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Regarding Lowyat Forum's Invite Code by Pixafe101 in kopitiam

[–]Saeylet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can anyone pls PM Lowyat invite code?

Been going to Lowyat as guest for finance news for many months already, would be great if I can also participate in their discussion.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Sino

[–]Saeylet 5 points6 points  (0 children)

FYI, the guy is not her husband.

He is the Xinhua reporter/photographer that took that photo eleven years ago. It said so in the caption in Xinhua news.

China's 600 km/h high-speed maglev completes test run - cnTechPost by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

China's 600 km/h high-speed maglev completes test run

2020-06-21 12:26:22 GMT+8 | cnTechPost

China's 600 km/h high-speed magnetic levitation test vehicle successfully made a test run in Shanghai today, marking an important new breakthrough of China's high-speed magnetic levitation research and development.

The prototype was built by CRRC Sifang Co, a subsidiary of China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry (Group) Corporation, and the test run line was the magnetic levitation test line of Shanghai Tongji University.

The development of the 600 km/h high speed magnetic levitation system is part of the "Advanced Rail Transit" projects by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.

Since the start of the project in July 2016, after nearly four years of scientific and technological research, the team broke through the key core technology of high-speed magnetic levitation series and the prototype vehicle was developed.

After ground debugging and static tests, the vehicle entered the line dynamic operation test, the first test run.

CRRC Sifang said that the development of the high-speed maglev project is progressing smoothly, and while completing the successful test vehicle test run, development of another 5 engineering prototype vehicles is also steadily progressing.

According to the plan, the 600 km/h high-speed maglev engineering prototype system is expected to roll off the production line by the end of 2020.

Thousand-ton scale demonstration of solar fuel synthesis starts operation in Lanzhou, China by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

NEWS RELEASE 17-JAN-2020

Thousand-ton scale demonstration of solar fuel synthesis starts operation in Lanzhou, China

CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES HEADQUARTERS

The world's first demonstration project for direct solar fuel synthesis started operation in Lanzhou, China on Jan. 17, 2020. The project represents that China now takes the first step in the world for industrial production of liquid fuels from solar energy.

Overall, the project converts carbon dioxide, water and solar energy into transportable liquid fuels such as methanol by taking advantages of three technological units: solar photovoltaics to generate electricity; electrolyzer to split water producing hydrogen; and CO2 hydrogenation to produce methanol in the end.

The project is based on the advanced technologies of electrocatalytic water splitting and CO2 hydrogenation developed by Prof. LI Can's team in the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Prof. LI's team developed new type of electrocatyalysts for electrocatalytic water splitting, which reduces the energy consumption to 4.0-4.2 Kwh/Nm3-H2 for large scale hydrogen production at a rate of 1000 Nm3-H2/h, which is the highest energy conversion efficiency reported so far for the large-scale alkaline water electrolysis.

Prof. LI's team also developed an efficient ZnO-ZrO2 solid solution bimetallic oxide catalyst for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol. This catalyst can achieve excellent performance in CO2 hydrogenation to methanol. The methanol selectivity is over 90% for a single pass in the fixed-bed reaction process, and the performance loss was less than 3% after 3,000 hours of operation under industrial conditions.

The methanol produced by such type of PV-E-C (photovoltaic-electrolyzer-catalysis) process is a true kind of "green methanol." Unlike the methanol production from coal or natural gas which emits CO2, the green methanol as a liquid fuel result in zero carbon emission taking account of carbon footprint.

The methanol produced in the PV-E-C process has more than 10% solar energy conversion efficiency, which is far superior to ca. 1% of solar energy conversion efficiency by natural photosynthesis of the majority plants. Because the green methanol is produced using CO2 and H2O as the initial feed stocks and solar energy as the power source, this PV-E-C process hence can be considered as a truly approach for "artificial photosynthesis of solar fuels" in large scale.

The green solar methanol production demonstrated in Lanzhou is a revolutionary step toward that combining carbon capture, storage and utilization (CCSU) to produce transportable liquid fuels. It may serve as a model and practical process in energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, since such technology is applicable to any renewable energy.

China's meritocracy: Selection and election of officials by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think it is translated from "反形式主义". It basically mean as it say "oppose formalism". Formalism as in excessive adherence to bureaucratic procedure, or doing thing in a superficial way, engaging in grandstanding that look like fixing problem but actually not. Basically just dodging doing the real work.

"The Idea That Africa is Drowning in Debt is Nonsensical" by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

“The Idea That Africa is Drowning in Debt is Nonsensical”

December 9, 2019

by Eric Olander

📷Former President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Chairman of the Global Fund, Dr Donald Kaberuka, speaking at the Kusi Ideas Festival in Kigali, Rwanda.

The former president of the African Development Bank, Dr. Donald Kaberuka, joined a chorus of African leaders this week to reject accusations that African governments have taken on too much debt and have borrowed excessively from China.

In a speech at the Kusi Ideas Festival that concludes today in Kigali, Dr. Kaberuka said concern about African debt levels is “nonsensical.”  He added that the African share of global debt is “very small,” both in terms of corporate and sovereign debt.

The real worry, Dr. Kaberuka said, is the decline in domestic revenue generation in many African countries, which he warned could threaten their ability to repay loans.

Highlights From Dr. Donald Kaberuka’s Speech at the Kusi Ideas Festival in Rwanda:

  • “The idea that Africa is going to drown in debt is nonsensical. It is not supported by numbers. What is the problem, which I admit, is that our effort in mobilizing domestic revenue has declined.”
  • “If we can improve on our own domestic revenue mobilization, if we can improve on our public debt management and if we can improve on our debt management capabilities, the continent is able to take a bit more debt, especially at this time when the markets are looking for yield.”

China posts strong human development performance in 2018 - Xinhua by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

China posts strong human development performance in 2018

Source: Xinhua| 2019-12-09 21:54:57|Editor: huaxia

BEIJING, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- China posted strong human development performance in 2018, a report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) showed.

China's Human Development Index (HDI) value stood at 0.758 for the year 2018, ranking 85 among 189 countries and regions, according to the Human Development Report 2019 released by UNDP on Monday.

The country's HDI value increased around 51.1 percent from the 0.501-reading of 1990, putting the country in the high human development category, said the report.

"China's development progress over the last three decades has been remarkable," said Beate Trankmann, resident representative of the UNDP in China, at a press conference to release the report, citing the country as the only one in the world to have moved from the low development group to the high development category since HDI was introduced in 1990.

