Guaranteeing food safety will become the food industry¡¯s premier target as the nation strives to gauge its food standard to international practice.
The National Development and Reform Commission, the Standardization Administration of China, the Ministry of Agriculture and six other departments announced their 2004-05 development program for national food standards over the weekend.
China is conducting a rectification within two years. Inspectors will search for all known banned materials in food manufacturing.
To reduce trading barriers, China will raise the ratio of adopting international standards in the food industry to 55 per cent from today¡¯s 23 per cent.
On-the-spot checks during the past two years have revealed the abuse or misuse of additives in food production and processing has become the biggest threat to food safety.
Under the guidelines, all banned additives will be recorded as inspections increase.
Relevant departments have allocated funds to conduct risk evaluations on current food additives to fix the limits of their usage.
China will adopt international advanced techniques and standards so as to find out the harmful materials in food within a shortest period.
(From China Daily)
China to increase judges, clerks by 10 percent
The number of judges will increase by 10 percent in China over the next few years in an effort to make up the country¡¯s inadequate trial force, said Xiao Yang, president of the Chinese Supreme Court, at an national court work meeting.
A national higher court presidents¡¯ meeting held from Dec.16-18, 2004 released statistics showing that Chinese courts dealt with 8.08 million criminal, civil and administrative cases in 2003, 4.59 million more than in 1993.
The number and variety of cases has risen remarkably in China in recent years, but the number of judges and clerks remains unchanged, causing difficulties for courts to ensure timely trials.
Jiang Yunchang, vice-president of the Supreme People¡¯s Court said that 12,782 judges and clerks would be recruited for local courts, especially for local courts at the grassroots levels.
(From Xinhuanet)
Protecting teenagers online
Forty of China¡¯s top internet providers have joined forces to establish a Teenage Network Safety Union.
The providers, including Sina, Yahoo, Netease and People, have announced that they will never offer unhealthy content to teenagers on their websites, monitor information on other sites and put an end to spam.
At the same time, the first Green Net Club for teenagers opened in South China Hunan Province.
The Green Net is a special online zone for teenagers.
(From Xinhuanet)
China to introduce movie rating system
According to Tong Gang, director general of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, China is to adopt a movie rating system so as to create a friendly environment for children movie-goers. He said the system would be introduced according to China¡¯s conditions and legal framework, and won be a copycat of foreign countries¡¯ rating system.
The rating system will be based on Chinese adolescents¡¯ physiological age, and will rate and classify both Chinese and foreign movies according to their contents like murder, violence, terror and sex.
Tong said his administration is investigating the practicality on film rating and classification, aiming at altering the original criterion of movies being made ¡°suitable for all.¡± China will consider the current situation of China instead of copying foreign countries¡¯ rating system directly, based on our constitution, laws on juvenile protection and prevention of juvenile delinquency, Tong said.
The current film reviewing system is strict with violent or sexual plots, but some plots are still reserved with a view to maintaining stories¡¯ completeness and artistic quality.
China¡¯s film-rating system will not substitute the current film-reviewing system like the United States, and the two systems are closed related to each other.
With a new film rating system, Tong said, it should be noted that no ¡±X-rated films¡± in its general sense would be allowed in the future market since violence, terror and eroticism will always be prohibited in China.
The famous film 2046, directed by Wong Kar-Wai, has made people sense a film rating flavor: it was not appropriate for minors under 17.
The United States applies the MPAA film rating system based on movie contents, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17. It is used to help parents decide which movies may be appropriate for children. And films that have not yet received MPAA classification are often advertised under the banner his film is not yet rated.?
(From China Daily)
Children¡¯s education becomes top concern for migrant workers
Children¡¯s education has become a top concern for Chinese migrant workers who have flocked into cities from rural areas, says a survey by the National Statistics Bureau (NSB).
The survey, covering 6,344 migrant families in ten cities including Beijing and Shenzhen, shows that education environment is an influential element for migrant workers to decide where they will live.
Last year witnessed 113.9 million migrant workers going from countryside to cities. There are 19.82 million children who have entered the cities along with their migrant parents. About 90 percent of them aged 7 to 18 are going to schools. Most children are studying at public schools.
The survey shows that 48.9 percent of parents think tuition in big cities is too high and 32 percent say that the current residential registration system will hinder their children from getting the same education opportunities as those born in cities.
However, the survey also cites some benefits for migrant workers¡¯ children, including better education facilities provided by cities.