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Hong Kong is the destination of choice for most mainland travelers this Christmas, a survey has found.A child walks past a Christmas decoration at the Two IFC shopping mall in Hong Kong November 28, 2007. [Agencies]Forty-four percent of the 2,000 people polled, all of whom have an annual income of more than 60,000 yuan (,000), said they were planning to visit the region over the festive period.Other popular destinations included Shanghai (10 percent), Sanya in Hainan Province (9 percent), Lijiang in Yunnan Province, Bali in Indonesia, Phuket in Thailand and Harbin in Heilongjiang Province.Conducted by the online travel firm ctrip.com, the survey found people were most interested in places with a "strong holiday atmosphere", "good shopping environment" and "excellent hotels and beaches" when choosing a destination for their Christmas getaway.Tang Yibo, director of Ctrip.com's holiday department, said: "Embodying both Eastern and Western cultures, Hong Kong stands out because it has not only a vibrant Christmas atmosphere, but also offers lots of shopping and entertainment facilities, and big discounts at this time of year."The convenience of traveling between the mainland and Hong Kong is also an important factor, Tang said.Lin Nan, a teacher from Shanghai, who sets off on a three-day trip to Hong Kong this weekend, said: "The pre-Christmas discounts in Hong Kong are irresistible, even when you consider what you have to pay to fly there."Lin Kang, deputy general manager of the outbound tourism department of the China International Travel Service Head Office, said tour packages to Hong Kong are always bestsellers at Christmas.He said the reason was that Chinese do not have much time off work at Christmas and the New Year so they cannot travel too far."When it comes to the weeklong Spring Festival holiday, destinations like Europe will be more popular," he said.Packages for the Spring Festival are now available, he said, with some of them to Australia and New Zealand already sold out.Some travel experts have said the high volume of holiday bookings for this year's Spring Festival is due to the cancellation of the May Day holiday.But Lin disagreed, saying it is still too early to judge the impact of the changes to the national holiday schedule. Outbound tours during the Spring Festival holiday are always easy to sell, he said.The cost of tour packages during the spring holiday will, as usual, be at least 20 percent higher than at other times of the year, he said.Zhang Wei, director of the air ticket department of Ctrip.com, said the cost of air travel to Europe, Australia and North America over the Christmas and New Year holidays has also soared.He said the cheapest one-way ticket from Beijing to London is now 3,320 yuan, up from 2,200 yuan at the start of the year.Zhang said the price hikes are due to the high numbers of foreigners flying home for the festive season, and also the increased popularity of group trips offered as staff incentives by some Chinese firms.

BEIJING - More than 50 people in the Chinese capital have been fined for spitting during the week-long May Day holidays, according to officials in charge of the city's image. Beijing's management department and civilization promotion office have jointly sent five inspection teams to patrol the downtown Wangfujing pedestrian street, Tian'anmen Square, commercial centers and railway stations to stop people from spitting, littering, random posting of advertisements and scrawling. By Sunday, 56 people were fined for spitting and refusing to correct the bad habit, according to the teams. The officials also handed out more than 10,000 bags to tourists, reminding them not to litter. The government is now anxious to correct the embarrassing habits of Chinese travelers ahead of next year's Olympics Games. And there is no better opportunity of doing it than the May Day travel spree, when an estimated 150 million Chinese will be on the road. The China National Tourism Administration has issued a circular, making travel agencies and tour guides responsible for correcting tourists' bad behavior during the holidays. Jumping the line, spitting, littering and clearing one's throat loudly in public are some of the frequently observed practices among Chinese travelers, according to a guideline prepared and released last year by the Spiritual Civilization Steering Committee (SCSC) of the Chinese Communist Party, the official etiquette watchdog. "We are supposed to remind people constantly throughout the tour, and also lead an etiquette discussion at the end of the tour," said Huang Xiaohui, a travel guide with a Beijing-based travel agency. "The Olympics are coming, and we don't want to get disgraced," Huang said, summing up the purpose succinctly.

