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- December, 1998
- November, 1998
- October, 1998
- September, 1998
- August, 1998
- July, 1998
- June, 1998
- May, 1998
- April, 1998
- March, 1998
- February, 1998
- January, 1998
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1998---May
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May 30 is this year's Dragon
Boat Festival. The traditional festival features
one famous staple, zong zi, which is a cone-shaped
dumpling made of glutinous rice and all kinds of
fillings wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves.
Mayor Xu Kuangdie met with
visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
on May 28. Mr. Netanyahu is on a four-day official
visit to China.
Shanghai securities authorities
has promised to focus on helping local listed companies
improve their economic efficiency and raise more
capital from the Shanghai Stock Exchange and other
bourses.
Starting next month, Shanghai
will begin to implement a standard land pricing
policy--which features an average land price in
certain areas--in hopes to improve transparency
in the land-leasing market.
Bell Atlantic has become
the first foreign company to enter China's telephone
directory advertising business. It has signed a
contract with Shanghai Telephone Directory Corp.
on May 27.
Long Hua, the oldest Buddhist
ritual site in the southwest of Shanghai, is expected
to take on a new look after a US$36.6 million re-development
project is completed in October, 1999.
The city began dredging
up garbage and removing obstacles from the rivers
this week. It is the city's first drive to clean
all the contaminated rivers.
The re-training program
for more than ten thousand laid-off workers has
been completed. Sponsored by Shanghai Charity Foundation,
the program is expected to train the same number
of workers before next May.
'98 World High-School Students
Games is expected to be held in Shanghai from October
12 to 19. It is co-sponsored by The Ministry of
Education and Shanghai Municipality.
Shanghai's property market,
after suffering from a glut of empty housing, hit
a new low, with a key index falling 1.4% in April.
Plastic pollution has become
a serious concern. The amount of waste is increasing
at a rate of 10% each year and is expected to reach
12,000 tons daily by 2000. The city is planning
to build 10 incinerators and one large landfill
in the coming years.
Hongkou District is beefing
up its efforts in developing high-tech industries.
Its most bustling commercial street, Sichuan Road
(N) is expected to build into a multimedial information
street.
Helping the laid-off is
on the top of the government's agenda. City leaders
are inspecting its city-wide re-employment effort
and the re-careering project.
Shanghai's Qingpu County
is planning to construct the first suburban "intelligent"
residential community which will feature computerized
property management, security management, telemedicine,
etc.
The city plans to increase
350 acres of green space this year, thus bringing
per capita green space to 2.75 square meters and
green coverage to 18.8%.
The city is considering
developing urban industries, which as experts predict,
include food and garment industries. The city is
also urged to develop clock-making, jewelry and
fine arts, printing and publishing, stationery and
sports goods, the manufacturing of gifts or keepsakes
for tourists.
Shanghai's industrial sector
have taken four measures to ensure the city's 10%
increase in GDP this year. The measures include
the increasing of exports, heavier investment in
key projects, etc.
Luwan District in downtown
Shanghai has simplified the procedures for opening
a business. As a result, it has become a more attractive
area for private enterprises.
The city plans to use wind
to generate electricity as part of its increasing
effort to reduce coal consumption and improve the
environment.
Local district governments
will invest more money this year to improve and
beautify the banks along Suzhou Creek. They include
Huangpu, Changning and Jing'an.
Local people who are Net-savvy
or technologically oriented will have faster connections
to the Internet. The World Wide Web is no longer
World Wide Wait with the increasing use of ISDN
which is short for integrated services digital network.
The city sees off the 50
Shanghai cadres selected this year to work in Tibet
to help the region's social and economic development.
May 17 is the eighth National
Day for Disabled. The whole society are helping
the city's half a million disabled people in various
ways.
Rainy days and low temperature
are expected to persist. The weather wouldn't lift
until May 18, according to an engineer with the
local meteorological station.
As enterprises downsize,
more and more employment agencies have been set
up. The city now boasts of more than 1000 such agencies
that help laid -off workers re-career.
The first four months witnessed
an increase of 12.4% for the city's imports and
exports, compared to the same period last year.
As a result, the total volume has reached US$16.89
billion.
A recent survey found that
more university students in Shanghai have expressed
an strong interest in applying for membership in
the Communist Party, Wenhui Daily reported.
Shanghai residents and enterprises
are urged to save water and protect limited water
resources, according to Shanghai Water Supply Office.
