Information/Technology - 68. page

On July 17, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) released its 32nd issue of the China Internet Development Statistics Report. It showed that, as of the end of June 2013, the number of China’s netizens reached 591 million. Of those, the mobile phone users reached 464 million, or 78.5 percent.

The first half of this year has seen 26.6 million new netizens, 70.0 percent of whom use their mobile phone to access the Internet. The Internet has also expanded rapidly in rural areas, with 54.4 percent of the new Internet users coming from rural areas. The CNNIC report attributed the rapid increase to the development of the 3G network, wireless network, and mobile phone app innovations. Among all means of communications, Chinese netizens still favor instant messaging. As of the end of June 2013, 497 million people were users of instant messaging. Of those, 397 million used their mobile phones to send and receive messages.

Source: People’s Daily, July 18, 2013
http://finance.people.com.cn/n/2013/0718/c1004-22234040.html

Xinhua carried a news article that China Review News had originally published reporting that 600,000 people in China die from overwork or Karōshi each year, which is an average of 1,600 people a day. This number is the highest in the world and even surpasses Japan. Most of them are young professionals; they die from cardio-cerebrovascular disease symptoms. Work pressure, over-exhaustion, and stress are the main contributors to the cause of death. Close to 70 percent of the people born in the 1980s claim they feel overworked.

Source: Xinhua, July 14, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/overseas/2013-07/14/c_124998901_2.htm

According to an article in China Review News, Chinese teenager’s physical health continues to decline. A research study showed that, from 2005 to 2009, the measure of power, speed and endurance, and instantaneous reactions among teenage students had gotten worse. A lack of physical exercise was cited as the major contributor. According to the article, middle school students spent an average of 11 hours a day at school including travel time, plus an additional two hours on homework or reviews. The study showed that only 9.34 percent of middle school students and 14.89 percent of high school students participate in after school sports activities in China compared to 57.39 percent, which is the average rate for Japan, the U.S., England, Australia, and Singapore.

Source: China Review News, July 6, 2013
http://www.chinanews.com/edu/2013/07-06/5010696.shtml

According to an article in Guangming Daily, China is facing a severe shortage of pediatricians. The article said that Shanghai Pediatric Hospital published statistics showing that there is less that 1 pediatrician for each 1,000 children in Shanghai. Their number was between 0.5 to 0.6 per 1,000.

The information released by the Website for China Medical Profession Talent Pool had similar findings. The website quoted the data from the Pediatrician Division of the China Medical Doctors’ Association which showed that the average number of pediatricians in China for one thousand children was only 0.26. This means there is a shortage of over 200,000 pediatricians. Some of the reasons that people are not attracted to this profession are the high risk, a heavy workload, limited personal growth, and low pay. The website stated that in 2012, most pediatricians worked over 10 hours a day in a hospital and had almost no time off on weekends.

Another concern in the pediatrics profession is an inconsistency in education and job skills between hospitals and clinics in urban and rural regions. College pediatrics graduates tend to be centralized in urban hospitals. Only 3.4 percent of the pediatricians in rural regions have college graduate degrees, while 28.8 percent holds associate degrees, and 54.2 percent are graduates from vocational schools.

Source:
Guangming Daily, June 28, 2013
http://politics.gmw.cn/2013-06/28/content_8101470.htm
Website for China Medical Profession Talent Pool, April 16, 2013
http://www.120job.cn/News/12831.html

According to China Review News, on June 19, the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued its May report on the air quality in 74 cities. In those cities, the number of days that met the air quality standard was only 60 percent. The number was much lower in the Beijing, Tianjing, and Shandong province region which dropped from 50.6 percent in April to 27.4 percent in May. Beijing was again listed among the ten cities with the worst air quality. In May it only had 8 days during which air quality met the standard. In Hebei Province alone, six cities placed in the top ten list of those with the worst air quality.

Source: China Review News, June 20, 2013
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1025/8/9/9/102589915.html?coluid=45&kindid=0&docid=102589915&mdate=0620101342

The research center of the State Administration of Radio Film and Television recently published the 2013 Annual Report on the Development of China’s Audio Visual New Media. According to the report, the new media have had a significant impact. Personal computers, flat panel computers, and smart phones have brought the number of households living in Beijing who watch TV down to 30 percent from 70 percent three years ago. The report said that the audience for traditional media has shifted towards the senior population. A majority of the audience that watches television is age 40 years and older. In the meantime, the number of online television and video users has gone up. The Internet has become a major venue for watching popular TV movie series.

The report also suggested that, as the traditional media are losing their young audiences, their advertising market is shrinking as well. From 2007 to 2012, online advertising grew 120 percent for three straight years, significantly surpassing the increase in the television market.

It was reported that the annual income of the online video industry was 3.14 billion yuan (US$0.51 billion) in 2010, 6.27 billion (US$1.02 billion) in 2011 and 9.25 billion (US$1.51 billion) in 2012. The public opinion monitoring room of People’s Daily disclosed that the official media had 80 percent of the discourse rights in the 1980’s while non-official media gained 75 percent of the discourse rights on the top 20 popular social events in 2012.

Source: Xinhua, June 16, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/info/2013-06/16/c_132458593_8.htm

On June 10, 2013, Study Times, the publication of the Party School of the Central Committee of the CCP, published an article on Internet control. The article proposed to “standardize the management of Internet pubic opinion,” “cultivate mature Internet users,” and “develop platforms for dialogue between government officials and ordinary people.”

How to Handle Internet Management: 1) Filter out “negative” information. 2) Post the government authority’s information as much as possible and strengthen the journalists’ sense of self-discipline. 3) Train forum moderators, hosts, commentators, and public opinion managers to guide Internet discussions and to spread the government’s authoritative information at the appropriate times. 4) When accidents or tragedies occur, immediately express sympathy for the victims and report the details of the plans to help and the progress of those plans. Avoid using over-stimulating photos and words and get approval from the relevant officials before publishing anything. Train Internet Users: 1) Enhance Internet users’ ability to regulate themselves. 2) Strictly control the messages, enhance the self-regulation of the Internet media industry, and “purify the Internet communication channel." 3) Let Internet users realize that they should not focus on “swearing” at the government or at enterprises. Develop a Dialogue Between Government Officials and Ordinary People: 1) Reach a consensus by dispelling public anger. 2) Control the right to speak and guide public opinion. 3) Government officials should chat with the Internet users and improve their effectiveness in guiding public opinion. 4) Include Internet work in the system for evaluating government officials.

Source: Study Times, June 10, 2013
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2013/06/10/04/04_35.htm

Beijing Daily reported that 50 retired senior Communist Party cadres have been hired to monitor the Internet as part of the Party’s Internet censorship. They are the first group of retired senior cadres to take on this task.

According to the Beijing municipal Party organization department, “Internet information is constantly changing. [Retired] senior comrades have valuable, rich life experience and work experience. These newly hired monitors will be able to use their strengths. After understanding the Internet information environment, they will be able to spot problems promptly, speak up, and publish articles. They will spread positive energy, resist rumors and bad postings, and make contributions that will help purify cyberspace."

“The retired senior cadre monitors can use their own accounts and passwords to join the blogs and chat rooms and may report on bad postings at any time.”

Source: Beijing Daily reprinted by the Chinese Communist Party website, June 6, 2013 http://renshi.people.com.cn/n/2013/0606/c139617-21759335.html