HANGZHOU -- China needs to "free itself from conservative ideas" if it wants to further open the country to the world, a gathering of foreign affairs officials concluded at meeting held in East China's Zhejiang Province on Tuesday.Officials in charge of foreign affairs at both the provincial and municipal levels agreed on future policies to open up their respective regions wider to the world."We need to free ourselves from conservative ideas, seek new ways to expand economically and have culture exchanges with other cities and regions in the world," said a statement issued at the meeting.The officials agreed that foreign affairs departments at local levels were facing great challenges which also offer great opportunities. They discussed the ways to implement the guidelines of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in their foreign affairs work, the statement said.Opening wider to the world will contribute to China's drive to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, realize peaceful development and create a harmonious world, it said.Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also addressed the meeting on China's foreign policies and international relations.

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At least two Chinese universities could achieve "world-class" status within the next 20 years, the president of one of the United States' oldest higher education institutions said yesterday in Beijing. Yale University's Richard Levin made the comment at the start of a 10-day visit by about 100 Yale faculty, students and administrators, the biggest delegation from the university ever to visit China. President Hu Jintao, who extended the invitation to the Ivy League university during his 2006 visit to the US, met the delegation last night at the Great Hall of the People. Hu said the visit of Levin's delegation will help promote mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples, as well as the stable and healthy development of Sino-US relations. The president expressed his hope that Yale University students build strong relationships with the young people of China. In an interview with Chinese media, Levin said the country had made great progress in strengthening its top universities, by investing more in first-class facilities including research labs. "The key ingredients to being a world-class university are top students and top faculties," Levin said. "I don't think there is any doubt that China's top universities today have students that are as good as any in the world. "What remains to be built are faculties that are at the very frontier of research in their fields and worldwide leaders in their research endeavors." The delegation will spend its days meeting government leaders and visiting universities and other historical and cultural sites in Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an. The Chinese government and Yale are sharing the cost of the trip. Participating students and faculty, the majority of whom had never before been to China, were handpicked to represent the university's different schools. Delegation groups will today meet with government leaders, including Yang Jiechi, the minister of foreign affairs and Jiang Zhenghua, chairman of the Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party. The visiting students may even bridge some cultural divides. "I think that young people can play a very important role in securing a peaceful future for the US and China," Levin said. "Today, especially among the older generation, there is a great deal of ignorance about China in the United States, and some ignorance about the United States in China as well." Before leaving for China, some of the delegation met with US President George W. Bush, who spoke about the importance of "people-to-people diplomacy". "I think the trip will serve a cultural purpose in that our students will get a deeper understanding of Chinese culture to the extent that this throws into public view the importance of student-to-student exchanges," Levin said. "And that certainly serves a political purpose."

Yichang - Construction of a tunnel under the Yangtze River that will form part of a gas pipeline project running from Sichuan Province to Shanghai was completed Monday.The 1.4-km, 3.08-m diameter tunnel sits 20 m beneath the riverbed and connects two wells on either side of the river in Yichang city, Hubei Province, Liu Juzheng, head of the Hubei section of the pipeline, said.With a total length of 2,203 km, the pipeline will serve as an "energy artery" as part of the West-East gas project, Liu said.The pipeline is expected to channel 12.1 billion cu m of natural gas a year from the Puguang field in Sichuan to central and eastern regions of the country, including Chongqing Municipality, the provinces of Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and Shanghai Municipality.The tunnel, which took 325 days to complete, is the first of five to be built under the Yangtze.Industry experts say the new pipeline, which will cost 62.7 billion yuan (.4 billion) to build, will provide an opportunity to develop western regions based on their rich natural resources.Chen Deming, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said the pipeline will be completed in late 2010 and the gas it transports will help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by tens of millions of tons a year.Figures from the China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) put Puguang's proven reserves at 356.1 billion cu m. The country has total proven natural gas reserves of about 2.66 trillion cu m.The government has been promoting the use of natural gas to improve energy efficiency and reduce air pollution.Under an NDRC proposal on natural gas development, the government plans to increase the natural gas pipeline network to 44,000 km by 2010 to meet demand.Although China's natural gas output will reach 94 billion cu m in 2010, up from 58.6 billion in 2006, an additional 16 billion cu m a year will still have to be imported to meet demand, Sinopec said.In Shanghai, demand for natural gas soared from 4 million cu m in 2003 to 1.9 billion in 2005.In 2004, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) opened its West-East gas pipeline, which runs more than 4,000 km and channels 1.2 billion cu m of gas a year to Shanghai from the Tarim Basin in the country's westernmost region of Xinjiang.CNPC is to build a second West-East pipeline to carry gas imported from central Asia to the Pearl and Yangtze river deltas. Construction will begin next year with the line, which is designed to carry 30 billion cu m a year, becoming operational in 2010.

