Chinese Politburo stresses saving lives first in quake relief

Saving lives should be taken as the top priority during the quake relief after nearly 15,000 confirmed dead, a high profile meeting of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee was told Wednesday.

The meeting of the Political Bureau Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee, presided over by President Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, urged more army, armed police, firemen and special policemen, as well as medical personnel be rushed to the quake-hit areas.

The meeting called on various government departments to take measures to provide appropriate accommodations to survivors, ensuring that they are well fed, clad and sheltered.

"Attention should be paid to maintain social stability," the meeting was told.

It presses resumption of transportation, electricity, communication and water supply as soon as possible.

A strong quake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale jolted Wenchuan County in northwest part of Sichuan Province at 2:28 p.m. on Monday. The death toll tallied 14,463 by 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday in Sichuan. Another 14,051 were missing, 25,788 buried in debris, and 64,746 injured.

Tens of thousands of army personnel and armed police have arrived at or are approaching the epicenter to carry out disaster relief work.

As of 3:00 p.m. Wednesday, emergency relief teams sent by the China Seismological Bureau (CSB) and 13 provinces and municipalities had saved 84 survivors in Sichuan.

Disaster relief goods have been airdropped to major quake-hit areas including Wenchuan County and Mianzhu City.

Public donations in both cash and goods to the quake-hit areas had risen to 877 million yuan (125 million U.S. dollars) as of 4 p.m. on Wednesday, updating a previous figure of 603 million yuan, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Chinese FM: British tourists back to Chengdu safe after quake

A group of 31 British tourists have arrived safe in Chengdu, capital of the quake-hit Sichuan Province in southwest China, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang late Tuesday.

The 31 British tourists encountered the massive quake Monday afternoon on their way back from a tour to Wolong, and all of them finally returned to Chengdu safe without any casualty or injury, with the assistance of the police of Dujiangyan, a city near Chengdu, according to Qin. 

Premier Wen pledges to save more lives when inspecting quake-hit hospital, school

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has pledged to save as many lives as the rescue teams can in southwest China's Sichuan Province which was hit by a major quake on Monday afternoon.

Wen made the remarks during his inspections at a hospital and a school in Dujiangyan, a city northwest of the provincial capital Chengdu, partly damaged by the quake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has pledged to save as many lives as the rescue teams can in southwest China's Sichuan Province which was hit by a major quake on Monday afternoon.

The road from Dujiangyan to Wenchuan, epicenter of the quake, was blocked by rock and mud slides, holding up rescue, medical and other disaster relief teams in the city.

"Please just hold on, people are going to get you out of there!" the Premier told the people trapped in the collapsed buildings of the hospital in a loudspeaker.
When comforting patients and medical staffs in the hospital, Wen asked rescuing troops to search every corner for people waiting for salvation and carry out the rescue work in an orderly way.

"If there is a gleam of hope, we will do all the best to save the people," the Premier vowed at a middle school of Juyuan town, adding that the rescuing team would not rest until the last one under the ruin wassaved.

Chinese Pemier Wen Jiabao (2nd R) speaks to buried people at a ruined hospital in Dujiangyan city of southwest China's Sichuan Province May 12, 2008. Premier Wen flew into southwest China's Sichuan Province on Monday.

"The medical experts are coming, the rescuing planes will land soon," Wen told people crying for help in the school, "I was told many trapped people have hopes to survive from the disaster."

He made a three-time bow to pay his respect to the bodies of the people killed by the quake laid on the school's square, saying that he was very depressed.
Premier Wen told officials at the temporary headquarters for disaster relief in Dujiangyan that roads to Wenchuan should be recovered as soon as possible at all costs.

"The road is the key for the relief work since we can only know the situation there when we can send peopleand we can only transport the injured out when the road is clean," Wen said.

Olympic Torch Relay in Guangzhou

The Olympic Torch Relay in Guangzhou starts this morning at 8:15 when the provincial Party Chief Wang Yang passed the sacred fire to Yang Jinghui, the first torch bearer of the Guangzhou Relay and the gold medal winner in the synchronized 10 metre platform diving in 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

Altogether 208 torch bearers will run over 40 km today, passing the Baiyun Mountain, Guangzhou Art Museum, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Chen’s Clan, Beijing Road, Haizhu Bridge, Haiyin Park, Embassy Square, Guangzhou Bridge, Zhujiang New Town and Guangzhou Tianhe Sports Center. The relay will end at the Tianhe Sports Center at 6 pm, following by a grand ceremony and show.

The final torch bearer in Guangzhou will be Dong Zhaozhi, Silver Medal in Men’s Team Foil at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Both Yang and Dong are Guangzhou native.

Besides the two former Olympic winners, the torch bearers in Guanghzou includes representatives from all walks of life and are expected to disseminate the Olympic spirit throughout the city.

