Monday, October 6, 2008

ChemChina, Blackstone launch Beijing joint venture

China National Chemical Corporation announced Monday that China Bluestar Co. Ltd., its joint venture in Beijing with the Blackstone Group, has officially launched.

Bluestar, one of ChemChina's subsidiary company groups, will be transformed into a Sino-foreign joint venture. U.S.-based Blackstone is putting 600 million U.S. dollars into the project for a 20 percent stake in the new company.

ChemChina and Blackstone signed the cooperation agreement in September 2007. It was ratified by the government in December.

A ChinaChem spokesman said the joint venture aimed at internationally-advanced technologies and would build high-tech chemical new materials equipment with self-owned intellectual property. It will draw on Blackstone's successful experience in the global chemical industry and its advanced management ideas.

ChemChina is one of the country's state-owned giant enterprises and a leading player in the global chemical industry. It ranked 28th among China's top 500 enterprises and 19th in global chemical enterprises.

Bluestar has three subsidiary companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges.

Source: Xinhua

Hong Kong stocks tumble 4.97% amid global financial worries

Hong Kong stocks nose-dived 878. 64 points, or 4.97 percent, to close below the 17,000 mark on Monday, as the passage of the 700-billion U.S. dollar bailout plan failed to lift the market sentiments around the world.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index lost 526.19 points, or 2.98 percent, to open at 17,156.21 on Monday and moved between 17,241. 78 and 16,790.86. The index widened its losses in the afternoon to close at 16,803.76.

Analysts had previously said they expected further uncertainties ahead in the global financial market and that the Hang Seng Index may face continued -- and probably accelerated -- downward pressure if it failed to hold above the 17,000 level.

Turnover on Monday also went down to 47.33 billion HK dollars from Friday's 53.28 billion HK dollars .

Hong Kong-based power supplier CLP Holdings turned out to be the only gainer among the 43 blue chips, as financial services institutions rated the company high, sending its share prices to rise 0.85 HK dollars, or 1.36 percent, at 63.6 HK dollars.

The China Enterprises Index also moved down 596.37 points, or 6. 62 percent.

Market heavyweight HSBC, widely recognized as resilient amid a generally weak market, went down 2.7 HK dollars, or 2.19 percent, at 120.5 HK dollars, while its local unit Hang Seng Bank tumbled 5. 7 HK dollars, or 4.61 percent, at 118 HK dollars.

China Mobile, the leading mobile carrier on the Chinese mainland and one of the three telecom giants after an ongoing industry restructuring, lost 4.5 HK dollars, or 5.84 percent, to close at 72.6 HK dollars, near its support level.

ICBC, one of the leading mainland state-owned commercial lenders, went down 0.23 HK dollars, or 5.28 percent, at 4.13 HK dollars.

Mainland insurance giant Ping An tumbled 4 HK dollars, or 8 percent, at 46 HK dollars, upon its disclosure of huge losses expected from a major investment in the European financial group Fortis.

Source: Xinhua

Four Chinese steel mills set to cut production on slump demands

Several leading Chinese steel mills are set to cut production to cope with the pressure of weak demand hanging over their iron-smelting furnaces.

Shougang Group and three other big domestic iron and steel manufacturers will slash 20 percent of their production this month amid slack domestic demand and dropping steel prices, according to Monday's China Securities Journal.

These major steel makers included Hebei Iron and Steel Group, Shandong Iron and Steel Group and Anyang Iron and Steel Group.

Hu Kai, a senior industry analyst with the Umetal.com website, told Xinhua on Monday the sagging price was the main cause of the production reduction.

"There is no signal that the steel product price would be ratcheted up in the near future, as some steel product prices remain high compared to previous years, construction-use steel products in particular."

China's real estate sector was currently in its nadir, which also pulled down steel product consumption, he added.

Steel prices on the domestic market dropped 5 percent in the week preceding the weeklong National Day holiday that started Sept. 29, according to the newspaper citing Xu Xiangchun, a mysteel.com analyst.

These steel mills would endeavor to further reduce the purchasing price of raw materials, adjust product mix and enhance communication among the companies respective management, according to the Beijing-based newspaper.