China has been in the media spotlight for food safety recently, but it has gone all out to ensure that its food products are safe and to restore consumer confidence home and abroad.Its efforts seem to have accelerated with the publication of the first White Paper on food safety on August 17 and the naming of Vice-Premier Wu Yi as head of a high-profile panel on product quality and safety issues. That was followed by a series of efforts by government organs to tighten food safety measures.On August 31, the country's quality watchdog officially introduced the landmark recall system for unsafe food products and toys, making producers responsible for preventing and eliminating unsafe items.Food safety became a big concern in China after a series of food contamination cases were reported from across the country. Last November, the country's food safety watchdog found seven companies supplying red-yolk eggs that contained the dangerous Sudan Red dye, which is used in the leather and fabric industries but is banned from use in food products.The same month, three people were arrested in Shanghai for adding 3-4 grams of banned steroids to each ton of pig feed to increase the proportion of lean meat. The steroids, which prevent pigs from accumulating fat, can be harmful to humans. More than 300 people fell ill after eating meat from pigs that had been fed the steroids.Also last year, carcinogenic residues were found in turbots sold in Beijing and Shanghai markets. Even international fast food giant KFC was accused of adding the carcinogenic Sudan 1 dye to its roast chicken wings.Ministry of Health figures show that in the first half of this year, China reported 134 food poisoning cases, in which 4,457 people fell ill and 96 died.Food is China's biggest industry with last year's output estimated to be 2.4 trillion yuan (5.8 billion), according to the China National Food Industry Association.Bitter stories made the rounds after people fell victim to food poisoning. In June 2006, more than 130 people contracted parasitic diseases after eating undercooked snails in a restaurant. One of them was Yang Fangfang. His family, including his parents, wife and 18-month daughter, fell ill.The Beijing Health Bureau said the infection was caused because the food was not cooked properly and because the restaurant had failed to remove eel-worms in the snails.Although Yang survived, he still complains of pain, sometimes severe, in his lower body and stomach. A gourmet before the incident, Yang now regards food as a potential threat to his life.In overseas markets, substandard exports from China since March - from pet food, drugs, toothpastes and toys to aquatic products and tires - has sparked concern over "made-in-China" products. Diethylene glycol contaminated medicine exported from China was been blamed for dozens of deaths in Panama. Deaths of some dogs and cats in North America were attributed to tainted Chinese wheat gluten.Jing Luyan, 24, who works for a Beijing-based travel agency, says she trusts the government and the media for information on food safety issues."If they say I shouldn't eat something, then I stop immediately, it's as simple as that," Jing says. Many of her colleagues and friends do the same.Pressure from home and abroad prompted the Chinese government to acknowledge that the country's food and drug safety situation was not satisfactory and that enhanced supervision was needed. At a press conference in July, China's food and drug watchdog spokeswoman Yan Jiangying said: "As a developing country, China's food and drug supervision work began late and its foundations are weak. Therefore, the food and drug safety situation is not something we can be optimistic about".The press conference was held jointly by five major ministries in charge of food safety: the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the State Food and Drug Administration.It was a rare attempt by the government to seriously address the issue, and it enumerated a series of measures to be taken. But it failed to offer a convincing mechanism for coordinating work among the five ministries, leaving the murky regulation of food safety unresolved.There have been worries over China's food safety supervision because at least five ministries are in charge of food safety and coordination among them is no easy job.Vice-Minister of Health Wang Longde went on the record as saying that new laws were needed to strengthen food safety supervision and the duties of relevant government agencies had to be coordinated. The government has stepped up efforts since then to address the issue to restore confidence in Chinese food products sold at home and abroad.China's first-ever White Paper on food safety published recently sets forth a series of achievements along with planned measures to improve food quality - from setting up a national food recall system to increasing exchanges with quality officials from other countries.Wu Yi's panel, meant to address the country's problems in food safety and product quality, partly dispelled people's concerns over lax supervision of food safety owing to too many regulators. Analysts say the newly set up panel, headed by Wu Yi, will improve supervision.The government, on its part, has started a four-month nationwide campaign to improve food safety and product quality. Wu describes the campaign as a "special battle" to ensure public health and uphold the reputation of Chinese products. The campaign will target farm produce, processed food, the catering sector, drugs, pork, imported and exported goods and products closely linked to human safety and health.Luo Yunbo, dean of the food science and nutritional engineering school of China Agricultural University, says the White Paper offers authoritative information on food safety, and the latest moves reflect the government's determination to improve product quality.The paper says the percentage of food products that passed quality inspections had risen steadily