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This is Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing. Here is the news.

China's delight at Sunway TaihuLight being named the world's fastest supercomputer was made all the more sweeter as it makes a shift from using "off-the-shelf" processors to domestic alternatives.

The supercomputer, which is twice as fast as the previous holder of the top spot China's Tianhe-2, boasts three of the world's top performance results. Those include its peak performance of 125 Petaflops per second, regular performance of 93 Petaflops per second, and an energy efficiency rate of 6 Gigaflops per Watt.

Since China first began to explore supercomputing in the 1980s, developments have relied on processors and chips bought from Intel, Nvidia and Linux.

Previously, the supercomputer sector was dominated by the United States and Japan. Due to Western technology embargoes, however, Chinese scientists had to focus on independent development.

The development of the Sunway TaihuLight system was included in the National 863 Program, China's top science and technology development plan. The supercomputer was based on the Sunway BlueLight MPP model, China's first supercomputer that used a domestic CPU, produced in 2012.

Sunway TaihuLight is the first supercomputer to have all its key components made in China.

It uses a many-core CPU chip, which is just 25 square centimeters.

Besides supercomputing research, China has caught up in the application domain, which was an area of "weakness" in China's scientific development.

Three Sunway-TaihuLight applications have been included on the shortlist for the German Innovation Award's Gottfried Wagnner Prize. The three applications are earth system modeling, ocean surface wave modeling and the microstructure of titanium alloy modeling. The prize acknowledges the world's top supercomputing applications. This is the first time China has been included on the shortlist. The winner will be announced later this year.

In practice, China's supercomputers are already being used in a wide range of fields, including the world's largest radio telescope, which is to be completed in southwest China's Guizhou Province by the end of this year.

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The Gaofen 4 high-resolution Earth observation satellite has started operating to facilitate disaster relief and environmental pollution control.

China Meteorological Administration said Gaofen 4 is at least 10 times more efficient than the Fengyun satellites, which are pillars of the nation's space-based weather observation system. The strong capability of Gaofen 4 will substantially improve the administration's detection and response to extreme weather including typhoons and rainstorms.

The new satellite will be used to monitor floods and rainstorms in southern China. It will also be used to forecast the weather during the G20 Summit in eastern China's Hangzhou in September.

During its test in orbit over the past six months, the Gaofen 4 monitored several disasters and helped environmental protection authorities detect smog as well as sources of air pollutants.

The satellite will play a big role in water quality control, air pollution measurement, forest fire detection and disaster early-warning.

The 5-metric ton satellite has a design lifespan of eight years, the longest of China's Earth observation satellites.

It is able to cover China and the whole of Southeast Asia and can shift to multiple targets. Each of the satellite's images can cover a 160,000-square-km region, equivalent to the size of Henan province in central China.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has penned a letter on how to best address issues of campus violence.

In the letter, Li asked the Ministry of Education and other related authorities to "improve laws and regulations, strengthen student's awareness of laws and rights, and resolutely put an end to behavior that disregard human dignity and lives".

Bullying and violence at schools and colleges have been widely reported in recent years. In late April, a video went viral that showed a school girl being repeatedly slapped by a group of older students.

In another case, in June 2014, an online video showed several teenagers in eastern Zhejiang Province burning a first-grade boy with cigarettes.

Last year, a junior high student tried to kill himself as "he could not tolerate being bullied every day any longer".

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Shandong Province in eastern China will cease its preferential college admission policy for ethnic minority groups next year.

Sources with the provincial education department say senior high school students of ethnic minorities in the province will no longer enjoy a five-point bonus for the college entrance exam.

All Chinese mainland applicants to colleges and universities must take the annual college entrance exam. The points they receive from the highly competitive exam, plus any bonus points they qualify for according to certain policies, are the sole basis upon which Chinese colleges accept students.

The preferential policies, under which certain applicants can receive bonus points, are managed by each province, municipality or autonomous region where the applicant is based.