Hu said to some extent these companies had overreacted to the sluggish market as the output cutback exceeded the actual market demand decline.

Beijing-based Shougang Group declined to comment on the news report when reached by Xinhua. Its shares shed 5.31 percent to 3.39 yuan per share on Monday trading.

Source: Xinhua

China, Vietnam to open direct transport between border cities

China and Vietnam will open a direct transport service between their respective border cities of Pingxiang and Lang Son by year end, according to a Chinese official on Monday.

Irregular shuttle buses, government vehicles and private cars would be allowed to pass the shared Friendship Gate Port and drive in each other's city, said Song Jian, director of the International Road Transport Administration under the China Friendship Gate Port.

Freight trucks could only drive into the designated logistics parks in the two cities, Song said, citing an agreement of the transport authorities from the two countries.

During their meeting late last month, the two sides agreed transport authorities would start issuing permits to the vehicles of the direct transport service.

According to the plan, transport officials will meet again late this month to discuss further details. This will also involve officials from various authorities, including customs, border inspection and quarantine, public security, transport businesses and insurance.

"The direct transport service is expected to greatly boost bilateral cooperation in transport, trade, tourism and other areas," Song said.

Over the past few years, no direct transport has been allowed through the port of the Friendship Gate, which is rendered into Youyi Guan in Chinese and Huu Nghi Quan in Vietnamese. The highway port is about 17 km from Pingxiang, a small city in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and 18 km away from Lang Son, capital of north Vietnam's Lang Son Province.

More than 200,000 vehicles pass through the border each year, according to Chinese government statistics.

Source: Xinhua

China Netcom removed from Hang Seng Index constituent after merger

The announced removal of China Netcom from the list of Hang Seng Index constituent stocks took effect after market close on Monday.

The merger between China Unicom and China Netcom, recently approved by their shareholders, was an ongoing Chinese mainland telecommunications restructuring that was expected to create one of the three integrated services providers.

The listing of China Netcom will be withdrawn on Oct. 15, subject to the expected approval of the merger in due court hearing, with the number of Hang Seng Index constituents dropping accordingly from 43 to 42, the Hang Seng Index Company said.

The changes to the Hang Seng family of indices, which had previously been scheduled for Oct. 15, had been moved forward to "facilitate the rebalancing activities performed by market participants and smooth the impact to portfolios tracking" the indices.

China Netcom will also be removed from the Hang Seng China- Affiliated Corporations Index and the Hang Seng Composite Industry Index-Telecommunications constituents.

Among other changes, the stock will be replaced by HKC Holdings as a constituent of the Hang Seng Composite Index, the Hang Seng Mainland Composite Index, the Hang Seng Free float Composite Index and the Hang Seng Mainland Free float Index.

Source: Xinhua

Wall Street turmoil tests China's foreign trade

The disillusionment of Wall Street myth has further endangered the already downward global economy, and posed a fresh threat to China's foreign trade, which is already on the verge of collapse.

'The year 2008 has thus far proved to be the most arduous year for China's foreign trade exports since its entry into the WTO,' predicted in the beginning of the year by international authorities. The latest statistics suggested that, from January through to August this year, China's foreign trade exports went up by 22.4 percent, while it was 27,7 percent the same period last year, showing a dim prospect for China's foreign trade.

One of the basic point used to judge the general tendency of China's foreign trade is nothing but the U.S economy. Currently, the sub-prime mortgage crisis is far from conclusion, and the U.S economy has been obviously on the decline. Even worse, the financial storms set up by Frannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both suffering severe bad debts, has been extending all the way from the financial institutions to the economic entities, leading to the weakness of the individual consumption growth, which accounts for 2/3 of the U.S GDP, and the shrinking demands for imports.

Meanwhile, China and the U.S. have been crucial trade partners to each other. But compare with last year, the bilateral trade volume dropped by 3.1 percentage points in the first eight months of the year. In particular, the orders placed for Chinese toys and garments, which used to enjoy a bulky share in the U.S market, turned to a sharp decline. Lehman Brothers, together with another four major investment banks, went bankrupt almost overnight. The 'Domino' effects induced by the precarious U.S economy have already sent many other major economic entities swaying and drifting. More over, the economic growth in the Euro Zone has so far produced no good results in sight.

