Swearing-In

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Swearing-In

Six senior officials with special committees of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, and commissions of the NPC Standing Committee pledged allegiance to the Constitution under the supervision of NPC Standing Committee Chairman Zhang Dejiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on February 26.

It is the first oath-taking ceremony held by the NPC for new officials.

Newly appointed officials at all levels should take a public oath of allegiance to the Constitution while assuming office, according to a resolution of the NPC Standing Committee that took effect on January 1.

Poverty Reduction

China was successful in reducing rural poverty last year with the number of rural poor people falling by 14.42 million to 55.75 million, official data showed on February 29, though the urban-rural gap is still prominent across the country.

Over 17 million urban residents and 49 million rural people received minimum living allowances as of the end of 2015, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement posted on its website.

“Disparities between urban and rural areas continued to narrow last year,” said Xu Xianchun, Deputy Director of the NBS.“Urban incomes were 2.73 times higher than rural incomes, down 2 percentage points from one year earlier.”

Deducting price factors, the percapita disposable income of urban residents rose 6.6 percent year on year in 2015, while that of rural residents increased 7.5 percent.The percapita net income of rural residents stood at 10,772 yuan ($1,657) last year, according to the statement.

Space Lab

China will launch its second space lab Tiangong-2 later this year, which will dock with a cargo ship scheduled to be launched next year, sources from the manned space program said on February 28.

The country also plans to launch the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft, which will carry two astronauts, in the fourth quarter to dock with Tiangong-2, according to the program’s spokesperson.

After its first test flight at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in south China’s Hainan Province, a next-generation Long March-7 rocket will put the country’s first cargo ship Tianzhou-1, which literally means Heavenly Vessel, into space in the first half of 2017 to dock with Tiangong-2 and conduct experiments.

China plans to conduct experiments on key technologies, including cargo transportation, inorbit propellant resupply, astronauts’medium-term stay, as well as space science and application experiments on a relatively large scale, the spokesperson said.Preparation for the space lab program is steadily progressing, they added.

The astronauts chosen for Shenzhou-11 are receiving training, while the Tiangong-2, Shenzhou-11, two Long March-2F carrier rockets to be used to lift them into space, the Long March-7 rocket, and the Tianzhou-1 are either being assembled or undergoing assembly examination.

China’s multi-billion-dollar space program aims to put a permanent manned space station in space by 2022, with construction on the station to be completed by 2020, the spokesperson added.

Juvenile Protection

The Ministry of Civil Affairs has inaugurated a new office devoted to protecting minors, especially China’s tens of millions of children “l(fā)eft behind” by their parents working away from home in cities.

The office, under the ministry’s Department of Social Affairs, plans to assess and improve the management of databases for left-behind children in rural areas, according to a ministry statement.

The new office will be responsible for establishing an interministerial joint conference system to coordinate efforts of different government branches.

More than 60 million children are considered “l(fā)eft behind” in China, and a lack of proper arrangements for many has led to a number of heartbreaking situations, such as the suicide last year of four children in southwest China’s Guizhou Province.

Antarctica Trip

Chinese icebreaker Xue Long, or Snow Dragon, rounded off its second tour around Antarctica on February 27.

The 75-day trip of over 18,000 nautical miles was also the research vessel’s first counterclockwise voyage around the ice-covered continent.

During the tour, Xue Long, which is on its 32nd expedition mission, made a stopover at the Great Wall Station on the King George Island, China’s first Antarctic station on the continent, and revisited Chile’s Port of Punta Arenas after 16 years.

On February 6, the icebreaker arrived at the southernmost point of the tour-also the southernmost point ever reached by a Chinese vessel-at 77.47 degrees south latitude and 166.16 degrees east longitude in the Ross Sea, where scientists examined the area in search of possiblelocations for China’s fifth Antarctic research station.

On February 21, Xue Long docked at Australia’s Casey Station, bringing it 392 tons of supplies the Australian side had requested the Chinese vessel to help transport under the Antarctic research cooperation framework between the two countries.

After completing more research work in the sea area west of the Prydz Bay, Xue Long will conclude its mission and set sail for home on March 10.

TCM Promotion

The nation will develop traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) into a pillar industry, according to a blueprint released by the State Council, China’s Cabinet, on February 26.The plan proposes universal access to TCM care by 2020.By 2030, TCM should make a notably greater contribution to social and economic development, it said.

The plan, calling for equal attention to TCM and Western medicine, set out tasks including “Internet Plus TCM,” integrating TCM with elder care and tourism, protecting the inheritance of knowledge and technology, developing new drugs-particularly those used in treating major communicable disease and severe illnesses-and boosting industrialized production of drugs.

The plan also calls for changes to the law and standardization, along with teaching TCM basics to primary and middle school students.

Longer Living

Life expectancy in Beijing rose slightly from 2014 to reach 81.95 years in 2015, according to an annual report by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning.

The life expectancy rose by 0.14 years from the figure in 2014, the commission said.The infant mortality rate was 0.21 percent.

The top three fatal diseases were cancer, heart diseases and cerebral vascular diseases, according to the report.

Yangtze Clean-Up

China’s top economic planning agency vowed on February 26 to improve the water quality of the Yangtze River as part of wider measures to balance economic activities and environmental protection along the world’s third longest river.

In the years leading up to 2020, China will work to ensure that over 75 percent of water in the Yangtze economic belt at least meets the Grade III standard, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

China classifies water quality into six levels, from level I, which is suitable for drinking after minimal treatment, to level VI, which is severely contaminated.

The NDRC said that China aims to make over 97 percent of the water from sources along the Yangtze belt Grade III before 2020.

Robotic Exoskeleton

A China-developed robotic exoskeleton, which can help disabled people to walk again, will be put into production this year, its developer announced on February 26.

The Center for Robotics at University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, based in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, has been developing robotic exoskeleton since 2010, which is a wearable robot that can be clasped on one’s waist and legs to help with walking and movement.

It can assist those who suffer from hemiplegia and limb paralysis with walking, according to Cheng Hong, Executive Director of the center.

“From mechanical and electric design to software research, all were independently developed by the center,” Cheng said.“We hope to see our robotic exoskeleton used as part of medical rehabilitation.”

Open Class

Students paste their written wishes on Chinese dreams to a wall during a patriotic education activity in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, on March 1.

More than 600 teenagers from Guangdong as well as Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions took part in the activity.

Facilitating Tourism

Chinese and American officials launch the China-U.S.Tourism Year at a ceremony in Beijing on February 29.

The program was announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S.counterpart Barack Obama last September.

It aims to increase travel and tourism between the two countries through a variety of methods, including enhancing travel experiences, promoting cultural understanding, and expanding appreciation of natural wonders.

In 2015, two-way tourist visits between the two countries surpassed 4.75 million.