These policies usually reward offspring of certain people, for example the children of people who have made considerable contributions to society, or applicants with some outstanding achievements, including in sports.

In Shandong, China's third-largest provincial economy with almost 100 million people, ethnic minority applicants can get five-point bonuses in addition to their exam scores. An applicant can score no more than 750 on the exam.

Over 4,800 students enjoyed bonus points in Shandong last year, among whom over 4,400 were ethnic minorities.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing.

A Beijing health organization wants to change people's attitudes towards sex and gender diversity and has designated the "All Gender Toilets" across the city.

The Beijing Gender Health Education Institute says that notions of identity are fluid, and yet people still have gender segregation, most notably in toilets.

The institute launched the All Gender Toilets Program last month, and there are now around 30 all gender toilets in cafes, bars, and offices across the city.

The sign of the toilets depicts three images. The traditional male and female silhouettes are joined by an individual in a half dress, half trousers ensemble.

Related departments of the United Nations have lauded the initiative, the first of its kind in China.

The project manager Yang Gang hopes that the campaign will help the public disregard gender distinctions. Yang says the main purpose of the project is to encourage discussion. He says he hopes to see a change in people's awareness, behavior, and opinions on sex and gender diversity.

Yang and his team will release a map with locations of all the city's all gender toilets.

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A nationwide health campaign has been launched to improve chronic disease treatment in community health centers.

Under the program, health practitioners will receive training on the treatment of chronic illnesses including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and central nervous system diseases.

The program will cover 30,000 doctors from 8,500 community hospitals or clinics in 42 Chinese cities by 2020. It is expected to benefit 23 million people with the conditions.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing. You can access the program by logging on to newsplusradio.cn. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing us at [email protected]. That's [email protected]. Now the news continues.

China will launch its first Silk Road International Cultural Expo in September, with France being the guest of honor. The expo will be held in the city of Dunhuang in northwest China.

The event aims to promote exchanges among nations along the route of the ancient Silk Road, which is a China-led project to improve infrastructure and increase trade in the region.

The expo will feature conferences and ministerial meetings as well as cultural shows. So far, around 60 countries and five international organizations have had positive feedbacks on attending the event.

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The first Confucius post office has opened in Qufu, the hometown of the great educator and philosopher of China.

A 78th-generation descendent of Confucius, Kong Weike, has been named the honorary head of the post office. The post office was inaugurated on June 11th, China's Cultural Heritage Day.

Commemorative envelopes and stamps have been released. Visitors can buy and send Confucius-themed post cards at the office. Related books and literary works are on display at the office and on China Post's online store.

Confucius lived between 551 and 479 BC. He was the first person in China to set up private schools to educate children from poor families.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing.

A survey has found that the Great Wall in Beijing is the "most recognizable" cultural symbol of China. Bamboo and the word "harmony" came second and third in the list of Chinese symbols best known by people outside the country.

A report has been released by the Beijing Institute of Culture Innovation and Communication. It featured how people from overseas know about China. The survey picked more than a dozen most popular Chinese cultural symbols, including images, celebrities, ideas and art forms, for interviewees to choose from. The selected items included baijiu, which is clear liquor made from sorghum or other grains, the Kunqu Opera, and retired world tennis superstar Li Na.

The survey interviewed 3,000 people aged between 18 and 44 from 10 countries including Britain, the United States, Japan and South Africa.

The report said Chinese cultural symbols are becoming more and more popular among people around the world, especially, the young people.

According to the report, travel and communication are excellent ways to be exposed to Chinese culture, while the Internet, television programs, as well as families and friends are other sources for Chinese culture.

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China's box office earnings are expected to surpass that of the United States next year to claim the title of world's largest film market. That's according to a recent report by international accounting firm PwC.

The report forecasts that China's box office revenue will hit 10.3 billion U.S. dollars next year, while the United States is expected to ring up 10.1 billion U.S. dollars.

With a compounded average annual growth of 19 percent, China's box office takings are expected to hit 15 billion U.S. dollars by 2020.

