Divers play mahjong to avoid the scorching heat in Xiangtan, Hunan province on Aug 9. It is not known if the water pressure and oxygen improve skill at this ancient game played across China, but it is certainly a cool way to play. Li Zhou / for China Daily

ENVIRONMENT

New green policy gives industries a big boost

China will speed up development of the energy-saving sector and make it a pillar of the national economy by 2015, top policymakers said.

The State Council said it would spur technological innovation, expand demand for energy-saving products and boost the environmental-protection service industry.

The value of the energy-saving industry's output will reach 4.5 trillion yuan ($728 billion; 735 billion euros) by 2015, an average annual growth of 15 percent, it said.

Wang Xiaokun, an energy analyst at Sublime China Information, a Chinese commodities consulting firm, said the policy gives clear direction to the industry and brings opportunities to investors, including private companies.

Endangered wild plants fall prey to visitors

A botanist is urging people not to use information made public for better protection of endangered plants as a guide for their personal gain.

Xin Hua, a botany professor at Qingdao Agricultural University, said the publication of the location of some endangered plants has been abused.

"We publicized the sites to raise awareness of protection among the public, but some people have used our findings for personal gain and caused new damage to the few rare species in Qingdao," she said.

Xin took part in a field survey in the city last year and found more than 20 endangered wild plants that are on the national and provincial plant protection list.

ANIMAL PROTECTION

Shops put a stop to sale of bile from bears

About 150 Chinese pharmacies in Chengdu say they will stop selling products containing bear bile powder, giving a boost to animal rights activists in the fight against the extraction of bile from live bears.

More than 100 pharmacies in Shenyang, Zhuhai and other cities made a similar pledge last year. More than 260 pharmacies have openly opposed the sale of the product, which is used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat fever and conditions of the liver, heart, circulation and eyes, said Zhong Yuanwei, a manager with Dahua Pharmacy company in Chengdu.

Production entails inserting a tube into the bear's gall bladder and extracting the bile while the animal is alive. Bears are kept in small cages for periods of 10 years or more so that large amounts of bile can be extracted.

MARINE

Rescue services bring thousands to safety

Thousands of people stranded at sea have been rescued by Chinese search and rescue ships in the 10 years since an overhaul of the system.

Wang Zhenliang, director of the rescue and salvage bureau under the Ministry of Transport, said 34,030 people who had encountered danger at sea and 1,873 ships had been saved since 2003. This included more than 5,300 foreign citizens and 347 foreign ships rescued by Chinese maritime officers from 2003 to 2012.

The largest rescue took place in May 2006 when several hundred Vietnamese fishermen and dozens of fishing boats were stranded by Typhoon Chanchu.

Teams dive deep to bring back lost relics

Experts with Chinese salvage teams in the South China Sea say they are working hard to protect treasure and cultural relics buried beneath the waves.

"We have successfully raised the Nanhai-1 intact out of the water, and we are confident we can salvage other similar ships," said Hong Chong, director of the Guangzhou Salvage Bureau.

The bureau has conducted more than 160 successful emergency salvage missions since it was founded in 2003, most of them in the South China Sea.

Hong said that more than 800 ancient vessels lie at the bottom of the sea, although other experts suggest the number could be in excess of 1,000. The sea was an important part of the so-called Marine Silk Road, China's southern passage to the outside world in ancient times.

TRANSPORT

The hopeless lot of subway sardines

A recent attempt to relieve crowding on subway carriages in Beijing is impractical and unrealistic, experts say.

Beijing released its first standards and specifications for a local transit project on Aug 8, limiting the spatial density on a subway car to five commuters per square meter.

The previous standard was six passengers per sq m.

The standard says transit between subway transfer lines should take no more than three minutes.

Liu Xiao, a researcher from Anbound Consulting, a think tank dedicated to strategic decision research, said the standard sounds ideal, but will not help heavy commuter congestion.

"It is impossible to count how many people are packed into each subway carriage, let alone per square meter. Subway staff can't force commuters off the subway either."

REGULATIONS

Food-waste rules lack bite, say skeptics

There has been widespread skepticism about rules to punish restaurants for wasting food after Zhuhai and Beijing published regulations on the matter.

The two cities followed Xining in Qinghai province and Linyi in Shandong province in their moves to fight extravagance.

Under regulations made public by authorities in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, a restaurant will be fined 2,000 yuan ($325; 245 euros) to 10,000 yuan if leftovers are found on tables.

In Beijing, the punishment is stricter. A regulation by Xicheng district government said the operation of restaurants will be suspended or they will be blacklisted by government departments if serious food waste is found through inspections or consumer complaints.

Restaurants are required to display posters to tell diners not to waste food.

MEDICINE

Relief efforts abroad will improve

China has sent more than 20,000 medical personnel to 66 countries and regions around the world over the past 50 years, the nation's top health authority says.This year, China marks the 50th anniversary of sending medical teams globally since the central government sent a medical team to Algeria in 1963.

Ren Minghui, director of the Department of International Cooperation under the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said the country's long-term goal is to continually innovate and expand how it delivers aid to other countries.

"Medical workers from China have been sent to nearly all continents, mostly Africa, to help combat epidemics and enhance public healthcare." he said.

CRIME

Terrorist pair sentenced to death over attacks

Two members of a terrorist gang that carried out a violent attack in Selibuya township, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, in April that left 15 people dead have been sentenced to death for organizing the group, intentional homicide and illegally producing explosives.

Five of those arrested after the attack were tried in the Kashgar Intermediate Court. One received a sentence of life imprisonment for being a member of the gang and illegally producing explosives, and two others were given sentences of nine years plus six months and nine years, the regional government said.

Police in Xinjiang said in April that 25 suspects belonging to the terrorist group carried out the attack. Six were shot dead at the scene; one died later in hospital.

(China Daily European Weekly 08/16/2013 page2)