点击收听

China to Invest to Contain River Pollution...China to Start Anti-Dumping Investigation on Optical Fiber...China's GDP Expected to Hit 8 Percent Despite SARS...Movie Ratings Debate Hits the Big Screen 
 
China's State Environmental Protection Administration says the government will invest some 120 billion yuan, or more than 14 billion US dollars, into measures to curb pollution in some of the country's major rivers.

It says the aim of the project is to improve the water quality in rivers and lakes, and bring the water pollution under control.******

China' Ministry of Commerce declares it has started anti-dumping investigation on the dispersion unshifted single-mode optical fibre imported from the US, Japan and South Korea.

According to China's anti-dumping laws, the ministry will investigate the product's impact on domestic industries over a period of twelve months.

The investigation was initiated at the request of two domestic optical fibre manufacturers.

This type of optical fibre is the most widely-used in the world.******

China's economy is still on course to achieve an 8 percent increase in GDP this year, despite the impact of SARS.

According to the latest report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the negative impact of SARS on China's economy will not exceed one percentage point of economic growth.

But the report reduced the original forecast from 8.6 percent to eight percent.

The report said that the influence of SARS on China's social and economic development will be a lot less severe than that of the Asian financial crisis in 1997. It will also be easier to overcome than that crisis and the September 11th incident in the United States in 2001.

The report says the short term influence of SARS will first appear in some service industries, causing a deficiency in demand and a reduction in income. The reduction of export orders and contracted foreign capital will also bring a negative impact on China's economy, and the pressure caused by SARS on China's economy cannot be ignored, however small it is.******

Anchor: A proposal to ban children from watching violent, sexually explicit or other similar type of movies at the cinema has provoked a hot debate in China.

China's migrant workers are sick of the pressure of wedding ceremonies. Xu Fei takes a closer look in today's Press Clippings.

Xu Fei: Most people involved in the movie business agree that establishing a rating system for children is imperative. The system is expected to protect youngsters from graphic sex and violence on screen.

For example, screenwriter Wang Xingdong has proposed that the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television rate movies according to three categories - all ages admitted, 15 years and over only admitted, and 18 years and over admitted.

Meanwhile, famous film directors, such as Zhang Yimou and Feng Xiaogang, also back the proposal, saying the rating system will protect artists' creative freedom.

However, the China Daily reports a hot debate has been provoked since the classification system may not actually stop children from watching the films which could have a bad influence on them.

A mother complained to the newspaper suggesting that the system may not be effective as it won't use force to punish the profit-driven theatres which sell tickets to youngsters for the restricted movies.

In March 1989, a circular was issued ruling that some movies should be classified as "not suitable for juveniles."
However, many cinema owners claimed ignorance of the circular. Instead, the movies categorized as unsuitable for children often advertised the rating, earning bigger box office returns.

Weddings should be a happy experience for new couples, but an article on the Xinhuanet notes it may not be true for some newly weds who are kept constantly on the run with endless wedding ceremonies and banquets.

For migrant workers, if husband and wife come from different places, a new couple has to host at least three wedding ceremonies, in their work place with colleagues and in the bridegroom's and bride's hometowns respectively to mark what the Chinese people consider a "lifetime occasion".

A sociologist with the Northwest Normal University pointed out that the urban drifting group or upwardly mobile people with their free lifestyle of enjoying a better income and all that comes with it, still cannot shun from the tradition of Chinese wedding ceremonies.

The key to this problem, he suggested, is a change of ideas. That is, couples need to marry for their own mutual commitment instead of for show and for people around them. Then they would be free to choose a happy and easy way to get married instead of being bound by tradition.

However, the sociologist added only after such an idea has been acknowledged by the general public can the upwardly mobile group truly feel free about their love and weddings.

With rapid social and economic development, moving for work has become a trend in China, and especially since the 1980s and 1990s, more young people have managed to leave their homes to seek a fortune in more promising big cities through higher education.