The Japanese economy has been bogged down in stagnation, and the growth rate of emerging economies have suffered a severe setback, serving as an indication of an impending expansion of the financial crisis from the developed countries into the developing countries, which will unavoidably deliver a harsh blow to China's exports.

On top of that, the exacerbation of the global inflation and the untamed price hike in energy and resources have directly jacked up the production costs; besides, the international ocean freight has also gone up by more than 30 percent. Consequently, the costs gap between the developed countries and the emerging economies will have been narrowed, causing the possible return of international manufacturing industries to the developed countries and their neighboring regions. In a long run, the relative advantages of 'made-in-Chinas' would possibly be offset, and China's competitiveness in exports would be dulled. Additionally, the global geopolitics is getting increasingly complex, neo trade protectionism is looking up, and in future, the trade barriers against China would increase rather than decrease.

From the perspectives of China's domestic situation, with the rise in costs and the revaluation of RMB, as well as the monetary policies, many export-oriented and labor-intensive industries and enterprises cannot run profitably and efficiently in the country's bustling business areas lying along the Yangtze Delta and the Pearl Delta. But generally speaking, the challenges facing China's foreign trade are mostly from outside uncertainties instead of coming within China. At present, the difficulties from both outside and inside are interweaving and accumulating, and the foreign demands continue to shrink. It is expected that in the second half of the year the growth rate in China's exports would see no bounce-back, even though no cascading fall is predicted.

Fortunately, the turning point in China's foreign trade development does not loom ahead. Compared with others, China's present growth rate in exports still remains higher. The basic facets of China's economy stay intact, and its development quality and efficiency tend to look up. Moreover, the 'three carriages' for economic development run more steadily, and the fiscal revenues grow by leaps and bounds; priorities of the macro-economic policy have been shifted from 'two prevents', namely, prevent the economic development from overheating, and prevent the prices hike from evolving into the evident inflation, to 'one guarantee, one prevent', so to speak, besides the prevention of prices hike, the steady and smooth economic development must be guaranteed. As regards China's export economy, there is still enough room for manoeuvre.

Beyond doubt, foreign trade acts as a strong driving force for China's economic growth, and the global economic turbulence could also hit China. But as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was quoted as saying in his official visit to the U.S, 'in history, the world economy has gone through ups and downs, but it survived and gained the new momentum for development,' China's economy is now at the stage of restructuring and transformation, and thereby, being cautious and prudent is not only a matter of practical attitude, but more a chance for further development.

It is hard to take omens from Wall Street storm, as it could recur in future, but it is by no means the calamity of exterminating the world. The linchpin for recovery is the ability to convert 'risks' into 'opportunities,' and the confidence, which is considered more valuable than gold when crisis breaks out. It is convincing that China's foreign trade will scale new heights by braving the U.S born financial storms.

By People's Daily Online

Beijing hosts booming tourists after Olympics

Beijing registered an increase of 35 percent tourists during the past week-long National Day holiday, many of whom visited the Olympic venues.

At least 8.02 million people made tours in Beijing between Sept. 29 to Oct. 5, including 2.35 million incoming visitors, the municipal bureau of tourism said in a notice released Sunday evening.

The city, which had just hosted the Olympics and Paralympics during August and September, harvested 5.25 billion yuan in tourist revenue, up 27 percent as against the National Day holidays last year.

The bureau attributed much of the tourist surge to "the Olympic effect", as Olympic venues and relative cultural activities became an outstanding attraction among traditional tourist sites.

The Olympic Park, home to the Bird's Nest and Water Cube, attracted 2.17 million visitors during the first six days of the holiday since it was open to the public on Sept. 29. The figure accounted for 25 percent of the city's total tourist arrivals.

In addition, many must-see historic scenic sites remained their attraction. The Forbidden City received 625,000 visitors, 78 percent more than the same period last year, and 396,000 people packed Badaling section of the Great Wall, an increase of 58 percent.

Star-level and non-star hotels reported an average room renting ratio of 63 percent and 70 percent respectively during the past week, up 5 percent and 10 percent than that of the same period last year.