The report estimates a whopping 49 billion U.S. dollars of box office earnings across the globe in 2020, with almost one third of it being generated in China.

Jiang Xiaoping, a PwC China partner, said the robust expansion of China's film industry is driving the global development.

According to predictions, revenue from advertising in the Chinese film industry will exceed 161 million U.S. dollars by 2020, and the average ticket price will climb to 6 dollars from the current 5 dollars.

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This is Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.

China has issued a guidance to ensure the entire poor population in rural China has access to basic medical care services that is close to the national average level.

The guideline has been released by 15 central government departments. It says the government will mobilize various social resources and take more precise measures to support the development of healthcare services in poor areas.

The healthcare-related poverty alleviation project is part of a national strategy to ensure that all people living below the poverty line in China climb out by 2020.

An estimated 56 million people in China lived in poverty in the rural areas as of last year. Around 44 percent of them became impoverished due to healthcare related expenses.

The poverty line stands at 2,800 yuan, roughly 425 U.S. dollars, per person per year.

A joint investigation will be launched nationwide to look into major factors that are responsible for rural poverty. The investigation will be carried out by health workers at grassroots levels, and will cover all households that fell into poverty due to healthcare expenses.

The investigation will be completed in July, and a record will be created for each family. A report will be filed to the central government, based on the investigation results. The move aims to help the authorities to provide financial aid to the poor accordingly.

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China's new supercomputing system, the Sunway-TaihuLight, has become the world's fastest computer at the International Supercomputing Conference in Germany.

The National Supercomputing Center has also been unveiled in Wuxi in east China's Jiangsu Province. The new-generation supercomputer is installed in a 1,000-square-meter computer room at the center.

With processing capacity of 125 Petaflops per second, it is the first supercomputer to achieve speeds in excess of 100 Petaflops per second. This means that the supercomputer is able to perform quadrillions of calculations per second at peak performance.

The capability of the supercomputer is provided by a China-developed many-core CPU chip, which measures just 25 square centimeters.

Scientists say it would take 7 billion people using electronic calculators 32 years, or 2 million desktop computers working together for one minute, to do the same calculation the supercomputer can solve in just 60 seconds.

The supercomputer is composed of almost 41,000 processors. In addition to its faster speed, the supercomputer is much more energy-efficient than its predecessor, the Tianhe-2. The Tianhe-2 remained the world's fastest supercomputer for the past six years.

Using the new supercomputer, one watt of electricity supports 6 billion calculations, cutting power consumption by two-thirds, compared with that of its predecessor.

Aided by the supercomputer's data storage and processing capabilities, a telescope can detect radio signals from tens of billions of light years away.

The application of supercomputer-based marine wave modeling is aiding the safeguarding of marine shipping by providing high-resolution ocean surface images and ocean forecasts.

In the life science and industrial spheres, supercomputers have greatly accelerated China's pace in developing medicine, new materials and advanced manufacturing.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.

Preferences for employment in Chinese college graduates have been changing in recent years as the country undergoes transformations in its economic and industrial structure.

A recent survey found that knowledge-intensive industries including information, education and healthcare are hiring more college graduates, while labor-intensive industries, including architecture and manufacturing, are losing their appeal to job hunters.

The survey, entitled College Graduates' Employment Annual Report, polled more than 250,000 college students who graduated last year.

Experts say that industrial upgrading has resulted in the need for workers with higher education.

For example, information technology is leading the current industrial upgrade in China and has become an engine of economic growth. As a result, the proportion of graduates who chose to work in media, information and telecommunication rose two percentage points last year, compared with 2010.

Experts say the employment preference serves as a barometer, helping decision-makers to differentiate fast-developing emerging industries from those that are declining or facing challenges.

The report also found that small and medium-sized private companies and enterprises, as employers, are gaining increasing favor from college graduates, compared with State-owned enterprises or their transnational counterparts.

