Deng Jun, a doctor with the teenager counseling service of Beijing No.2 Hospital.

The total number of teenage abortions in the capital is not known.

"Girls who have abortions are considerably younger. Most of them are middle school students aged 14 to 15," said Deng, adding the youngest patient to come for an abortion was a 13-year-old and some girls had abortions many times.

"Two years ago, teenage pregnancy mainly happened to college and high school students," he said.

The number of abortions peaks during the Spring Festival, May Day or National Day holidays and in the final term of the academic year, Deng said, adding that sex education at school and in the family is wholly inadequate with young people nowadays having their first sexual experiences at a much earlier age.

Sex education has always been a low priority in schools, and parents are often reluctant to talk about the still-taboo issue.

A survey conducted by Professor Huo Jinzhi from the medical school of Suzhou University showed 4.6 percent of middle school students had had sex compared with 4.2 percent in high schools.

In September 2004, the country for the first time included sex and reproduction knowledge in the formal school curriculum.

Headstand King showing stunt

Li Xin, dubbed "Chinese Headstand King", shows his stunt by standing upside down on a rather thin steel bar only 5mm in diameter, winning much applause among the audiences in Chaohu, Anhui Province, April 26.

Loyal dog guards drunken owner

A dog watches its owner who is drunk and sleeps at roadside bush in Hualian, Taiwan, April 23, 2007. The dog protected the man and barked at anyone who tried to approach him.

Sand intrudes as trees destroyed

A villager holds a handful of sand in front of tree stumps at a shelter belt in Wuwei, northwest China's Gansu Province which faces the worst desertification in China, April 27, 2007. More than 10,000 trees have been chopped down by local forestry authorities in the name of renewing the wood.



Tree stumps and sand dunes are seen at a designated shelter belt in Wuwei, northwest China's Gansu Province which faces the worst desertification in China, April 27, 2007. More than 10,000 trees have been chopped down by local forestry authorities in the name of renewing the wood.

Train storms into garage after derailment

A carriage of a train storms into a garage following a derailment in Changsha, Central China's Hunan Province April 25, 2007. No casualties were reported. The investigation into the cause of the incident is under way.


People survey the site where a carriage of a train storms into a garage following a derailment in Changsha, Central China's Hunan Province April 25, 2007. No casualties were reported. The investigation into the cause of the incident is under way.



A man manages to escape after a carriage of a train storms into a garage following a derailment in Changsha, Central China's Hunan Province April 25, 2007. No casualties were reported. The investigation into the cause of the incident is under way.


A man stands near the site where a carriage of a train storms into a garage following a derailment in Changsha, Central China's Hunan Province April 25, 2007. No casualties were reported. The investigation into the cause of the incident is under way.

The business of begging

Xiao Hua tried to escape from his "parents" but he failed - again.

The 13-year-old has congenital disfigured feet so he can only get around by using his hands and arms to push his body on a simple wooden board with wheels.

His "parents", Gong Baoliang and Wang Sulan found him trying to flee and they dragged him back to his "home" on an overpass in Beijing.

The noise draws the attention of a policeman who is on duty. Xiao weeps, saying the couple is not his parents, but his bosses who have him rented as a beggar.

Xiao is from a poverty-stricken family in Central China's Henan Province. Gong and Wang talked to Xiao's parents, claiming they wanted to take him back to Beijing to have him run their business in Beijing. Thinking their son would have a better life in the big city, his parents agreed and were promised 6,000 yuan (US$779) a year.

But Xiao's life in the Chinese capital was far from prosperous. Gong and Wang's business was in fact forcing Xiao to beg on the streets.

"I have no other alternative but to escape, " he said.

This was the fourth time Xiao tried to escape - and failed. Last winter, he took a train to Shijiazhang, a city in North China's Hebei province after he could not bear the abuse from his bosses.

"I have only one meal every day," Xiao explained. If he was not able to make enough money that day from begging, his bosses will beat him.

Xiao has been begging for five years now. And he has begged in many places, including Chongqing, Hangzhou, Wuhan and Tianjin. Beijing is his fifth city and he has been there for two years.

He is not the only victim of a fast-growing begging business in China. The exploitation of disabled beggars is a common sight in Beijing, on roadsides, overpasses, and bus stops where they try to win sympathy from passersby.

The Chinese government is trying to help beggars out of their dire situations. In 2003, the central government implemented the Management of Street Beggars in Cities plan, with stations that provide food and shelter for the homeless in major cities.

But the aid stations say they need more help in getting the growing numbers of people off the streets.

Although the beggars can get help at aid stations, they would rather stay on the streets where they can make money, says Renmin University Professor Li Yingsheng.

"The poorest beggars who cannot make a living don't want to seek help because they think the station will not solve their problems," he said.

Road cave-in in E. China city

A large section of Shunli Road in Nanchang, capital of East China's Jiangxi Province, collapses Wednesday, April 25, 2007. No one was hur in the incident.

Warning, Bohai Sea is dying!

According to a report by CCTV, pollution is killing Bohai Sea in the Circum-Bohai Economic Ring, one of the fastest-developing economic zones in China. It is estimated that Bohai Sea will be dead in no more than 10 years, if nothing is done to control the pollution.

