This is Beijing-Beijing English blog

Beijing’s Tian’anmen Square, the so-called world No. 1 square in size, seems to have fallen short of its reputation amid a luxurious construction wave across China.

At the ongoing annual parliamentary session, a lawmaker told reporters that some Chinese cities and counties have built very big squares to beat the Tian’anmen square hands down.

“Even some small townships have created squares 20,000 square meters bigger than the Tian’anmen square,” said Zhou Xiaoguang, board chairman of the Neoglory Group in eastern Zhejiang Province, without mentioning which counties he referred to.

After a thorough investigation into the situation, the lawmaker said that a number of medium and small cities and townships have become craze in constructing mammoth government buildings with fairyland-like artificial lakes and squares.

Some government funded universities have occupied large areas and built “gigantic gates 100 meters in width,” he said.

In China, there has been a long tradition of constructing oversized architects, such as mausoleums, palaces, dams and great walls, to show off the leaders’ merits.

“It’s high time to stop lavish construction in China, as some squares in local cities have become even larger than the Tian’anmen square in our capital,” Zhou said.

The Tian’anmen Square, known as the “heart of China”, with an area of 440,000 square meters, can hold one million people.

The square serves as a place for leaders to convene mass gatherings in special celebrations, like the marking of the anniversaries of the birth of the nation.

The square has also witnessed various demonstrations and gatherings over the past century.

Created in the 15th century, it was formerly a royal site of the Forbidden City. The government expanded it after the founding of the People’s Republic of China 60 years ago.

(From CRI)

The No.1 water bar at Qianmen began to service the customer. It is the first water bar at Qianmen which sell sofe drick like coke, etc.

[#3: Edit Options>MightyAdsense>Adsense Code]

According  to the news from the Beijing Municipal Rail Transport center, Beijing’s rail transit after 2015 is under making. The forward planing for will be more than 28 railways.

Until now, there are 8 railways in Beijing, the total longth are more than 200 KM. And there are 13 railways are under construcing now. The rail network will cover more than 56i KM after 2015. The longterm planing for Beijing railway is also under making. There will be more than 28 railways for Beijing in future. This will provide more efficiency to the Beijing public triffic and can meet the demand the requirements for the citizen.

Beijing Municipal Rail Transport center was put in use on December 26,2008 in order to meet  the rail transport network operation and management required. It is the largest, with the most accesss lines and hightest level of intelligent railway transportation hub.

The subway line 4 which will be put in use this year will also be incorporated to the center. The system connection ports were arranged at the begining of the construction.

“Fou” drum is an ancient Chinese percussion instrument derived from potteries and bronze ware.

China auctioned 1,000 of the 2,008 “Fou” drums which were used in the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympic Games with bidding prices amounting to 52.45 million yuan (about 7.5 million U.S. dollars) on Sunday.

439 buyers participated in the bid

The highest price of a single drum exceed RMB70,000

The drum should not be used for commercial purposes

Collection of Olympic items become new trend.

Today is the International Women’s day, so let us give more attention to the women. Expecially to those beauty attentent and jounalist for the CPC and CPPCC as they also make their contribution to the country.

More than 800 overseas journalists are covering the two annual sessions of China’s top legislature and the country’s top advisory body. Many of them focus on the economy and social welfare.

Before the NPC opening, Olga Danasiichuk, from the National News Agency of the Ukraine, told CRI that the theme of her report this time would be ‘economics’. “This is the main priority. We are all waiting for the speech by Mr. Wen (Chinese Premier), What is he proposing and what will be the outcome of this (stimulus) package that was adopted in November last year? Are there any results so far? I’m focusing on economics mostly,” says Danasiichuk.

Having been in China for eight years and having covered many NPC & CPPCC sessions, Marije Vlaskamp, a correspondent from RTI in the Netherlands, says she will pay more attention to China’s measures to tackle the financial crisis, “we are all looking at what’s happening in China because the Chinese economy has a huge influence on European countries, especially my country, which is like one of the main economic import and export hubs through the Port of Rotterdam. So anything happening to the export and import situation world wide is also influencing our Dutch economy.”

And as the National People’s Congress kicked off on March 5 and Premier Wen’s government report was released, it certainly has put China in the world spotlight.

For Melissa Chan, a reporter from Aljazeera English, this is her third time to cover the annual sessions. Interested in China’s stimulus package policy, she says she was impressed by this year’s government work report, “Usually the speech discusses many different issues in China. This year, it is the same, but there is a lot of focus on the economy, almost everything. That is mentioned indirectly or directly linked to the economy, which I think that is sort of emphasis we haven’t seen before.”

And Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen, the ambassador of Denmark, said he was particularly impressed by two messages in the report, “the first one is that, apart from the important efforts to maintain high growth in China, reform and opening-up is continuing in all areas. And I think that is one very important message that the present economic circumstances are not an argument for slowing down but rather an argument for accelerating changes. Secondly, I know that the great emphasis on environmental issues, such as climate change, I think that is important also, not just for China but also for the rest of the world.”

Foreign media are also looking forward to the Premier’s press conference on the last day of the annual sessions where they will have a chance to ask further questions. Ben O’Hara Byrne from the Global National of Canada says he is interested in how the money invested can be effectively used to solve social issues.

He said, “At the end of the day, I think the important question for him right now is that, with all the money that’s being spent and all the money they are planning on spending, how are they actually going to create jobs? How they can they make sure they find the steps that people need, such as the migrant workers?”

