China :: Shanghai

Qingtuan, or glutinous green dumplings, are sold at the city's famous Wangjiasha dim sum store yesterday. Local industrial and commercial authorities said yesterday about 10 percent of qingtuan tested in the city failed a quality inspection, including some time-honored brands, such as Wangjiasha and Xinya. The snack is popular around the Qingming Festival, which falls next Tuesday. The Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau inspected 50 samples collected from local supermarkets and food stores. The products which failed, such as a box of Wangjiasha sweet-beanpaste-stuffed Qingtuan sold at the Shanghai No.1 Food Store, were found to contain colibacillus, which may cause vomiting and diarrhoea, said the bureau. Other brands, such as Xinya and Luyangcun, had the same problem. The products were removed from shelves, officials said.

CHINA'S only icebreaker Xuelong (Snow Dragon) returned to its Shanghai base today after Chinese scientists completed a geographic survey on Dome A, the highest elevation in the South Pole. Officials from the Polar Research Institute of China said the scientists carried out a series of research on Antarctic marine system, the South Pole climate and astronomy, but choosing a location for an observatory was their main task. "Dome A is the best choice for an observatory concerning its location and environment," said Zeng Honghui from the institute. "Research found Dome A has the best sky view on earth. Good visibility is the deciding factor for setting up an astronomical telescope." He said the telescope installed in the Dome A observatory can function like a space telescope. Officials said the construction plan has been approved by the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research and has passed an international environmental evaluation. Other countries and internati...

CHINESE scientists have completed a geographic survey on Dome A, the highest elevation in the South Pole, after China's only icebreaker returned to its Shanghai base today. officials from the Polar Research Institute of China said today Xuelong (Snow Dragon), China's only icebreaker, carried out a series of research on Antarctic marine system, the South Pole climate and astronomy. Choosing a location for the observatory was one of their crew's top tasks, the institute officials said. "Dome A is the best choice for an observatory concerning its location and environment," said Zeng Honghui from the institute. "Research found Dome A has the best sky view on earth. Good visibility is the deciding factor for setting up an astronomical telescope." He said the telescope installed in the Dome A observatory can function like a space telescope. Officials said the construction plan has been approved by the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research and has passed ...

Sometime between this wknd and Monday and Tuesday its Qingming Jie Tomb Sweeping Day, a day to honour those that have passed by visiting grave sites and/or burning everything from paper money to paper cars on their graves (or, on the street if you dont make it to the graveyard). Unfortunately, I dont get this holiday off, so while the rest of China are burning paper money/going shopping, Ill be in the office, working away. I really dislike these kinds of holidays, because there are different rules for everyone, making it kind of hard to get something done: some have to work this wknd in order to get Monday and Tuesday off. Some dont work this wknd but still get Monday and Tuesday off. I dont have to work this wknd (who wants to work on the wknd anyway? What a silly rule?!) and I dont get Monday and Tuesdays off. And then some seem to be working on Monday, only to have Tuesday and Wednesday off?! Ah, trying to get my head around this system is pointless. On top of that there are so many...

CITY residents are purchasing clenbuterol detection test papers online and conducting their own experiments in fear of purchasing drug-tainted pork from markets. However, experts said people lack the proper equipment and knowledge to get accurate results. The test papers can be found on Taobao.com, a popular e-commerce website, and are being sold from 2 yuan to over 1,000 yuan (US$150) each. The vendors said users could check whether pork contains clenbuterol by doing the experiment. If red lines appear on the paper, it means the pork contains the illegal drug. Although some vendors said the papers would only be sold to factories or markets equipped with certain instruments for experiments, many individuals purchased dozens of such papers after media reports said pig raisers were giving the animals clenbuterol in order to produce leaner pork, which sells for higher prices. A Beijing-based vendor surnamed Yang said the company could now sell up to 2,000 test papers every day, instead of...

Chinese have poor English skills despite their huge efforts in language training, according to a study released today. China ranks only the 29th in the English Proficiency Index, a lower range, and behind Asian rivals such as Malaysia, Japan and South Korea. Test-oriented, rote learning habits did not give Chinese students the real language skills, education experts said. The EPI report was based on a free online English test participated by 2 million adults from 44 countries and regions where English is not the native language. The report finds that the ranking is closely related to a country's average salary, export volume and education input. The average salary income of the top-ranked country Norway stood at US$87,070 while China's average income was just US$2,940. Compared with TOFEL, IELTS and other tests whose participants have specific goals and are well prepared, the report can better reflect the real English language proficiency of a huge population, according to the ...

LOCAL medical experts are developing new cures and therapies with national funding. The Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat Hospital of Fudan University recently won a national research project to study genetic causes for deafness and its early prevention. Deafness is the most common disability which affects the life of more than 20 million Chinese, over 800,000 of them children under seven years old. "The project is to identify more genes and mechanism resulting in deafness and develop effective therapies," said Dr Li Huawei, the lead scientist in the project. "The current treatment for deafness is giving patients hearing aid devices or artificial cochlea, which is too expensive to be widely adopted." The goal of the project is to transplant patient stem cells and develop them into hearing cells to repair damaged hearing. In addition to deafness research, doctors at the Shanghai Children's Medical Center are pioneers in applying minimally invasive surgery to children, ...