This massive grave, which cost 8 million yuan (857,299 euros), is located at the Anle Yongjiu Graveyard in Xiamen, Fujian province. As Chinese paid tribute to their lost loved ones on April 5, the traditional Tomb Sweeping Day, many have expressed concern about soaring cost of graves. Prices for 0.5-square-meter plots at five major Beijing cemeteries now start at 70,000 yuan, while many in Shanghai charge a minimum of 40,000 yuan. Wei Peiquan / Xinhua

Hundreds of dairy firms to close

Nearly 426 dairy producers will be shut down, while another 107 will have to suspend operations following a national inspection, Li Yuanping, spokesman for the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said on April 2.

Li said that 643 dairy producers, 55 percent of 1,176 nationally registered, passed the inspection.

In response to a call to ensure the safety of dairy products from the State Council, the administration issued a regulation in November requiring dairy companies to reapply for production licenses by the end of March or face suspension.

Innovation

Openness pledged in R&D funding

China will further foster research and development by opening up the competition for government funding, Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang said on April 2.

The current system will be improved "to create an innovation-stimulating environment that features scientific democracy, academic freedom, scholastic vigor and inclusiveness".

In addition, Wan said that a regional innovation system that can offer incentives and other distinct advantages will be established. Services to bridge the science and technology sectors also will be improved.

Medicine

Scientists closer to HIV vaccine

Chinese scientists have succeeded in the first phase of a clinical trial of an HIV vaccine and will launch the second stage in a few months, said Shao Yiming, chief expert of the National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention. The second phase of experiments on the vaccine, which were approved by the national drug administration, "is likely to start in three or four months".

Work on the HIV vaccine was one of 16 major science and technology projects that made significant progress during the nation's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010).

Crime

Economic offenses on the rise

Chinese police handled more than 110,000 economic crime cases last year, according to official figures released on April 2.

Those cases involved more than 400 billion yuan (42.9 billion euros), according to the figures. More than 90,000 of the cases were closed.

Economic crime has been on the rise in recent years, especially cases relating to finance, taxation and intellectual property right infringement.

During the 2006-2010 period, the Ministry of Public Security closed 351,000 economic crime cases and retrieved a total of 171.7 billion yuan.

Environment

Warning on aquatic resources

Nearly 70 percent of the fish resources in the Pearl River, the third longest river in China, are under threat as a result of excessive damming, overfishing and water pollution, warned Li Xinhui, a researcher with the Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences.

Estimates suggest that more than 260 fish species will face extinction in the next five to 10 years because of existing and planned dam projects along the Pearl River and its tributaries. Such work has disrupted the migration routes taken by some fish species and altered the environments of many spawning places. According to samples collected near the biggest spawning site along the Pearl River, both the number of individual fish and the number of fish species have declined significantly during the past three years, said Li.

Development

Urbanization to exceed 70 percent

China will accelerate the pace of its urbanization in the next 20 years, with the urban population to reach 70 to 75 percent by the end of 2030, from the current 47 percent, according to a report from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

CASS said China's urban population reached 620 million by the end of 2009, the largest in the world. The country's urban population is a quarter more than the total population of the 27 countries of the European Union.

Literature

Chinese writers in Booker shortlist

Chinese writers Su Tong and Wang Anyi have been shortlisted for the prestigious 2011 Man Booker International Prize.

Established in 2005 as a complement to the Man Booker Prize, the international prize is a biennial award for international fiction writers whose work is written or translated to English.

This is the first time that Chinese writers have been shortlisted for the prize. The two are among a total of 13 contenders from eight countries.

China Daily