Source: Xinhua

Another record Golden Week

The weeklong National Day holiday again brought a record number of tourists and retail revenue, despite continued controversy over the decade-old Golden Week vacation system.

More than 18.29 million people visited 119 major tourist destinations nationwide between Sept 29 and Oct 5, a 13.2 percent increase year-on-year, National Tourism Administration statistics showed.

Retail sales of consumer products during the holiday surged 21 percent year-on-year to reach 420 billion yuan , the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday.

The capital remained one of the top choices for travelers during the holidays.

"Although most tourist spots have attracted a growing number of visitors, Beijing was still the first choice for most tourists during the Golden Week because of the Olympic Games," said Jia Shuo, an employee with the Beijing Great Wall International Travel Agency.

Zhang Jinling, who visited Beijing from Shandong province, agreed.

"The Water Cube, the Bird's Nest and the Olympic Village are must-see places for every Chinese," the 26-year-old said.

Many Olympic venue cities, such as Tianjin, Shanghai, and Qingdao, also experienced peak tourist arrivals during the Golden Week.

Despite overcrowding at tourist attractions, dense traffic jams, price hikes and ticket-purchasing difficulties, Chinese people remained enthusiastic about the National Day holiday.

Tsinghua University professor Cai Jiming, an advocate of the country's holiday reforms, recently said the weeklong vacation was not intended to remain in place over the long term and the National Day Golden Week should be abandoned.

More than 80 percent of respondents in an online survey by Baidu.com opposed suggestions to cancel the National Day Golden Week, because they would not have enough time to travel or enjoy family reunions otherwise.

Only 8 percent of respondents agreed to do away with the vacation period.

"After the May Day holiday was scrapped, I could only go back to my hometown in Heilongjiang province to see my parents twice a year - that is, during the National Day and Spring Festival period," said Wu Jialu, a 25-year-old worker in Beijing.

"I am strongly against canceling the National Day holiday."

Source: China Daily

Passengers filling up weekend cross-Strait charter flights

The weekend charter flights across the Taiwan Strait have carried more than 160,000 people since they began on July 4, according to figures from the Taiwan authorities.

Over the 12 weekends till Sept. 22, they carried an average of 12,000 people each week, with an average occupancy rate of 85.6 percent.

The Chinese mainland and Taiwan agreed in June to begin the weekend charter flights, which had previously operated only at major festivals.

So far, eight airports in Taiwan and five in the mainland have been opened for 18 weekend flights each way.

Source: Xinhua

Tujia people build longest wind-rain bridge

The world's longest wind-rain bridge had been completed in central China's Hunan Province, China News Service reports.

The Laoche Reba wind-rain bridge was built by the Tujia ethnic minority in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. The wind-rain bridge, so named because it shelters people from the wind and rain, spans 288.8 meters, 41.1 meters longer than the previous record holder, the roofed Longjin Bridge by Dong ethnic minority in Zhijiang of the same province.

The bridge is Y-shaped and connects three ancient Tujia villages - Laoche, Liangjiazhai and Rebala in Longshan County.

The architecture consists of corridors and pavilions. Wooden boards line the corridor and both sides are inlaid with railings. Flying eaves and painted beams also add a touch of unique ethnic flavor.

The bridge has become a hotspot for tourism. Reports say that after it was finished in early September, it drew crowds from both home and abroad to experience the life of the Tujia people.

Source: CRIENGLISH.com

Nakano says to produce movie about China's reform and opening up

"I will produce a movie depicting the great changes in China over the past 30 years," said Ryoko Nakano in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

Nakano, who acted the part of "Mayumi" in "Kimi yo fundo no kawa o watare" , has become a household name in China since 1979 when the movie premiered and created a widespread sensation there.

Over the past 30 years, the movie, like an unbreakable bond, has been a link between China and Nakano. She has thus become a witness to China's 30 years of reform and opening up.

"China's economy has improved by leaps and bounds and its international clout grows with each passing day since it adopted the policy of reform and opening up 30 years ago," said Nakano, adding that the nation has drawn more and more attention from around the world.

