介绍:
This is Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.
China&`&s first overseas land satellite ground receiving station has been put into trial operation.
The China Remote Sensing Satellite North Polar Ground Station is above the Arctic Circle, half an hour&`&s drive from Kiruna, a major mining town in Sweden.
Scientists say Kiruna is an ideal place for remote sensing satellite data reception. With this location and a high-performance antenna, China&`&s Earth observation satellites will acquire global data more efficiently, and respond to user application requirements including disaster monitoring more quickly and effective.
China has ground stations in Beijing, Hainan province, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Yunnan province. The four ground stations receive satellite signals covering 70 percent of the Asian continent.
Domestic stations can receive a signal from each satellite five times a day when they pass overhead, while the new station can receive signals up to 12 times a day.
In addition, the new station can acquire satellite data in any part of the world within two hours. It is capable of receiving all-weather, all-time and multiple resolution satellite data, being an important complement to the four domestic stations.
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The Information Office of the State Council, China&`&s Cabinet, has launched an application with an online briefing area to provide the latest, most authoritative information about China and to offer better services for journalists from home and abroad.
The app is available in Chinese and English. In addition to broadcast news conferences organized by the State Council Information Office, central departments, ministries and local governments, the app will provide updated information about the latest news events in China.
The online briefing area provides services for users to book online or face-to face interviews with the office.
The Information Office held 120 news conferences in 2016.
By strengthening communication with the media and offering better services, the office says it will be more open in 2017 and play a bigger role in connecting China with the rest of the world.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
A rising number of government officials have been placed under investigation for alleged misuse and embezzlement of poverty relief funds.
Between January and October, national prosecuting departments investigated 1,600 government officials relating to crimes involving poverty relief funds, a 94 percent increase compared with the same period last year.
Officials say supervision loopholes and efforts to crackdown on such illegal activity have contributed to the sharp increase in the number of cases found in such crimes.
Most of the suspects are grassroots officials, including directors and accountants at village and township level, who allegedly abused their power to withhold or embezzle funds, or fabricate documents to falsely claim such funds.
One such case was uncovered in May, when a local village Party chief in Henan province was investigated for alleged graft.
When serving as the village head, the suspect abused his power, using names of his family members to falsely claim subsidies for returning farmland to forests totaling 180,000 yuan, roughly 26,500 U.S. Dollars.
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More than 66 percent of children in southwest China&`&s Tibet Autonomous Region have received preschool education, more than double that of six years ago.
According to the latest figures from the local education department, the gross kindergarten enrollment ratio rose to 66 percent in 2016 from 24 percent in 2010.
A total of 97,000 children were attended 1,000 kindergartens in Tibet in 2016.
All children in Tibet&`&s agricultural and pastoral areas or children in low-income urban families are entitled to free tuition and accommodation fees, plus a 3,200 yuan-, roughly 470 U.S. Dollar-, pre-school education subsidy each year.
The educational authorities are also promoting preschool classes taught in both Mandarin and Tibetan for children in Tibet.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
Chinese scientists have developed a device which may instantly detect esophageal cancer by breath analysis.
In a recent experiment, scientists with Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, used a device known as proton transfer reaction mass spectrometer to analyze breath samples of 29 cancer patients and 58 healthy volunteers.
More tests are needed to confirm the findings.
The current spectrometry takes only three minutes and the accuracy rate has reached 85 to 90 percent.
In China, esophageal cancer kills 370,000 people a year. Both the prevalence and the death rate of the cancer in China are among the highest in the world. Common screening methods contain barium meals, computed tomography scans, endoscopy, and lab testing of biopsy samples. However, these invasive methods are not suitable for regular health exams or the very vulnerable.
Non-invasive screening methods help in early detection and intervention, lowering the death rate.
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A total of 1,800 people died as a result of infectious diseases on the Chinese mainland in November.
According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, there were 600,000 cases of infectious diseases reported on the mainland in November.
More than 280,000 cases were classified as Class B infectious diseases under China&`&s Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, and they resulted in 1,800 deaths.
Viral hepatitis, tuberculosis, syphilis, and bacterial dysentery accounted for 93 percent of cases in this category.
Category C diseases were responsible for close to 320,000 cases, and eight deaths. Foot and mouth disease, infectious diarrhea, and influenza were the most prevalent in this category, accounting for 94 percent of cases.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing. You can access the program by logging on to newsplusradio.cn. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing us at mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. That&`&s mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. Now the news continues.