China will be able to achieve the economic growth target of about 8 percent in 2009, if proper policies and measures are taken, says a government work report to be delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao at the parliament’s annual session Thursday.

“As long as we adopt the right policies and appropriate measures and implement them effectively, we will be able to achieve this target,” reads the report, distributed to the media before the opening of the Second Session of the 11th National People’s Congress (NPC).

It is the fifth year in a row for the country to target an eight-percent growth.

“In China, a developing country with a population of 1.3 billion, maintaining a certain growth rate for the economy is essential for expanding employment for both urban and rural residents, increasing people’s incomes and ensuring social stability,” says the report.

China’s economy cooled to a seven-year low of nine percent last year, and broke a five-year streak of double-digit expansion, as the global financial crisis takes its toll on the world’s fastest growing economy.

China is under great pressure to actualize the targeted eight-percent growth, which is essential for the populous developing nation, although the country outperformed the target in the previous four years.

With the global financial crisis still unfolding, the report acknowledges that 2009 could be “the most difficult year for China’s economic development since the beginning of the 21st century.”

Last time when the country was confronted by a similar crisis, China’s economy expanded by 7.8 percent in 1998, in the wake of the Asian financial crisis.

China’s 4-trillion-yuan (585.5 billion US dollars) stimulus package must be approved by the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s parliament, a parliament spokesman said here Wednesday.

“The investment proposed by the central government will be listed on the annual central budget and submitted to the NPC for deliberation and approval,” Li Zhaoxing, spokesman for the Second Session of the 11th NPC, told a press conference.

The State Council, or Cabinet, announced a 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package last November to shore up economic growth amid the financial crisis, which dropped to 9 percent in 2008, the lowest since 2001.

The 4-trillion-yuan package includes 1.18 trillion yuan investment from the central government in two years and the rest will come from local governments and the public.

Li said reviewing and approving the economic and social development plan as well as the 2009 central budget is high on the agenda of this year’s NPC session.

“The NPC session will strictly review the plans. The NPC Standing Committee will improve supervision to the execution of the plans and budget,” he said.

Among the additional 100 billion yuan investment in the fourth quarter last year announced by the central government, 30 billion yuan had already been allocated. Li said the State Council had reported the 30 billion yuan investment to the NPC Standing Committee.

“The rest 70 billion yuan will be included in the 2009 central budget and be allocated this year,” Li said, adding that the procedure is totally legitimate.

Li said China has improved scientific planning, tightened project management and improved supervision to ensure the money be used efficiently.

According to the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, applicants should go to the Motor Vehicle Administration to apply. Holder of a valid foreign driving license can apply for a license to drive the same type of vehicle(s) listed on his/her foreign license. An International Driving License will not be accepted.

Required documentation:

(1) Driving license application form

(2) Original and photo copy of applicant’s identification documents

(3) Original health certificate issued by hospital of county level or above. Holders of a valid foreign driving license from foreign embassies, consulates and Chinese offices of international organizations do not need to provide health certificate.

(4) Original foreign driving license and photocopy. Driving license in non-Chinese language must be accompanied by a Chinese translation.

(5) 5 1-inch color photos with a white background

The upper age limit restriction for applying for a temporary Chinese driving license is 70.

For further information, please contact the Foreign Affairs Department of the Beijing Motor Vehicle Administration.

Tel: 86-10-87625150

Website: www.bjjtgl.gov.cn

Education in Beijing is least satisfactory in the country as it fails to maintain fairness, according to a recent survey.

Ji’an in Jiangxi province ranks No. 1 in overall assessment of public education, followed by Hangzhou and Nanchang, said the recently-released 2009 Development report of China’s Education.

Taiyuan, Kunming and Beijing figure on the bottom of the list.

The annual report, produced and released by the 21st Century Education Research Academy, has been evaluating public education satisfaction since 2003.

The survey, conducted late last year, covered 30 major cities in the country, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Hangzhou and Lanzhou.

About 6,000 local residents aged 18-60 years old were polled in each city, and asked questions on “general evaluation of public education, fairness, costs, education quality, students’ burden and the quality of teachers”.

“The government has promised to provide satisfactory education to its people, and we need to know how far it’s going with its promise,” said Professor Yang Dongping of the Beijing Institute of Technology, who led the survey.

“We found that the average point of public education satisfaction in 2008 was lower than that of the previous year,” Yang said.

The average score of major cities nationwide on public education satisfaction last year was 3.0, while the figure in 2007 was 3.5.

The survey used a 5-point scale, with 5 meaning “very satisfied” and 1 meaning “very dissatisfied”.

The survey found that Taiyuan, Beijing, Xi’an and Changchun failed to clear the No.2 – “dissatisfied” – category on education fairness, one of the most debated issues in the education system of the country.

“These cities are notorious for high-cost schools and lack of honest ethos in local education departments,” Yang said.

Wu Mei, a mother of a 12-year-old boy in Beijing, said she has to pay 30,000 yuan a year for her son’s education in a relatively better high school.

“Parents have to help their children find a better high school, using all connections, money and tricks, in this age of razor-sharp competition,” Wu said.

Although the government has insisted on the policy of neighborhood admissions, supporting weak schools, and encouraging the development of non-public schools, selecting the best of schools is an “unavoidable concern” for parents, especially as the social gap widens, said Qin Hangyin, a researcher with the China National Institute for Educational Research.

Beijing, along with other nine cities including Xi’an, Chongqing and Harbin, also flunk in public satisfaction on cost of education.