200 billion yuan invested to improve the environment in western China
    The Chinese Government has invested more than 200 billion yuan to improve the environment in its western region in the last five years, according to the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC).
    The money was used to plant 40 million hectares of trees, to curb soil erosion over an area of 540,000 square kilometers and return 19.33 million hectares of grazing land to grassland.
    China has launched a series of projects to enhance ecological preservation and improvement in western regions. These projects include returning reclaimed land to forest, returning grazing land to grassland, protection of natural forest, harnessing sources of sandstorms and conservation of soil and water.
    According to SDRC figures, the western areas account for 80 per cent of China’s total area of 3.65 million square kilometers that suffer soil erosion, and more than 90percent of the country’s 2.62 million square kilometers of desert area are located in western regions.
    The central government will further push forward ecological construction in western regions in the coming four years and beyond. Major projects will include the protection of wetland resources, ecological improvement in areas around the Qinghai Lake and projects to protect the environment along the Yellow River.

 Tibet to invest 6 billion yuan in environmental protection
    A total of 6 billion yuan will be invested on environmental protection projects in Tibet Autonomous Region during the country’s 11th Five-Year Program period.
    Covering an area of 1.2 million square kilometers and with an average altitude of 4,000 meters, Tibet is known as the “roof of the world.” Its high altitude and vast expanses of plateau make it the starting point for the East Asia monsoon climate and a regulator of the global climate. It is also the source of a large number of rivers in Southeast and South Asia. Protection of the ecological environment in this area is vital to the ecological environment of entire country.
    By 2005, 38 nature reserves had been set up across the region with a total land area of 408,300 square kilometers, making it the biggest in China and accounting for 34 per cent of region. In the past five years, China has invested over 200 million yuan on projects like the Himalaya nature reserve and Lalu wetland.
    The regional finance bureau will continue to fund key projects like the Tibet ecological safe belt. Also, major efforts will be made to solve problems including urban waste water and garbage disposal, reforestation of farmland, the control of water pollution and the protection of the rural environment.

 International seminar of the Gesar Epic held in Gansu Province
    Over 100 experts from China, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and Russia attended the Sixth International Seminar of the Gesar Epic in Maqu County of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Gansu Province.
    The Gesar Epic is a great encyclopedic work in the research of Tibetan ancient society and history. In May it was listed as a non-material cultural heritage of UNESCO. Experts from home and abroad have devoted themselves to the research of the ancient document for 26 years.
    Scholars believe that the Gesar Epic originated and spread in Aba Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province and some areas of Qinghai Province, where King Gesar was born and grew up. So far 77 historical relics of Gesar have been found in Maqu County.

 Phone service available to all villages of Lhasa
    On July 27, Jita, a villager living in Qiangni Village of Nimu County of Lhasa, made a phone call to his only son who was studying in Beijing. Before the telecommunications tower was built in Jita’s village, he had to walk for four hours to the township to make a call to his son.
    In snowy winter the traffic and telecommunication links often break down in Qiangni Village, which is located at the foot of Qiongmu Kangri Mountain about 41 kilometers away from the city. With an investment of 210 million yuan in the past three years, phone service was made available to all 241 villages of Lhasa.
    As its next project, Tibet Telecom Bureau is planning to invest 130 million yuan over the next three years  to develop its Internet service in the region.

 More Mongolian textbooks designed for vocational schools
    During China’s 11th Five-Year Program period, more and more Mongolian textbooks have been compiled for vocational schools to meet increasing demands.
    With the support of the Ministry of Education, Inner Mongolian Textbook Editing Office has compiled over 260 varieties of Mongolian textbooks for vocational schools, covering a wide range of categories including linguistics, folk culture, mass media, medicine, economy, sports, agriculture, art and public security. Some of them like “Music of Matouqin,” “Mongolian Basic Nursing” and “Mongolian Pediatrics Nursing” have filled the historical gap in Mongolian textbooks in the country.
    In the coming five years, the office will continue its effort to compile 200 varieties of Mongolian textbooks and introduce foreign textbooks to Chinese schools. Yet, it’s hardly enough to meet the demands — over 90 Mongolian subjects have been opened in colleges and universities, which requires about 1,800 kinds of Mongolian textbooks.

 Valentines, Qixi battle for Chinese hearts
    Folklorists and experts called for Qixi, the seventh day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar, to be officially named China’s Valentine’s Day in a seminar on Chinese traditional festivals held in Xingtai of Hebei Province on July 29.
    The Qixi Festival originated from the love story of Niulang, a cow herder, and Zhinu, a seamstress in Chinese legend. They fell in love but are separated by the Goddess of Heaven who created a wide river (Milky Way) to keep them apart. Only on Qixi, they could cross the Milky way by the Bridge of Magpies.
    As Valentine’s Day in Western countries becomes more and more popular in China, many Chinese are worried that young people may gradually forget the old tradition. Experts believe that Qixi symbolizes young people’s brave pursuit of romantic freedom and will win the hearts of today’s Chinese youths.

