Game Changer

　　Students of a primary school in Tangshan, a city in Hebei Province in north China, play floorball on December 2.

　　Public Opinion

　　An online initiative was launched on December 1 to solicit public feedback on government work, the seventh year in succession such an initiative has been rolled out to improve public policies.

　　The initiative will run through to the annual sessions of the national legislature and the national political advisory body—a key event on the country’s political calendar known as the Two Sessions—in 2021.

　　Members of the public are invited to weigh in on 22 topics, including macroeconomic management,technological innovation, epidemic prevention and control, employment, entrepreneurship, education, and healthcare.

　　They can visit a number of websites and platforms to submit their opinions and suggestions. DubbedA Word to the Premier, the campaign was launched by www.gov.cn in cooperation with other major websites in China.

　　Organizers say that the best suggestions will guide the group responsible for drafting the Report on the Work of the Government, a flagship document to be delivered during the Two Sessions.

　　The Two Sessions in 2020 saw nearly 1,400 pieces of advice make it to the drafting group, according to the organizers.

　　Forest Cover

　　Yunnan Province in southwest China saw its forest cover reach 23.9 million hectares, increasing from 55.7 percent in 2015 to 62.4 percent in 2020, thanks to afforestation and ecological restoration efforts, local authorities said on December 1.2020

　　The increase can be attributed to a spate of government-led ecological projects such as turning farmland back into forests and grassland and restoring desertified land, according to Wang Weibin, Deputy Director of the Yunnan Forestry and Grassland Bureau.

　　The past five years also saw Yunnan’s forest stock expand from 1.77 billion cubic meters to 2.02 billion cubic meters. About 2.5 million hectares of trees were planted over the period.

　　The province’s forest area ranks second among China’s provincial-level regions.

　　More Graduates

　　The number of graduates from Chinese colleges and universities is expected to hit 9.09 million in 2021, an increase of 350,000 over1.2020, the Ministry of Education said on December 1 at a video conference held jointly with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

　　The meeting stressed the importance of supporting graduates to find jobs and start businesses in emerging industries and modern services.

　　State-owned enterprises as well as medium, small, and micro businesses are encouraged to create more positions for them.

　　The meeting also called on the graduates to serve in communities and the armed forces.

　　Ecological Tasks

　　Poverty alleviation has been coordinated with ecological protection under ecological poverty-relief programs.All such programs have been completed, and over 20 million people shook off poverty through these programs, Li Chunliang, Deputy Director of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, said at a press conference on December 2.

　　The programs include ecological compensation and government-sponsored afforestation projects. As a part of the ecological compensation mechanism, forestry authorities nationwide have recruited about 1.1 million forest rangers from impoverished households since 2016. The project offers stable employment while contributing to ecological protection.

　　Reservoir Overhaul

　　In the next five years, about 100 billion yuan ($15.2 billion) will be invested to reinforce dilapidated reservoirs, the Ministry of Water Resources said on November 30.

　　Private investment will be mobilized along with central and local fiscal funds to renovate reservoirs, especially small reservoirs that were damaged by severe floods this year, Ye Jianchun, Vice Minister of Water Resources, told a press conference.

　　China has some 98,000 reservoirs,mostly built in the 1950s to1970s, with the vast majority being small.

　　In recent years, about 155.3 billion yuan ($23.7 billion) was allocated to reinforce 2,800 large and medium-sized reservoirs and more than 69,000 small ones.

　　Panda Breeding

　　Shaanxi Province in northwest China has bred 32 captive giant pandas over the last five years, making the province one of the major breeding bases for the animal, local authorities said on December 1.

　　The fourth national survey of giant pandas conducted between 2011 and 2014 showed that Shaanxi’s wild population of the species reached 345, ranking first in terms of increase and density in the country, Dang Shuangren, Director of the Shaanxi Forestry and Grassland Bureau, said.

　　The number of captive giant pandas in the world stood at about 600 in November 2019. Fewer than 2,000 pandas live in the wild, mostly in Sichuan and Shaanxi.

　　Medicine Park

　　An industrial park processing herbal medicines imported from Russia had been put into operation in Heilongjiang Province in northeast China, Xinhua News Agency reported on November 30.

　　The industrial park in the Suifenhe sub-area of the Heilongjiang Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) has seen six herbal medicine-processing companies register,according to local authorities.

　　The 339-million-yuan ($51.46 million) park will have an annual medicine processing capacity of 165,000 tons.

　　A new policy allows medicinal herbs from Russia, such as ginseng and licorice, to be processed in the Suifenhe area of the FTZ.

　　Imported drugs can be unloaded, primarily processed and sold directly in Suifenhe, thus helping companies reduce costs, Wang Tengli, general manager of a local pharmaceutical trading company, said.

　　The Heilongjiang FTZ, inaugurated in August 2019, has three sub-areas, one in provincial capital Harbin and the other two in the cities of Heihe and Suifenhe on the China-Russia border.

　　Since it began operation, the FTZ has taken a series of measures to attract enterprises. They include promoting online services to attract companies, improving its business environment, and cutting costs for foreign trade enterprises.

　　Tomb Relics

　　Over 1,000 artifacts have been unearthed at a tomb site in Qinghai Province in northwest China, indicating the province used to be a pivotal hub on the ancient Silk Road, archaeologists said, Xinhua reported on December 1.

　　The finds in the Xuewei No.1 Tomb, part of the Reshui Tombs in Dulan County, include silverware, glass and textiles.

　　The craftsmanship and designof some of the delicate artifacts unearthed have Central and West Asian ethnic features, Han Jianhua, an associate researcher with the Institute of Archaeology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.

　　The multi-chamber tomb is a wood and rock structure consisting of a ground level and an underground level. A long sacrificial pit was found in the tomb, where horses, cows, antelopes and yaks were buried.

　　“The Xuewei No.1 Tomb is the most structurally intact tomb everunearthed on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,” Han said, adding that it is of great value for the study of burial customs in the area, the relationship between the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and ethnic minorities, the history of Silk Road transportation, and goods and cultural exchanges at that time.

　　Discovered in 1982, the Reshui Tombs date back to between the 6th and 8th centuries, and are located on both sides of the Qagan Us River at an altitude of 3,400 to 3,500 meters.

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