回眸与省思

春天万物萌生秋天万物凋零

GUANGZHOU: Doctors in this city have developed a new birth control surgery for men that could be made available to the public starting next year.The method involves making a small incision along the testicle. Doctors then place a tiny tube, about the size of a match, into the opening.The tube functions as a filter that blocks sperm, Wu Weixiong, the director of Guangzhou Family Planning Technology Center, said.The surgery has already been patented, and the health department will promote it as soon as it is approved by the National Food and Drug Administration, Zhu Jiaming, the vice-president of the Guangzhou Sexology Association, said.He expects approval to be granted by next year."The success rate for this form of birth control is 97 percent," he said.The tube can be removed without negatively affecting a man's sexual health, he said.Wu said the operation takes just 10 minutes. However, it is very difficult and requires highly skilled doctors.He said only a few hospitals have the staff and facilities necessary to carry out the procedure. However, training courses will soon be made available to local doctors.Wu said he believed enough facilities and manpower would be available to handle the demand for such operations by the time the procedure is officially approved."The success rate of the operation is almost 100 percent," Duan Jianhua, an official of Guangzhou population and family planning commission, said.Research on the operation started four years ago in Beijing. It was led by the science and technology institute of the National Population and Family Planning Commission and Guangzhou family planning science and technology institute.Wu said the technique was developed through more than 1,600 clinical trials all over the country. More than 500 men in Qingyuan, a city in Guangdong Province, have already had the operation. All the trials were successful and none of the subjects has experienced any side effects.Zhu Jiaming said the operation costs just a few thousand yuan, which is affordable for most people in China."When the technique is available, couples will have one more option for birth control, and married women do not have to install an intrauterine device (IUD) anymore," Zhu said.The public seems ready."I welcome this technique. It makes me feel women are more respected by society than before," Liu Jun, a woman in Guangzhou, said.A survey by the Guangzhou-based New Express Daily found that about 60 percent of Guangzhou residents welcomed the surgery and supported its promotion.

BEIJING -- China is likely to become the world's second largest consumer market by 2015,  said a report released by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).Chinese shoppers select the luxury Louis Vuitton luggage at the first franchise store in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, July 25, 2007. [newsphoto]The report is based on a survey of 4,258 consumers in 13 Chinese cities from February to March 2007. According to the report, Chinese consumers are experiencing unprecedented wealth growth which is 3 to 5 times faster than developed countries in the past 50 years. Most Chinese consumers plan to spend more in near future to fulfill their family dreams."The past decade of rapid economic growth has brought prosperity but also uncertainty, resulting in a highly complex consumer market with diverse consumer attitudes," said Hubert Hsu, senior partner and managing director of BCG, at a press conference in Beijing."Capturing the next wave of consumer growth in China will involve developing deep consumer insights and creating marketing differentiation," said Hsu.The report said there are significant generational differences in terms of spending attitude among Chinese consumers. The strong interest in trading up, which means spending more money for more expensive products, was driven up by consumers' increasing desire for better goods and services and rising concern over safety and quality of cheap products.Chinese consumers put more faith in brand names compared with the US consumers and they believe good brand represents quality, safety, effectiveness and durability, said Hsu.Despite strong trading up desires, Chinese consumers continue to "treasure hunt" - make deliberate trade-offs to maximize "value" of their budgets. They use similar strategies for treasure hunting as their counterparts in other countries except several unusual tactics such as group purchase for volume discount, said the report.The report suggested global suppliers in China should establish strong, branded relationships with China's treasure-hunting consumers, provide the kinds of products that appeal to practical concerns and emotional needs, and be willing to customize their offerings to meet the needs of a geographically diverse population.While the retailers must make sure the categories they carry are the ones that treasure-hunting consumers will seek and focus on a product's technical and emotional benefits, said the report.

The newly approved Labor Contract Law will not undermine the investment environment although it will better protect workers' interests and rights, China's top trade union body said yesterday. Liu Jichen, director of the law department at the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, denied that the law - which goes into force from January 1 next year - is biased toward employees. "It not only protects workers' interests and rights, but also equally protects employers'," he told a press conference. The law, passed on Friday by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the top legislature, had raised concerns that stricter contract requirements could raise business costs and give companies less flexibility to hire and fire employees. Liu, however, said that the law takes into account employers' interests. For example, he said, employers can sign non-competition contracts with workers, with a non-competition period of not more than two years to encourage innovation and ensure fair competition. So an employer can rest assured that an employee does not walk out at the end of the contract period and join a direct competitor. It also softens the terms under which employers can cut staff - if an enterprise switches to other production, adopts a major technological innovation or changes its mode of business. Liu stressed that the law will help create a harmonious labor relationship. "Labor protection is a worldwide trend," he said. "With working conditions improved and rights protected, employees will feel more secure, which leads to a higher productivity." Liu pointed out most labor disputes result from violations of workers' rights. Because of the huge supply of labor force, workers are in a disadvantaged position, he said. Liu said the federation has succeeded in keeping most of the items on protecting workers' rights and interests in the law. For example, the law makes mandatory the use of written contracts and strongly discourages fixed- or short-term contracts. It also stipulates severance be paid if a fixed-term contract expires but is not renewed without an appropriate reason. The law requires all employers to submit proposed workplace rules or changes for discussion to the workers' congress - concerning pay, work allotment, hours, insurance, safety, holidays and training. Employers and trade unions will then jointly decide on workplace agreements. It stipulates trade unions have the right to sign collective contracts with employers on behalf of workers. In a position paper released yesterday, the European Chamber of Commerce in China said it welcomes the law and its aim of improving labor conditions and creating workplace harmony. "A more mature legal environment should be considered as an advantage in attracting foreign investment," the statement said. However, the chamber said the key challenge remains compliance by employers and the enforcement by authorities of the existing laws.