in recent years, up from 77.9 last year to 85.1 percent this year. As for small food processors, believed to be a major food safety threat in China, the paper says the country will prompt small-scale producers to form larger entities to ensure better food safety.Almost 80 percent of China's food producers operate in small workshops employing fewer than 10 workers. By the end of June, the government had weeded out 5,631 unqualified small producers, forced 8,814 to stop production and asked 5,385 to improve their standard.The number of small food producers will be halved by 2010, the quality supervision administration said after the country published its first-ever five-year plan on food safety in May. Also, the government wants to weed out all uncertified producers by 2012.The government is seriously addressing overseas concerns over Chinese food products. It has shut down the factory that supplied the tainted medicine to Panama, and two firms that exported contaminated wheat and corn protein, which ended up in pet food in the United States, killing a number of dogs and cats in North America.The country's top quality watchdog has announced that all major food exports produced from September 1 have to carry labels showing they have passed inspection to help stop illegal exports and bolster consumer confidence in the quality and safety of Chinese food products.The White Paper says the acceptance rate of Chinese foodstuffs exported to the European Union (EU) was 99.8 percent in the first half of this year, followed exports to the US (99.1 percent).Japanese quarantine authorities found Chinese food exports had the highest acceptance rate, 99.42 percent, followed by the EU (99.38 percent) and then the US (98.69 percent).But food safety cannot be improved greatly overnight, and people seem to differ on what they can do as individuals to bring about lasting change.Take Jing Luyan, for instance, who is fond of tasting different types of food, especially traditional Beijing snacks. But traditional snacks are usually cooked in shabby restaurants in small alleys."I believe that the most delicious food can hardly ever be found in swanky establishments with irreproachable hygienic conditions," says Jing.She has never fallen ill after eating at street corner stalls, she says.

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BEIJING -- For the first time in its history, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has mentioned the word "religion" in an amendment to its Constitution adopted on Sunday at the closing session of the 17th CPC National Congress.To incorporate into its Constitution the principles and policies the Party has formulated for guiding efforts to strengthen the work related to ethnic and religious affairs, among others, is conducive to their full implementation and getting better results in the Party's work in this area, said a resolution on the amendment to the Constitution.It said the insertion has been made in light of the new circumstances and tasks.The CPC is atheistic but allows freedom of religious beliefs. China is home to 100 million religious faithful, largely Buddhists, Taoists, Christians, Catholics and Islamites"The Party's secret in handling well China's religious issues lies in its principles and policies," said Ye Xiaowen, director of the State Administration of Religious Affairs. "Their insertion in the Party Constitution shows the Party is sincere, and capable, of its implementation of policies on the freedom of religious beliefs. "He said religious problems are reported in many parts of the world. "But in China we enjoy peace and quiet because we have the established policies and principles."With the new elaboration on religious work, Ye said the Party is determined to enhance the active role of the religious circle and faithful in boosting social and economic development."I learned of the amendment on the Internet and was inspired," said Living Buddha Dainzin Qoizha in the Shannan Prefecture of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. He's been watching the week-long Party congress on the Internet.Dainzin Qoizha is a government employee in Shannan. More than half of his colleagues are CPC members."I'm on very good terms with them," he said. "As a non- Communist, I'm in charge of ethnic and religious work. The prefecture's Party committee is very supportive."Hao Peng, vice Party chief in Tibet, described the relations between the Party and the religious faithful as "united, cooperative and mutual respectful".Tibet currently has more than 1,700 religious sites, 46,000 monks and nuns and more than 30 living Buddhas whose reincarnation has been recognized by the central or regional governments.At least 600 Tibetan Buddhist faithful are working at local legislatures, political advisory bodies, administrations of religious affairs and state-owned businesses and institutions.The CPC's tenet of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, featuring prosperity, democracy, cultural advancement and harmony, reflect the common aspirations of Tibet's religious faithful, said Zhukang Tubdankezhub, president of the Tibetan branch of the Buddhist Association of China.As the host country of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, China has pledged to offer religious services for foreigners arriving for the Games."A large number of religious faithful will be arriving for the Games," Ye Xiaowen told reporters at a news conference on the sidelines of the 17th Party congress.He said China is working on religious facilities at its Olympic venues with the help of the International Olympic Committee and referring to the practices at previous Games. "Our religious services will be up to previous standards."Ye also dismissed allegations that China restricted the printing and sale of Bibles, which he said receive state subsidies and other preferential policies.China, with 16 million Protestant Christians, has printed 42 million Bibles, he said. 