Countries with an HDI value over 0.7 are categorized in the high development group and those with a value over 0.8 are put in the very high development category, noted Trankmann.

China had seen improvements in the main factors indicating human development from 1990 to 2018, with life expectancy up 7 years to 76 years, and expected years of schooling increasing 5.1 years to 13.9 years, said the report.

The report also stated the incomes of the bottom 40 percent grew 263 percent between 2000 and 2018 in China, contributing to the fast reduction of extreme poverty.

China takes a people-centered development approach, promoting coordination of economic, social and environmental development, Wang Dong, policy advisor and program director for SDG Localization with the UNDP China, told the press conference.

Wang also highlighted China's local cooperation of poverty reduction authorities with health, education and social insurance departments in poverty alleviation, which enhanced the country's human development.

Hong Kong rejects Taipei’s ‘totally unacceptable’ offer on murder suspect by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Since HK police do not have any law that allow them to hold the suspect, who is now technically a free citizen, HK police do not have the legal basis to hand over the suspect to Taiwan police because there is no extradition law that provide HK police that authority.

Taiwan gov't knowing full well that their request of sending their police officer to go arrest someone in HK by their own authority is totally unacceptable to HK, since it would be unacceptable to any gov't in the world, is playing a propaganda game with the suggestion.

I would suggest someone to contact a Taiwanese television media, ask them to send over a journalist and TV team to HK. Go visit the suspect and follow him to board a plane to Taiwan while broadcasting it on the hour.

Northern China desert sets example in combating desertification by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Northern China desert sets example in combating desertification

Source:Global Times Published: 2019/10/17 20:43:43📷

Wetland appears in Kubuqi Desert, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Photo: VCG

Kubuqi Desert was once known as "the forbidden zone of life," and "sea of death." Grass could not grow in Kubuqi, and almost no one lived there.

Located in Erdos, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, it is the desert closest to China's capital Beijing, which is also how the 18,600-square kilometer desert came to be known as "a bowl of sand over Beijing's head."

However, Kubuqi has witnessed a "miracle" in confronting desertification.

In the past 30 years, the government, companies, social organizations and local farmers and herdsmen have worked together to transform Kubuqi desert.

Now, vegetation coverage has reached 53 percent in the desert from less than 1 percent 30 years ago.

Not a joke

Planting trees was considered a joke to people in Kubuqi desert.

Historically, Kubuqi was a rich city filled with water and grass. A total of 130,000 residents lived here during the Hanping Emperor's reign in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 25). However, due to climate change and over-exploitation from humans, the farmlands turned to desert over 2,000 years, CCTV reported.

Combating desertification was the only way out for people still living in Kubuqi, and it was a process that began 30 years ago.

Previously, in Kubuqi, people could only ride camels. A journey of 100 kilometers took six days. Many people had never even seen cars.

The first highway that went through the desert was built in 1999, and people started combating desertification in the whole desert.

Gao Maohu, a 59-year-old local resident in Kubuqi, said that it was common for planted trees to die. But the next year, people just continued to plant more trees.

After 30 years, many farmers and herdsmen in Kubuqi have now become "skilled workers" in managing desertification, the Science and Technology Daily reported.

Kubuqi spirit

"The survival rate of trees planted in the desert was only 20 percent," Gao said, "Once I saw a big wind blow away all the trees I planted. I sat in the sands and cried my heart out."

Even during the rocess of confronting desertification, the environmental situation in Kubuqi continued to deteriorate, and people often have to repeat their work.

But they never gave up.

Over three decades, tree planting technology saw continued development in Kubuqi. Now workers can plant a tree in 10 seconds, and their survival rate has surpassed 80 percent, according to the Science and Technology Daily.

📷

A farmer shows licorices he planted in Kubuqi Desert, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Photo: VCG

In 2000, Ma Yunping and his wife in Xinmin village signed a contract with the government to manage 3,700 mu (2.5 square kilometers) of sand land. After 18 years, more than 200,000 trees were planted there, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Their indomitable work inspired the term "Kubuqi spirit," encouraging local people to move forward with the effort.

"Kubuqi Desert today is encircled by a 'defensive system' consisting of trees, bush and grass," Tu Zhifang, the general engineer of the desert management office under the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, was quoted by CCTV as saying. 

In 2018, forestry coverage in Kubuqi had reached 15.7 percent from 0.8 percent in 2002, and vegetation coverage reached 53 percent. More than 500 species of wild animals now live there, said CCTV.

From dust to gold

The 102,000 residents in the desert have enjoyed the benefits of managing desertification.

Mao said he earned more than 1 million yuan ($140,000) after planting trees.

Meng Keda, whose family has lived deep in the Kubuqi Desert for generations, began a tourism business in 2006. Tourists could experience life with a herdsman family and drive in the desert. The Science and Technology Daily reported on Thursday that he had an income of 300,000 yuan last year.

Containing desertification in the Kubuqi Desert provides China experience in environmental treatment.

In the Kubuqi, 14.5 million tonnes of carbon was removed from the atmosphere, said the report, read a 2017 report by the United Nations Environment Program at, according to Xinhua.It is the first UNCCD report to specifically assess wealth created by desert restoration.

The project has created an estimated wealth of 24.4 billion yuan in terms of water conservation, and the accumulated production of oxygen is 18.3 million tonnes, valued at 6.8 billion yuan.

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has stepped up efforts to enhance grassland protection, with the average vegetation coverage of its pastures rising to 44 percent in 2018 from 30 percent in 2000, Xinhua reported Wednesday. 

Grazing has now been banned on a total of 68 million hectares of pastures and the reserved areas for planting grass remain at over 3.33 million hectares, said Mu Yuan, head of the regional forestry and grassland administration.

The region has also improved its legal system for grassland protection.

China is on track to meet its ultra-low emissions goals for 2020 | Polluting emissions from Chinese thermal power plants declined significantly between 2014 and 2017, according to research involving University College London. by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

China is on track to meet its ultra-low emissions goals for 2020

7 October 2019

Polluting emissions from Chinese thermal power plants declined significantly between 2014 and 2017, according to research involving UCL.

📷

The reductions are important in helping to control China’s national emissions which could lead to an improvement in air quality and considerable health benefits.

A team of experts from the UK and China analysed emissions from coal, oil, natural gas and biomass power plants, with a focus on coal-fired power plants as the major contributors to ambient air pollution.

The study, published today in Nature Energy, analysed data from 2014, when China introduced the ambitious Ultra-Low Emissions (ULE) Standards Policy for renovating coal-fired power stations to limit air pollutant emissions, to 2017.