According to the investigations by the National Oceanic Administration, 80% of pollutants in Bohai Sea are from the coast around it. Bohai, which only covers 2.6% of the total sea area of China, devours 40% of sewage discharged to the ocean. About 47% of the total volume of pollutants dumped into the ocean is also dumped here.

Bohai Sea used to be a major fishing ground, particularly famous for its hairtails, which can hardly be found nowadays. Rampaging pollution has led to several fatal red tides already.

"The ecological function of Bohai as a sea is partly lost now, with more and more of it being polluted, particularly in the sense of fishery," said Gao Zhiguo, the director of the Institute of Development Strategies of the National Oceanic Administration.

Statistics also reflect that 81% of drain pipes on the coast around Bohai Sea release much more sewage than they are allowed into Bohai Sea, not to mention 70% of such pipes are located in tourist resorts, nature reserves and mariculture zones.

Bohai Sea being a closed gulf, has very poor self-purification ability. Statistics show that it takes at least 16 years for Bohai Sea to complete a water exchange cycle. In a word, China must stop polluting Bohai Sea as soon as possible.

Pelicans Tie the Knot

Two spotted-billed pelicans are seen in front of their "bridal house" decorated by zookeepers at a bird zoo in Fuzhou, southeastern China's Fujian province, on Wednesday, April 25, 2007. The female pelican was found in Hainan, south China, and brought to Fuzhou to mate with the male pelican, who lost his spouse three years ago.

Torrential rains destroy 1,300 homes in south China

Sudden torrential downpours in China's southeastern province of Guangdong destroyed more than 1,300 houses and forced 20,000 people from their homes, the official Xinhua agency reported late on Tuesday.

The rainfall and thunderstorms also delayed flights to the province's largest airport and destroyed thousands of acres of crops, the paper said, adding that nearly 20 cm (7.9 inches) of rain were recorded in some areas over Monday and Tuesday.

A recent national assessment of the likely impact of global warming said the country's south could face more flooding as temperatures rise.

Last year, China's warmest since 1951, the country was struck by an unusually high number of natural disasters, including a series of storms and typhoons.

Every year, 400 million people and 50 million hectares (125 million acres) of farmland are affected by natural disasters in China, with economic losses reaching 1 to 3 percent of gross domestic product.

Chinese mainland becomes Japan's top trade partner

The Chinese mainland has surpassed the United States as Japan's top trading partner despite strained ties between the Asian giants.

Japan's total trade with the Chinese mainland came to 25.43 trillion yen (US$214.8 billion) in the year ended March, against 25.16 trillion yen with the United States, the Japanese finance ministry said in a statement.

"This reflects the gradual shift of production by Japanese firms to China. I think the trend of growing trade with China will continue," said finance ministry official Koichi Nose.

The United States is still Japan's largest export destination but Japanese exports to the Chinese mainland have been growing in recent years, while imports are strong.

Japanese manufacturers have been shifting more of their production operations to the Chinese mainland, seeking cheap labour costs and a foothold in the fast-growing economy.

"For Japan, a very large market has emerged next door," said Senshu University economics professor Hideo Ohashi.

The two economies have strong links through direct investment while the flow of goods has increased sharply, ensuring that trade relations between the two Asian giants are likely to remain strong, he added.

Japan was also Chinese mainland's largest trading partner for 11 consecutive years until 2003 but was then overtaken by the United States and European Union.

Diplomatic relations between the two Asian giants became severely strained in recent years over war-time memories and territorial spats.

Sexy Chinese Girls in Real Life

New Chinese Version of “Prison Break”

There will soon be a Chinese version of the popular American TV series "Prison Break."

The Beijing Morning Post on Wednesday reported the Zhongbo Media Group has bought the rights to adapt the movie from the Fox Broadcasting for 1.2 million US dollars.

But the company has only bought the rights to create an online video adaptation.

Zhongbo Media plans to create a 200-minute online movie based on the original series. Shooting will start in the middle of May and should be finished by the end of June.

Zhongbo Media Chief Chen Weiming says the Chinese language remake will have more plotlines on top of the original storyline and characters. The movie will encompass a well-known computer virus case from last year. A large IT company will be one of the bad guys in the adaptation, instead of the Vice President and the FBI in the American version.

Chen Weiming says they will find some famous podcasters to star in the movie, though they have not yet drafted any plans to hold any kind of casting activity.

Mom's ugly?Hire one!

The generation gap in China has become so dramatic that parents who fail to catch up with the rest of the society could be abandoned by their children.

This was the case with a middle school student who disapproved of her mother's outfits so much that she hired a "mom" to attend her school's parents meeting.

Mrs. Wang and her daughter Pingping live in Dalian of Northeast China's Liaoning Province. Although Pingping attends school regularly, Wang never attended any of the parents' meetings because her daughter never told her about them.

It was only when Wang called the school did she realize she had missed many meetings.

Bewildered, Wang asked her daughter about what was going on, but Pingping's answer astonished her. "You made me lose face," she replied. "I have been asking a classmate's aunt to take part in it for me, 50 yuan (US$6.4) each time." Pingping's father is always busy and has no time to attend the parents' meetings.

