OLYMPICS BRIEFS

Joint Efforts to Combat Doping Eleven major Chinese government departments have combined in an effort to combat doping more effectively,said Duan Shijie,Vice Minister of the General Administration of Sport of China,at the World Conference on Doping in Sport in Madrid. According to Duan,an anti-doping coordination group has been founded in China consisting of experts and officials from agencies including the Ministry of Education,Ministry of Public Security,     

Obesity in china

THE ratio between overweight and obese people in China is 3:1, as compared to 1:1 in developed countries. “As moving from an overweight to an obese condition is probable in most cases, com- mon obesity is now a real threat in China,” says Chen Junshi, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and presi- dent of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC). The results of the 2002 China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) showed 22.8 percent of overwe…     

尹蔚民：我国人力资源和社会保障事业取得历史性成就

To mark the 30th anniversary of China＇s reform and opening up, an academic symposium, organized by the China-Society Studies （CSHRS）, for Human Rights is now in session. The symposium is intended to review China＇s experiences in developing human rights over the past three decades, which we believe will be important to China＇s effort to promote, in an all- round way, the development of its human rights cause in the new situation. Present here are experts in the realm of human rights, those who have made positive efforts to publicize the progress of China＇s human rights cause to a global audience, and those who are reputed for their contributions to studies of human rights theories in China.     

Projecting the Right Image

The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will provide a good opportunity to boost China’s public relations industry It seems like an impossible mission to enable a foreigner to experience China’s 5,000-year history in just a few hours,but Mark Zhou, a Chinese, and Alex Koi, a Singaporean, have done just that.In an effort to enable people to get to know China, they have launched “urban safari” activities, in which the participants in a simulated environment can enjoy all kinds of food, videotapes and a detailed explanation to get an intimate feel of China’s history, culture, arts and folk customs in just six hours.     

A SIGNAL OF UNITY

正The Kunming Declaration adopted at the 15 th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity(COP15) sends an important political message of unity, said Fernando Lugris, Ambassador of Uruguay to China, in an interview with Beijing Review in Kunming, Yunnan Province. China and Uruguay come with vast untapped potential in green development, he added.     

Decorative Silverwork on Mongolian Knives

<正>In terms of craftsmanship and design of silver ornaments,silverwork in China reached maturity in the Ming Dynasty.The flourishing of the industry was due in large measure to the transfer of the Ming capital from Nanjing in the south to Beijing in the north,the move providing an opportunity for craftsmen from around China to exchange skills and give full rein to their talents.Furthermore,the wearing of silver ornaments became an important factor in everyday life,serving aesthetic and practical functions,and also as a reflection of the different beliefs of China's various ethnic groups.     

Prison Management Works Hard to Bring Human Rights under Good Protection

EDITOR＇S NOTE： Human rights protection in prisons is an important part of China＇s National Human Rights Action Plan and the human rights conditions in prisons constitute an important hallmark of the human rights protection level of the country. In order to get to know more about human rights protection in this special area, this reporter paid a visit to the No. 4 Prison in Henan Province, central China.     

Is the Future Chinese？

MORE than 2,300 universities in over 100 countries have introduced Chinese courses to their curricula, and young overseas nationals flock to China each year to learn Chinese. In 2004, the number of international students in China was 400,000. with an annual increase of 20 percent in the past five years, according to the Chinese Ministry of Education.     

Dispelling Uncertainty

As an integral part of the world,China is playing a bigger role in contributing to world prosperity and thus stability. Wang Yiwei,Associate Professor at the Center for American Studies,Shanghai-based Fudan University,recently wrote in the Global Times that China is improving its capabilities to cope with a variety of challenges,known and unknown,in an effort to promote the common development of humanity.The article follows:     

Drive to Make the Consumer King

正Protection of consumers'rights improves with amended laws and technology By Li XiaoyangBurger King China was recently in hot water in Nanchang,Jiangxi Province in east China,where some of its stores were accused of using expired ingredients,according to an annual consumer rights program broadcast by China Central Television on July 16.Initiated in 1991 to expose problems and malpractices in the domestic market,the     

Losses and Gains

Living as an expatriate in China,one becomes a connoisseur of cultural differences.My Chinese friends are anxious to educate me in the subtleties of "face," in China’s "years of hu-miliation," and in the fact     

A NEW AGE FOR SINO-FRENCH RELATIONS

正As the French president makes his first official visit to China,work begins on a more unified Eurasia On January 10,French President Emmanuel Macron wrapped up his first state visit to China,which began three days earlier in Xi’an,an ancient capital and a city rich in history and culture,in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province.Choosing Xi’an as the first stop of his trip was not merely a show of the French peo-     

Religious Life In China

When he returned to China in 2001 three years after he went to the United States as an exchange student at the State University of Colorado, Denver, Xin Min was surprised to find "an increasing number of young Christians" in China's mainland.     

Talking Doha

Washington seeks Beijing's support to jump-start difficult trade negotiations "The Doha Round is...an important reason why I am in China today," said Susan C. Schwab on her first trip to Beijing as the U.S. Trade Representative. During her trip to China on August 27-29, the top U.S. trade envoy urged China on different occasions to play a bigger role in promoting the resumption of the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks. Stressing that China is an important member of the     

Living for a Cause

正A German devotes himself to poverty alleviation in China At the age of 18, Michael Hermann from Dortmund, then part of the Federal Republic of Germany, decided to become an international volunteer. Since 2005, he has worked in China on poverty alleviation and disease control in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces,     

A Growing Trend: Shared Office Spaces

When you try to rent an office or an apartment in one of China’s metropolises, "An inch of land is worth an inch of gold" are words commonly heard by Chinese, who prize owning property. According to a recent report by CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), the world’s largest commercial reale state services firm,of the top six most expensive commercial districts around the globe, four are located in China.     

How Much Surplus Labor Is in the Countryside?

The long-held belief of an inexhaustible surplus of labor in rural areas of China is fading fast.Amid worries over its aging popula- tion,China is confronted with serious challenges to sustain its labor supply so as to shore up its growing economy.How to fur- ther transfer the remaining surplus labor into cities and how to improve the quality of Chinese laborers are questions the country faces.The Guangming Daily,a newspaper based in Beijing,con- ducted an interview with Cai Fang,an economist and Director of the Institute of Population and Labor Economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,to delve into China's labor dilemma.Cai gave his opinions in the following excerpts:     

Farewell,Shanghai Expo--Legacy of the Shanghai Expo

WU JIANMIN is an experienced diplomat who served as China＇s Ambassador to the Netherlands and to France, and a former president of China Foreign Affairs University. He was elected chairman of the International Exhibition Bureau in 2003 and vice president of the European Academy of Sciences in 2007.     

LETTERS

I am an avid reader of China Today maga- zine. I read with great interest your special report on Obesity in China. As an American, obesity is nothing new to me, but I have to say I was shocked to learn of the swelling health problem in China. The perception in the West is that Chinese people, thanks to a healthy diet and penchant for exercise, are slim and f it. Obviously, as lifestyles change, waistlines do too. Still, Chinese people would do well to consider the long-term consequences o…     

An Old Friend of the Chinese People——Mr.Ferdinand R.Marcos,Jr.

At the invitation of theCPAFFC, a delegation ofIlocos Norte Province of thePhilippines headed by GovernorFerdinand R. Marcos, Jr. paida goodwill visit to China in July1999. I was happy to accompa-ny the Philippine friends duringtheir visit in China, thus hav-ing an opportunity to make theacquaintance with Governor