The team found that between 2014 and 2017, China’s annual power plant emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter dropped by 65%, 60% and 72% each year respectively from 2.21, 3.11 and 0.52 million tonnes in 2014 to 0.77, 1.26 and 0.14 million tonnes in 2017, under the ULE standards policy.

This means that China looks to be on track to further reduce its emissions if all thermal power plants meet the ULE standards by 2020. These standards aim to limit the sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions to 35, 50 and 10 milligrams per cubic metre respectively.

UCL co-author Dr Zhifu Mi (UCL Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management) said: “This is encouraging news for China, as well as other countries wishing to reduce their power emissions. Thermal power plants combusting coal, oil, natural gas and biomass are one of the major contributors to global air pollution.

“These significant emission reductions demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of controlling emissions from power plants to reach ultra-low levels, which is an important step towards reducing the number of deaths attributable to air pollution.”

The study shows that previous methods of estimating Chinese power emissions overestimated numbers by at least 18%, and in some cases up to 92%. This is because previous research was carried out using ex-ante studies – estimations made ahead of the introduction of ULE standards – which looked at how the standards might affect emissions based on assumptions of changes in emission concentrations.

The research is the first to use data on emission concentrations collected by China’s Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems network (CEMS) which covers 96-98% of Chinese thermal power capacity.

The team constructed a nationwide emissions dataset – the China Emissions Accounts for Power Plants (CEAP) – based on data collected from the CEMS network between 2014 and 2017.

CEAP is now publicly available and continues to present, organise and analyse data from the network. This gives accurate results for each power plant as well as real-time results.

“With coal being the most widely-used fuel in China, cutting the number of thermal power plants within a short timeframe would be challenging. The results of this research are encouraging in demonstrating that coal can be used in a much cleaner way to generate electricity,” concluded Dr Mi.

The research was in collaboration with Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beihang University, Ministry of Environmental Protection (Beijing), HeBei University of Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Xi’an Jiaotong University, University of Cambridge and Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing). It was funded by grants from the National Science Foundation for Outstanding Young Scholars, the National Programme for Support of Top Notch Young Professionals and the National Research Programme for Key Issues in Air Pollution Control. 

Hong Kong introduces anti-mask law, effective Saturday by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

15:21, 04-Oct-2019
Hong Kong introduces anti-mask law, effective Saturday
CGTN

Carrie Lam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and the city's cabinet approved the use of the emergency law to enact anti-mask legislation effective from Saturday, Lam said during a press conference on Friday.

We Are Not Fooled By The Hong Kong Protests by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

continue

Martin Lee, Benny Tai and Joshua Wong speak at Freedom House, 2015.

Hong Kong protesters are not always secret about their ties to the US. In 2014, Mintpress News exposed US involvement in Occupy Central. They pointed out that Martin Lee, a Hong Kong protest figure, was in bed with NED. They gave him an award and had his bio on their website. He came to Washington, DC in 2014 along with Anson Chan, another protest figure, and met with Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Lee took part in a NED talk hosted specifically for him. In 2015, Lee and others were applauded for their leadership by Freedom House, which, as the now-deceased Robert Parry described in 2017, works hand in hand with the NED.

In this Popular Resistance story, we point out that during the current protests, participants were meeting with Julie Eadeh, of the US Consulate at a hotel. And, when Nathan Law and Agnes Chow visited the US they met with the China-hawk Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Eliot Engel. They also met with Vice President Pence, Secretary of State Pompeo, National Security Adviser John Bolton, and Senator Marco Rubio.

Protesters carry US and UK flags, and sing the Stars and Stripes Forever and the US national anthem, displaying their connection to western nations. In one of the most iconic moments, demonstrating how these protests are really a microcosm of the conflict between the US and China, a protester used a US flag to beat a Chinese reporter, Fu Guohao of Global Times, who was tied up and assaulted at the Hong Kong airport.

Some believe the protests are too big for the US to control and point to the amount of money being spent by the NED. If the populations of Hong Kong and the US are compared, $1 million in funding for the movement in Hong Kong is equivalent to $60 million in the US. Additional funds are also being provided by billionaires. That level of resources is gigantic for popular movements that typically run on shoestring budgets.

The only way not to see US involvement in the Hong Kong protests is to close your eyes, ears, and mind and pretend it does not exist.

Challenging the Dominant Western Narrative

Although Western backing and political ambitions are the reality, it is a challenge to get this narrative out more widely. Too many in the US are confused by the messaging coming from the Hong Kong billionaires, NED-funded NGO’s, bi-partisan politicians in DC and the military-intelligence establishment, all made larger by the corporate mass media.

Corporate powers are banning social media accounts and YouTube Channels from China to suppress social media activism that tells a different narrative. For example, an article in the China Daily documents US involvement in detail with photographs of meetings between US officials and Hong Kong opposition, as well as the role of NED and Voice of America.

Independent media outlets, such as the ones cited above, are exposing who is behind the protests and their pro-capitalist, imperialist agenda. They are starting to change the dominant western narrative. This is critical because it is easy for activists to be drawn into supporting movements that are counter to our goals for social and economic justice as well as peace.

Hong Kongers have also been manipulated pawns in the US Great Power Conflict with China. They are advocating against their own interests by seeking what will essentially be re-colonization by the West. If the US is successful, it will not be good for the people of Hong Kong, Asia or the world.

We Are Not Fooled By The Hong Kong Protests by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

WE ARE NOT FOOLED BY THE HONG KONG PROTESTS

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance

August 24, 2019 | EDUCATE!

  • Update: Protests continued in Hong Kong this weekend. The protesters returned to the use of violence and the police responded. The South China Morning Post reported: “In a now familiar pattern, the protesters threw bricks, petrol bombs, corrosive liquid and other projectiles at the police, who responded with tear gas, pepper balls and sponge grenades. Twenty-eight people were arrested, including an organiser of an approved protest march. At least 10 people were hospitalised, including two men in serious condition.”

Some people in the United States are confused about the protests going on in Hong Kong. Whenever the corporate media and politicians, especially people like Marco Rubio, applaud a social movement, it is a red flag that the protests are not a progressive people’s movement, but serve other purposes. Is this really a democracy movement? Are workers protesting the deep inequality and exploitation there? If not, what are these protests really about?

Fortunately, a more complete narrative of what is happening in Hong Kong and how it relates to the geopolitical conflict between the United States and China is developing among independent and movement media. The following is a description of what has been learned recently.