It said that the employment rate of college graduates has remained stable despite the slowing economy.

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Like in the United States, knowledge of robots will likely become an integral part of school education in China in the near future, if some forward-thinking technology firms have their way.

Already, STEM, an acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, is part of an inter-disciplinary approach that marks school education in developed countries.

The United States is the leader in this respect. The US government allocated 240 million US dollars of funds last year to promote STEM-centric education. The total investment in this sector has so far reached 1 billion dollars.

Sui Shaolong is chief operating officer of RoboTerra, an educational robotics company located in Silicon Valley in the US. Sui said that compared with the traditional education model, school education that includes robotics in the curriculum allows students to learn how to analyze and solve problems. Building or assembling a robot strengthens students' skills and sharpens their thinking ability in terms of space and structure.

He said designing and writing the robot's programs helps to develop students' logical thinking ability; and team work enhances their interpersonal communication and the ability to cooperate.

RoboTerra has already provided one-stop solutions for robot-based curricula and STEM-centric education in dozens of schools in Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. You can access the program by logging on to newsplusradio.cn. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing us at [email protected]. That's [email protected]. Now the news continues.

While excavators dismantled the synthetic surface of the playground at the Baiyunlu campus of Beijing No.2 Experimental Primary School, a group of parents carried out checks at the site, despite the noise of machinery, the swirling dust and the stench of plastic debris.

Like the surface of the playground, the parents' trust in the school and local educational authority has been shredded as a result of a recent health scare related to the facility. That's according to one parent, the mother of a fourth-grader at the school, who preferred not to be named.

She is one of dozens of parents who claim their children were poisoned by toxic substances emitted by a synthetic running track built last year. They cited a range of symptoms including nosebleeds, coughs and skin allergies that have affected at least 40 students since April.

She said removing the running surface is easy but she doubts whether the authorities are determined to dig deep enough to uncover the real reasons for the controversy and find those who should be held accountable.

The claims followed a number of incidents in which students were found t obe feeling unwell after exposure to potentially toxic artificial sports fields at schools in at least 15 cities across China.

However, on June 14, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission announced that a follow-up air quality test conducted by the China National Environmental Monitoring Center indicated that the campus facilities adhered to the quality standards for national environmental monitoring and synthetic playgrounds.

Six parents' representatives witnessed the tests, along with a third-party notary agency. However, some parents remained skeptical about the results.

The Beijing Education Commission has ordered an inspection into all synthetic sports fields in Beijing's schools. It has suspended construction of new playgrounds until new guidelines are released.

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A dog meat festival in Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has been held as before, but the scale has been greatly reduced, thanks to the local government's pledge to take action against public slaughter of dogs.

Peter Li, a China policy specialist at Humane Society International, has visited the festival in Yulin County for the past three years. He said the atmosphere there this year was more peaceful than previous festival.

Li said he hardly saw any abuse or slaughtering in the street, and it is neither a nightmare nor a festival.

In response to Hong Kong legislator Michael Tien Puk-sun's petition to end the festival, the local government promised to ban dog slaughter in public and to check the health certificates of dogs transported from outside.

Food safety and the problem of stolen pet dogs are the major objections against the annual event.

The festival is held in the county around the summer solstice, a day on the Chinese lunar calendar after which the hottest days of the year are expected. In recent years, the festival has been shrinking in scale due to pressure both domestic and from abroad.

According to Humane Society International, a notorious dog slaughtering peak was seen around 2012 and 2013, when more than 10,000 dogs were killed in three days. The number dropped to 2,000 last year.

Ever since the festival became a lightning rod for criticisms in 2012, the local government has said little beyond reiterating that there is no "organized festival" and it's just a local people's gathering event.

A local publicity official also said that dog meat is a valid food choice in the local area, but not a habit as some activists put it. The official said the local government has made efforts to address public concerns over food security and the safety of pet dogs. However, he said that there is no legal basis to forbid people from eating the animal's meat.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.

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This is Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing. Here is the news.