Major Chinese cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, have become cosmopolitan cities, she said. And the people's way of life has been increasingly internationalized with their clothing more fashionable and decent.

As a friendship ambassador, Nakano has met with most Chinese leaders and is familiar with every detail of China-Japan friendly exchanges. She is one of the few foreign personalities that have witnessed every step forward China has made over the past 30 years.

"Nowadays, young people are hardly aware of the importance of friendly exchanges because they have little idea of the adverse environment for exchanges 30 years ago," said Nakano in response to questions concerning Japan-China exchanges.

"I would like to produce a movie recording Japan-China friendly exchanges and the profound changes in China over the 30 years," she said.

"And young people will be cast in the major roles in the movie in a bid to help them get to know the importance of bilateral exchanges and the 30-year course of China's development," she added.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of both China's reform and opening up and the signing of the Japan-China Peace and Friendship Treaty as well as Japan-China Exchange Year for Youths. The two nations will conduct exchange of visits involving up to 4,000 people.

"Leaders and young people of both nations should understand each other and carry on the fine tradition of friendship from generation to generation," said Nakano.

"I will try my utmost to contribute to that end," she said.

Source: Xinhua

Record number of tourists, retail sales during Golden Week

Retails sales and the number of tourists throughout the Golden Week holiday broke records in China's tourism industry.

This year's National Day holiday, which marks the 1949 founding of the People's Republic of China, ran from Sept. 29 through Oct. 5.

Figures released by the National Tourism Administration on its website showed the country's 119 major tourist destinations received more than 18.29 million visitors. That's an increase of 13.2 percent from a year earlier. Without giving an exact number, the NTA also said ticket sales rose by 16.4 percent from last year.

In the meantime, the Ministry of Commerce reported the country's retail sales during the Golden Week exceeded 420 billion Yuan , jumping 21 percent from the same holiday last year.

The NTA said Beijing and Olympic co-host cities like Qingdao and Shanghai witnessed a surge of tourists.

For example, Beijing municipal bureau of tourism said Sunday, the city had 35 percent more tourists, many of whom visited Olympic venues.

At least 8.02 million people visited Beijing between Sept. 29 to Oct. 5, including 2.35 million overseas visitors. That amounts to 5.25 billion yuan in tourist revenue, up 27 percent from the previous National Day holiday.

The Olympic Park, home to the Bird's Nest National Stadium and Water Cube Aquatics Center, attracted more than 2.82 million visitors during the Golden Week.

The busiest day at Olympic Park was Oct. 2, with more than 520,000 visitors.

According to the NTA, many Chinese tourists traveled using private cars, which forced tourist destinations to expand parking lots. Family lodges and private hotels were quite popular during the holiday as well.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China said the country's airlines carried 4.33 million passengers during the Golden Week, up 14.8 percent year on year.

A total of 33,416 flights were used to deliver travelers across the country during the holiday, an increase of 8 percent compared to the same period of last year.

Not everyone enjoyed the week off. The NTA said tourism authorities across the country received 279 complaints from tourists.

Four tourist-related accidents were reported in the week. Two tourists died and four were injured.

Another two tourists are still missing after they swam without permission in a no-swimming area off the southern Chinese Guangdong Province on Oct. 4.

Source: Xinhua

Beijing becomes most popular tourist city during Golden Week

Ctrip.com, China's largest online travel service, and the Nielsen Company, the global leading market research company, jointly issued the list of national popular tourist cities during the National Day Golden Week on October 5.

The top ten cities with the most out-going travelers during the National Holiday this year are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Xi'an, Wuhan, Chongqing and Nanjing. And the top ten cities which received the most tourists are Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Qingdao, Nanjing, Suzhou, Xi'an, Xiamen and Sanya.

Shanghai was the top tourist city in China during previous golden weeks, but Beijing becomes the most popular city during this Golden Week.

Guo Guang, director of Ctrip's Holiday Service, said that October has always been Beijing's tourist peak season, and this year Beijing arouses even more domestic and foreign tourists' interests due to the success of the Beijing Olympic Games. The elements about the Olympics are the main tourist attraction.

By People's Daily Online

More libraries, museums in China

China has taken big steps towards developing public cultural services since adopting the reform and opening-up policy three decades ago, statistics from the Cultural Ministry on Monday.