The late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping pledged to keep Hong Kong's three capitalistic characteristics - horse racing, dancing and stock exchanges - intact for at least 50 years after its return. Horse racing remains popular in Hong Kong, as shown in this file photo.Edmond TangThis pledge is being upheld as the Special Administrative Region marks the 10th anniversary of its return to the motherland. Today, more Chinese mainland residents are playing the Hong Kong stock markets, attending its horse races and visiting Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong's top entertainment center. For over a century, horseracing has thrilled Hong Kong people. Race days are held on most Wednesdays and weekends from September to June. During the season, many can be seen burying their heads in newspapers at teahouses studying the form of horses. "After Hong Kong's return, horse racing has not only been retained, but has grown with the support of the central government and Hong Kong people," said Kim K.W. Mak, executive director of the corporate development department of the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Mak said the jockey club is now striving to provide its best facilities for the coming 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. It will host the equestrian events. The club manages two racecourses - Happy Valley and Sha Tin - attracting more than 2 million racegoers each racing season. The club's betting turnover, exceeds HK.3 billion every fiscal year. It contributes 1.3 percent to GDP, and 10 percent of the government's tax revenue. It is also one of the 10 biggest employers in Hong Kong, employing more than 5,000 full-time workers and 20,000 part-time staff on race days. Hong Kong youngsters wave flags, hailing Premier Wen Jiabao's arrival to sign the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement in this file photo.Huo YanAs the largest charity organization in Hong Kong, the club was a major donor to the anti-SARS campaign in the spring of 2003. Today, the people of Hong Kong enjoy stability in every aspect of their lives. "We don't see any difference in our way of life after 1997," said Wong Yim-fat, a fishmonger in Hong Kong. "Though there have been hard times, we have come through it, believing things can only get better." Wong now plays the stock markets and has had some luck with the Hang Seng Index rising from 15,196 points in July 1997 to about 21,685 today. "Actually, as masters of our own society, we feel there is more freedom and opportunities following Hong Kong's return," Wong said. Wong said he is happy with his decision to remain in Hong Kong after its return and not seek to emigrate as some of his friends and relatives did. "Many of my friends who have emigrated have come back, after finding out that things have not changed," Wong said. Before 1997, many Hong Kong people were uncertain about its future and left for other countries. Official figures from Hong Kong Customs show that more than 300,000 people moved to America, Australia and Canada between 1990 and 1997. Ten years later, many returned because of Hong Kong's stability and prosperity. Renee Chu, an assistant computer officer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, was one of those who left before 1997. Following her parent's wishes, Renee left for Australia in 1990 when she was still a middle school student. "At that time, they were concerned about Hong Kong's future and wanted us to receive a better education abroad," she told Xinhua News Agency in a recent interview. After graduating from university, Renee returned to Hong Kong in 2000 as it offered better job opportunities. Hong Kong was hit by an economic downturn and an outbreak of SARS after 1997, but that did not stop the Chu family from returning. "There are always good and bad times for a place," Renee said. "My parents return to Australia from time to time," Renee said, "but their stays have become shorter. They now spend more time in Hong Kong and the mainland." Most Hong Kong people were able to gain residency abroad because of their technological skills and investments. While Hong Kong has retained its attraction for locals, it has also lured more people to its shores. Official statistics show that the number of overseas people in Hong Kong - Indians, Filipinos