Xinhua English
BUCHAREST, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Romanian archaeologists have discovered well-preserved wood and ropes of 3,000 years old at Beclean of Romania's northern Bistrita-Nasaud County, officials said on Wednesday.
The objects, found in the bed of a highly salted river near Baile Figa, have been well preserved due to the salted mud, said Valeriu Kavruk, curator of the Museum of the Eastern Carpathians based in Sfantu Gheorghe, central Romania.
The laboratory tests with Carbon 14 showed the objects dated from 1000 B.C., Kavruk said, adding that the Figa site represents "the most important archaeological discovery in the latest decades in South-Eastern Europe."
According to the curator, the importance of such a discovery resides not only in the fact that it is for the first time that wood and ropes made of ivy that old, very well preserved too, were found but also it is highly important such objects gave an idea about how salt was dug 3,000 years ago.
The specialists concluded that the salt blocks were cut not with hard tools as nowadays, but they were melted using water and then poured through the holes in the big block of salt.
2007年12月6日星期四
China issues first ever regulation on karaoke programming
Xinhua English
BEIJING, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's first ever regulation on karaoke programming, which set technical standards for all songs used in the karaoke industry, has gone into effect.
The regulation, issued by the Ministry of Culture, says all karaoke programs should be audio and video products which have already been published on the Chinese mainland or been previously aired by TV stations on the Chinese mainland. If not, they should be examined by related administrative authorities beforehand.
"It is the country's first regulation on karaoke programming standards," said Liu Shifa, spokesman with the Cultural Market Development Center under the Ministry of Culture. "It will promote the program quality of the country's karaoke industry."
The regulation also requires each karaoke program to be labeled with "for use on the Chinese mainland only".
A charging system of karaoke program royalties were put into use earlier this year in eight pilot provinces including Sichuan, He'nan, Yunnan, Hu'nan, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The system, designed to monitor and charge for the karaoke programs, is expected to be launched across the country in 2008.
The country's current charging standard is 12 yuan (1.6 U.S. dollars) per room every day, according to a regulation set by China's National Copyright Administration (NCA) late last year.
The NCA said the fee, 0.17 yuan per song on average, accounted for only one percent of karaoke bar turnover according to their investigations in a couple of cities, and was relatively low compared with that in many other countries.
Karaoke operators in the country have enjoyed free access to songs and MTVs without paying royalties for more than 20 years.
It is estimated that China's nearly 100,000 karaoke establishments -- each with an average of ten karaoke rooms -- generate almost one billion yuan of turnover every year.
The country is also working on specific regulations for collecting royalties from television, radio stations for using music works that had long been used for free, though when it will be publicized has not yet been decided.
BEIJING, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's first ever regulation on karaoke programming, which set technical standards for all songs used in the karaoke industry, has gone into effect.
The regulation, issued by the Ministry of Culture, says all karaoke programs should be audio and video products which have already been published on the Chinese mainland or been previously aired by TV stations on the Chinese mainland. If not, they should be examined by related administrative authorities beforehand.
"It is the country's first regulation on karaoke programming standards," said Liu Shifa, spokesman with the Cultural Market Development Center under the Ministry of Culture. "It will promote the program quality of the country's karaoke industry."
The regulation also requires each karaoke program to be labeled with "for use on the Chinese mainland only".
A charging system of karaoke program royalties were put into use earlier this year in eight pilot provinces including Sichuan, He'nan, Yunnan, Hu'nan, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The system, designed to monitor and charge for the karaoke programs, is expected to be launched across the country in 2008.
The country's current charging standard is 12 yuan (1.6 U.S. dollars) per room every day, according to a regulation set by China's National Copyright Administration (NCA) late last year.
The NCA said the fee, 0.17 yuan per song on average, accounted for only one percent of karaoke bar turnover according to their investigations in a couple of cities, and was relatively low compared with that in many other countries.
Karaoke operators in the country have enjoyed free access to songs and MTVs without paying royalties for more than 20 years.
It is estimated that China's nearly 100,000 karaoke establishments -- each with an average of ten karaoke rooms -- generate almost one billion yuan of turnover every year.