The employment rate for Chinese college graduates remains stable, with more graduates employed by private enterprises.

A recent survey shows that the employment rate of college graduates last year was 92 percent, basically flat compared with that in 2014 and 2013.

The survey was conducted by education research company MyCOS Institute.

Breaking the numbers down, 92 percent of university graduates and 91 percent of graduates from junior colleges and higher vocational schools found jobs.

Some 250,000 college graduates in 30 provincial-level regions on the mainland were interviewed six months after they graduated last year.

Of that number, 60 percent were employed by private firms, up 5 percentage points than two years before, while the employment rates in state-owned enterprises, foreign-owned companies and joint ventures dropped.

More graduates are starting their own businesses, with 3 percent registering as self-employed last year. Most graduates secured start-up funding from their parents, relatives, friends or personal savings.

Industries including education, medicare, media, information and communications hired more graduates, while construction and hardware manufacturing sectors employed less.

The survey also covered some 41,000 employees who graduated from college in 2012. Their average monthly income was 5,700 yuan, roughly 870 U.S. dollars. That is an 87 percent more than what they earned three years ago.

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A survey shows that Chinese parents are having their children learn English earlier than before.

English has been introduced in primary schools, but more and more parents are starting their children on the second language before the age of five.

Almost 70 percent of the 2,000 respondents said their own children or children they know started learning English before the age of five. A major reason is that most Chinese parents have the fixation on giving children an early advantage.

Another reason is that parents believe it is more effective to cultivate children's language skills at an early age.

Many parents send their kids to early childhood English-language learning institutions, though they can be pricey. Some 39 percent of respondents said parents pay between 10,000 and 20,000 yuan annually to such institutions. That's roughly 1,500 to 3,000 US dollars.

Learning institutions with native English-speaking teachers can charge higher prices.

Yet not all parents have faith in such institutions, as more than 20 percent of the total said they have seen little effect on children's learning. An education expert at Southwest University said it is more important for children to have the freedom to develop their own interest.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing.

China is set to invest 6.6 trillion yuan, roughly one trillion U.S. dollars, on developing low-carbon cities in the next five years.

The money will be mainly spent on developing low-carbon buildings, green transportation system and clean energy to meet China's low-carbon ambitions outlined in the Five-Year Plan.

The majority of the investment, around 4.5 trillion yuan, will go to build or upgrade energy-efficient and environmentally friendly railways, buses and other infrastructures.

Around 1.7 trillion yuan is needed to finance construction of green buildings or reconstruction of existing residential and commercial properties so that they conserve more energy.

A chief economist with the Chinese central bank said the sums of money needed for this work are too great to be covered by the government alone. China needs to turn to specialist financing like issuing green bonds to introduce more private support.

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China has released a remote sensing report, detailing ecological information related to land cover, vegetation, agricultural conditions and marine environment on a global scale.

The report has been compiled by the National Remote Sensing Center under the Ministry of Science and Technology. It has covered a land area of more than 56 million square kilometers and more than 22 million square kilometers in sea area.

In particular, the report included environmental data of countries covered by the China-proposed "Belt and Road" initiative.

The report highlighted the China-Central Asia-West Asia economic corridor. It showed that the arid environment in China's Xinjiang and Kazakhstan is extremely fragile and water resource must be a top consideration when formulating economic and urbanization policies.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing.

An exhibition of Chinese technological wonders including the world's fastest computer is China's latest move to make science and technology seem less remote from people's lives.

The showcase of domestic achievements in the past five years has concluded in Beijing after wowing crowds since June 1.

The event featured more than 800 items in such fields including intelligent driving, deep-sea diving and robot surgeons.

A science enthusiast said he used to see moon landings in foreign blockbusters only. The exhibition shows that China has grasped cutting-edge technology as well. Another visitor and his 8-year-old son were overwhelmed by the return capsule of an unmanned lunar orbiter retrieved from Inner Mongolia in November 2014.