优化seo哪家好

BEIJING -- China will strengthen anti-money laundering checks and monitoring at the securities and insurance companies to safeguard financial security, Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said Friday.China's anti-money laundering efforts were in the initial stage and needed further improvement, Zhou told the fourth trans-ministerial meeting on anti-money laundering in Beijing.The government would work to amend the Criminal Law to improve the efficiency of anti-money laundering investigations, indictments and trials, he said.The government planned to clamp down on the money laundering and money-raising activities by terrorists at the non-financial sectors, including property, lottery and law offices.The People's Bank of China (PBOC) would set up an with the Customs Offices and put in place a declaration system for unregistered marketable securities on arrivals and departures, said Zhou.China was also committed to strengthening cooperation with the overseas financial intelligence centers and improving the mechanism to prevent and crack down on the illegal transnational fund flows, he added.

Another two closed-end stock funds have received official approval from China's securities regulator, Xinhua learned from a company source here on Friday.     The China Nature Asset Management Co. Ltd's Tianzhi Fund and the Dongwu Fund run by Soochow Asset Management Co., Ltd received regulatory approval from the State Securities Regulatory Commission Friday.     The Tianzhi stock fund will open through China Communication Bank, China Construction Bank, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Industrial Bank Co., Ltd, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, CITIC Bank, Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd, and with big brokers.     The Dongwu fund is to be issued by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank, the Postal Savings Bank, Huaxia Bank and qualified individual brokers.     Both companies declined to say how much they expected to reap from the listing.     Four stock funds launched by Bank of China Investment Management Co., Ltd. and AXA SPDB Investment Managers, CCB Principal Asset Management Co. and China Southern Fund Management Co., respectively, received official approval in the first half of February.     Of the four, CCB Principal Asset Management's Jianxin Fund and the Nanfangshengyuan Fund run by China Southern Fund Management Co. made their debut on Feb. 18.     Market analysts said the launch of these funds was expected to bring a new round of fresh capital into the sliding stock market.     China's securities watchdog suspended the launch of new funds late last year in reaction to the surging domestic stock market. The Shanghai Composite Index nearly doubled last year.

China's quality watchdog cracked 23,000 cases of fake and low-quality food from December 2006 to May 2007, involving 200 million yuan (26 million U.S. dollars). A total of 180 food manufacturers were shut down during the six months for making substandard food or using unedible materials for food production, said Han Yi, a senior official with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, at a press conference on Tuesday. The administration launched the nationwide fight against illegal food production and processing in December last year, mainly targeting food makers in the countryside and food for everyday consumption, including baby milk powder, rice, wheat powder and meat products. In 2006, China's industrial and commercial authorities ferreted out 68,000 fake food cases and withdrew 15,500 tons of substandard food from the market, according to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. Forty-eight cases were handed over to judicial departments.

兰州搜索引擎优化排名

A pair of young giant pandas will soon call Adelaide Zoo in South Australia home.The couple will be the first pandas to settle down in the southern hemisphere - the last time the endangered species were seen was nearly two decades ago during a visit to the Australasian region .President Hu Jintao and Australian Prime Minister John Howard signed an agreement yesterday formalizing the 10-year loan in Sydney.Hu said the move is a friendly gesture and the pandas will become a symbol of friendship.Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said after the signing ceremony that he played a key role in working with the Chinese to borrow the pandas as part of a global survival program."I love animals and I think the giant panda is one of the truly great animals of the world," said Downer.A native of Adelaide, Downer was excited that China agreed to send the pandas to the zoo where his grandfather was once the chief.It is hoped that the two-year-old male "Wang Wang", or "Net" and one-year-old "Funi", or "Lucky Girl", will breed when they reach sexual maturity.The two pandas are from the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province and they were named by the public earlier this year, said Zhang Guiquan, a director at the reserve.Chris West, CEO of the Royal Zoological Society of South Australia, said that the pair's presence in Australia will signify international collaboration to secure a future for wildlife."We will send our staff to Wolong to receive training," West said. "Our staff will also visit the giant panda facilities at San Diego Zoo, where they have successfully bred and managed giant pandas, and the climate is similar to that in South Australia."The giant panda is unique to China and often serves as an unofficial national mascot. The animals were sent abroad as a sign of warm diplomatic relations or to mark breakthroughs in ties.In a related development, two giant pandas "Bing Xing", 7, and "Hua Zui Ba", 4, are scheduled to leave China today for a 10-year sojourn in Spain.Giant pandas are among the world's most endangered species. State Forestry Administration figures show 1,590 pandas live in the wild, mostly in the mountains of Sichuan, and more than 200 live in captivity in the country.