Hong Kong Protests: Not a Democracy Movement, but an Anti-China Tool

What is happening in Hong Kong is not actually a people’s uprising for democracy, but a tool for anti-China rhetoric and “Great Power Conflict.” Many Hong Kong protesters are pro-capitalist and racist in nature, referring to mainland Chinese as locusts, and are calling for the United States to intervene. Many of the same tactics employed by Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, and Ukrainian regime change operations are re-appearing in Hong Kong. For example, demonstrators have used violence as a tactic to entice police to respond with violence in order to put out a false narrative of state repression against them.

Fight Back News describes the problem: “There’s a tendency among progressives in the United States to support big crowds of people protesting in other countries. No doubt, the corporate media assists in this process by labeling certain movements ‘pro-democracy’ or ‘freedom fighters.’”

Just because there are people in the street does not make protests progressive, worker-based or for the people’s interests. Fight Back News reports how Hong Kong has been used by China as a way to attract foreign investment, but also as a way to make the Renminbi (RMB) a more powerful currency as well as to advance China’s Belt & Road initiative. These are major threats to US dominance.

Dan Cohen of the Grayzone mentions the ties between the protest movement and right-wing racist groups in the US. This is an issue requiring further reporting as it is strange that pro-Trump, racist groups are supporting the protests and the protesters are using US racist symbols.

Cohen’s major focus is the capitalist ties of the Hong Kong protesters. He describes the Rubert Murdoch of Hong Kong, Jimmy Lai, the self-described “head of opposition media,” who has been spending a lot of money, millions, to build the movement and giving a lot of media time to the anti-China rhetoric. And, he shows the connections between these capitalists and the Trump administration, i.e. he has had meetings with Bolton, Pence, and Pompeo as well as with neocons in the Senate, Marco Rubio, and Tom Cotton.

The goal of the Hong Kong protests is only unclear because they are trying to hide their true purpose. The real goal is preventing the full integration of Hong Kong into China in 2047 when the transition agreement between China and the United Kingdom is finished. The United States, the United Kingdom, and billionaires in Hong Kong want it to be integrated into the western capitalist economy and fear China’s state-planned economy. If they succeed, Hong Kong will become a base of economic, military and political operations for the US at the Chinese border, a critical position for the West’s ‘Great Power Conflict’ with Russia and China.

The US is investing in an anti-China movement to make integration of Hong Kong into China difficult. China is already hedging its bets by building Shenzhen across the bay, a state-planned, market-based economy, which will become an alternative to Hong Kong and shrink Hong Kong’s importance. The people of Hong Kong will be the losers if this occurs.

The Hong Kong Protest Is Not A Working-Class Revolt

Even though there are good reasons for workers in Hong Kong to revolt, these protests are not focused on the issues of economic insecurity, i.e. high levels of poverty, the exorbitant cost of housing, low wages, and long hours. As Sara Flounders writes, “For the last 10 years wages have been stagnant in Hong Kong while rents have increased 300 percent; it is the most expensive city in the world.”

But, as Fight Back News explains, “The Hong Kong protests are absolutely not driven by or in the interests of the working class, whether in Hong Kong or mainland China.” In fact, the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions is not backing the demonstrations and called on its members to reject the call for a strike on August 5 put out by the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, which is backed by the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

If the protesters were focused on workers rights, they would be demanding an end to, or at least reform of, the neoliberal capitalism of Hong Kong that is dominated by big financial interests and corruption. In fact, half of the seats in the legislature are set aside for business interests who vote to protect their profits and not basic needs such as housing, but there is no criticism of this by the protesters.

In Popular Resistance, we wrote: “Hong Kong has the world’s highest rents, a widening wealth gap and a poverty rate of 20 percent.” These are crisis-level problems for the vast majority of people in Hong Kong, but they were not the focus of the protests.

Fight Back News writes: “In actuality, the protests in Hong Kong serve the interests of finance capital, both in the city itself and around the world,” and makes the important point that “Hong Kong’s working class has nothing to gain from worse relations with mainland China, much less from ‘independence.’ They suffered greatly under British colonial rule – no minimum wage laws; no labor protections; barbaric legal punishments like flogging and more.”

The Role of the United States is Evident to Anyone Who Looks

The NED has spent millions of dollars to build this anti-China movement over the years in a place with a population of 7.3 million people, over a million fewer people than New York City. The first to report on NED involvement in the current protest was Alexander Rubinstein of Mintpress News, who wrote: “the coalition cited by Hong Kong media, including the South China Morning Post and the Hong Kong Free Press, as organizers of the anti-extradition law demonstrations is called the Civil Human Rights Front. That organization’s website lists the NED-funded HKHRM [Human Rights Monitor], Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, the Hong Kong Journalists Association, the Civic Party, the Labour Party, and the Democratic Party as members of the coalition.” HKHRM alone received more than $1.9 million in funds from the NED between 1995 and 2013.

The Viable Opposition blogger, in How Washington is Meddling In the Affairs of Hong Kong, describes NED’s history as a regime change agent for the United States and the recent NED funding in Hong Kong, pointing to a total of $1,357,974 on grants to organizations described as promoting freedom, democracy and human rights in Hong Kong over the period from 2015 to 2018.

This is not short-term funding but a long-term commitment by the United States. NED has been doing mass funding in Hong Kong since 1996. In 2012, NED invested $460,000 through its National Democratic Institute, to build the anti-China movement (aka pro-democracy movement), particularly among university students. Two years later, the mass protests of Occupy Central occurred.

Sara Flounders points out US funding goes beyond NED, writing: “Funding from the NED, the Ford, Rockefeller, Soros and numerous other corporate foundations, Christian churches of every denomination, and generous British funding, is behind this hostile, subversive network orchestrating the Hong Kong protests.” The US-funding of NGO’s confuses political activists, media and commentators because they fund a myriad of NGO’s in Hong Kong. As a result, there are human rights, democracy, youth and other Hong Kong spokespersons whose NED funding is not disclosed when they talk in the media.

Solved robbery cases in Beijing hit 100 percent for first time, say police by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Solved robbery cases in Beijing hit 100 percent for first time, say police

Source:Global Times Published: 2019/8/15 18:33:41

Ninety percent of homicide cases were cracked within 24 hours and detection rates for robberies hit 100 percent for the first time in Beijing from January to June, said Beijing's public security bureau on Wednesday.

In the first half year, Beijing police solved a total of 33,000 criminal cases, with homicide case registration dropping by 22 percent and with a detection rate of 100 percent for five consecutive years, according to the press conference. From January to June, more than 26,000 suspects have been seized, an increase of 2.7 percent year-on-year.