In the other corner of the exhibition, the Tianhe-2 supercomputer attracted a large crowd. The Tianhe-2, or literally, the "Milky Way-2", can operate at almost 34 petaflops per second. That is an equivalent of almost 34,000 trillion calculations per second.

The supercomputer can handle high levels of analyzing, computing and processing. It has been used in national priority projects covering energy, bioscience, pollution control and high-speed railway design.

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China has published information of eight typical cases solved during a special campaign to crack down on piracy and online pornography to ensure the healthy development of young people.

The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications launched the campaign in February. The campaign targets the production, sale and distribution of illegal publications and online content that could affect juveniles.

In one of the eight cases, police in east China's Zhejiang Province found 27 suspects who spread pornography for profit in online chat groups. Some of the suspects were minors. The groups on chat service QQ had more than 600 members, the majority of whom were minors.

In another case, police uncovered suspects selling obscene videos via cloud storage services. The primary suspect in the case was a juvenile.

In other cases, police cracked down the illegal printing and sale of pirated books for children. Production and storage sites and illegal bookstores have been shut down.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing. You can access the program by logging on to newsplusradio.cn. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing us at [email protected]. That's [email protected]. Now the news continues.

When David Gulasi decided to leave Sydney for a teaching position in China more than five years ago, he never imagined that he would become an online celebrity.

More than 730,000 followers track his Weibo account, and his videos have accrued thousands upon thousands of likes.

Thirty-three-year-old Gulasi accepted a teaching role in Hohhot in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region in 2010, and hasn't looked back since. He said he was supposed to be there for only three months.

He is now the managing director of the New World Language School in the region, and while he is popular with his own students, his viral videos on social media platform Weibo have attracted attention from across China.

Gulasi has always tried to do something to make people laugh. He used to do stand-up comedy in Australia at the Sydney Comedy Club.

Gulasi says he uses a lot of comedy and humor to teach his students because in China, education is way too serious.

He was tipped off about Weibo by a friend in China. His first video that attracted immense Chinese attention was posted in January. After he uploaded the video in the evening, he had around 50 followers; and by the following morning, he had 120,000 followers.

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On June 1 Children's Day, the Shanghai Children's Hospital received a special festival gift, a payment of 6,600 yuan, roughly 1,000 US dollars, for an overdue medical bill dating back to the 1960s.

Zheng Bin was two years old when he was admitted to the hospital for a hernia.

The treatment cost 220 yuan and a coupon worth 2.5 kilograms of grain. But like most Chinese families at the time, Zheng's parents could not afford the fees. The bill was left unpaid when he was discharged from the hospital.

For decades, the medical bill has never been brought up.

It wasn't until recently when Zheng and his brothers sifted through their late mother's belongings and stumbled across the reminder note. Zheng decided to pay the overdue bill.

While the hospital said they would accept only the original sum, Zheng and his brothers insisted on repaying the debt plus interest, as much as 30 times the original cost. In addition, the brothers each donated 2,000 yuan to help sick children in the hospital.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing.

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The State Council, China's cabinet, has decided to introduce new measures to better protect vulnerable children in China.

The decision was made during a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang.

Li said Children living in extremely difficult circumstances need special care and protection; and the government should work to build a safety net to better protect them.

He was referring to children who endure harsh living conditions because of poverty, health problems or lack of parental custody. Major problems that these children face include severe poverty as well as a lack of medical treatment and education.

A document circulated at the meeting introduced specific requirements for central ministries and local governments to provide comprehensive assistance to these children. Such efforts will include providing financial aid and special medical care coverage.

Local governments are urged to fully implement compulsory education and guarantee that children's guardians fulfill their custodial responsibilities.

The premier said protecting children in difficult conditions is an important part of China's efforts to build a moderately prosperous society, as well as a social safety net that leaves no one unprotected.

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The Ministry of Education has told departments and schools to check their stocks of inflammable and explosive chemicals.