Pingping's first memories of her mother's social missteps was when Pingping was in the third grade. She ranked first in a mid-term exam and was also the fastest-improving student in her class at the time.

Her mom was invited up to the podium to tell her experience of bringing up the fastest-improving student in the class. At first Wang was very hesitant to speak, and when she finally went to the podium, she began with a strong Dalian accent and said, "My girl is doing a good job this time. I feel pretty happy."

And after a long pause, Wang didn't have anything else to say.

The teacher encouraged her by asking, "What kind of expectations do you have for your daughter?"

"Oh, yes," Wang continued. "I would have forgotten if you didn't remind me. This girl has a lot of shortcomings. For instance, she is outside playing all the time. She doesn't even wash her own socks at home. She talks back to me defiantly all the time."

Pingping's mom suddenly had a lot to say, but the teacher had to cut her short so that other parents could speak as well.

"Do you know what my classmates said about my mom after that?" asked Pingping. "They wondered if I was adopted because we are so different: one is eloquent, and the other has problem in public speaking; one is sharp and neat, and the other looks like just coming out of kitchen to attend the parents' meeting, with her apron on."

According to Pingping, her mother likes to wear casual clothing, which outlines her stout figure. Her daughter once suggested her mom should wear more professional outfits, only to get bitter response from her mom: "You brat! You're picking on my clothing. Just mind your own business, and leave the rest for me to worry!"

Since then, the school's regular parents meeting have been a huge concern for Pingping. Not only did her mother not dress well, but was also nosy, asking about other parents' salaries and other students' pocket money. And so Pingping felt her mom was not welcomed both by the students and parents.

Pingping tried very hard to impress other students so that they would forget about her mom, but the monthly parents' meeting was still unavoidable. She claimed she had a lot of nightmares about her mom's buffoon acts in parents' meetings.

In the summer before Pingping went to middle school, she met her friend Yingying's aunt who works in a securities company. Pingping thought she had good taste in dressing and her manners classy.

Then Pingping decided to conjure up a story with Yingying, in which Pingping's parents were divorced. Her mother had gone abroad, and her father was too busy to come to the parents' meeting. Pingping was given extra care while she was in the primary school, but that also made her feel uneasy too. She wanted to be treated equally, and not get sympathy from others. Pingping longed for a new start when she entered middle school, wishing for a "mom" to attend her parents' meeting, too.

Yingying's aunt was moved by Pingping's story, and promised to attend every parents' meeting for Pingping in middle school. She was so ecstatic that every time Yingying's aunt attended a meeting, Pingping paid her niece 50 yuan to keep the secret.

In a new school with new classmates, Pingping got a new "mom", who also never failed to appear and impress the Pingping's classmates and their parents.

Fifty yuan is not a small amount of money for Pingping, but she thought a good "mom" worth it.

Many times Wang asked her daughter why the middle school never held any parents' meetings. Pingping answered the school decided not to hold parents' meetings for fear it would put more pressure on the students. Her lie continued until her mom called the school.

Now that Pingping's mom has learned the truth, Pingping earnestly offered her a suggestion along with her apologies: Please consider your dress and manners from now on - it's not only for your own good.

Overweight boy loses 109 kg

A combination of photos shows the contrast of Zhu Lei, an overweight boy, before (lower) and after weight-loss medication treatment at a hospital in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province. Zhu has lost 109 kilograms after nine month's acupuncture, exercises, and mental treatment.

Yahoo! China ordered to pay record companies

Yahoo! China has lost a lawsuit filed by 11 major record companies, in which it was accused of playing 233 pieces of music, as well as providing access to free downloads of the tracks, owned by the record companies without their permission.

The Beijing Second Intermediary Court on Tuesday ordered Yahoo China to pay 200,000 yuan (US$27,200) in damages to the 11 companies which include EMI, Warner Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group. It also told Yahoo China to delete the links to the free download websites.

The record companies launched the court proceedings in early January, demanding 5.5 million yuan (US$712,000).

Yahoo China insists that, as a search engine, it only provides links in its music search results and should not be held responsible for the content of third-party websites.

Xu Yang, Yahoo China's publicity director, said Yahoo China planned to appeal.

"Baidu.com was cleared of similar charges last year. If any mistake has been made, Baidu made the same one. The cruxes of the argument in the two cases are similar," he said.

Last November, Baidu.com, one of China's largest Internet search engines, won a similar lawsuit launched by seven companies, led by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), charging Baidu with helping users to download music illegally.

Beijing's First Intermediate Court ruled that Baidu's service, which provides web links to the music, does not constitute an infringement as all the music is downloaded from web servers of third parties.

The record companies have appealed to a higher court after losing the lawsuit, but the ruling has yet to be made.

Baidu argued that the MP3 search engine it provided was the same as other search engines providing links to web pages, news and pictures.

It said it searched all music file formats through the Internet, such as ".mp3" or ".wav", making no distinction between copyrighted and pirated songs.

"If the music companies had won, the whole search engine sector would have ground to a halt," a Baidu spokesman said at the time.

