A China-Germany forum on human rights development was held on Dec. 1 via video, at which experts from the two countries discussed the balance of public interests and individual rights and interests in emergency response.

 

At the forum, co-hosted by the China Foundation for Human Rights Development and German’s Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation, Zuo Feng, vice chairman and secretary-general of the China Foundation for Human Rights Development, expounded on the significance of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China to the development of China’s human rights cause.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China has formed a contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights with “people” as the center, “development” as the driving force and “a life of contentment” as the goal, and has enriched the global human rights cause, a new think tank report said on Dec. 5.

 

The report, titled “For a Life of Contentment — The Rationale for China’s Human Rights Development,” was jointly released by the China Foundation for Human Rights Development and the New China Research under Xinhua News Agency.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

While efficiently fighting crime involving juveniles last year, a Beijing court also made greater efforts to resolve lawsuits concerning school campus safety to better protect children.

 

Data released by the Beijing Pinggu District People’s Court on Dec. 8 showed that it has ruled on more than 30 criminal cases related to people under age 18 in the past three years as well as over 900 civil disputes regarding juveniles.

 

From: chinadaily.com.cn

 

 

China’s implementation of biodiversity conservation goals in the past decade was better than the global average, Huang Runqiu, president of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity said on Dec. 11.

 

As one of the richest countries in biodiversity and one of the first countries to join the convention, China has effectively protected 90 percent of terrestrial ecosystem types and 74 percent of key state-protected wildlife populations. More than 300 rare and endangered wildlife populations have been well restored, Huang, also China’s minister of ecology and environment, said in his address to a side event on youth involvement.

 

 

The International Conference on Diversity of Civilizations and Global Human Rights Governance was held in Beijing on Dec. 13.

 

The event drew online and offline participation by nearly 50 experts from countries including China, Cuba, the United Kingdom, Russia and France.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China has included greenhouse gas emissions into the environmental impact assessments for several major smokestack industries, according to guidelines unveiled on Dec. 14 by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

 

The documents were introduced to guide environmental authorities across the country in examining and approving EIA reports for new projects in the steel, coking, petrochemical, coal-chemical and thermal power sectors.

 

From: China Daily

 

 

A tunnel connecting Tsokha and Jinling townships in Penba county, Tibet autonomous region, was completed on Dec. 17 after four years of construction.

 

The tunnel is located on Shargongla in the county, where altitudes soar to 5,200 meters above sea level. The mountain is steep and in 2000 was connected with nothing but rough vehicle roads.

 

From: chinadaily.com.cn

 

 

Beijing has been actively carrying out online medical services facing the increasing number of COVID-19 infections in the city, senior official said on Dec. 19 at a news conference.

 

Hospitals in Beijing can offer online medical treatment for COVID-19 patients with supports on prices and medical insurance, said Tu Zhitao, an official from the city’s health commission.

 

From: chinadaily.com.cn

 

 

Zhejiang province will make an effort to improve the working conditions, salaries and benefits for medical personnel, a notice released by provincial authorities said on Dec. 21.

 

The notice, made by the province’s leading group office for epidemic prevention and control, spelled out a series of supporting measures for personnel involved in coping with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

 

From: chinadaily.com.cn

 

 

Chinese authorities have issued a guideline to advance reform and high-quality development of vocational education.

 

It aims to enhance the capacities of vocational schools and increase the quality, adaptability, and appeal of vocational education to train more high-caliber technicians and skilled workers, said the document. It was made public by the general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council on Dec. 21.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China’s ecology and environment have undergone historic and profound improvement over the last decade, according to a series of reports published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Dec. 27.

 

The five reports feature the latest data and survey results of national freshwater resources, wetlands, mountains, water conservation in arid northwest areas, and environmental conditions in the country’s three major urban clusters: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

 

From: China Daily

 

 

Health authorities are making efforts to improve medical resource supplies and ensure the treatment of patients with severe illnesses or who are in critical condition, an official from the National Health Commission said.

 

Jiao Yahui said at a news conference in Beijing on Dec. 27 that fever clinics are lacking in some areas and medical institutions are gearing up to better handle emergency calls from patients.