Education departments will check research institutions, teaching laboratories, storehouses and other sites with hazardous chemicals. Oil and gas pipelines, electric grids and other areas will also be checked.

The ministry said risks found should be rectified and emergence plans made. Safety facilities, personal protective equipment and other safety facilities should be put in place and fully operational.

The ministry told local departments and schools to carry out fire control checks on a regular basis, as well as a fire control education and drill.

You are listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.

The World Health Organization and leading health experts in China are calling for the country to follow the global trend and promote plain packaging and graphic warnings on cigarette packs to reduce tobacco use.

The organization's call for all countries to prepare for plain, or standardized, packaging of tobacco products came as Beijing marked the first anniversary of an anti-smoking law, and World No Tobacco Day, which fell on May 31.

Bernhard Schwartlander, the organization's representative in China, said plain packaging is an evidence-based measure that can save lives and protect public health. Plain packaging makes tobacco products less attractive, stops tobacco companies using the pack as a marketing tool, and increases the effectiveness of health warnings.

Schwartlander said the World Health Organization recommends plain packaging as part of a comprehensive approach to tobacco control, and it works best alongside other tobacco-control measures, including comprehensive anti-smoking laws, and bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

The ThinkTank Research Center for Health Development is an NGO in Beijing that is committed to tobacco control. The center said China lags behind many other countries in promoting plain packaging and graphic warnings; and the country must take action right now.

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More than 2,000 industrial firms will have to move out of a Beijing district as the authorities push to improve the natural environment for what will be the city's new administrative center.

The Tongzhou District announced that industrial campuses, processing plants and stud farms are among the entities that will have to relocate.

Tongzhou district, which is around 40 minutes' drive from the center of Beijing, was designated a subsidiary administrative center for the city municipality last year as part of measures to tackle overcrowding in the capital.

Almost 800 companies have already closed, and production halt orders have been issued to 300 polluting plants. The district plans to remove all polluting and low-end industries by the end of next year.

Tongzhou District is also cleaning up its waterways and planting more trees, in an effort to increase the greenery coverage rate to 51 percent by 2020.

You are listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.

Five Beijing police officers involved in a high-profile case in which a 29-year-old man died after being taken into custody in early May have been placed under investigation.

The prosecuting body in Changping district has filed a case and conducted an investigation into the police officers.

Lei Yang died on May 7 around an hour after he was detained on suspicion of soliciting prostitution.

Beijing Public Security Bureau said in a previous statement that Lei was uncooperative when he was stopped by plainclothes officers at a foot massage salon at 9 pm. Lei resisted arrest, bit a police officer, knocked a video camera over and attempted to escape before being handcuffed. He was taken to a hospital at 10 pm and was pronounced dead 50 minutes later.

On May 19, the municipal top prosecuting authority delivered the case to the district's prosecuting body after Lei's wife applied for prosecutors to investigate the police officers involved in the incident.

In its previous statement, the public security bureau said it would respect any investigation and would not attempt to shield any officers if misconduct was uncovered.

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This is Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing. Here is the news.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says China has demonstrated great leadership and made a remarkable commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Ban made the remark in a recorded video statement for a symposium in Nyingchi in Tibet. He says he is pleased that China has pledged to eradicate poverty in the country by 2020, increase south-south cooperation, and focus on action to tackle climate change.

The secretary-general says China's 13th Five-Year Plan has integrated the 2030 Agenda in the country's overall social, economic and environmental planning; and he welcomes China's continued leadership to achieve the 2030 Agenda both at home and globally.

The 2030 Agenda is a people-centered, universal, transformative and integrated plan. It recognizes that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with economic growth and addressing a range of social needs, while tackling climate change.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a video message that China will follow the path of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development, and work with the rest of the world to advance the 2030 Agenda. He calls on countries to identify major tasks in economy, society and environment.

The event brought together over 100 high-level participants to brainstorm on how equitable, open, all-around and innovative approaches can be promoted in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.