9 Chinese workers killed in Ethiopia oilfield site

Nine Chinese workers were killed on Tuesday in an attack by armed men on an oil field in eastern Ethiopia, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said Tuesday in Beijing, strongly condemning the atrocity of armed attacks.

Liu Jianchao, the spokesman, said seven more Chinese workers were abducted in the attack, and one was slightly injured.

Liu said China strongly condemns such an atrocity of armed attacks, and expresses condolence to the victims in the attack, according to a statement posted on the ministry's website (www.fmprc.gov.cn).

He said the Chinese side has requested the Ethiopian side to make every effort to ensure the safe release of the kidnapped Chinese workers and to take effective measures to guarantee the safety of the staffs with Chinese organizations in Ethiopia. He said the Ethiopia has sent army forces to the place where the attack happened.

More 200 unidentified gunmen launched an attack on the oil field in Somali state where China's Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau was exploring for oil.

According to news agencies, 65 Ethiopian employees were also killed in the attack in eastern Ethiopia, a spokesman for Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said.

The attackers engaged more than 100 soldiers protecting the field in a fierce 50 minute gun battle.

The oil field is located in Abole, a small town about 120 kilometres (75 miles) away from the Somali state capital of Jijiga, it said.

No one claimed responsibility for Tuesday's raid, but an Ethiopian rebel group warned last year that any investment in the Ogden area that also benefited the Ethiopian government "would not be tolerated."

The Ogaden National Liberation Front is fighting a low-level insurgency with the aim of creating an independent state for ethnic Somalis. Somalia lost control of the region in a war in 1977.

In Nigeria, armed militants seeking a greater share of that country's oil wealth kidnapped nine Chinese oil workers in January, who were later freed. And two more Chinese workers were kidnapped in March, and their fate is still unknown.

Also in March in Nigeria, five Chinese telecommunications workers were abducted for two weeks.

Spidermen in China!

Local residents were treated to a rare spectacle when not one, but three, men dressed as Spiderman crawled down 30-meter skyscraper in Changchun, capital of China's northeast Jilin province on Sunday, April 22, 2007.

The three extreme sports fanatics had dressed up as their favorite superhero to promote "Spiderman 3" before its premiere in the city.

During the death-defying stunt, the three spidermen rescued a girl who was "trapped" high above the ground outside the building.

Who can take care of Chinese old?

As the number of old people keeps increasing, more and more Chinese families now belong to the 4-2-1 type, with four old people being the parents of the husband and the wife, the couple themselves, and their only child.

Related investigation shows that in China, 35% of the families have to support four old people and 49% of the families in cities have to take care of 2-3 old people. If the single-child generation continue to have one child when they establish their own families, it will mean that the third generation might have to take care of 12 old people at most.

At the same time, the family planning policy makes China have fewer young people compared with the past. As a result, Chinese pension system, which relies on young people to provide financial support, is shrinking. Many people might not be able to take care of the old people in their families, the China Youth Daily reported.

The Third Forum for Presidents of Old People’s Nursing Homes was held recently. At the forum, many experts expressed their concern for old people’s life. The Beijing Municipal Commission for Old People carried out a survey, in which 49.8% of the young people said that they had no time to take care of their parents at home. According to information from the civil affairs department, about 32.5 million old people need to get long-term extensive care. In Shanghai, some workers complain that when they ask for a leave to take care of their sick parents, the company later will find it as an excuse to lay them off. Faced with all these problems, many experts at the forum said that caring for the old was no longer simply a moral issue, for in many cases, the problem was caused by many other practical problems in society.

In January last year, Tang Guizhi, an old woman who lived alone in her home in the Shipingqiao Street in Chongqing, was attacked by her old ailment and fell down at home. Since nobody stayed at home except herself, she lay where she fell for two nights before a neighbor discovered her and sent her to hospital. However, the old woman died in hospital one day after. In fact, many old people died alone at home because no one took care of them. Related investigation shows that in Beijing and Shanghai, the number of old people living alone accounted for 34% and 36.8%, respectively, of the total number of old people families. In the Andeli Community Center in Beijing, 55.63% of the old people live alone. In the Kangning Community Center in Tiexi District of Shenyang, and in the Jinxiu Community Center in Xinghua District of Taiyuan, the proportions of old people living alone reach as high as 73.18% and 71%, respectively.

Many old people become disabled when they grow old, which becomes another problem in society. At present, the number of old people suffering from senile dementia increases by 4.6 million every year. In other words, there will be a new senile dementia case among old people in every 7 seconds. It is expected that by 2030, about 30% of the old people above 80 in age will suffer from senile dementia in China.

China wastes 28 bln tons of coal in 20 yrs

The coal resources recovery rate in China has always been low. At present, such rate is only 30% in China, which falls short of half of the rate in some developed countries in the world. From 1980 to 2000, China had wasted 28 billion tons of coal resources, the China Youth Daily reported.

Shanxi is China's largest coal production province. However, the average coal resources recovery rate in Shanxi now stands at only 40%. In some villages, the rate can only reach 10%-20%. To produce one ton of coal, coal miners will normally consume 5-20 tons of resources, according to the latest figure published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in its latest report titled "China Energy Blue Paper for the Year of 2007".

The low coal resources recovery rate is mostly caused by the backward exploitation methods, the blue paper says.