Beginning this week, the
local congress will begin discussing the government's
effort in protecting the interests of Taiwan investors
in Shanghai.
Pudong saw a 14% increase
in its gross domestic product from January through
April, according to the new area's Comprehensive
Planning and Land Bureau.
Eleven overseas multinationals
have set up their China headquarters in Shanghai,
according to the Shanghai Foreign Investment Commission.
They include Kodak, Coca-Cola, Raychem, Inland,
Philips, Allied-Signal, Gillette, Roche, Bayer,
Unilever and Tomson.
'98 Computer-Network Shanghai
was held on May 12. More than 150 computer companies,
software engineers and network vendors from home
and abroad took part in the expo.
Shanghai has finalized its
plan to develop and improve its ports. The city
is planning to handle about 4 million 20-foot containers
by the year 2000, which will double this year's
volume.
Chain stores, a relatively
new concept to local residents, have blossomed in
town and have so far contributed a lot to the city's
retail development.
Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji
recently said that special inspectors sent to help
financially troubled large- and medium-size State
enterprises should be politically competent and
highly principled, just and honest.
On May 7, the city government
held an honoring meeting. 858 model workers from
all works of life were invited to attend and honored
by city leaders.
President Jiang Zemin said
in Beijing that the founding of the Preparatory
Committee for the Macao Special Administrative Region
indicates that preparations for Macao's return to
the motherland have entered a new stage.
China will adopt a container
freight tariff filing system in its opening ports
and is working out relevant legislation for it.
Intel Chairman and CEO Andrew
grove announced on May 7 the formal opening of the
chip-making giant's US$198-million manufacturing
plant in Pudong New Area.
Because of El Nino, Shanghai
is expecting a much earlier and longer summer this
year, according to experts with the Shanghai Central
Meteorological Station.
Four local retailers have
been ranked as the top four retailing companies
in China in terms of sales in the first quarter
of the year. They are No. 1 Department Store, Shanghai
Hualian Co., Ltd., Shanghai Yuyuan Tourism and Commercial
City Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Lianhua Supermarket
Co., Ltd.
Unilever, one of the world's
leading daily-use goods producers, announced the
opening of its China Group on May 6.
While several provinces
in northeast China is still dealing with a serious
drought, the city and its neighboring provinces
are calling for help in flood-control.
'98 Shanghai International
Fashion Model Contest begins on May 5. About 40
models from more than 20 countries and regions are
invited to take part in it.
Shanghai Jianping Middle
School opened an online school which was the first
of its kind among the city's middle schools. The
new teaching mode, meant for distance learning in
the long run, will be facilitated by communications
via e-mail.
On May 2 the opening ceremony
of '98 Shanghai International Art Festival was held.
The annual festival's closing ceremony is expected
to be held on May 19.
Local industrial leaders
were urged on May 3 to strive for an industrial
growth rate of 11 to 12 percent this year, to guarantee
that the city's targeted rate of 10 percent will
be achieved.
A new taxing pricing measure
that features lower starting fees triggered different
responses after it was adopted late last month.
Robert Bosch GmbH launched
its new sales distribution initiative on May 5 with
the opening of its first sales company--Robert Bosch
International Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.--in the
city.
The Shanghai No. 1 Department
Store (Group) Co., Ltd. has become the sole owner
of the Oriental Price Club which was founded in
1996 by the No. 1 Group and The Hong Kong Shanghai
Industrial Investment Co., Ltd.
A new water factory in Minhang
that was built with a government allocation of US$63.3
million can now provide 400,000 cubic meters of
water every day to residential areas and businesses
within the area.
The Shanghai Trade Union's
"Helping-the-Poor" project has benefited more than
100,000 workers since it was started four years
ago.
Hongqiao International Airport
will become an agent for Northwest Airlines of the
United States on July 2 to help it provide landing
and take-off services.
The city's first liquefied
petroleum gas station for car fueling has been completed
in Pudong New Area.
Shanghai is encouraging
more residents to buy homes in the emerging business
center of Pudong, with hopes of solving a property
glut there, a local senior official said recently.
Shortage of water, electricity
and coal in Shanghai is history. Since 1992, the
city has been reforming its water-supplying and
energy industries with the establishment of many
water and gas factories.
The city government held
a party on the night of May 1 to celebrate the International
Labor Day. Also attending the party are model workers,
excellent workers and representatives of workers.
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