The country is also working on specific regulations for collecting royalties from television, radio stations for using music works that had long been used for free, though when it will be publicized has not yet been decided.
In sprint to the Games, heritage has a good run
China Daily
A worker touches up the colorful paintings on the beams of Guozijian (Imperial College), built during the Yuan Dynasty in Beijing December 5, 2007. [China Daily]
The da-ma, or women in their 60s or 70s, represent a heart-warming winter scene typical of Beijing's hutong.
Sporting gray woolen hats and red armbands, they talk enthusiastically about everything from neighborhood happenings to national politics - or the Olympics.
Wang Xiuyu is one of them - she has lived in the Cangjing Hutong beside the Yonghegong Lama Temple since she was married 36 years ago. Her eyes brightened when the conversation turned to the recent three-month renovation of her hutong.
"It has been here since the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911); last year, the street had potholes and was bumpy, and the whole hutong looked run down," she said. "It is good the government spent money to pave the street and fix new gray bricks on the outer walls of the houses.
"It would have been even better if we also got free furnishings," she added with a mischievous smile.
Wang and her neighbors owe the improvement in their environment to the Olympics. Beijing has spent 600 million yuan ($81 million) on conservation and facelifts for cultural heritage areas in the past five years to hold the "People's Olympics" it pledged.
"Back in the 1990s, we had only 1 million yuan ($133,000) a year for conservation work, which is less than 1 percent of what we have today," said Kong Fanzhi, director of the Beijing municipal administration of cultural heritage. "Now we can get money much easier because of the Games."
The major cultural heritage sites that were conserved or renovated because of the Olympics are 17 royal palaces and gardens, 52 religious buildings, 38 ancient walls and tombs as well as 32 siheyuan courtyards. The Great Wall received 40 million yuan ($5.4 million) and the Neolithic Peking Man site of Zhoukoudian 8 million yuan ($1.08 million).
More than 1,500 precious ancient artifacts, including those made of bronze, gold and jade, were also unearthed during archaeological excavations ahead of the Olympic construction projects, said Kong.
The 15,000 families who lived in the ancient buildings and gardens were compensated for shifting out during renovation; and some have moved back.
"In fact, the compensation money we paid for each project could be 10 times the amount spent on actual conservation work," said Wang Yuwei, an official at the Beijing cultural heritage administration
A worker touches up the colorful paintings on the beams of Guozijian (Imperial College), built during the Yuan Dynasty in Beijing December 5, 2007. [China Daily]
The da-ma, or women in their 60s or 70s, represent a heart-warming winter scene typical of Beijing's hutong.
Sporting gray woolen hats and red armbands, they talk enthusiastically about everything from neighborhood happenings to national politics - or the Olympics.
Wang Xiuyu is one of them - she has lived in the Cangjing Hutong beside the Yonghegong Lama Temple since she was married 36 years ago. Her eyes brightened when the conversation turned to the recent three-month renovation of her hutong.
"It has been here since the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911); last year, the street had potholes and was bumpy, and the whole hutong looked run down," she said. "It is good the government spent money to pave the street and fix new gray bricks on the outer walls of the houses.
"It would have been even better if we also got free furnishings," she added with a mischievous smile.
Wang and her neighbors owe the improvement in their environment to the Olympics. Beijing has spent 600 million yuan ($81 million) on conservation and facelifts for cultural heritage areas in the past five years to hold the "People's Olympics" it pledged.
"Back in the 1990s, we had only 1 million yuan ($133,000) a year for conservation work, which is less than 1 percent of what we have today," said Kong Fanzhi, director of the Beijing municipal administration of cultural heritage. "Now we can get money much easier because of the Games."
The major cultural heritage sites that were conserved or renovated because of the Olympics are 17 royal palaces and gardens, 52 religious buildings, 38 ancient walls and tombs as well as 32 siheyuan courtyards. The Great Wall received 40 million yuan ($5.4 million) and the Neolithic Peking Man site of Zhoukoudian 8 million yuan ($1.08 million).