Sexy Dance Training Girls

Imports threaten China's economy

A senior Chinese industry official has warned the country's economy and national defence are at risk from a reliance on imported key components for machine tools.

By 2010, the engineering manufacturing sector would need more than 100,000 machine tools, 40 percent of them medium and high-quality, said China Machine Tool and Tool Builders Association vice-chairman Yu Chengting.

However, about 90 percent of the digital-control systems currently used by Chinese manufacturers were produced by foreign companies, said Yu.

Machine tools were vital equipment for the national defence, auto making, ship building, space and aviation industries.

The country's machine tool building industry had reported a 20-percent growth in both output and sales revenue for six consecutive years.

The digital control system was a key component accounting for 30 to 50 percent of a machine tool's overall cost.

"If manufacturers continue to rely heavily on key component imports, the country's economy and national defence will be stunted," warned Yu.

As the world's largest machine tool consumer and importer, China needed to intensify the research and development of homegrown equipment, especially digital-control systems, said Yu.

Nevertheless, the country had seen a declining import growth rate of high-quality machine tools and increasing dependence on domestic equivalents.

Customs statistics show China's digital-control machine tool imports dropped from 40 percent of all high-end machine tools sold in 2005 to just 10 percent last year.

Only two years ago, China's machine tool market was dominated by Japanese and German companies who together sold 19,000 medium and high-quality machine tools in the country.

Sea water turns red in Xiamen

A woman stands in front of a sea area where water has turned red in Xiamen, capital of east China's Fujian Province Saturday, April 21, 2007. No sewage pipe has been found along the colored coast, about three kilometers long. An oceanographer with Xiamen University said the red sea water might be a result of red tide, but stressed further examination has to be carried out before a conclusion can be drawn.



A man cleans up waste from a sea area where water has turned red in Xiamen, capital of east China's Fujian Province Saturday, April 21, 2007. No sewage pipe has been found along the colored coast, about three kilometers long. An oceanographer with Xiamen University said the red sea water might be a result of red tide, but stressed further examination has to be carried out before a conclusion can be drawn.

More than 10% of arable land polluted

About 12.3 million hectares, or more than 10 percent of China's arable land, is contaminated by pollution and the situation is getting worse, the Ministry of Land and Resources said.

Arable land pollution, together with declining farm areas, posed a severe threat to the nation's food production, the Xinhua News Agency quoted an official from the ministry as saying yesterday.

The ministry announced this month that the country's arable land area had shrunk to 121.8 million hectares by the end of last October, with the loss of 306,800 hectares in the first 10 months of 2006.

Contaminated land suffered from polluted water, excessive fertilizer, heavy metals and solid wastes, the official said.

The ministry acknowledged that heavy metals alone had contaminated 12 million tons of grain and caused losses of 20 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) each year, adding that polluted grain would ultimately be a health hazard, Xinhua reported.

Sun Wensheng, minister of Land and Resources, called on the public to conserve land and other resources for sustainable economic growth yesterday, the 38th World Earth Day.

"China's economy keeps growing at a rapid rate and demand for resources is also mounting," he said.

"Thus, there has been more damage done to the environment from unsuitable resource exploration and development."

Sun reiterated that China must ensure that its arable land never shrinks to less than 120 million hectares.

"This not only is related to the social and economic development, but also vital for the long-term interests of the country," he said.

Fish released

In another development, 400,000 rare fish, including about 110,000 Chinese sturgeons, were released into the Yangtze River yesterday to save the river's fish stocks from being wiped out.

Decreasing river levels and pollution have taken their toll on fish stocks. The number of sturgeon that migrate to the Yangtze each year to spawn has dropped from 2,176 in 1987 to just 500 now, Chen Xihua, a researcher from the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute, said.

(China Daily/Xinhua)

26 killed, 6 injured in bus accident

Rescuers begin to clear the wreckage of a bus after it plunged through a guardrail of a bridge into a narrow gully in Chongqing Municipality, southwest China, April 23, 2007. A total of 26 passengers were killed and six others seriously injured in the accident, which police said was caused by overloading of passengers and driving too fast.

400,000 rare fish released to save Yangtze River stocks

Around 110,000 Chinese sturgeon were among more than 400,000 rare fish released into the Yangtze River on Sunday in a new attempt to save the river's fish stocks from being wiped out.
The fish, released at 11 sites in nine cities, included 280,000 mullet, which was listed with the sturgeon as a protected species, said Zhang Xianliang, director of the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute.

More than seven million sturgeon have been released into the Yangtze since 1983, but Zhang said this was the first occasion in which such a large number of rare fish had been released into the river at one time.

Zhang said conditions were appropriate for the release with the water temperature at 10 to 16 degrees Celsius and the Yangtze currently under a fishing ban.

Decreasing river levels and pollution have taken their toll on fish stocks. The number of sturgeon that migrate to the Yangtze each year to spawn has dropped from 2,176 in 1987 to just 500 now, said Chen Xihua, a researcher from the institute.

Chen said the number of sturgeon in the Yangtze was unknown, but it was at least 500.

To boost fishery sources, China has increased efforts in breeding and releasing them back into the water, he said.

