Feb. 10, 2011

An online campaign to publish photos of child beggars was assisting authorities to crack down on gangs that kidnap children and to help reunite kidnapped children with their families.

The Ministry of Public Security said on Feb. 10, 2011 that the public can dial 110, a police hotline, if they suspect children are being organized or forced to beg on the streets.

"The online crackdown on child trafficking is positive, especially by the micro blogs, which can spread clues and post children's information quickly," said Qian Jun, a Beijing-based lawyer specializing in online cases.

"The key lies in making efforts to protect victims' rights and prevent them from being harmed again," Qian added.

Feb. 10, 2011

Art museums, libraries and other public institutions in China had long been accused of catering to elite academics and professionals, rather than the general public.

A joint statement issued on Feb. 10, 2011 by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance was aimed at changing that situation.

It stipulated that Chinese citizens will not have to pay to enter the country's public art galleries in two years' time.

According to the statement, public art museums and libraries at State and provincial levels will cease charging entrance fees by the end of 2011.

Feb. 15, 2011

The iPhone may be one of the world's most successful consumer items, but its production has involved poor working conditions, serious damage to health and even death for the Chinese workers who make it.

The number of violations by Apple's suppliers, who help it make the iPhone and the iPad, doubled year-on-year in 2010. Those included the use of underage labor, unsafe working conditions, inadequate safety measures and improper handling of hazardous chemicals, Apple said in an annual Supplier Responsibility report.

The report noted suicides at the South China factory of Foxconn in the first half of 2010 and 137 workers poisoned following exposure to dangerous chemicals in the Suzhou facility of Wintek.