Take for example the number of public cultural facilities built in the past 30 years. In 1978, there were 349 museums across the country. Today, there are five times as many as China now has 1,722 museums.

Ministry figures also show that China has 2,799 public libraries and tens of thousands of cultural centers down to the community and village levels.

Last year, the national fiscal expenditure on cultural development was up to 19.896 billion yuan , more than 30 times what was spent in 1980.

Also in recent years, special cultural projects have started at the grassroots level, especially in rural areas, including sending books to the countryside and organizing "mobile theatres" for the farmers, the ministry said.

Source: Xinhua

More than 178 mln Chinese travel during "Golden Week" holiday

More than 178 million Chinese traveled within the country during the National Day holiday week, up 22.1 percent on the same period last year, according to the China National Tourism Administration and the National Bureau of Statistics.

The holiday, known as a "golden week", ran from Sept. 29 to Oct. 5 to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Tourism revenue during the week amounted to 79.6 billion yuan , up 24.2 percent. Per-capita spending averaged 448 yuan.

The revenue of the aviation industry reached 3.93 billion yuan, up 33.8 percent, and that of the railways 1.99 billion yuan, up 35percent.

Figures from the National Tourism Administration showed the country's 119 major tourist destinations received more than 18.29 million visitors, an increase of 13.2 percent from a year earlier.

The NTA said Beijing and Olympic co-host cities like Qingdao and Shanghai witnessed a surge of tourists.

Beijing municipal bureau of tourism said on Sunday that the city had 35 percent more tourists, many of whom visited Olympic venues.

At least 8.02 million people visited Beijing from Sept. 29 to Oct. 5, including 2.35 million overseas visitors, bringing 5.25 billion yuan in tourist revenue, up 27 percent from the previous National Day holiday.

The Olympic Park, home to the Bird's Nest National Stadium and Water Cube Aquatics Center, attracted more than 2.82 million visitors.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China said the country's airlines carried 4.33 million passengers during the Golden Week, up 14.8 percent, on 33,416 flights, an increase of 8 percent.

Not everyone enjoyed the week off. The NTA said tourism authorities across the country received 279 complaints from tourists.

Four tourist-related accidents were reported. Two tourists died and four were injured.

Another two tourists are missing after they swam without permission in a no-swimming area off the southern Guangdong Province on Oct. 4.

Source: Xinhua

Accompanying satellite begins orbiting Shenzhou-7 spaceship on Sunday

Chinese scientists on Sunday successfully directed the accompanying satellite BX-1 to begin circling the Shenzhou-7 spaceship, on an elliptical track of 4 kilometers multiplying 8 kilometers.

It is the first time that China has succeeded in maneuvering this kind of space orbiting, official sources say.

The accompanying satellite began orbiting the orbital capsule of the Shenzhou-7 at 18:14 pm, under the close monitoring and precise control of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

The BX-1 rode the Shenzhou-7 into the space on September 25 and it was launched by the spacecraft two days later. Since September 30, the control center changed its track six times to draw it closer to the space vehicle step by step, and finally it succeeded in orbiting the capsule.

Over the past days, the monitoring satellite has shot over 1,000 pictures of the spaceship from different angles. All the pictures are clear and complete, said an official with the space program.

The photos were condensed and stored after they were taken by the cameras installed on the satellite. The BX-1 shot its first photo six seconds after being released.

In one of the pictures published by the official, the spacecraft was flying like an eagle with the Earth as its background.

Source: Xinhua

Expert: national plan to resolve IP shortage

In response to recent discussion of IPv4 address depletion, expert from Information Office of the Chinese Academy of Sciences reckons that IPv4 depletion and moving to next generation Internet is not only a challenge but an opportunity to us. We should fully apprehend the seriousness and timing pressure of resolving this issue, and then take action on national strategy plan.

The expert said that according to the analysis from CNNIC, there is nearly two hundred million IPv4 addresses allocated last year and the depletion rate is getting accelerated. The IPv4 free pool of RIR is running out around 2012, which may tighten the acquisition of the resource.