But many sturgeon released in the 1980s and 1990s died as breeding techniques were not as effective as those at present, Chen said, adding they have worked to improve techniques and increase their survival chances.

Liu Denghong, a researcher with the Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, said about 30 conservation areas had been built along the Yangtze to protect fish stocks, including the sturgeon.

In Jingzhou city, central China's Hubei Province, about 50,000 sturgeon bred at the institute were released. "They have been raised in a water quality similar to that of the river, and should adapt soon," said Li Luoxin, a researcher at the institute's sturgeon breeding center.

Li said the sturgeon usually stayed in deep water, where they could better avoid the dangers of the river such as large boats and fishermen.

Two wild Chinese sturgeon, about three meters long, one weighing 451 kg and the other 150 kg, were also released back into the Yangtze, said Liu Jianyi, a researcher with the institute.

They had been in the Beijing Oceanarium for the last two years after being injured in the Yichang section of the Yangtze River in Hubei.

Liu said they had marked all the sturgeon and planted sonar devices and chips in some to follow their progress. "If they can not adapt, we will get them back into the institute for recuperation," Liu said.

The Chinese sturgeon is one of the oldest vertebrates in the world and has existed for more than 200 million years.

At least three dead after landslide in NW China

At least three construction workers have died after a landslide buried 13 workers at a construction site in Hejin city, northwest China's Shanxi province.
The accident occurred around 11:30 a.m. on Sunday at Banpo primary school in Xiahua township, 300 kilometers southwest of the provincial capital Taiyuan, said an official in the Hejin city government surnamed Chai.

Rescuers had recovered three bodies and pulled out one survivor who was being treated by medical staff, he said.

China stocks rebound, recovering lost ground

China's major stock indexes rebounded Friday, recovering part of Thursday's five-per cent loss blamed on the fears of an interest rate hike.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 3.92 per cent to close at 3,584.20 points, while the Shenzhen Composite Index went up 4.57 per cent to 1,003.87. The Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 index of major companies gained 4.41 per cent to 3,289.19.

Financial shares led the comeback, reversing a downward trend in the previous two sessions.

China Life gained 4.03 per cent to end at 36.89 yuan per share compared to a 3.06 per cent drop on Thursday. Its rival Ping An Insurance surged 6.46 per cent to 55.34 yuan, following a 2.25 per cent fall the previous day.

China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) rose 2.78 per cent to 11.08 yuan, and Air China, the country's biggest international airline, soared 7.86 per cent to 8.92 yuan.

Only 10 out of some 1,500 stocks in the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses reported losses.

The surge came after a fall of nearly five per cent on Thursday, the biggest drop since February 27 when the indexes lost nearly nine per cent, triggering a global sell-off.

Thursday's plummet was attributed to the worries that the central bank will raise interest rates to cool down the economy and curb inflation.

China's gross domestic product grew 11.1 per cent in the first quarter of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday.

Meanwhile, the consumer price index, a barometer of inflation, climbed 3.3 per cent in March, the highest in more than two years and above the central bank's target of three per cent, according to the bureau.

Key collector in Hubei , China

Gao Xuejun, a collector obsessed with antiquated keys from central China's Hubei province displays one of his over 300 keys produced from the Song Dynasty (960 and 1279 AD) to Qing Dynasty (1644¨C1912) Apirl 18, 2007.

Third World Kite Championship in E. China

Kite enthusiasts compete for glory at the Third World Kite Championship in Weifang in eastern China's Shandong province on Saturday, April 21, 2007.

College girls go nude before camera for eternal beauty

They are young, they are energetic, and now for an eternal memory, they go nude -- in the studio.

They are college girls in Xi'an, an ancient city in landlocked Shaanxi Province, which served as the capital city of some 13 dynasties in the Chinese history, including the world-renowned Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).

Now over 1,000 years later, Xi'an girls have really made a giant leap forward -- revealing their bodies, compared with their Tang Dynasty sisters' off-the-shoulder-top vogue. They take snapshots, nude.

Along the bustling Chang'an South Street, south outskirts of the city, there are 5 universities. Some girl students rush to take nude pictures at an avant-garde photo studio by the side of their campus.

A set of nude photos costs 1,000 to 5,800 yuan (about US$120-600). This cost is obviously a considerable amount in the ancient city whose residents on average earn 800 yuan (about US$100) per month. Whereas the high price never drives the girls, mainly living on parents -- away.

"I think it's worth the money. I can leave my most beautiful time eternally on the negative and photos," a 20-year-old girl with a nearby university said, on condition of anonymity,

However, most parents of those girls know nothing about it, while footing the bills unconsciously. Do parents support their daughters to keep eternal their prime beauty in nude snapshots?

The girl said: "As an adult, I know what I am doing and of course have the freedom to do this, if I like."

"As for the money, I didn't ask a penny from my parents to cover the photo expense," the girl said, proudly. "I've got a part-time job as a tutor and saved the money for this."

She is not the only one. Many girls, most from the five universities in the vicinity, visit the photo studio to make their artistic photo album, all in nudity.

"We take orders for nude photos almost everyday and sometimes customers have to book a photo session a week beforehand," said the studio owner, a young man in his twenties.