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Major internet portal Baidu says it will gradually close its online literature forum over concerns of piracy.

Baidu says it has set up two channels to accept tipoffs from the public, adding that it will remove pirated content within 12 hours from Baidu Tieba, the largest Chinese communication platform.

The move came in response to news reports in late March. Xinhua News Agency accused Baidu Tieba of being the biggest source of pirated literature online.

An official from the National Copyright Administration of China said it endorsed Baidu's move, adding that the administration was taking the matter very seriously.

China has launched inter-departmental special campaigns against online piracy for 11 consecutive years. A new campaign will be launched this year, focusing on piracy of online literature.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing.

China's industry watchdog, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, has released its strictest real-name registration rules for mobile phone users.

The measures aim to have 95 percent of all mobile phone users in China registered with a real name by the end of this year, and 100 percent before July 30, 2017.

It also requires telecommunication companies to notify users to finish the process. Those who fail to register with a real name, or whose registration information is incomplete, will have their phone numbers suspended or deactivated.

Officials said the measures will help fight terrorism and safeguard national security and social stability.

Major telecom carriers in China said they are carrying out real-name registration and will firmly implement the system. Real-name registration was put into effect in 2013 by China Mobile Communications, China United Network Communications Group and China Telecommunications Corporation.

Forty million people have redone their registration since last year, and 92 percent of phone users across the country are covered. There are still 100 million users who haven't completed the process.

The ministry said that by the end of April, more than 140,000 phone numbers that relate to telecom fraud have been shut down.

This is Special English.

As the summer season begins, tourist destinations across China are increasing police presence to ensure any crimes or disputes are dealt with in a timely manner.

The increased presence follows a similar campaign last year, which was launched to handle disputes over forced shopping, exorbitant food prices and illegal vendors.

Police officers have been dispatched across resorts, parks and major scenic spots in Southwest China's Yunan Province to prepare for summer travel rush. Tourist visits to the province exceeded 300 million last year, generating 320 billion yuan in revenue.

Despite China's booming tourist market, complains about dishonest or poor service abound. Disputes between consumers and merchants sometimes escalate into violence without timely intervention by authorities.

The tourism police will respond to any complaints and coordinate with other regulatory bodies to address illegal activities.

Zhang Peng-fei is a tourist who traveled from northeast China to southwest Yunnan's Xishuangbanna prefecture. He says it is psychologically reassuring to know there are cops to watch out for travellers.

Zhang added that during his travels he had filed complaints but the authorities had not responded immediately, and this had disrupted his travel plans.

Police based in Xishuangbanna since March this year have already uncovered a fake-liquor scheme in the tropical resort.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing.

Here is a piece of good news for those who are tired of traffic jams and exhaust fumes. A recently unveiled design concept for "straddling buses" can allow cars to drive underneath. In addition to save road space, the new invention can also help control air pollution.

Also known as a land airbus, the concept was the brainchild of the Beijing-based Transit Explore Bus, who took the design to the just-concluded high-tech expo in the city.

The passenger compartment of the straddling bus spans two traffic lanes and sits high above the road surface on a pair of stilts, leaving the road clear for ordinary cars to pass underneath.

Regardless of whether the bus is moving or not, vehicles within 2 meters high can easily pass through.

Running along special tracks, the bus can carry up to 1,400 passengers, and travel at a top speed of 60 kilometers per hour.

The chief engineer of the straddling bus says that furthermore, the bus is environmentally friendly because it is powered by electricity.

A number of Chinese cities have shown interest in the product. The developers hope that the invention will help ease traffic congestion and reduce air pollution in China.

This is Special English.

（全文见周六微信。）

Interview with Michael Chen from Beijing Comic Convention

Have manga, anemie, comics, game been part of your childhood or youth years? Or does it still remain something close to heart today? On June the 9th and 10th, the Beijing comic convention will kick off.

Michael Chen, representing the organizers of Beijing Comic-convention, joins the Round Table show.

用声音，在一起