More than 1,500 precious ancient artifacts, including those made of bronze, gold and jade, were also unearthed during archaeological excavations ahead of the Olympic construction projects, said Kong.
The 15,000 families who lived in the ancient buildings and gardens were compensated for shifting out during renovation; and some have moved back.
"In fact, the compensation money we paid for each project could be 10 times the amount spent on actual conservation work," said Wang Yuwei, an official at the Beijing cultural heritage administration
Tumor in baby is the size of a fist
Shanghai Daily
A HUGE tumor has been removed from the head of a seven-month-old boy by doctors at Shanghai's Xinhua Hospital.
The baby, Xiao Xin, is in a stable condition after surgery and a scan after the operation has confirmed the growth had been completely cut out, said chief surgeon Ma Jie.
"The tumor, which was eight-centimeter long, seven-centimeter wide and five-centimeter high, was very rare," Ma said. "It resembled a fetus and contained such tissue as hair and bones."
Xiao Xin's parents started to notice the growth when the boy was three months old.
"His head was much bigger than that of kids of the same age. We did not pay much attention, thinking it must be a sign that his intelligence developed better," the parents told the hospital.
However, their view changed when, over the next few months, their baby's head became even bigger than his three-year-old brother's.
When the boy was taken to a hospital in his hometown, doctors diagnosed a tumor and the parents rushed the baby to Xinhua Hospital.
"We were surprised to see from the CT scan that the tumor was as big as a fist and situated in the middle of the brain. It took up half of the skull and was close to some important tissues such as the brainstem and skull artery," Ma said.
Under the leadership of Dr Ma, a special surgical team carried out the operation using minimally invasive surgical techniques.
A HUGE tumor has been removed from the head of a seven-month-old boy by doctors at Shanghai's Xinhua Hospital.
The baby, Xiao Xin, is in a stable condition after surgery and a scan after the operation has confirmed the growth had been completely cut out, said chief surgeon Ma Jie.
"The tumor, which was eight-centimeter long, seven-centimeter wide and five-centimeter high, was very rare," Ma said. "It resembled a fetus and contained such tissue as hair and bones."
Xiao Xin's parents started to notice the growth when the boy was three months old.
"His head was much bigger than that of kids of the same age. We did not pay much attention, thinking it must be a sign that his intelligence developed better," the parents told the hospital.
However, their view changed when, over the next few months, their baby's head became even bigger than his three-year-old brother's.
When the boy was taken to a hospital in his hometown, doctors diagnosed a tumor and the parents rushed the baby to Xinhua Hospital.
"We were surprised to see from the CT scan that the tumor was as big as a fist and situated in the middle of the brain. It took up half of the skull and was close to some important tissues such as the brainstem and skull artery," Ma said.
Under the leadership of Dr Ma, a special surgical team carried out the operation using minimally invasive surgical techniques.
Beijing's 'crown jewel'
Shanghai Daily
WITH a little over eight months until the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, the city's tennis authorities have been hard at work making sure they take full advantage of the sporting legacy of the Games.
The upgrading of the China Open and its relocation to the new US$40-million Olympic Tennis Center for 2009 is the centerpiece of an ambitious plan to make Beijing an international tennis center.
The first step of that plan was the acquisition of one of the WTA's new "crown jewel" events, four tournaments that will sit just below the grand slam events in status, while the men's China Open will become an ATP 500 Series event in 2009, which sits below the grand slams and nine Masters Series events.
"The good sports atmosphere, excellent venues and facilities brought by the Olympics have together provided a good environment for the future development of the China Open," said Sun Kangling, China Open executive chairman and Beijing sport chief.
"The goal is not only to make China Open an international sports event for Beijing, but also make it ... a bright spot for the sustainable development of the sports industry in Beijing after the Olympics," said Sun, who has been given 500 million yuan (US$67.64 million) to attract events to the Chinese capital.
The home for the new tournament will be the tennis center on the northernmost tip of the Olympic Green, already hailed as one of the best venues in the world by International Tennis Federation (ITF) president Francisco Ricci Bitti.
The center court is crowned by a distinctive lotus flower design and there are seats for 16,000 spectators over the eight match courts, which are complemented by six practice courts - made up of the same hard court surface used at the US Open.