"Nowadays many college students have completely different attitude towards the photographic art of human body, which had, for a long time, been considered a taboo in China. They now appreciate nudity and consider it an art. And when taking photos for nude girls I feel a kind of sanctitude as I am witnessing glamour of human body," the owner said.

He said all cameramen working in the studio are young men. "They are highly professional and can always very well cooperate with their customers during the photo session."

Traditional dress uniform for Chinese athletes in 2008?

With less than 500 days away to the Beijing Olympic Games, the discussion over what the Chinese delegation should wear on the Games ceremonies has already been in full swing. The focus is Han costume - to wear or not wear.





The Shenyi is a full-length, one-piece robe which links the Yi and Chang together to wrap up the body. It is cut separately, but sewn together. Shenyi was named because when worn "the body is deeply wrapped up".

A joint proposal was posted on Thursday by some websites relating to Chinese tradition and culture on their forums to favor Chinese traditional dresses "Shen Yi" and "Han Fu" as the unified uniform for the Chinese sports squad and ritual staffs on ceremonies.

According to the proposal, "Shenyi", a main dress passed down from Shang Dynasty (17th - 11th century BC) to Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) is the symbol of the traditional dress of the Chinese nation. Chinese sports delegation on the opening and closing ceremonies and ritual staffs on duty should wear "Shenyi" to speak volume for the Chinese culture.

"Hanfu" is recommended for the Han ethnic athletes on ceremonies to represent the culture of the most populous ethnic group of the Chinese nation.

"We promise the Beijing Olympic Games will leave a distinctive Olympic heritage to Beijing, China and the whole world," the joint proposal cited the statement of Beijing's bidding for the 2008 Olympic. "What the heritage will be is the question we must think over now," it called.

The proposal was initiated by Fu Lujiang, the master of an old-style private school called Ming De School based in Hebei Province. Fu said he won wide support after publishing an article calling for Chinese symbols at the Games last year when the Beijing Olympic ritual dress design collection was opened to public. Fu and his supporters have presented their design to the BOCOG.

The joint proposal, however, is not the only supporter for Chinese style dresses. Netizens also recommended other kinds including Qipao, Zhongshan suit and modern gown.

But some experts worried a single kind of dress may not be broadly representative of the whole Chinese nation and suggested a mixture of various kinds. Qipao originates from the Manchu ethnic group and it is not typical of the whole Chinese nation on a world stage like the Olympic Games.

Also some other experts pointed out "Hanfu" is ill-defined as it does not particularly refer to the dress of the Han ethnic group.

A professor of Beijing Institute of Clothing Technology said some changes must be made on traditional dresses before athletes wear them in order to exhibit a fine athletic spirit.

Li Xin, a fashion designer who joined the uniform design for Chinese delegation at 1988 Seoul Olympic Games said traditional uniform does not suit each of the athletes, for example, women athletes of heavyweight events may not look good in Qipao. She suggested an athlete's body type and event must be taken into account.

The discussions in forums seem to be far away from being one-sided as netizens presented various ideas. Some said China can't afford to miss such a golden opportunity as the Olympics to exhibit its rich culture while the opposing group cited reasons including the hot weather and integration with the world.

The result will not be announced by BOCOG until the Olympics 100-day countdown ceremony.

Dead for love?Or just too fragile?

The couple's hands were still tied together with a red wire, two days after their deaths.

The fragile and helpless are most prone to become hopeless. Many may disdain them for their lack of courage if they choose to die, but a couple who recently ended their lives thus said in their will:

"You will never understand. This is our love."

Facing huge obstacles to overcome to live together, this young couple chooses to die together. Their bodies were found in the Yangtze River, and hands were tied together with a red wire.

A man fishing by the river in Southwest China's Chongqing Metropolis found two floating bodies and immediately reported the police on April 7, but by that time, they had been dead for two days. Both were in trim clothing, and the 26-year-old man's right hand was tied to the 20-year-old woman's left hand by a one-meter-long red rubber wire, which kept them together despite the raging tides of the river.

While the police was still doing investigation, a man named Wang Yu came to claim the bodies, with the couple's in his hand.

According to Wang Yu, the man is Wang Feng, his younger brother, who was a chef and went to work in Lanzhou of Northwest China's Gansu Province. He fell in love with a local girl named Liu Yan. Later they came to work in Chongqing, living in a room of Wang Yu's.

Just as every couple in fervent love would do, they began to plan their marriage in early April, only to learn that parents from both sides were against it. For the Wangs, they think Liu's hometown in Gansu is too far from Chongqing, and Liu's family asked for a betrothal gift of 20,000 yuan (US$ 2590), which the Wangs could not afford.

Wang Fu went to look for his brother on April 5, but the room was empty, except a will. Wang Yu's effort to try to search Wang Feng went in vain until he heard about the bodies found from Yangtze River two days later.

The will, written in the evening of April 4, revealed that they died for love.

"Please don't look for us anymore. Please forgive our helplessness. We cannot lose each other. We live in each other's life. You will never understand. This is our love."

At the end of the will was the girl's handwriting, "Please do not tell (my) parents. You will have to keep the secret for us."