Torchbearer Yang Jinghui shows the torch during the launching ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, on May 7, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

Torchbearer Yang Jinghui runs with the torch during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou Wednesday morning, May 7, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

Torchbearer Yang Jinghui (R) lights the torch for the next torchbearer Liu Jiangnan during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou Wednesday morning, May 7, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

People cheer for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, on May 7, 2008.

Map of Torch Relay in Guangzhou

China to Tighten Monetary Policy in 2008

China will shift its monetary policy "from prudent to tight" in 2008, to prevent its economy from overheating and to try to contain accelerating inflation, according to the three-day 2007 Central Economic Work Conference concluded on Wednesday.

The conference, an annual event initiated more than a decade ago, serves as a crucial mechanism for the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council, the cabinet, to make policies to govern the Chinese economy.

China will maintain a "prudent" fiscal policy for the coming year.

Various monetary instruments should be used to regulate liquidity and to strictly control the size of loans and frequency of credit extension, so as to better regulate domestic demand and balance international payments, said the conference.

China raised interest rates five times and reserve requirement ratio nine times this year.

The conference said that with a prudent fiscal policy and a tight monetary policy, China aims to prevent economic growth developing from rapid to overheating, and to prevent price rises evolving from structural to evident inflation.

"A tight monetary policy can develop a progressive effect, which will help curb the overheating in markets of assets, including equities and real estate, and then cap price rises," said Cao Honghui, an economic researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

China has been implementing a prudent monetary policy since 1997. From 1998 to 2002, the country increased money supply to counter deflationary pressure.

From 2003 to 2007, the monetary policy has been tigtened in order to help address changes in economic development, including rapid growth in credit extension, investment and foreign exchange reserves.

"The new policy reflects the accurate judgment by the central government on China's current economic situation, which is under pressure from further price rises and unduly fast loan growth," said Peng Xingyun, a senior researcher with the Research Institute of Finance under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The country's consumer price index (CPI) rose a decade-high 6.5 percent in October, well above the government-set alarm level of three percent. Observers here said the major inflation indicator will most likely rise to a new high in November.

In the first 10 months, Renminbi-denominated loans were 1.1 times the amount for the whole of last year.

Yu Yongding at CASS research institute of world economy and politics said that four percent was the CPI ceiling that China could tolerate. If the inflation measurement increased higher it would send a signal to the central bank that a tight monetary policy was necessary.

The Central Government urged to "moderately tighten money supply" on the basis of prudent monetary policy in June 2007, the first time the central government used the word "tighten" for monetary policy since 1997.

Observers believed China would continue to face high inflationary pressure next year. In international markets, oil prices would continue their exposure to high volatility and grain prices would keep rising.

In the domestic market, high food prices, a major contributor to the country's CPI growth, would likely force up labor costs and then production cost in different sectors.

Prof. Song Guoqing predicted that a sixth interest rate rise was around the corner. "Next year, the central bank will likely grant loan quota to commercial banks quarter by quarter, instead of year by year, which will better control credit," he said.

The observers said it was noteworthy that while the monetary policy went tighter, the fiscal policy would remain prudent.

"Considering requirements of improving people's lovelihood, major construction projects, economic restructuring and of energy saving and emissions reduction, the country's fiscal expenditure will remain huge next year. It is unsuitable for the fiscal policy to turn to tight," said Prof. Zhu Qing of the business school of the prestigious Renmin University.

The State Information Center forecast China's GDP growth at 11.4 percent for this year and at 10.8 to 11.3 percent for 2008.

According to its prediction, the country's CPI will rise 4.7 percent this year, 2.9 percentage points higher than the previous year, and go up 4.5 percent for next year. The exports will increase by 25.7 percent, and imports by 20 percent, with the trade surplus forecast at USD268 billion, USD90.5 billion higher than the 2006 level.

The center said 8.9 trillion yuan (USD1,202 billion) was invested in fixed assets in urban areas in the first 10 months of this year, up 26.9 percent on the same period of last year. The growth has stayed at around 20 percent for 78 months, the center added, predicting the pace at 25.5 percent for the whole of this year and 23.5 percent for 2008.

According to the Central Economic Work Conference, China should fulfill its economic development goals for next year in a steady manner, so as to maintain the economy on a stable, rapid and healthy track.

Not For Your Body Only: Modern Jewelry Show by Esther Brinkmann

Venue: Fei Gallery
Time: 2008-04-26~2008-05-14
Tel: 020-37 68 87 81- Nikita Cheung -13 580 332 611
Opening Hours: Monday-Friday 10a.m. - 7p.m. • Weekend 11a.m. - 5p.m. • closed on Thursday
Wearing jewellery conducts to a dialogue with the body, the mind and the feelings. Wearing jewellery enables each of us to transmit exterior signs of interior states. Jewels open up spaces for the imagination. They accentuate or invoke in each of us the feeling of being an individual.
                                    ——Swiss Jewellery Designer Ms. Esther Brinkmann

Look Inside

Double Ring

A modern jewelry show by Ms. Esther Brinkmann, gives us a different view on the meaning of precious - that jewelry is not only valuable in price, but teaches us to pay attention to the details of life. Among her works, the "Last Drop of Water," and the "Look Inside" series are the most pleasant and exquisite.

