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Beijing has granted 311 foreigners permanent residence status since China adopted a policy akin to the “green card” in the United States in 2004, police said Sunday.

 The Beijing municipal public security bureau has accepted 371applications for permanent residence status over the past five years, of which 311 have been approved, said Xu Jie, an officer in the exit-entry management division of the bureau.

 Among the 311, 39 were granted the status for working in the country, 37 for making outstanding contribution, 123 for family re-union and the rest 112 were expatriates.

 Famous scientists, scholars, athletes, artists and other talents, as well as investors, are eligible to apply for the permanent residence status.

 Spouses of Chinese citizens or foreigners who have been granted permanent residence status can apply for the status after having been married and resided in China for over five years with no less than nine months in China each year.

Beijing has begun deploying thousands of additional police officers and checking vehicles entering the city to ensure a safe National Day celebration.

With little more than a month before the Oct 1 festivities marking the nation’s 60th birthday, the city on Saturday raised its security level, putting at least 6,000 officers on its streets every day, Wang Jun, a senior officer with the patrol and special police team was quoted by local media as saying yesterday.

Over the weekend, police also activated hundreds of checkpoints developed for last year’s Olympic Games to beef up checks on people and vehicles entering the city.

Xu Ke, a driver who constantly travels between Handan in Hebei province and Beijing, said yesterday the toll station at the Beijing end of the Hebei-Beijing expressway has been fitted with new security-scanning machines.

Thousands of militia soldiers have also been deployed to watch key infrastructure such as bridges, overpasses, railways and highway tunnels, according to the police bureau.

Security measures have also been tightened in the city’s subway system and key areas such as Tian’anmen Square.

All bags carried by subway passengers are subject to security checks, and armed police officers and plainclothes officers will patrol more often in Tian’anmen Square.

Bags taken into the square are being checked, China Daily noted over the weekend.

Taxi drivers have also been told to report any suspicious customers to police, especially along Chang’an Avenue, a major thoroughfare that runs along Tian’anmen Square, the latest issue of Southern Weekly reported.

The report also said the Beijing Radio Administration Bureau is screening radio devices in the city, especially near Tian’anmen Square, Chang’an Avenue and three “parade villages” where civilians and troops participating in the parade are exercising.

Meanwhile, gas stations have been asked to be wary of customers buying gasoline with containers. Stations are required to question the purpose of the purchase, and keep a copy of the buyer’s ID card and contact information.

The administration also asks gas stations make contingency plans in case of emergencies, including terrorist attacks, administration director Zhang Jiaming was quoted by the local media as saying.

In June, a 62-year-old man ignited a bucket of gas he bought at a local station on a bus in Chengdu, killing 27 people, including himself.

Local communities have also been mobilized as an important supplement to police. The city’s police bureau said ideally about 800,000 people would be involved, including college students, retired and self-employed residents. They will wear red armbands and watch for suspicious strangers around their communities.

Wang Taiyuan, a professor with the Chinese People’s Public Security University, said these measures are a comprehensive system to improve security ahead of National Day.

He said unlike last year’s Olympic Games, threats for National Day are more likely to come from inside the country than from abroad.

“However, the security work for the coming event is by no means easier. Some of the threats, such as Tibetan and Xinjiang Uygur separatists, may not give up the opportunity (to disrupt the celebration),” Wang said.

Li Wei, director of the center for counter-terrorism studies with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, also said the risk of violence and terrorism rose after the July 5 riot in Urumqi in Xinjiang.

(China Daily August 24, 2009)

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A massive celebration in Tian’anmen Square on Oct. 1, at which President Hu Jintao will give a keynote speech, will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

A military parade and mass pageant would follow, said a spokesperson for the 60th National Day celebration preparation committee of the Beijing municipal government Monday. Timetabling for the celebrations is not yet available

The military parade would highlight the achievements China has made in its defense sector during the past six decades and showcase its resolution to safeguard world and regional peace and stability.

The mass pageant would involve about 200,000 citizens and 60 floats, on the theme of the “Motherland and I Marching Together”.

On Sept. 30, the eve of National Day, a huge reception, hosted by the State Council, will be held in the Great Hall of the People.

On the night of Oct. 1, a gala at the Tian’anmen Square is to feature “colorful performances and a splendid fireworks display”, with senior party and government leaders present.

From Oct. 1 to 3, major parks in Beijing are to host parties and functions to celebrate National Day.