Digging deeper for cleaner water

China's water pollution scares have led to well-digging businesses very busy as thousands of villagers resorted to digging120-metre-deep wells to reach cleaning drinking water, news reports said on Thursday.

And residents in Hebei province in northern China have to dig as deep as 200 metres, as shallower wells are too polluted for human consumption.

"Ten years ago, villagers dug some 20, or 30-metre-deep wells for drinking water and it cost several hundred yuan each. But water from 50-metre-deep wells are not drinkable due to pollution," an unnamed village head told the Yanzhao Metropolitan News.

"We have to drill at least 120-metre-deep wells and it costs each family 2,000 yuan (US$260) on average, which almost wipes out their annual incomes," the village head said.

Farmers' annual incomes in Hebei province, 50 miles north of Beijing was on average 3,800 yuan (US$494) in 2006.

The report added villages of Wurenqiao, Cuizhang and Nanloudi in Anguo county are the most hit by the lack of drinking water. Locals sell their grain and buy grain from other parts of China they don't believe is as polluted as theirs.



Pictures from the Yanzhao Metropolitan News show green water pumped from wells used to irrigate farmland in the county.

A villager said the priority is to look after their own health, not others. "Water pollution forces us to do that."

China is paying the price for its annual double-digit growth with severe environmental problems, including water pollution. Last week, Xinhua news agency said the country's Yangtze River, a lifeline for millions of people is now seriously and irreversibly polluted.

And the numbers are frightening. Reports said some 90 per cent of China's cities and 75 per cent of its lakes suffer from varying degrees of water pollution. This is because millions of households and industries discharge waste and sewage into its major waterways and rivers.



Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has admitted his country does not have a solution to the water pollution problem.

"Environmental pollution has definitely become a severe problem of China's development and this problem has not been solved very well", Wen said during a press conference last year.

The government is adding an environmentally adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) to demonstrate the waste created and environmental damage done due to economic growth.

In a move to deal with the water scares, the government is pledging to pour 30 million yuan into water treatment projects last year. And every family in China is required to pay sewage treatment fees. The amounts vary in China but each family pays on average 80 fen for every cubic metre of sewage.

Qiu Baoxing, the vice Minister of Construction said the reason behind the policy is to raise the awareness of water protection and to fund water treatment projects.

China's rich are giving it away

In a world of fast-expanding human desire and greed, giving away one's wealth is a rare virtue. In fact, many billionaires in China are now making huge donations for education, social welfare and healthcare.

According to the 2007 Hurun Report's Chinese Philanthropists List, compiled by Briton Rupert Hoogewerf, 30 of the China's 100 richest were among the 100 most generous in 2006, up from 20 the previous year.

"Almost all the top 100 rich Chinese are considering the concept of charity. With a good policy environment, more and more wealthy people are setting up their own charitable funds," Hoogewerf reported. Of the total 10 billion yuan ($1.23 billion) donated last year, the amount given by the 100 was 3.9 billion yuan compared with 3.75 billion yuan the previous year.

Shenzhen hotel entrepreneur Yu Pengnian topped the list of 100 philanthropists last year with 2 billion yuan ($258 million). Most of his money went to cataract surgery for some 100,000 people.

Niu Gensheng, chairman of Mengniu Group, has promised to donate all his shares in the dairy group to a charitable fund he set up in 2005.

Billionaires make news for financial success. They make headlines especially when they make it to Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest.

Humanity is benefited through their benevolence. By giving away wealth, billionaires can help mitigate human misery. Their grace enlightens society.

Warren Buffett, the world's second-richest man at the time, made an unprecedented announcement last year that he was donating $37 billion to the foundation run by his friend Bill Gates, then the world's richest man.

According to Fortune magazine, Buffett, with total assets worth $44 billion, gave away 85 percent of his wealth from his stock in Berkshire Hathaway to five foundations. The donation was the single largest charitable gift in US history.

Buffet believes that giving one's children too much money is a burden, not a gift.

According to him, a very rich person should leave his children enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing. Buffet and his wife had decided that they would not pass huge amounts of money to their children since they believed their children grew up with the advantages of wealth.

Buffet said they had "a gigantic head start, and that dynastic mega wealth would further tilt the playing field in America, when we should be trying to make it more level." And that is why he gave away his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fight disease, reduce poverty and improve education.

The Chinese government also has a role in creating a social and taxation environment to promote philanthropic giving. Fairer regulations and faster administrative procedures must be ensured so that the rich don't experience obstacles in giving away their money.

Philanthropy is a means to build community by growing community funds. It is a means of affecting social change. Billionaires can take the pioneering role to make the best use of their money so that others emulate them.

In this age of unrestrained individualism, we need to teach our young to give more value to helping others. Therein lies enduring happiness. Noble deeds reveal a state of mind.

Through benevolence, these billionaires have proved that it is the mind, and not the wallet, that is the road to contentment.

E-mail: zouhr@chinadaily.com.hk

Hair measuring 2.42 metres

Xia Aifeng, 36, combs her super long hair standing on a bench at home in Shangrao, east China's Jiangxi Province, April 11, 2007. The 1.6-metre-tall woman is keeping the long hair measuring 2.42 metres.