and British - account for 71,000 out of a population of 6.9 million. The culture of tolerance can be seen in the busy streets. There are restaurants and shops from all nations. "Hong Kong is really a very tolerant and free-spirited city. The cultural tolerance and perfect mixture is reflected in the diversity of our international visitors," said B.C. Lo, vice-president of public affairs, Hong Kong Disneyland. Hong Kong, however, has undergone some subtle changes too. This is evident in the choice of passport. Ten years after Hong Kong's return to the motherland, many Hong Kong people have abandoned their British National (Overseas) or BNO passports in favor of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) passport. According to Hong Kong Immigration Department sources, in the past 10 years, as many as 4 million, or 60 percent of Hong Kong's population of permanent residents, have applied for HKSAR passports, and the number is growing. The HKSAR government has managed to obtain visa-free access to as many as 134 countries or regions. BNO passports enjoyed visa-free access to only 114 countries. The passports are still valid. The safety ensured by Chinese embassies and consulates as well as a sense of nationalism have also been key factors in the popularity of HKSAR passports. Wong Yim-fat is of those who think HKSAR passports are not only more convenient, but also offer consular or embassy protection from the Chinese government in times of distress. "While holding a BNO passport, you felt like a second-class citizen," Wong said. "But a HKSAR passport gives you all the privilege that a Chinese citizen enjoys." According to Lu Xinhua, commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the HKSAR, not only Hongkongers have enjoyed an uplift in their international status, but also the HKSAR government. During the past 10 years, the HKSAR government has joined more than 50 international, intra-government organizations and 200 international treaties with the proper identity of Hong Kong, China. "Under the Basic Law, we have tried our best to help exchanges between the HKSAR government and the international community, in order to forge its long-term prosperity and stability," Lu said.

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Poor planning not natural events was to blame for a spate of deadly accidents recently, safety chief Li Yizhong said.In the latest major incident, 172 miners are still trapped underground nearly three weeks after floodwater inundated the Huayuan mine in Xintai, East China's Shandong Province. Rescue work is ongoing.There have been 18 major accidents (with at least 10 people killed each) since July 18. Seven of these incidents have been triggered by natural events."The root is some local authorities and companies have failed to take sufficient action to tackle safety loopholes and build a sound early-warning mechanism," the chief of the State Administration of Work Safety said on Tuesday.Learning from these "bloody lessons" will prevent "accidents triggered by natural disasters," Li said.In a circular issued last Friday the State Council urged mines that risk being flooded to stop production when typhoons land or there is torrential rain.The circular also asked mine owners to identify hidden natural dangers and remove them."We feel it is urgent to improve emergency rescue mechanisms and carry out more training and drills," Li said.He cited two explosions at a natural gasfield in Kaixian County, Chongqing, which had very different outcomes.The first incident killed 243 people in 2003. But in 2006, nobody was killed when there was a similar incident because emergency plans were in place and there had been drills.The work safety situation in China is grim despite a decline in the death toll over the first eight months of this year, Li said.Statistics showed 61,919 people were killed in various work accidents nationwide between January and August. This was 13.9 percent lower than over the same period last year.The number of major accidents with 10 or more deaths during the same period has dropped by 14.7 percent year on year.In response to the high number of fatal accidents the State Council Work Safety Committee has sent about 300 people, in 24 teams, to carry out safety checkups across the country, starting August 27 and ending September 20.

