News briefs

Artist Wang Dongling uses a calligraphy brush on a large piece of traditional Chinese paper on March 29 at a gymnasium at the China Academy of Art's Hangzhou campus in Zhejiang province. The new piece, called Xinjing or Heart Sutra, is 7.3 meters high and 17 meters wide. The piece will be exhibited in Hangzhou in October. Li Zhong / For China Daily

Environment

Chinese cities support Earth Hour

Beijing's Great Wall, "Bird's Nest" stadium and Shanghai's Oriental Pearl TV Tower were among the numerous buildings in China's 86 cities that went dark as hundreds of millions of people around the world turned off their lights on March 26 during "Earth Hour".

The public's enthusiasm for the event reached new heights as Chinese cities took part in it for the third time. It is one of the most heated topics on the Internet. On every major Chinese portal website, hundreds of thousands of Internet users posted comments about "Earth Hour".

The lights were turned off from 8:30 pm local time around the world.

The event kicked off in the Pacific and rolled into Asia, Europe, Africa and America as it followed the descending sun.

China is among 134 countries and regions on board for this year's event, said Earth Hour founder and executive director Andy Ridley.

Food

Blind urbanization criticized

Blind and excessive land exploitation in China's urbanization may partially contribute to the sharp decrease of the country's arable land and pose a threat to food security, a senior official has said.

"We should not excessively turn farmland into urban areas. Grain security should be given priority," Yang Weimin, secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning body, said at a forum on urbanization strategy and planning.

Yang said the country has approved more than 1,500 national- and provincial-level industrial development zones, the area of which account for nearly 1 million hectares.

"But not all places need to massively boost industrialization and urbanization. For example, we should leave major agricultural and ecological areas as they are and limit their urbanization," he said.

Licensing to ensure dairy standards

To legally sell dairy products, retailers in China must apply for new operating licenses or renew their old ones by the end of July or face punishment, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce said on March 28.

Starting April, dairy retailers will be required to apply for one of two types of licenses. One will allow them to sell dairy products that contain baby formula and the other will allow them to sell formula-free dairy products, the administration said.

Retailers that sell infant formula without proper approval will be punished, according to the regulations.

The licensing requirement for dairy retailers is the latest step in China's campaign to ensure the safety of its food supply.

Technology

Database to improve orphan care

A national database to collect and collate information on orphans under the age of 18 has been set up.

The database, the first of its kind, will help facilitate the distribution of monthly government subsidies and monitor welfare services caring for this vulnerable group.

It will record data on the country's estimated 712,000 orphans, including basic identification details, photos and their guardians' information, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

The China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption, (formerly the China Center of Adoption Affairs), will be in charge of the database, Zhang Shifeng, center director, said at the launch ceremony on March 27.

Education

NYU Shanghai breaks ground

The NYU Shanghai project, China's first international university co-established with a US higher-learning institute, started to break ground on March 28.

The university, approved by the Ministry of Education, was co-established by the US-based New York University (NYU) and East China Normal University.

The university is expected to open in the fall of 2013. About 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students will be drawn from throughout the world, with Chinese students making up more than half.

Chinese universities and colleges have launched various cooperation programs with overseas institutes in recent years. University of Nottingham Ningbo China, the first foreign campus in China, was approved in 2004 and opened a year later. The Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University opened in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, in 2006.

China Daily