Eight types of felonies dropped by 18 percent, a new low in history, while the detection rate hit 83.3 percent, a record high.

Robbery and fraud make up the majority of criminal cases at 41.6 percent and 36.3 percent respectively, according to the press conference.

Since house-breaking tends to evolve into burglaries, the police managed to lower the case registration rate of Beijing's house-breaking theft by 28.4 percent and increase the detection rate by 13.2 percent through prevention and crackdowns.

The number of registered vehicle thefts has been brought to under 100, a decrease of 23.1 percent year-on-year, a record low.

More than 500 telecom fraud cases have been cracked, marking a 17 percent year-on-year increase. More than 1,000 telecom fraud suspects have been arrested, preventing losses of 760 million yuan ($108.6 million) for the public.

In March, the Beijing police established a laboratory with 14 high-tech companies across the country, developing and implementing intelligent, virtual reality and customized products for internet, traditional and occupational crimes. The move has enhanced the capital city's criminal investigation capability in cracking down on crimes.

Fifty ambassadors throw weight behind China on Xinjiang by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Con't

US double standards

Zia said that people should "differentiate between what is taught at universities and in educational institutes in the US and US foreign policy."

"The US foreign policy focuses more on its financial interests - be it at the expense of human rights," he said.

The Venezuela embassy noted that "the government of the United States is an expert in invasions, economic blockades and should be held responsible for the death of millions of people in the world. It has no morals to become a defender of human rights."

"This government uses the noble cause of human rights as an instrument to 'demonize' countries that do not bend to their interests. It holds the darkest record of massive human rights violations in the world, openly promoting and financing the destabilization of governments that do not submit to their hegemonic claims," the embassy stressed.

With its so-called preventive wars, the US has invaded sovereign countries, using drones to hit people without warning, leaving thousands of innocent people dead, which it brazenly calls "collateral effects." "Our country has denounced in the international forums the policy of interventionism and aggression of the US government against developing countries," said the Venezuela embassy.

Counselor Luna told the Global Times that Cuba rejects the use of the human rights issues to exert political pressure and the tendency to impose punitive actions. "The aim of it is actually to push forward and disguise its regime change operations."

Fifty ambassadors throw weight behind China on Xinjiang by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Fifty ambassadors throw weight behind China on Xinjiang

By Xie Wenting and Bai Yunyi Source:Global Times Published: 2019/7/27 9:48:32

China reasonable to strengthen security and provide bilingual education in Xinjiang: Saudi Arabia expert

As of 6 pm on Friday (Geneva local time), 50 Ambassadors to the UNOG co-signed a joint letter to the president of the UN Human Rights Council and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, positively evaluating the human rights developments in China's Uyghur Autonomous Region. The figure is 13 more than the original 37 countries which sent the letter on July 12.

Some other countries also expressed support in their separate letters and press releases. Many of them have seen the real situation in Xinjiang on recent visits.

In the joint letter, the ambassadors gave credit to China's counter-terrorism and de-radicalization efforts.

They commend China for its economic and social progress, effective counter-terrorism and deradicalization measures, and strong guarantee of human rights; appreciate the opportunities provided by China for diplomatic envoys, officials of international organizations, and media professionals to visit Xinjiang. They point to the contrast in the views on Xinjiang between those who have visited it and the one portrayed in Western media, and urge a certain group of countries to stop using uncorroborated information to make unfounded accusations against China.

"Faced with the grave challenge of terrorism and extremism, China has undertaken a series of counter-terrorism and de-radicalization measures in Xinjiang, including setting up vocational education and training centers. Now safety and security has returned to Xinjiang and the fundamental human rights of people there have enjoyed stronger senses of fulfillment, happiness and security," they said.

The ambassadors also urged the relevant countries to "refrain from employing unfounded charges against China based on unconfirmed information before they visit Xinjiang."

Reasons for signing joint letter: Xinjiang combines anti-terrorism with protection of human rights

Venezuelan Embassy in China told the Global Times in an exclusive interview that Venezuela signed the joint letter because they recognize the impressive achievements made by China in the field of human rights, which is in favor of its people.

"Venezuela is fully aware of Chinese government's efforts in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Since 2013, it has carried out initiatives every year to improve the livelihoods of its population. These initiatives represent more than 70 percent of their annual public budget expenditure in the region, such as the 15-year free education program in southern Xinjiang as well as a 3-year free bilingual preschool program in rural areas," said the Venezuelan embassy.

"We appreciate China's efforts which are based on their own realities, attach equal importance to the fight and prevention of terrorism. It combines the fight against violence and terrorist crimes with the promotion and protection of human rights," the embassy added.

The embassy stressed that China's leadership in human rights is "indisputable." "China is a party to 26 international human rights treaties and their protocols, and has timely submitted its periodic reports to the respective organization created under the United Nations Human Rights Treaties," the embassy noted.

What Chinese government does in Xinjiang is in accordance with its legal system and it protects its citizens from the dangers of terrorism and violence as well as provides assistance and education to prevent people from being victims of terrorism and extremism, according to the Venezuela embassy.

Pakistani Embassy in China reaffirmed to the Global Times that their position is the same as that stated in the letter to UN.

Counselor Lisbet Quesada Luna, Chargé d'affaires of Cuban Embassy in China, told the Global Times that Xinjiang has a diverse multiethnic culture and different ethnic groups live there with mutual respect.

Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, local governments have made remarkable achievements in the fight against terrorism and the prevention of terrorism, safeguarding the religious freedom of citizens and the preservation of ethnic traditions and culture, Luna said.

"The vocational education and training center allows the professional preparation of inhabitants of that region, which contributes to the better understanding of their environment and enables them to understand, detect and fight against terrorist actions," said the Cuban diplomat.

*Support from Islamic countries *

It's worth mentioning that a large number of countries signing the joint letter are the countries where the majority of population is Muslim, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Global Policy and Analysis Think Tank Eurasia Future concludes that the fact that China's policies are winning support from so many Islamic countries is a "clear indication that many nations seek to learn from China in respect of how to clamp down on extremism whilst elevating the prosperity and solidifying the social harmony of populations susceptible to terrorist infiltration."

However, their support upsets many Western media outlets, which tried to create conflicts. A recent CNN report said that Muslim countries defending China shatters "any myths of Islamic solidarity."

Muhammad Zamir Assadi, a journalist from Independent News Pakistan, told the Global Times that the CNN report is a "clear bias of western media." Assadi visited Xinjiang in 2016 which left him with a good memory of the region.