 

From: chinadaily.com.cn

 

 

The 10th UNESCO Chair on Media and Gender Forum was held on Dec. 28 online.

 

About 100 experts, scholars and guests from 23 countries, including China, attended the forum, which was themed “Women’s International Communications and the Building of a Human Community with a Shared Future”.

 

From: chinadaily.com.cn

 

 

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Dec. 29 urged efforts to ensure timely and full payment of salaries to rural migrant workers and the strengthening of employment support for the group.

 

Li made the remarks while instructing a work conference of the leading group of the State Council on eradicating wage arrears for migrant workers from rural areas.

 

From: CGTN

 

 

 

With the newly-revised Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women to come into force on Jan. 1, 2023, rights and interests of women in China will be better protected in a wide range of areas.

 

The revised law stipulates that the State shall take necessary measures to promote gender equality, eliminate discrimination of all forms against women and prohibit exclusion or restriction of women’s legitimate rights and interests.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Beijing’s average concentration of PM2.5 fell to 30 micrograms per cubic meter in 2022, 66.5 percent lower than that in 2013 when the city first included PM2.5 readings in its focus on air pollution monitoring and control, said the municipal ecology and environment bureau on Jan. 4.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Casualties caused by natural disasters nationwide hit a record low in 2022, despite increasing extreme weather events due to climate change and the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on rescue efforts, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

 

Compared with the average of the previous five years, the number of people left missing or dead in natural disasters last year declined 30.8 percent, according to a media release issued by the ministry at the end of its annual work conference in Beijing on Jan. 5.

 

From: chinadaily.com.cn

 

 

China is promoting grassroots teams consisting of village officials, doctors and volunteers, to ensure one-to-one service for vulnerable groups in villages to prevent and curb the severe cases of the COVID-19 in the country’s broad rural areas.

 

That move aims to detect the COVID cases in villages much earlier, as the nation is also speeding up the process of identifying severe cases, the preliminary treatment and referrals in rural China, said a primary health official at a news conference on Jan. 7.

 

From: chinadaily.com.cn

 

 

Hospitalization cost for COVID-19 patients will continue to be fully reimbursed until the end of March, a circular said on Jan. 7, despite China’s decision to downgrade the disease’ management from Class A to Class B on Jan. 8.

 

Released by four departments including the National Healthcare Security Administration and the Ministry of Finance, the circular said hospitalization costs that confirm to the diagnosis and treatment plan for novel coronavirus infections — as COVID-19 is officially known — will still be reimbursed as before.

 

From: chinadaily.com.cn

 

 

In the past five years, efforts have been made by national political advisors in the social and legal affairs sector to advance the country’s progress in improving people’s livelihoods.

 

The Committee on Social and Legal Affairs under the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body, held a briefing in Beijing on Jan. 11.

 

From: chinadaily.com.cn

 

 

China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has made remarkable achievements in counterterrorism and deradicalization, and has fully implemented the country’s policy on freedom of religious belief, according to world-renowned Islamic religious figures and scholars.

 

From Jan. 8 to 11, Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, chairman of the World Muslim Communities Council, led a delegation of more than 30 Islamic religious figures and scholars from 14 countries to visit Xinjiang.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Chinese authorities are strengthening COVID-19 prevention and control measures in nursing homes and mobilizing the community-level response, officials said on Jan. 11.

 

New guidelines have been introduced on preventing and controlling the novel coronavirus infection in nursing homes, subjecting such institutions to more intense controls than general society, said Li Banghua, an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA), at a press conference.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

China delivered subsidies worth 6.5 billion yuan (about $960.4 million) in 2022 to people in distress to help cushion the impact of price increases, the country’s top economic planner said on Jan. 12.

 

The country has established a price subsidy mechanism to offer financial aid to vulnerable communities in case of price hikes.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

A special commission on controlling COVID-19 in rural regions is racing to equip rural hospitals with oximeters and oxygenators as part of a broader drive to intensify the supply of anti-epidemic materials in the countryside.

