Information/Technology - 98. page

Patent applications by universities in China have brought little licensing fees, Guangming Daily reported. Comparing to 3 to 5 % world average, patent applications have increased at an annual rate of 20% in China since 2000. Applications by higher education institutions account for 11.7%. Scientists and researchers find no incentives to apply due to low economic returns and high application costs.

Source: Guangming Daily, October 19, 2008 reprinted by China News http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2008/10-19/1417105.shtml

Whoever uses Beijing Internet cafes for the first time will be photographed and their Identification Cards scanned. The data is transmitted to the database of the monitoring platform maintained by the “culture policing forces.”  By mid December, the installation and implementation of the system will be completed in all Internet cafes in Beijing.   At the monitoring platform, the authorities can monitor remotely any computer in any Internet café, real time.  Owners of the Internet cafes have no access to the data.

Source: Chinanews.com, October 16, 2008
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2008/10-16/1414600.shtml

According to a recent 2007 Survey on Internet Usage by Juveniles issued by China Youth Social Service Center (CYSSC), 85.6% of population between 9 and 16 has experiences of Internet. The proportion among urban young Chinese is close to 90%, while the figure in rural area is as high as 69.4%. 71.9% of those surveyed accessed Internet from home. 58.50% of the questioned claimed that they use Internet mainly for entertainment.

The survey, targeting 7,700 juveniles falling in the age group and their parents and teachers in 10 provinces including Beijing, Shanghai, and Chongqing, was conducted jointly by CYSSC, Youth Center under Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS), and China Youth Political Academy between August and November of 2007.

Source: Xinhua, October 15, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-10/15/content_10195758.htm

According to All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), by the end of September, 82 percent of the Fortune 500 companies have established unions in its China operation with total membership above two million, up 32 percent from June. The effort to speedup the union setup was coordinated by ACFTU in order to carry out China’s Employment Contract Law which was put in force at the beginning of this year. ACFTU will continue to push the establishment of the unions for the remaining companies including those who have had relocations.

Source: People’s Daily, October 13, 2008
http://mnc.people.com.cn/GB/8162041.html

Following the criticism from the World Health Organization on lack of updates on hospitalized children caused by tainted milk powder, China’s Ministry of Health released a set of data on October 8, first time since the last update on September 22. The data from October 8 disclosed that hospitalized children were 10,666, with 8 in serious condition and 36,144 being dismissed. On October 8 alone, hospitalized children were 539 and 2067 were dismissed.

Source: BBC, October 8, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7660000/newsid_7660200/7660231.stm

Japan reported two more types of China made food products containing Melamine.  It reported on October 8 that they have found Melamine in the frozen Takoyaki or Frozen Poulp Squid imported from Long Wei Seafood Company in Fuqing of Fujian Province. Skim milk power was used as the raw material which contained up to 1.1 ppm of Melamine.

In addition to tainted Takoyaki and tainted dumplings which caused over 170 people ill in February of this year in Japan, on October 2, Japan also reported Melamine found in Egg Custard Tart imported from China which contains 1.4 ppm of Melamine.

Source:
The Epoch Times, October 8, 2008
http://epochtimes.com/gb/8/10/8/n2289592.htm
Now News, October 2, 2008
http://www.nownews.com/2008/10/02/334-2344183.htm

On September 16, China’s first high performance supercomputer Shuguang 5000A came off the assembly line in Tianjin. Shuguang 5000A made China the world’s No. 2 country after U.S. to have independently designed and produced supercomputer with computing speed over 100 trillion times per second.

Tianjin based Dawning Information Industry Co., Ltd, Shuguang 5000A’s manufacturer is planning to develop supercomputer with computing speed over 1000 trillion times per second by 2010, according to Xinhua. The company was set up in 1995, with the R&D supports from Chinese Academy of Science and National Research Center for Intelligence Computing System (国家智能计算机研究开发中心).

Source: Xinhua, October 7, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-10/07/content_10159871.htm

On September 29, Paris based journalist rights organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned Beijing government’s three-month ban of a financial publication because of its report on poor management of assets of Changde, Hunan office of Agriculture Bank of China. The China Business Post sells 400,000 copies weekly. According to the publication’s website, the violation is “a regulation that bans the media from publishing an investigation into an event in a province other than that in which it is licensed.”

RSF called for an end of the ban and the media censorship of reports of toxic milk scandals. It also revealed authorities in July prevented an investigation into the toxic milk coming out so as not to tarnish China’s image before the Olympics.

Source: BBC Chinese, September 30, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7640000/newsid_7644000/7644028.stm
Reporters Without Borders, September 29, 2008
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28764