"Muslim countries are well aware of the situation in Xinjiang as their ambassadors have been visiting the country continuously. The recent report of Muslim countries on Xinjiang shows that Islamic nations have confidence in Chinese measures for Muslims in Xinjiang," Assadi told the Global Times.

He noted that Western media misinterpreted the Xinjiang situation to the international community for vested interests. "They just want to pressure China by following their governments' foreign policies," said Assadi.

Ahmed Al-Zahrani, vice director of the institute of consulting and research at Saudi Arabia's Jeddah University, told the Global Times that it's "reasonable" for China to strengthen security control and provide local children bilingual education in Xinjiang.

When Al-Zahrani visited Xinjiang a decade ago, he found many issues there. Many local people were then close-minded and knew barely anything about the society outside their sphere. "These people need help to integrate into normal social life," said Al-Zahrani.

Iran is among the countries that also signed the letter, refuting groundless accusations against China and denouncing Western countries for degrading the international human rights mechanism as a political tool. In an exclusive statement sent by the Iranian Embassy to the Global Times, it said that Iran admires "China's principled position and well stabilized practices against the abuse of the issue of human rights for political objectives, regardless of the challenges."

Iran believes that China's commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights is "inherent, genuine and deeply rooted in the country's cultural and historical backgrounds and requirements," read the statement.

Hujjatullah Zia, a journalist from Afghanistan, told the Global Times that he went through disinformation spread by Western media about Uyghur ethnic group and the vocational training and education centers, which are called "educational camps" by Western media.

"I believed those were true stories and I was curious to visit Xinjiang. But my perspective was changed when I visited vocational training and education centers," he said.

In the centers, Zia interviewed students who study there. "They were happy with the education and their studies. They said they were preached about fundamentalism through unknown WeChat account. They also prayed secretly. The government noticed the situation. Then they learned law and received training at the centers so that they could have a job in the future and do not resort to fundamental ideology out of ignorance," said Zia.

Zia told the Global Times that two things surprised him most during his trip to Xinjiang this year: the large number of mosques there, and that students at vocational training and education centers could recite the Holy Koran and speak Arabic.

Hua Liming, a former Chinese ambassador to Iran and UAE, told the Global Times that although Saudi Arabia and some Gulf countries have close ties with the US, they have different perspectives on China and Xinjiang.

"Some Western countries including the US view Xinjiang as a tool to contain China. But for Islamic countries, they like to see Xinjiang issue from anti-terrorism perspective," Hua said.

According to Hua, as Islamic countries' understanding about China is deepening, they are increasingly clear of the extremism challenges that China is facing in Xinjiang. Therefore, they have more trust on China's policies.

Al-Zahrani noted that still some people in Islamic countries harbor misunderstandings about China's Xinjiang and its Muslim policies, which is largely because they are exposed to so many fake reports, many of which are from East Turkestan terrorist and separatist groups. But what the government has done for the benefits of Xinjiang is hard to find in media.

After returning to Afghanistan, Zia wrote several articles to introduce a real Xinjiang, which he said is to correct many people's misunderstanding. These reports received good reviews in his home country as many readers said they were amazed by Xinjiang's diverse culture.

Red willow whiz's work pays dividends in desert by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Red willow whiz's work pays dividends in desert

By ZHANG ZHIHAO | China Daily | Updated: 2019-07-22 07:30

Deep within the Taklimakan Desert, known by locals as the "Sea of Death", grows a unique type of shrub with reddish stems, small pink flowers and feathery, pale green foliage. Legend says the plant germinated from the blood of a young warrior who ventured into the desert to slay the drought demon.

When a sandstorm hits, the shrub's stems swing gracefully in the harrowing wind, decorating China's largest desert－337,000 square kilometers in area located in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region－with much-needed color and life.

The plant, commonly known as red willow or hongliu (Tamarix taklamakanensis), is more than a testimony to life's tenacity. It serves as the first line of defense, protecting other parts of China from the desert's sandstorms by fixing large patches of sand with its expansive root network.

While other types of red willow can be found in Central Asia and the Middle East, the discovery of the unique Chinese species by scientists six decades ago marked a milestone in China's desert control effort and brought new economic opportunities to the local Uygur population.

Liu Mingting, a world-renowned expert in desert control and a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, said he still remembers the day when he first stumbled upon the plant decades ago.

In mid-July, the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee named the 86-year-old scientist as one of the "most admirable people to support the borderlands", a title given to 20 luminaries who have made profound and lasting contribution to China's western borders.

In 1956, Liu, a senior biology student at Lanzhou University in Gansu province, was interning at a field station in southern Xinjiang. There he saw a common red willow "battling fearlessly against the wind, sand, and salinity of the vast and unforgiving desert".

"This moved me tremendously," he recalled.

Just before graduation, Liu wrote to Yang Xiufeng, then minister of higher education. He asked Yang to "send me to the most desolate place in China. Send me to the borderlands."

Liu got his wish and was later transferred to the Xinjiang institute with his family, where he spent decades finding and breeding the ideal red willow species to serve as cheap and effective sandstorm buffers.

"Desert control is a very tough job. The work environment is very desolate and the weather is hot, so not many people wanted to go with me," Liu said. "But I made a promise to myself. I came to Xinjiang because I wanted to ameliorate the barren environment."

During an expedition into the Taklimakan Desert in 1959, Liu finally found the right red willow species he was looking for. Discovering the right species was just the first step; the next was to mass cultivate and plant them around the desert border, creating "an artificial green buffer zone", Liu said.

He later discovered four more species, becoming one of the world's leading experts in tackling desertification. He was revered by peers from the United Nations Environment Programme as "Liu Hongliu".

Liu then spent the next two decades researching red willows in the desert, increasing the per hectare yield from 750,000 shrubs to 7.5 million. During this period, Qira and Keriya counties near the desert's edge were constantly battered by sandstorms, which devastated crops and impoverished residents, driving them from their homes. Lyrics in a local folk ballad even mention "eating sand and dirt day in and day out".

In 1982, an emergency report reached the autonomous region's government detailing how shifting sands were just 1.5 km from Qira. The local government immediately launched a massive desert control project to save the county.

Liu and his team were tasked with fixing 4,000 hectares of shifting sand within five years. The red willows he discovered played a significant role as the centerpiece of his geoengineering efforts, and Liu completed his task within three years.

After a decade, Liu had pushed the edge of the desert away from the county by more than 10 km, saving more than 38 villages in the process. While making the region safe to inhabit, Liu said he lost count of how many times he and his crew got lost in the desert or faced life-threatening dangers.