 Concert of folk music held in Guangxi Zhuang Ethnic Autonomous Region
    A concert of folk music attracted an audience of thousands in Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on July 29. Over 30 folk singers from Beijing and other provinces such as  Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Shanxi and Shangxi performed in the concert.

More books published for ethnic readers
    A twelve-year-old girl, Ayi Guli, from Uygur region of Xingjiang Uygur Ethnic Autonomous Region, devours the colorful pages of an encyclopedia.  But she cannot read the contents because they are written in Han Chinese characters.
    To the Uygur girl’s delight, however, the book will soon be available in five ethnic languages including Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, Korean and Kazak, its publisher announced at a recent national book fair in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
    China’s ethnic population — half of whom speak and read Mandarin as a second language — now have wider access to world culture as more publications are being made available in their own languages.
    “We hope the publications will bring knowledge to more ethnic communities and ultimately help improve their life,” said Wang Yingli, an official with the State Administration of Press and Publication.
    The book fair showcases 12,000 copies of publications in 23 Chinese ethnic languages. The number of ethnic language publishing houses increased from 17 in 1978 to 38 this year. Most ethnic regions have their own publishing houses.
    All the ethnic minorities which have their own languages now have their own publications. In 2004 the country published at least 63 million copies of books in ethnic languages.
    More than 10,000 people in 5,000 book distribution outlets are working to deliver these publications to their readers, primarily those living in the largest ethnic communities in Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Tibet, Ningxia and Xinjiang.
    China set up a special fund in the 1990s to encourage publishers to publish more ethnic language books. To date, the fund has raised more than 10 million yuan.

 Uygur medicine from Xingjiang Region sparks interest
    Uygur medicine drew increasing interest in the 55th National Medicine Fair. Ciconhabo Uygur Medicine Co Ltd presented seven kinds of medicine in the fair. On the first day of the fair, the company signed a contract worth 30 million yuan.
    With a history of over 2,500 years, Uygur medicine has formed its own theoretical system and clinical techniques with the special characteristics of the Xinjiang region.
    In the past few years experts from home and abroad have found that Uygur medicine is effective against tumor, cardiovascular and skin diseases. The annual sale of Uygur medicine reached over 10 billion yuan. Many large pharmaceutical companies have been engaged in the research and production of Uygur medicine.

 Saving snow lotus from extinction
    A project to save snow lotus from extinction was launched in Urumqi in July. During the four-day event, over 30 volunteers conducted extensive research on snow lotus on the Tianshan Mountains.
    During the blossom season of snow lotus in every July and August, many farmers will climb up to the 3,000-meter mountains to pluck the rare flowers. A farmer from Fukang of Xinjiang claimed that he could pluck 100 to 200 snow lotuses every day.
    Listed as an endangered species, snow lotuses mainly grow on meadows near the snow line on Tianshan Mountains and Altay Mountains. Generally it takes three to five years for snow lotus to grow.
    The rising demand for the rare plant from individuals and pharmaceutical companies has caused  over exploitation and a decline in the quantity of snow lotuses. Experts predicted that the rare flowers will become extinct in a few years if the exploitation is not curbed.

10 million yuan to support ethnic minorities education
    The Ministry of Finance will set up a special fund of 10 million yuan as part of the effort to improve the education of ethnic minorities.
    According to an official of the Ministry of Finance, preferential policy has been adopted to distribute free textbooks in the ethnic regions and in the meantime, the central budget will provide financial support for the research institutes in the regions, such as the project “Light of the West,” which was launched by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Rural poverty in ethnic regions declines in 2005
    A recent survey shows that poverty in rural ethnic regions has declined. The number of rural residents with income below the poverty line was 11.7 million by the end of 2005, about 750,000 less than 2004. The survey was conducted by the poverty-relief office of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission among 68,000 rural residents living in five autonomous regions and Yunnan, Guizhou and Qinghai provinces.
    The year 2005 saw a steady growth in agricultural production and farmers’ income. The tax system reform and poverty-relief efforts have achieved great success in reducing rural poverty. But the percentage of the population under the poverty line in ethnic regions is still higher than the country’s average level.
    The rural residents in the eight ethnic regions are the poorest in the country, with their income level lower than the national average.  The individual farming income in Inner Mongolian is 91.8percent of the national average, while it is 77.1percent in Ningxia, 76.6 percent in Guangxi,  76.3percent in Xingjiang, 66.1percent in Ningxia, 63.8percent in Guangxi, 62.7percent in Xingjiang and 57.7percent in Guizhou respectively.
    As to the average disposal income of rural population, Inner Mongolian ranks 17th in the country and Guizhou is 31st.