This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing. Here is the news.

A top economic planner says although China has made great efforts in cutting emissions and energy use, it still faces serious challenges due to its development pattern and poor technology.

Some areas and departments have paid inadequate attention to the issue, and the development pattern is still extensive, rather than intensive. Xu Shaoshi, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, says in addition, China needs a stronger policy mechanism.

The official has filed a report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the top legislature. The report says that energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP last year has dropped by around 10 percent from the level of 2010. But this is still far from the targets.

China's target for emission cuts and energy savings for the period between 2011 and 2015 is that energy consumption per unit of GDP should drop 16 percent and carbon dioxide emission should drop by 17 percent from the level of 2010.

This is NEWS Plus Special English.

Duke Kunshan University, a Sino-American joint venture university in east China's Jiangsu Province, will officially open in August.

The university, in the city of Kunshan, was jointly created by U.S.-based Duke University and Wuhan University in Hubei Province in central China.

Duke Kunshan University plans to enroll the first 100 students, including 50 Chinese, offering master's degree programs in global health, medical physics and management studies. Graduates will be granted degrees from Duke University.

In addition, the university will also provide non-degree courses for undergraduate students. Those who complete the program will receive Duke University course credit that can be transferred to other degree-granting institutions.

Top Chinese universities, including Peking University and Tsinghua University in Beijing and Fudan University in Shanghai, have signed agreements with Duke Kunshan to select excellent undergraduates to attend the non-degree program. Some of them have already received certificates of admission.

Chinese students will need to pay 240,000 yuan, or about 39,000 U.S. dollars for a graduate degree from the university. Although the cost is lower than studying overseas, it is still big sum of money for most Chinese families.

You are listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing.

While many Chinese parents send their children to schools overseas under the pressure of an exam-oriented educational system in the country, a growing number of foreigners are discovering the merits of Chinese education.

Despite high tuition fees and complicated admission procedures, Aron Ma, a Chinese-American from New York, has decided to send his two granddaughters to a kindergarten in Beijing in order to learn Chinese.

Ma says as Chinese descendants, children should be able to speak their mother tongue.

Ma says China is undergoing a historical transformation that can provide opportunities to people around the world.

Similarly, Wang, a former visiting professor at Yale University who holds a U.S. green card, came back to China with his family three years ago. His six-year-old son finished kindergarten in Shanghai, and has entered a primary school in Beijing.

Wang said traditional Chinese education fosters discipline and a sense of collectivism; and he fears his child would become self-indulgent under Western education, which emphasizes freedom and individualism.

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