Calendars have turned into luxuriously illustrated books which are highlights of China&`&s book scene at the end of the year.
One of the most popular of such products is the Palace Museum Calendar, which has sold more than 1 million copies since it was first issued in 2010. The first printing of the 2017 version of 300,000 copies has sold out, and four more print runs are underway.
For its 2017 calendar, the Palace Museum, or the Forbidden City, is offering a bilingual version in both English and Chinese.
The Palace Museum said they did not expect people to buy the publications as collectibles. A 2010 version of the calendar of the Forbidden City is now worth 80 times its original price.
The new 2017 calendar is inspired by Chinese zodiac animals and is illustrated with photos of relics from the Palace Museum&`&s collection of some 2 million antiques.
The success of the Palace Museum Calendar has inspired more publishing entities to follow suit. A Plants and Animals Calendar and the One Way Street Calendar are among the best cellers in the new year&`&s market.
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A salt water well, believed to have been built during the Tang Dynasty 1,000 years ago, has been unearthed in north China&`&s Hebei Province.
The salt well is the first to be discovered in a northern coastal area. The excavation is part of an ongoing project in Huanghua, a small city on the Bohai Sea coast.
The well is 2-and-a-half meters in diameter. It was built with distinctive grooved bricks, which over time have come into contact with cinders and ash, and have turned black in color. Pieces of wooden and woven items were also found at the bottom of the well.
Archaeologists believe that the well was constructed at a saltwater-rich offshore site, and the water from the well was used to produce salt.
Other ruins have been discovered nearby including brine ditches, salt pans, brine pits, fire pits, and stoves, but their functions remain to be confirmed.
One professor at Shandong University said this is the first Tang Dynasty salt well found in north China. And the ruins are evidence of advanced salt production featuring clear processing procedures.
The findings have been welcomed by researchers of ancient salt-making techniques as well as those interested in Tang socioeconomic development.
The 1,500-square-meter site is three kilometers from the ruins which are thought to be the northern tip of the ancient Maritime Silk Road.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
An 18th-century Chinese imperial seal was auctioned for 21 million euros, roughly 22 million U.S. Dollars, in Paris, establishing a new world record for this type of bid.
During the bidding, potential buyers raised the seal&`&s price more than 20 times its estimated price.
According to the auction house, the seal in red and beige nephrite jade was used by Emperor Qianlong, the second longest serving emperor in Chinese history.
The emperor&`&s reign in China more than 200 years ago was one of the peak periods of the country&`&s prosperity, with a large population and a vast territory.
The seal was decorated with nine dragons, a symbol of supreme authority. It was used to go with the signature of Qianlong&`&s calligraphy and paintings.
The seal was reportedly acquired by a French naval doctor who traveled many times to China in the late 19th century, and has remained in his family ever since.
The new owner of the imperial seal is an unnamed Chinese collector.
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An exhibition of traditional Chinese hand-painted fans is underway in Buenos Aires, representing the most important Chinese art show held in the Argentine capital in a decade.
The show is entitled "Chinese style", and features 60 works selected from the China National Academy of Painting.
China&`&s Ambassador to Argentina Yang Wanming attended the opening ceremony, together with officials from Argentina&`&s Ministry of Culture, and representatives from the China National Academy of Painting.
The fan paintings range from landscapes to scenes of daily life, which are part of an artistic heritage dating back thousands of years in China.
Fans are an essential element in China&`&s theatrical presentations. This type of art work used to be seen as a type of portable painting with images of landscapes, flora and fauna, or personalities.
As the Year of China-Latin America Cultural Exchange, 2016 saw a significant number of Chinese art exhibitions, as well as stage performances and literature-related events, throughout the region.
"Chinese Style" will continue through until mid-March.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
The historic story of the Six-inch Lane, rendered in the opera "Prime Minister of the Qing Dynasty" was warmly received at culture publicity week held at the Shanghai International Arts Festival lately.
The Huangmei opera, a local form of opera from east China&`&s Anhui province, traditionally tells tragic love stories to win tears. However, "Prime Minister of the Qing Dynasty" features state politics and a corruption crack-down in the Qing Dynasty.
The story is set over 100 years ago. Two state officials happened to have their family mansions built very close to one another, sharing a passageway between their courtyards.
One of the families planned to enlarge their yard and attempts to encroach on the narrow passageway. A dispute erupts between the two families, and they decide to take the case to court.
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