In addition, an exhibition highlighting China’s progress during the past 60 years will be held in the Beijing Exhibition Center near the city zoo over the last two weeks in September.

Also during that time, a grand musical, “Road to Revival”, with a cast of about 3,200, will be staged at the Great Hall of the People. It will depict the past 169 years of Chinese history chronologically from the Opium War to the present.

“We will try our best to create a festive environment at an economical cost,” said the spokesperson.

The military parade, mass pageant and evening gala will be rehearsed at Tian’anmen Square several times from Aug. 29 to Sept. 26.

“Preparation are going on smoothly,” the spokesperson said. “We will make sure of a successful celebration.”

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2009)

Flocks of visitors are attracted by the newly repaired Tian’anmen Tower on August 1st, 2009. The repair work, which started in May, was carried out in preparation for the 60th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. [Photo: CFP]

The repair work on Tian’anmen Tower in central Beijing finished and the western part of the tower was reopened for visitors, the Legal Evening News reported on Saturday.

Major maintenance and restoration work on the tower has been carried out since it was launched in May this year in preparation for the 60th anniversary celebrations for the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The tower was well-preserved during the repair work and the coloured drawings on the delicate ceilings have attracted many visitors since the restoration. The walls, pillars and lights have all been repaired or changed.

During the repair work, the tower was not completely closed off to visitors and didn’t affect visitors wanting to access the Forbidden City either.

International companies that open regional headquarters in Beijing will receive a government subsidy of up to 10 million yuan (US$ 1.46 million) according to measures announced by the city government on June 29.

 Companies with registered capital between 100 million yuan (US$ 14.6 million) and 500 million yuan (US$ 73 million) will receive 5 million yuan (US$ 731 thousand); those with registered capital between 500 million yuan and 1 billion yuan (US$ 146 million) will receive 8 million yuan (US$ 1.17 million); and companies with registered capital over 1 billion yuan will receive 10 million yuan. Existing companies who increase their registered capital will be eligible for the payments. The maximum subsidy payable is 10 million yuan.

 Companies whose yearly operating income reach 1 billion yuan for the first time will receive a one-off award of 10 million yuan. CEOs of companies that rank among the top ten payers of enterprise income tax in Beijing will be eligible for a 500 thousand yuan (US$ 73 thousand) award from the government.

 In addition to financial rewards, the government is also offering assistance with recruitment, visa applications, housing, and personnel relocation expenses. Senior executives will be offered permanent residence in Beijing regardless of age and education background. Senior foreign managers and technical staff will be eligible for multiple-entry visas and 5-year residence permits.

 Beijing currently has 164 foreign investment companies serving as regional headquarters, mostly representing the world’s Top 500 companies from Japan, U.S.A., Europe and Korea. They mainly engage in electronics, communications and engineering. Of them there are currently 41 officially-certified regional headquarters of multinationals.

 Statistics show Beijing has received US$2.95 billion in foreign investment so far this year, nearly half of its 2009 target of US$ 6 billion, and 4.1 percent up over the same period last year.

Beijing subway Line Four began a three-month test-run on Saturday. The tests will ensure the entire system is safe and ready for operation. The new line was built with help from Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation, the first in the country to be constructed with overseas investment.

The Line Four has 24 stations in total and links the north-west Haidian district with the city’s southern Fengtai district. According to national regulations, the line must run with an empty load for three months before it opens to the public. The MTR Corporation has prepared thirty trains with six carriages each for the test run. It takes 48 minutes to travel the whole line.

Huo Zhichang, Project Manager of MTR Corp. said “The final touches to the trains’ interior have basically been finished with only a few minor tasks left to do. The trains’ mechanics are still being adjusted.”

Adopting many of the management techniques of the Hong Kong subway system, it is hoped that Line Four will provide better and more efficient services to passengers. Every station on the line has been equipped with a passenger service center. More than 600 members of the line’s service staff will take etiquette training and be prepared with knowledge of the city’s traffic.

Beijing began to build its first subway lines in 1964. So far, eight lines have been put into operation, all of them run by the state-owned Beijing Subway Corporation. The boost from overseas investment is aimed at improving efficiency and management through market competition

Beijing’s meteorological station released two alarms Tuesday on a heavy rain at noon.

The sky turned dark when a drizzle became downpours accompanied by thunder and lightning at about 11 a.m.

The Municipal Meteorological Station raised the thunder and lightning alarm to the level of rainstorm at noon, when average rainfall in the downtown area reached 11 millimeters, said Guo Hu, head of the station.