 

Every village health room will be given finger oximeters and each township hospital will receive an oxygenator, said the commission under the State Council’s Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism, the country’s COVID-19 control task force, on Jan. 13.

 

From: CHINA DAILY

 

 

The Tibet autonomous region expects to continue to improve people’s quality of life in 2023, said Yan Jinhai, chairman of the regional government, on Jan. 13.

 

In 2023, the region expects to see GDP growth of 8 percent, as well as 8 percent per capita growth in disposable income for urban residents and 10 percent for rural residents, Yan said, while the consumer price index will be kept below 3 percent, and urban unemployment below 5 percent.

 

Yan announced the targets while delivering the government work report at the annual session of the regional People’s Congress, which opened on Jan. 13.

 

From: CHINA DAILY

 

 

The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region plans to achieve rapid economic growth in the next five years, according to the regional government’s work report.

 

In the next five years, the growth rates of the region’s key economic indicators are expected to exceed the national average, taking the region’s economic development to a new level, Erkin Tuniyaz, chairman of the region, said while delivering the report during the opening session of the 14th People’s Congress of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Jan. 14.

 

From: China Daily

 

 

Tap water coverage in China’s rural areas will reach 88 percent in 2023, up one percentage point from the end of 2022, the Ministry of Water Resources said on Jan. 16.

 

Large-scale water supply projects, which aim to integrate urban and rural water supply and standardize water services, are expected to cover 57 percent of China’s rural population.

 

The coverage of the projects stood at 56 percent in rural areas by 2022, data from the ministry showed.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Beijing courts have made greater efforts in solving security-related cases over the past five years in response to public concerns and to provide a stronger sense of security for local residents, said Kou Fang, president of the Beijing High People’s Court.

 

While delivering a work report to the municipal people’s congress, the capital’s top legislature, on Jan. 17, Kou revealed that courts across the city concluded 2,235 cases on food and drug safety as well as 20,958 cases concerning dangerous driving in the past five years.

 

From: chinadaily.com.cn

 

 

China’s air and water quality registered steady improvement in 2022, data from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment showed on Jan. 17.

 

The share of days with good air quality stood at 86.5 percent in Chinese cities at and above the prefecture-level, Jiang Huohua, an official with the ministry told a press conference.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

Premier Li Keqiang called on Jan. 17 for adequate energy supplies and price stability to ensure people’s well-being and the nation’s overall social and economic development.

 

Li made the remarks during an inspection tour of the State Grid Corp of China headquarters in Beijing ahead of Spring Festival, which falls on Jan. 22. During the tour, he sent his festive greetings and best wishes to the staff of the State-owned electricity utility.

 

From: CHINA DAILY

 

 

China’s job market remained stable in 2022, with about 12.06 million people finding work in urban areas, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said on Jan. 18.

 

According to the ministry, the nation has made great efforts to stabilize the employment of key groups, including college graduates, migrant workers and formerly impoverished people.

 

From: chinadaily.com.cn

 

 

China will further consolidate achievements of poverty alleviation by shoring up internal development driving forces of people and areas that have shaken off poverty, an official said on Jan. 19.

 

The country will nurture and upgrade local industries, with special focus on agricultural and rural resources and local products, said Liu Huanxin, head of the National Rural Revitalization Administration.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

The Sanjiangyuan National Park in northwest China’s Qinghai Province invested nearly 320 million yuan (about 47.27 million U.S. dollars) in ecological protection and restoration projects in 2022, local authorities said on Jan. 23.

 

The Sanjiangyuan area, known as China’s “water tower,” contains the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers. At an average altitude of more than 4,700 meters, Sanjiangyuan National Park is the world’s highest national park covering a total area of 190,700 square km.

 

From: Xinhua

 

 

The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region plans to construct eight new airports to form a modern airport network system.

 

Xinjiang Airport Group announced its plan on Jan. 31 to build airports in Qitai, Bayanbulak, Barkol, Bugur (Luntai), Wusu, Hoboksar, Pishan and Qiemo from 2023 to 2025.

 

The region has 25 civil airports, with six built during the past five years, ranking the region first in the number of civil airports in China.

 

From: China Daily