Information/Technology - 98. page

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

Li Yongzhi, chief physician for Chinese Astronauts credited Chinese medical treatment for the good health conditions displayed by Chinese astronauts. Research study collaboration between the University of Louvain in Belgium and the China Astronaut Research and Training Center suggested that Chinese astronauts showed better health conditions compared with astronauts from Russia and Europe, especially in their cardiological system. “Their heart condition has hardly changed after they came back to the earth”, Li said, “The secret is that our astronauts have been taking a type of Chinese medicine which prevents heart attacks in zero gravity environments”. In addition to Chinese preventive medicines, the China Astronaut Research and Training Center also applied Chinese massage and acupuncture treatment to the astronauts.

Source: South Chinese Morning Post, September 23, 2008
http://olympics.scmp.com/GCO_Simpchi_Article.aspx?ArticleID=1000001616&OtherID=1000001617&Section=china

Twenty-one websites were winners in the preliminary contest for Best Self-Disciplinary Websites, according to the Internet Society of China. The winners include www.people.com.cn, www.cnr.cn, www.baidu.com, www.cctv.com, www.china.alibaba.com, and www.xinhuanet.com. The twenty-one winners were selected due to exemplar compliance with the State law and regulations on Internet censorship. Internet Society of China (ISC) was established in 2001 and considered State’s arm in enforcing Internet censorship. In June 2004 its members were “invited” to sign self-discipline pact in order to prevent the spread of anti-government information, porn and anything else that might threaten "national security (and) social stability."

Source: Internet Society of China, September 5, 2008 http://www.isc.org.cn/ShowArticle.php?id=9905

Rizhao Harbor located in Shandong Province will invest 10.2 billion yuan to expand into an advanced large scale deep-water harbor with 200 million tons in traffic and handling capacity by 2010. Rizhao had reached a 100 million ton handling capacity as of August 24, a 16.8 percent growth from the previous year.

Rizhao holds a strategic geographic position in the nation’s economy and transportation network. It is the largest ore importing harbor, 4th largest coal exporting harbor, and the largest in-transit harbor for concrete, grain, wood, and nickel ore.

Source: Xinhua, August 26
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-08/26/content_9715117.htm