 The CCTV footage shows that China's first lunar probe Chang'e-1 successfully completed its 1,580,000-km flying journey to the moon after entering its final working orbit on Wednesday's morning, Nov. 7, 2007. [CCTV.com]China's first lunar probe, Chang'e-I, completed its 1,580,000-km flying journey to the moon successfully on Wednesday's morning after entering its final working orbit.The probe, following the instructions of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC), started its third braking at 8:24 am and entered a 127-minute round polar circular orbit at around 8:35 am after completing the braking."The probe will travel along the orbit at a stable altitude of 200 km above the moon's surface. In each circle, it will always pass the two polars," said Wang Yejun, chief engineer of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC).The round orbit is also the final destination of the probe, where it is supposed to start carrying out all the planned scientific exploration tasks.It was originally designed to stay on the orbit for one year, but a researcher estimated that fuel saved by smooth operations and precise maneuvers may prolong its life span.Chang'e-I, named after a legendary Chinese goddess who flew to the moon, blasted off on a Long March 3A carrier rocket on Oct. 24 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern Sichuan Province. 

什么seo

WUXI: Premier Wen Jiabao has demanded a thorough investigation of the Taihu Lake crisis, which has affected the drinking water supply of about 2 million people. Efforts to protect the lake from further pollution are also to be scrutinized. "The pollution of Taihu Lake has sounded the alarm for us," Wen said in a directive to a symposium held by the State Council here yesterday. Taihu Lake, which was once a scenic attraction famous for its aquatic life, including shrimp, lily and water chestnuts, has been heavily polluted by industrial, agricultural and domestic waste. Wen said efforts had been made to reduce pollution in Taihu Lake in recent years. "But the problem has never been tackled at the root," he added. He asked participants in the symposium, including officials from central and local governments, environmental workers, scholars and researchers, to thoroughly investigate the Taihu Lake crisis so that concrete measures could be drawn up in response. Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan, who attended the symposium, told governments at all levels to work to prevent algae blooms and ensure the safety of drinking water. Zeng asked local governments to continue collecting the blue-green algae, intensify monitoring of water quality, ensure the water supply and divert more water from the Yangtze River to flush out the pollution. He also asked environmental watchdogs to strengthen supervision and punish factories that discharge pollutants into Taihu Lake. At the meeting, all towns around Taihu were ordered to establish sewage treatment plants. Chemical factories will have to meet a new water emissions standard by the end of June next year. Towns must set up sewage treatment plants and are forbidden from discharging untreated sewage into Taihu Lake or rivers in the Taihu valley. Existing plants must install nitrogen and phosphorus removal facilities before the deadline, according to the plan announced at the meeting. Chemical factories that fail to meet the new water emissions standard risk suspension. They will be shut down permanently if they fail to meet the standard by the end of next June. The new water emission standard for the Taihu area will raise the bar for sulfur dioxide emissions and chemical oxygen demand. China Daily-Xinhua

The country's top religious affairs official has pledged to continue support for the printing and publication of the Bible, even as the religious text here hit a milestone of 50 million copies published.Ye Xiaowen"The country respects and protects religious freedom," said Ye Xiaowen, head of the State Administration for Religious Affairs."And China has become one of the countries publishing the largest number of Bibles in the world."Ye made the remarks at a ceremony to mark the publication of the country's 50 millionth complete Bible by the Amity Printing Company over the weekend in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province.About 43 million copies of the Bible have been made for believers on the Chinese mainland, with copies in Braille and eight minority languages.The remaining 7 million were exported to more 60 countries and regions, mainly through a joint venture with the United Bible Societies (UBS) established in 1988.The accomplishment of 50 million Bibles is a major milestone in Bible publication in China, which satisfies the nationwide demand including those of the remote rural areas, UBS general secretary Rev Miller Milloy said at the ceremony.About 3 million copies of Bible have been rolling off the press annually in recent years, which forms the largest annual production by any Christian group, said the organization.Amity Foundation, the only one authorized in China to print the Bible, said there are 74 sales offices set up throughout the country for distributing the text."The printing company not only produces Bibles for Christians, it also donates its earnings to charity," said Bishop Kuang-hsun Ting, chair of the board of the Amity Foundation.Official statistics show that there were 16 million Christians in China by 1997 and the number is said to be growing, said Cao Shengjie, president of China Christian Council. The country also has 18 theological schools, with about 1,800 students.Ye gave the assurance at the ceremony that Chinese religious groups will provide help and service, including giving copies of the Bible to overseas athletes and tourists, during the Beijing Olympics 2008."The Amity Printing Company is well prepared to provide assistance to print copies of the Bible for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008," said Zhang Liwei, deputy secretary-general of the Amity Foundation.Li Zhanjun, director of the Beijing Olympics media center, also said earlier that a religious service center will be set up in the Olympic Village to offer services to Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and followers of other religions next summer.