At the end of a dusty narrow path cutting through a stretch of cornfields on the outskirts of Qingyang, an obscure town in Henan Province, looms a 3-hectare ground dotted with green tents, armored cars and bulldozers. Over the past three months, 315 Chinese engineering troops have gone through the rigors of tough day-night training here. And in a month from now, they will travel more than 8,000 km to Darfur in Sudan to be part of a special UN peacekeeping mission.Commander of UN Mission in Sudan Lieutenant General Jasbir Singh Lidder (L) hands over Unit Citations to Chinese peacekeepers for their excellent performance at the base of the Chinese peacekeeping troops on September 12, 2007. [Xinhua]The first international group of peacekeepers to be deployed in Darfur will build barracks, roads and bridges, and dig wells, which form the key to the accession of more UN peacekeepers to the region. The drills the engineering troops, with the UN's blue berets, perform in front a group of reporters from home and abroad show what they are capable of. In about 10 minutes, bulldozers and road-rollers smoothen a potholed path and soldiers use bare hands to move a 40-meter stretch of steel bridge into place over a ditch. In less than that time, another squad builds a cabin with prefabricated aluminum walls and a "UN" symbol on its side. On show, too, are impressive wrestling and battlefield aid performances."The engineering unit is manned by sturdy, versatile soldiers, mainly from the Jinan Military Area," says Lieutenant Colonel Dai Shaoan, deputy director of the Ministry of National Defense's peacekeeping affairs office. "They have wide experience in building roads and bridges and are fully competent for the mission."The Chinese troops are part of the "Annan Plan", a three-phased approach proposed by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan to end the Darfur crisis. The plan calls for deploying a joint UN-African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in the 500,000-square-km arid Darfur region, plagued by conflicts over limited resources. Their deployment has been made possible after a hard-won diplomatic tug-of-war.Dai says the UN invited China in April to dispatch a multi-functional engineering unit to Dafur. Four months later, the world body requested that the unit be dispatched in early October."We are doing the preparatory jobs in line with the prescribed timetable to guarantee smooth implementation of the peacekeeping operation," says engineering unit head Shangguan Linhong.The force comprises three engineering platoons, a platoon each of well-diggers and 40 guards, a small hospital unit, 145 vehicles including excavators, bulldozers, road-rollers, power generators and armored personnel carriers, Shangguan says. All the vehicles are "brand new" from domestic companies and have undergone strict tests in line with UN standards.Since its formation in mid-June, the engineering unit has attended intensive courses, from emergency aid to simulating heat in Darfur and from studying UN regulations to getting to know Sudanese culture. "Everyone in our unit can communicate in English to a certain extent," Shangguan says.The UN raised the alarm on Darfur in 2003, and began looking for a lasting resolution to the ethnic conflict. The Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) was signed in May 2006, thanks to intensive diplomatic and political efforts of the UN, AU and other partners. It took more than one year after that to persuade the Sudanese authorities to accept the UN-AU "hybrid" peacekeeping force.President Hu Jintao met with his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir in Beijing last November and in Khartoum in February, and asked him to be flexible in his stance over Darfur and ensure that humanitarian aid was distributed properly among the refugees. In March, when Sudan and the UN differed over the implementation of the Annan Plan, China sent a special envoy several times to Khartoum to persuade the government to accept the UN resolution."I think the Sudanese government heeded China's advice," China's special representative for Darfur Liu Guijin said at a press conference in early July. Sudan agreed in June to have the "hybrid" force in Darfur after intense diplomatic efforts of the UN and the international community. Besides, China offered million in humanitarian aid to Sudan, with the last installment leaving Tianjin last month.The latest situation in Darfur is a mixture of good and bad. The UN says the mortality rate in the region is now below the emergency level because of the massive humanitarian efforts of the last four years. Also, malnutrition has been halved from mid-2004, when the crisis reached its peak.But in June, the UN Environment Programme reported an "unprecedented" long-term climate change in northern Darfur, saying its impacts are closely linked to the conflict.This is a real challenge for the Chinese engineering troops, but they are not unnecessarily perturbed. In fact, they are ready to overcome all obstacles on the road to peace."The challenges ahead of our peacekeeping troops are obvious," says Dai. Poor living conditions, lack of proper infrastructure and complex security situations are the obvious challenges. "But our army has a glorious tradition of being hard-working, particularly combat-worthy and of playing a contributory role."Major Ma, an officer with the engineering troops, says Chinese soldiers see the UN peacekeeping operation as a glorious opportunity. "Implementing a mission so far from the country and being part of the efforts to maintain peace in the world is a unique experience."All the soldiers in the battalion which Ma used to serve in the Jinan Military Area had applied to be part of the engineering unit for Darfur, and they included 18-year-old recruits, he says, and they had the full support of their families.But is Ma worried about the dangers in Darfur? The major says: "What we think of most is how to do a nice job. Danger and difficulties are normal for servicemen."China's peacekeepers till nowSince dispatching five military observers to the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) in 1990, China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has sent 8,095 military personnel to 17 UN peacekeeping missions. Altogether, 1,648 Chinese officers and soldiers are serving in 10 UN missions and the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations today.Lieutenant Colonel Dai Shaoan, deputy director of the Ministry of National Defense's peacekeeping affairs office, says China will participate only in those peacekeeping missions that are in line with the UN Charter, which means those operations overseen by the UN Security Council.China has contributed peacekeepers in the shape of engineers and medical and transport units. It has not sent any combat troops for peacekeeping operations.But Dai says China has a "positive" attitude towards sending combat troops for future UN peacekeeping operations.