One World- Chinese Paintings Depicting all the United Nations

Venue: Guangdong Museum of Art, Halls 1-4
Time: 2008-04-05~2008-04-23

The One World-Chinese Painting Exhibition is a big event of the Chinese civilization and art community during the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as a creative campaign in the history of cultural exchange between China and other countries. 200 Chinese painters were invited to create 200 Chinese paintings based on symbols of civilization, folklore, architecture, national paintings and birds of 192 UN members as well as UN departments. This has been the first time that Chinese artists created and reflected the beautiful things of countries around the world. It embodies the aspiration of these artists for world peace, for better understanding of the world and for being understood. The event is also a contributor to world cultural exchange. (english.gz.gov.cn)

China Chairman Hu: China confident of hosting good Olympic Games

President Hu Jintao said in Sanya on Thursday that China was confident and capable of hosting a good Olympic Games.

He made the remarks in his meeting with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse in the southern island province.

The Beijing Olympic Games meets the aspiration of the Chinese people for the past 100 years and is also the common expectation of people worldwide, he said.

With support from people around the world, China was confident to and capable of phasing out all interference and host a successful Olympic Games.

Any attempt to undermine the August Games was doomed to fail, Rajapakse said, adding Sri Lanka wholeheartedly wished the Beijing Olympiad success.

Sri Lanka firmly adhered to the one-China policy and resolutely supported the policy of the Chinese government on the Taiwan and Tibet issues, he said.

Hu recalled his meeting with Rajapakse in February last year, in which the two leaders reached a broad consensus on facilitating Sino-Sri Lanka ties.

"Over the past year, much of the consensus has been seriously implemented," Hu said, adding the activities commemorating the 50th anniversary of China-Sri Lanka diplomatic ties and the Year of China-Sri Lanka Friendship had achieved great success.

Appraising the rapid bilateral trade growth, Hu said the large-scale cooperative programs in energy, ports and other fields had moved ahead smoothly and the two countries' cultural and sport exchanges were quite fruitful. China was satisfied with the status quo of China-Sri Lanka relations, he added.

Both countries were at a crucial stage of economic development, Hu said, adding to cement bilateral trade cooperation meets the fundamental interests of the two peoples and helps the economic and social development.

"We are ready to join hands with Sri Lanka to step up mutual-beneficial cooperation in various areas in a bid to benefit our peoples."

Rajapakse expressed appreciation for China's support for his country's economic and social development, stressing Sri Lanka was willing to further expand the win-win cooperation with China.

Hearing about Sri Lanka's domestic situation from Rajapakse, Hu said China hoped to see the country achieve peace, stability and prosperity at an early date.

Concerning the 15th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to be held in Sri Lanka later this year, Hu said China would send a high-profile delegation. He believed the summit would achieve full success and expected Sri Lanka to play an important role in cementing the China-SAARC cooperation.

Rajapakse voiced his support for China's role in international and regional organizations.

He was here to attend the annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia, scheduled to open on Saturday in Boao, Hainan Province.

October 1, National Day of the People's Republic of China

"The People's Central Government of PRC is the only legal government to stand for all people of PRC. Our government is willing to establish diplomatic relationship with any foreign government that agrees to abide by the principles of equality, mutual benefit, mutual respect for territorial integrity..." -Chairman Mao Zedong from the Announcement of the People's Central Government of PRC The PRC's National Day was declared at three o'clock on October 1, 1949, in front of 300,000 people during a ceremony in Tian'anmen Squeare. Chairman Mao declared the founding of the People's Republic and waved the first five-star PRC flag.

In past times, the day was marked by large political gatherings and speeches, military parades, state banquets and the like. Since 2000, as China's economy developed, the national holiday lasts seven days and most workers are given time off to visit relatives and take time for traveling.

Traveling during National Holidays With a week off, many Chinese travel domestically and internationally. Travel fares double and triple and advance bookings must be made weeks, even months ahead for international travel. Hoards of tour groups flock to the major tourist destinations of China, so you can forget having a quite moment to ponder how the Great Wall was built.

If you can avoid it, it's advisable not to travel domestically during the week around October 1st. The latest statistics released publicly are from 2000 but according to these, 59.82 million people traveled during National Day holidays that year. Over two-thirds of all hotel beds were booked in major tourist destinations such as Beijing and Shanghai. However, if you are in China, you'll find the weather is usually very nice, and after October 1, almost everything from shops and restaurants to the post office will be open for business.