In the meantime, the expert noted that the shortage of IPv4 resource and escalated request will come into a vicious circle, IP addresses may well pose as the bottleneck of the Internet industry.

Next Generation Internet, which is based on IPv6, will properly solve IPv4 depletion problem. Whereas in China, IPv6 spread is still at forming stage in industrial development.

Expert of Information Office of the Chinese Academy of Sciences called on that, the state should draw up national action plans for effective, efficient organization and coordination, the transition road map and come up with solutions to a smooth transition.

Source: China Internet Network Information Center

Argentina tie Ukraine 2-2 in indoor soccer World Cup

Argentina and Ukraine tied on Sunday 2-2 during a match of the Group C of the indoor soccer World Cup of Brazil 2008, at the Nilson Nelson stadium of Brazilian capital Brasilia.

Argentina and Ukraine are the strongest teams of their group and the march was equal from the beginning, although some times Ukranians reached more times the Argentine area.

Argentine Planas scored the first goal at the 57th minute before Ukrainian Ivanov levelled five minutes later and Cheporniuk helped Ukraine to overtake in the 63rd minute.

Argentine Giustozzi eventually scored the equaliser in the 84thminute.

After the tie, Argentina accumulated seven points leading Group C, Ukrania with 4, Guatemala and Egypt 3 each, and China without points.

Source: Xinhua

Detroit Shock clinch third WNBA title

The Detroit Shock completed their WNBA Finals sweep with a 76-60 Game 3 victory over the San Antonio Silver Stars in Michigan on Sunday, collecting their third title in their four trips to the finals overall.

Katie Smith, Detroit's leading scorer in all three games and a gold medalist in the Beijing Olympics this summer, capped her finals MVP performance with 18 points and six rebounds.

After leaving behind in the first half 34-30, host Detroit clawed back to take the lead with two straight 3-pointer with 2:16minutes to go.

Smith scored five straight points to usher in the celebration midway through the fourth quarter, giving Detroit a 12-point lead. With the crowd of 8,952 already roaring, Smith's next shot was from well behind the 3-point line, pushing the Shock's lead to 62-47 with five minutes to play.

"We wanted to come out and play. We felt like today was a Game 5," said Smith.

The Silver Stars, first-time participants in the WNBA Finals, did not lose a game against an Eastern Conference team all season, including two victories over the Shock. But they lost three in a row to Detroit, the first two at home, in the finals.

After a night of celebrating, Detroit are to date with the new mayor of Detroit Ken Cockrel, who will honor the team on Monday.

Source: Xinhua

Wang wins China's 1st gold of World Mind Sports Games

Xiangqi player Wang Yang from China won the first gold medal of the World Mind Sports Games, beating Nguyen Vu Quan of Vietnam in the final round of the men's rapid event here on Monday.

The 24-year-old Wang, who started systematic learning of Xiangqi at the age of 12, made his way to the throne with a no-loss record. He upset eight rivals and tied with his teammate Jiang Chuan, who grabbed the silver, in the nine-round event held in the Beijing International Convention Center.

It was the second time for Wang to represent China and compete in international Xiangqi arena. Last year he was crowned in the men's rapid Xiangqi at the 2007 Asian Indoor Games held in Macao.

"I am very excited to win the first gold for China. It is my first time to win an international title and I feel very honored," said Wang, coming from Wuhan Province in central part of China.

"Although I finished the tournament with eight wins and one draw, I am very lucky to win the gold. In several matches, I was very close to be defeated. But I chose to hang on, and the opponents appeared hesitated in the attacking, which gave me the chance," added Wang.

Jiang Chuan, also 24, said, "Generally speaking, I am not satisfied with my performance in this tournament. I think I need to keep improving myself." Jiang clinched the silver with six wins and three draws.

It was the first Xiangqi gold medal being produced from the 15-day games and 37 players from 23 countries and regions participated in this event. The bronze medal went to Hong Kong player Zhao Ruquan.

The first World Mind Games, which officially opened on last Friday night, attracted more than 3,000 players from 143 countries and regions. Bridge, Chess, Go, Draughts and Xiangqi are on the program. There are 35 gold medals on offer, including five in Xiangqi.

Source: Xinhua