The proximity in the calendar to the US Open has proved a bane for the China Open since it started in 2004, with top names regularly withdrawing after playing in New York.
From 2009, however, the top men will have to play one of the four 500 Series events, the others are in Tokyo, Basel and Valencia, after the US Open while the presence of the top 50 women is mandatory at the "crown jewel" tournaments.
WITH a little over eight months until the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, the city's tennis authorities have been hard at work making sure they take full advantage of the sporting legacy of the Games.
The upgrading of the China Open and its relocation to the new US$40-million Olympic Tennis Center for 2009 is the centerpiece of an ambitious plan to make Beijing an international tennis center.
The first step of that plan was the acquisition of one of the WTA's new "crown jewel" events, four tournaments that will sit just below the grand slam events in status, while the men's China Open will become an ATP 500 Series event in 2009, which sits below the grand slams and nine Masters Series events.
"The good sports atmosphere, excellent venues and facilities brought by the Olympics have together provided a good environment for the future development of the China Open," said Sun Kangling, China Open executive chairman and Beijing sport chief.
"The goal is not only to make China Open an international sports event for Beijing, but also make it ... a bright spot for the sustainable development of the sports industry in Beijing after the Olympics," said Sun, who has been given 500 million yuan (US$67.64 million) to attract events to the Chinese capital.
The home for the new tournament will be the tennis center on the northernmost tip of the Olympic Green, already hailed as one of the best venues in the world by International Tennis Federation (ITF) president Francisco Ricci Bitti.
The center court is crowned by a distinctive lotus flower design and there are seats for 16,000 spectators over the eight match courts, which are complemented by six practice courts - made up of the same hard court surface used at the US Open.
The proximity in the calendar to the US Open has proved a bane for the China Open since it started in 2004, with top names regularly withdrawing after playing in New York.
From 2009, however, the top men will have to play one of the four 500 Series events, the others are in Tokyo, Basel and Valencia, after the US Open while the presence of the top 50 women is mandatory at the "crown jewel" tournaments.
Annual pass to help tourists earn discounts
Shanghai Daily
THE Shanghai tourism authority has released a set of annual passes for industrial tourism sites next year that can help tourists save about 3,700 yuan (US$499.49), the Labor Daily reported today.
The passes, worth 50 yuan, offer tourists a wide range of discounts, even free access in some cases, according to the industrial tourism promotion center.
A total of 114 scenic spots – most in Shanghai with a few in neighboring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces – are covered by the passes, said the promotion center.
Admission to 26 tourist sites is free if visitors show the passes. They include Shanghai Sculpture Space, China's national musical instruments museum, Foreign-educated Chinese Museum and the ancient town of Qibao, the report said.
Tickets for another 89 spots will be available at a discount of 50 to 90 percent. These destinations include the peach blossom village in Nanhui District, where admission will be only 10 yuan with the 50 percent discount.
However, discounts can only be enjoyed a maximum of three times in this village, the report said.
Families of three can enjoy discounts of up to 30 yuan if they tour places such as the Shanghai Automobile Museum, Shanghai Binhai Forest Park and Shanghai Flower Port, the report said.
Twenty-yuan discounts are also available at Shanghai Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, where life-sized wax figures of celebrities are on display, the report said.
The passes will become available on January 1 and can either be bought at local Oriental kiosks or at the promotion center, according to an anonymous source with the center.
THE Shanghai tourism authority has released a set of annual passes for industrial tourism sites next year that can help tourists save about 3,700 yuan (US$499.49), the Labor Daily reported today.
The passes, worth 50 yuan, offer tourists a wide range of discounts, even free access in some cases, according to the industrial tourism promotion center.
A total of 114 scenic spots – most in Shanghai with a few in neighboring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces – are covered by the passes, said the promotion center.
Admission to 26 tourist sites is free if visitors show the passes. They include Shanghai Sculpture Space, China's national musical instruments museum, Foreign-educated Chinese Museum and the ancient town of Qibao, the report said.