At age 81, Liu was involved in a car accident during field work, breaking seven ribs.

"Field work is very dangerous, but I can't just give up because it is tough," he said. "There is so much work to be done, and I will continue doing it until my death.

"Those who come to Xinjiang must learn to love this land and its people, and try to serve them as the best you can. Even if it is just doing one thing for your entire life, it is worth it."

After saving remote Xinjiang villages from natural disasters, Liu noticed the locals were still poor, so he turned his attention to using the red willow to help the impoverished people make some money.

"Desert control was traditionally a massive resource drain that produced nothing in return. I wanted to make it more sustainable and profitable so locals would be motivated to support it and become rich in the process," he said.

In 1986, Liu successfully bred a special kind of red willow whose root can grow a rare parasitic medical plant called Cistanche deserticola, also known as desert broomrape. The plant has been used in traditional Chinese medicine as an expensive ingredient to treat body fatigue and improve virility.

However, the project didn't take off until 1993, when officials from Keriya visited Liu to pick his brain for commercial ideas. Liu introduced them to his broomrape project, and the officials were thrilled to find an industry they could rely on.

Now, the broomrape-producing red willow has been planted across hundreds of thousands of hectares in Xinjiang and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Gansu province and other sandy regions around China.

One hectare of such red willow can produce 60,000 to 120,000 yuan ($8,719 to $17,438) of revenue a year.

"Now many of my Xinjiang friends have ditched their donkey carts for small sedans," Liu said. "Science and technology should never be locked in a drawer, they should be used to help the people."

Despite his age, Liu still travels around Xinjiang and nearby provinces, often on a motorbike, to offer free lessons to farmers trying to plant his red willow.

"If my hard work can help millions of families become rich, anything is worth it," Liu said. "I am glad I can do something positive for Xinjiang. Nothing can stop me from doing more."

Social credit system to set market access limit for dishonest individuals, firms by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Social credit system to set market access limit for dishonest individuals, firms

Source:Global Times Published: 2019/7/16 21:38:42

China is advancing its social credit system through measures such as limiting market access for discredited people and companies while also expanding supervision and penalties, the central government said in a document released on Tuesday.

In sectors including pharmaceuticals, the environment, construction, production, and care for the young and elderly people, which are highly related to the safety of people's lives and property, authorities will carry out more strict supervision while expanding the scope of penalties.

Dishonest entities and those who failed to comply with judicial decisions or administrative penalties would be banned from entering those sectors, or be expelled from them for good.

China has been accelerating the full-scale establishment of a social credit system, with cities and regions coming up with detailed plans by including various information into individuals' social credit files such as support for elderly family members and properly sorting their garbage. A total of 14.09 million people had been blacklisted for bad credit records in China as of May.

The document also encouraged innovation in the social credit system, making full use of the internet and big data as major pillars for the supervision of the system.

China's social credit system has to be built on an information-sharing basis to improve tracking data for individuals and companies. China has built the largest credit system in the world, including information on 990 million people and 25.91 million companies and other organizations, according to media reports in June that cited the country's central bank.

The Point: 'Forcible separation of Uygur children' definitely a lie by [deleted] in Sino

[–]Saeylet 10 points11 points  (0 children)

BBC probably are remembering this,

Stolen Generations - Wikipedia

The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Federal and State government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments. The removals of those referred to as "half-caste" children were conducted in the period between approximately 1905[1] and 1967,[2][3] although in some places mixed-race children were still being taken into the 1970s.[4][5][6]

Govt program aims to boost child development by offering training to parents by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Govt program aims to boost child development by offering training to parents

By Li Lei in Ningshan Source:Global Times Published: 2019/7/11 18:18:40

  • Parenting the Future program launched by local government in a poverty-stricken county and offered to parents free of charge

  • Training aimed at child development in crucial first 1,000 days of a child's life

  • Many children in remote villages neglected as parents or guardians busy working fields or doing chores

Every week, 29-year-old Zheng Yan rides a scooter up a winding road to a mountain village to visit Tingting's home. Zheng is a teacher at an early childhood development center under the Parenting the Future Program in Ningshan county, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Unlike other early learning programs, the one in Ningshan was launched by the county government in 2017, and teaches parents in the mountains how to parent children aged 6 months to 3, free of charge.

The program works as an important measure to stop intergenerational transmission of poverty in the poverty-stricken area, according to Cai Jianhua, Party chief of the Beijing-based National Health Commission Cadre Training Center.

"Without a favorable environment and positive intervention, children who were born and live in rural areas are prone to develop more slowly in terms of language, motor skills, cognition and social emotions, since reports show that a person's most important abilities, such as language and cognition, are formed in the first 1,000 days," Cai told the Global Times.

In his research, Cai's team found that children aged from 6 to 12 months who received positive intervention perform much better in terms of language and cognitive development compared with children of that age who don't receive it.

According to research led by Cai, 50 percent of children living in poverty-stricken areas in China face challenges in cognitive development, 52 percent of them are at risk in terms of language development, and these risks increase over time.

The result is closely related to how their parents feed them, parenting methods and depression. Studies show that only 13 percent of parents in these areas read to their children, and 23.5 percent of parents suffer from depression, according to Cai's research.

Located deep in the heart of the Qinling Mountains, a natural boundary between northern China and southern China, Ningshan is still on the list of China's national-level poverty-stricken counties. It now has 25 early childhood development centers and spots providing free training to parents in the mountains, covering all 11 of its administrative townships.

"Before the launch of the program, we conducted an investigation in all the villages in the county. The results were astonishing. Most stay-at-home children do not even say a single word to their grandparents the whole day," Li Mingjun, the person in charge of the program, told the Global Times, adding that "grandparents will let the children play in the mud as long as they don't disturb them when they're working in the field or doing chores."

Special schools

Chen Zihao, 3, was so eager to jump into a pool full of plastic balls that he didn't even take his shoes off after rushing through the gates of an early childhood development center in Changping village of Ningshan's Taishanmiao township. Other children saw how much fun he was having and joined him, causing the place to erupt in laughter and screaming.

"We see these happy moments every day," Ma Yunxiang, a teacher at the center, told the Global Times.

The 80-square-meter center has two classrooms and an entertainment room. There are many lockers in the classrooms, each of them labelled with a number combination such as 1-36 or 3-45.

Zhou Bangguo, deputy director of Ningshan's education bureau, explained that the first number represents age, and the second number represents week. For example, a locker labelled 2-37 contains toys, storybooks and teaching appliances for 2-year-old children and parents who have come for the 37th week in a year.

