Information/Technology - 94. page

China’s Chang’e-1 lunar probe has beamed back over a year of technical data about the moon. Given the success of this probe, China plans to Launch Chang’e-2 lunar probe satellite before 2011, according to the China News Agency. Chang’e-2 is almost identical to Chang’e-1. The difference in mission is that Chang’e-2 will circulate at 100 km above the moon’s surface, instead of the 200 km by Chang’e-1.

The vital mission for Chang’e-2 is to have a “soft landing” on the moon and to set up anything necessary for China’s planned Chang’e-3 moon landing. The design for Chang’e-3 has been completed and a model of it should be ready by the end of 2009. China plans its first moon “soft landing” in 2012 or 2013. It will collect lunar samples, which will be brought back by a vehicle in 2018.

Source: China News Agency, August 3, 2009
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gj/news/2009/08-03/1802423.shtml

Information Network of Humanities and Social Science in Chinese Universities (SINOSS), under the guidance of the Social Science Research and Ideological Work Department of the Ministry of Education, published a notice issued by the Ministry of Education on how to apply for the research project on “The Popularization of Marxism in Contemporary China”.

The notice said that the purpose of the project is to assist the promotion of socialist theory with Chinese characteristics and carry out the work of “The Popularization of Marxism in Contemporary China” which was a strategic direction introduced at the 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

The notice limited the applicants to colleges and universities in China, which can select research topics from a pre-defined list. The applicants will receive 80,000-100,000 yuan for a 1-2 year (type A) research program or 30,000-50,000 yuan for a one year (type B) research program.

Source: SINOSS, February 21, 2009
http://www.sinoss.net/webgate/CmdEduFileDetail?ef_id=625

The Chinese Language Council International, also known as Hanban, recently set up a Confucius Institute in the University of New South Wales in Australia. Other universities in Australia that have Confucius Institutes include the University of West Australia and Sydney University. The next potential one to set up a Confucius Institute is the University of Wollongong, which is in discussion with a university in Beijing.

At the end of April 2009, the Chinese Language Council International had established 326 Confucius Institutes in 81 countries around the world.

Source: Central United Front Work Department of Chinese Communist Party, August 12, 2009 http://www.zytzb.org.cn/zytzbwz/newscenter/hlkd08/200908/t20090812_568788.htm

Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications announced on August 10 the establishment of an Internet Management and Law Research Center, Xinhua reported. It is China’s first professional academic institution that focuses on systematic and theoretical research of Internet management and laws related to the information society, said Xinhua. On the same day, the center held its first forum and presented papers on proposed Internet legislation, Internet intellectual property, information law, e-commerce law and other Internet related legislation. Present at the forum were representatives from the Supreme People’s Court, the information office of the State Council, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice, among others.

Source: Xinhua, August 10, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2009-08/10/content_11858318.htm

Guangming Daily reported on a possible security risk for China. It pointed to the increasing popularity of desktop software applications, which could be used as weapons to control the network should a network war break out. The paper quoted Luo Jiangchun, CEO of Funshion.com, a popular Chinese website that distributes online movies. Luo argued that from a national security point of view, China should pay special attention to the particular issue (given that China’s desktop software market is dominated by foreign companies). “This presents a security risk not only for the individual’s propriety information, but also to China’s network.” The only way out of this dilemma is for China to bring its local software companies up to par, so that they will dominate the market and eliminate the need to rely on bringing foreign software into China.

Source: Guangming Daily, August 9, 2009
http://www.gmw.cn/content/2009-08/09/content_960543.htm

The US market research organization Comscore reported that Baidu holds 6.9% of the world search market, surpassing Yahoo, which used to be the second largest search engine. The Chinese authoritative Internet research agency data also shows that Baidu has 75.7% of the Chinese market share. Analysts suggested that China now has a netizen population of 338 million, which helped on this search engine’s ranking (ed: In contrast to search engines that operate in China, such as Google and Yahoo, where the CCP has imposed a forced censorship, Baidu voluntarily carries out an even stricter self-censorship).

Source: China Youth, August 7, 2009.
http://zqb.cyol.com/content/2009-08/07/content_2793066.htm

China has set up 18 Confucius Institutes and 14 Confucius Classrooms in Southeast Asian countries with a total of 60,000 students, Xinhua reported from the recent second annual “China-Southeast Asia Education Exchange Week” held on August 6 in Guiyang, Guizhou province. 

According to Hao Ping, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education, China has sent 5,062 voluntary Chinese language teachers to ten countries in Southeast Asia. From 2006 to 2008, China sent experts to Southeast Asian countries and trained 2,986 Chinese language teachers. It also organized 2,334 people from those countries to come to China for Chinese language training. By the end of 2008, China had awarded scholarships to 439 students attending Confucius Institutes in Southeast Asia.

Source: Xinhua, August 6, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-08/06/content_11836745.htm

On the 60th anniversary of China Radio International (CRI), Wang Gennian, the station manager, revealed the station’s growth plan for the next ten years. He said CRI will establish more FM and multi-media channels in 60 cities around the world. It will grow to be a platform that carries hometown news for the Chinese people living in other countries, as well as an information center for the Chinese consulate and embassy in foreign countries and an interactive network with other Chinese language media.

Source: Xinhua, July 16, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-07/16/content_11718720