Tickets for another 89 spots will be available at a discount of 50 to 90 percent. These destinations include the peach blossom village in Nanhui District, where admission will be only 10 yuan with the 50 percent discount.
However, discounts can only be enjoyed a maximum of three times in this village, the report said.
Families of three can enjoy discounts of up to 30 yuan if they tour places such as the Shanghai Automobile Museum, Shanghai Binhai Forest Park and Shanghai Flower Port, the report said.
Twenty-yuan discounts are also available at Shanghai Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, where life-sized wax figures of celebrities are on display, the report said.
The passes will become available on January 1 and can either be bought at local Oriental kiosks or at the promotion center, according to an anonymous source with the center.
Warning over dangers for non-smokers
Shanghai Daily
MOST Chinese people are not aware of the harm caused by second-hand smoke and more needs to be done to cut the number of smokers, officials of the All-China Environment Federation said yesterday.
They made the announcement at a symposium in the city organized by the AEF to promote public awareness about the dangers of second-hand smoke.
Prior to the Olympic Games in Beijing next summer, the AEF plans to hold similar symposiums in the other five Chinese cities - including Tianjin and Qingdao - which will hold Olympic events.
"Second-hand smoke is a major problem in China but not many people know that," said Wang Yuming, an official of the AEF's international cooperation department.
According to a survey by AEF, a non-government environmental protection organization, 85 percent of 192 respondents said they were not clear about the severe consequences of second-hand smoking.
In China, smoking in public is common. "When a general manager smokes in office, his secretary is the victim of second-hand smoke," Wang said. Some of the city's senior government officials even smoked while having meetings at work, without regard for other people's health.
Fu Hua, a professor at the School of Public Health at Fudan University, said second-hand smoke could do more harm to people than smoking since the former produces un-filtered harmful emissions which could be inhaled by non-smokers.
He said tobacco smoke contained more than 4,000 chemicals which could cause diseases such as asthma, lung and cardiovascular problems.
Wang said China was doing a far poorer job than many Western countries - such as the United States - to curb smoking in public places.
According to AEF, China has 350 million smokers and another 540 million Chinese are victims of second-hand smoking. The combined number accounts for about 70 percent of the country's entire population.
Zhang Liqiang, managing director of the Shanghai Health Education Institute, said the government didn't raise the price of tobacco because the economy of many Chinese provinces, such as Yunnan, depended on the tobacco industry. If the government put up the price too much, it would affect their economic development.
MOST Chinese people are not aware of the harm caused by second-hand smoke and more needs to be done to cut the number of smokers, officials of the All-China Environment Federation said yesterday.
They made the announcement at a symposium in the city organized by the AEF to promote public awareness about the dangers of second-hand smoke.
Prior to the Olympic Games in Beijing next summer, the AEF plans to hold similar symposiums in the other five Chinese cities - including Tianjin and Qingdao - which will hold Olympic events.
"Second-hand smoke is a major problem in China but not many people know that," said Wang Yuming, an official of the AEF's international cooperation department.
According to a survey by AEF, a non-government environmental protection organization, 85 percent of 192 respondents said they were not clear about the severe consequences of second-hand smoking.
In China, smoking in public is common. "When a general manager smokes in office, his secretary is the victim of second-hand smoke," Wang said. Some of the city's senior government officials even smoked while having meetings at work, without regard for other people's health.
Fu Hua, a professor at the School of Public Health at Fudan University, said second-hand smoke could do more harm to people than smoking since the former produces un-filtered harmful emissions which could be inhaled by non-smokers.
He said tobacco smoke contained more than 4,000 chemicals which could cause diseases such as asthma, lung and cardiovascular problems.
Wang said China was doing a far poorer job than many Western countries - such as the United States - to curb smoking in public places.
According to AEF, China has 350 million smokers and another 540 million Chinese are victims of second-hand smoking. The combined number accounts for about 70 percent of the country's entire population.
Zhang Liqiang, managing director of the Shanghai Health Education Institute, said the government didn't raise the price of tobacco because the economy of many Chinese provinces, such as Yunnan, depended on the tobacco industry. If the government put up the price too much, it would affect their economic development.
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