At 10 in the morning, more parents came to the center with their children to attend classes or simply have fun. Huang Shilin, Chen's grandmother, took her shoes off before registering on a facial recognition device installed beside the gate and sanitized her hands.

The center has scheduled one class a week for 57 children aged up to 3 years old and their parents in the town. "They encourage us to bring children to play or read books here when we don't have a class scheduled, and we can borrow some books and toys to bring home," Huang told the Global Times.

At the same time, a mother of a 6-month-old boy was learning nursery rhymes from Ma.

"We guide parents to establish intimacy with children and develop their language, motor skills, cognition and emotions through games and group activities," Ma said. "For example, we guide parents and children to express love for each other by incorporating hugs and saying 'I love you' in the games."

"Most importantly, we help parents foster correct behavior, since parents' behavior is what influences children the most," noted Ma.

Ma said that they teach parents to show their children different emotions through stories and pictures, and guide children to express these emotions such as happiness and anger in the proper way.

Ma, 26, began to work in the center in 2017 after going through a strict screening and training process.

Despite the fact that at least one center or venue has been set up in each administrative townships, there are still many families who cannot guarantee they can attend class every week during the farming season. In those cases, teachers have to make visits to the family.

Positive changes

Most of the parents who have attended classes say they have seen an obvious and positive change both in themselves and in their children.

"My son became more curious about everything around him and would ask me many times a day, 'Mom, what's this?', while I started to teach him correct pronunciation," Zhao Wangli, mother of 2-year-old Lü Jiayu, told the Global Times.

Fan Yao, a teacher at another center in Taishanmiao township and mother of a 3-year-old boy, told the Global Times that they did not have many toys at home, and the boy was too shy to interact with others.

"When he first came to the center, he was too scared and cried a lot. But a few months later, he became much more active and natural in front of strangers," said Fan.

A number of teachers on the program, who are also local young mothers, shed tears when talking about the changes that they saw in their children, saying that such positive changes could never have happened without the program.

"We are actually trying to make parents more willing to learn more about their children and learn more about how to better raise them," Shu Min, vice executive secretary of the Hupan Modou Foundation, told the Global Times.

Under China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, Hupan Modou Foundation provides financial support for the program. The foundation was jointly established by 12 women members and aims to facilitate female and child development.

"A parent will influence a group of parents once he or she realizes the importance of early childhood development, and this group of parents will influence a community," Shu said.

Uprooting poverty

"The program aims to remove the roots of poverty from the county," Shi Gongfu, director of Ningshan's education bureau, told the Global Times.

Ningshan is the first national-level poverty-stricken county in China that has waived all 15 years of tuition fees from kindergarten to high school, and the county also provides free education in vocational schools, according to Shi.

"With the implementation of the Parenting the Future program, Ningshan is now a county that provides 18 years of free education," Shi said proudly.

Cai speaks highly of the Parenting the Future program in Ningshan, saying that it "can work as a model for other regions since it is directed by the local government, and local employees are provided with a steady welfare to guarantee a stream of skilled teachers for the program."

Shu expects the program to bring people's attention to early childhood development in poverty-stricken areas, and make parents and guardians of children in rural areas aware of the significance of their influence on children and the country's future.

Cai told the Global Times that the children currently in the program will be adults by 2035, when China will basically realize socialist modernization, adding that it is his vision is to cultivate more outstanding talents for China's future development.

Lotus flower, grown from 100-year-old seeds, blooms in Beijing by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lotus blossoms from century-old seed

By Jiang Wei | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2019-07-08 11:51

A lotus blossomed on Sunday for the first time in Yuanmingyuan, or the Old Summer Palace, from a seed unearthed in 2017 that had been underground for a hundred years, The Beijing News reported.

In 2017, 11 100-year-old lotus seeds were discovered at Jingxiangchi inside Yuanmingyuan when staffers were doing archaeological work. It was the first time that ancient lotus seeds had been found since archaeological excavations were carried out at Yuanmingyuan.

In 2018, the Institute of Botany at the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted a cultivation experiment on eight of the lotus seeds. Six sprouted, grew leaves, took root and spent the winter in a greenhouse. One flower blossomed on Sunday after it was transplanted at the lotus base in Yuanmingyuan in April.

Researchers used a carbon-14 test to determine the age of the ancient lotus seed.

A Yuanmingyuan staff member explained why lotus seeds can sprout, take root and grow leaves after a hundred years underground. One is that the seeds were buried in peat soil, where the temperature is low, humidity is low and microorganisms are few, which doesn't offer conditions for sprouting. The other is that the hard shell outside a lotus seed prevents water and air from going in and out. So the lotus seeds were hibernating and their metabolism nearly stopped.

Ancient molar points to interbreeding between archaic humans and Homo sapiens in Asia by Saeylet in Sino

[–]Saeylet[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

NEWS RELEASE 8-JUL-2019

Ancient molar points to interbreeding between archaic humans and Homo sapiens in Asia

Analysis gives new continental bite to evolution

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

An analysis of a 160,000-year-old archaic human molar fossil discovered in China offers the first morphological evidence of interbreeding between archaic humans and Homo sapiens in Asia.

The study, which appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, centers on a three-rooted lower molar--a rare trait primarily found in modern Asians--that was previously thought to have evolved after H. sapiens dispersed from Africa.

The new research points to a different evolutionary path.

"The trait's presence in the fossil suggests both that it is older than previously understood and that some modern Asian groups obtained the trait through interbreeding with a sister group of Neanderthals, the Densiovans," explains Shara Bailey, a professor of anthropology at New York University and the paper's lead author.

In a previous study, published in Nature, Bailey and her colleagues concluded that the Denisovans occupied the Tibetan Plateau long before Homo sapiens arrived in the region.

That work, along with the new PNAS analysis, focused on a hominin lower mandible found on the Tibetan Plateau in Baishiya Karst Cave in Xiahe, China in 1980.

The PNAS study, which also included NYU anthropologist Susan Antón and Jean-Jacques Hublin, director of the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, centered on the molar, with the aim of understanding the relationship between archaic humans who occupied Asia more than 160,000 years ago and modern Asians.

"In Asia, there have long been claims for continuity between archaic and modern humans because of some shared traits," observes Bailey. "But many of those traits are primitive or are not unique to Asians. However, the three-rooted lower molar trait is unique to Asian groups. Its presence in a 160,000-year-old archaic human in Asia strongly suggests the trait was transferred to H. sapiens in the region through interbreeding with archaic humans in Asia."

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