The average precipitation in the city was 7 mm as of noon.

Street lights turned on and vehicles were crawling amid heavy rainfalls with their headlights on.

The thunderstorm abated at about 2 p.m. but showers are expected at night in the downtown area and more rains are possible in the next couple of days, according to weather forecast.

The city’s public transport authority arranged 200 standby buses in case of increasing passenger flows.

The neighboring city of Tianjin also suffered similar weather conditions on Tuesday noon with the maximum rainfall of 20 mm, said Yi Xiaoyuan, the city’s chief weather forecaster.

The rainfall is expected to last till midnight.

A biennial conference on the intercultural communication between China and the world opened on Friday.

Titled “Intercultural Communication between China and the World: Interpersonal, Organizational and Mediated Perspectives,” the 8th China Association for Intercultural Communication (CAFIC) Intercultural Conference aims to enhance the mutual understanding between China and the world as well as the teaching and studying of the subject.

The three-day conference will cover more than 100 topics, including intercultural competence, intercultural identity, organizational communication and China’s image as well as the overseas Sinology study.

Compared with the previous conference, this one is more internationalized with about 600 scholars from around the globe, said Sun Yonzhong, president of the organizing committee of the conference, also vice president of CAFIC.

Along with renowned scholars in the field, the conference was also attended by high rank officials.

“With the presence of them, we have gained the official and administrative support we needed to promote the teaching and study of intercultural communication in China,” said Sun.

Moreover, this year’s conference “has expanded the boundary of intercultural communication as a research field,” Sun added.

“We redefined the boundary of intercultural communication studies. Now we have four sub-areas, i.e., the interpersonal perspective, which is the traditional perspective, mass communication, organizational communication, comparative cultural studies.”

Speaking of the role of media, especially the Internet in intercultural communication, the president said that mass media is playing a more and more important role. Not everyone can have the chance to travel abroad to get to know another culture personally, but, “almost everybody can watch Hollywood media, or listen to BBC.”

This year’s conference is co-hosted by the Intercultural Studies Center of the School of English and International Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) and Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

Launched by China Association for Intercultural Communication in 1995, the conference has helped the intercultural communication in China enter a new epoch. It is also a new landmark in the study of international intercultural communication.

(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2009)

Beijing reported the first high-temperature alarm of this year on Monday, said Beijing Meteorological Bureau.

The alarm, reported at 11:20 a.m., was an Orange Alarm, the second level of meteorological alarms, saying the highest temperature will reach 37 degrees Celsius Monday afternoon, according to the bureau.

“The sunshine has been strong, the air has been dry and the winds have been strong these days in Beijing. The weather of this kind is defined as dry hot wind,” said Guo Hu, head of the bureau.

The dry hot wind usually appears in north China in May and June, which harms crops, especially wheat, but does no harm to people, Guo said.

The temperature in Beijing had been two-to-three degrees Celsius higher than usual since May, Guo said.

The city might be cooler on late Monday as cold air may bring thunderstorms, Guo said.

The temperature might be lower on Tuesday but will likely remain 32 degrees Celsius, he said.

The northeast Tianjin Municipality also reported its highest temperature of this year on Monday afternoon, which reached 38.9 degrees Celsius and broke the record of the same period since 1951, said Zhao Gang, chief weather forecaster of Tianjin Meteorological Bureau.

It should be 31 degrees Celsius on Tuesday and might rain on Thursday and Friday, Zhao said.

They said it was unknown if abnormal temperatures are a result of global warming.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Beijing’s first diagnosed A/H1N1 flu patient in hospital on Sunday.

Wen had a voice and video meeting with the 18-year-old female, surnamed Liu, who returned from the United States and was confirmed to have the flu Saturday, at the Beijing Ditan Hospital.

The patient is in a stable condition with a normal body temperature and a growing appetite, said doctors. Wen said overseas students in epidemic areas should learn more to protect themselves from the flu and understand the preventive and control measures China has taken.

“The motherland is the home of the Chinese overseas students and we are concerned about your health,” he said. Wen said medical personnel should always be ready to treat flu patients and to accumulate experience.

He urged medical staff to enhance self-protection and prevent hospital infection and the spread of the disease.

At the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wen said that judging from the current situation, China’s A/H1N1 flu prevention and control measures are effective and well organized.

“With the spreading of the flu in some countries, we should not lower our guard against it,” he said. Wen called for establishing epidemic monitoring and reporting systems and strengthening inspection and quarantine at ports of exit and entry.