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"Stay-behind children" need education and guidance September 23 – The number of juvenile dilingquents have leapt by 13% every year since 2000, many of them being stay-behind children, the children of migrant workers. "More and more juvenile delinquents in China are involved in violent acts or mafia activities, besides, quite a large number of them have used intelligent methods when committing offences, " said Shao Wenhong, the director of the research laboratory of the Supreme People’s Court.Currently there are 150 million migrant workers nationwide, who leave 29.9 million children back home. Without proper guardianship and family education, it is easy for stay-behind children to be misguided by bad information from the society. (Chinanews, Nanchang)   China warned of risks of imbalanced sex ratio, aging society Aug. 24, 2007 - Sex ratio for newborns aged zero to four had reached 163.5 boys to 100 girls by the end of 2005 in Lianyungang, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province. A total of 99 cities had sex ratios higher than 125 and the national average figure reached 119 in 2005. ..China's working population, men in the 16-59 year age bracket and women in the 16-54 age bracket, will peak at 932 million by 2013 and stand at around 930 million by 2020, the CFPA said, noting finding enough jobs for them is an important and arduous task. People aged above 60 now accounted for more than 11 percent of the total population and will grow to 16.1 percent by 2020, which means the government will have to support 234 million aged people by that time and meet serious challenges in social security, social welfare and service. (Click the title of this news for full coverage.)   'Wife shortage' to hit nation in 2020s Today's boys may face a major problem when they become tomorrow's men - they will find it very difficult to get hitched, simply because there won't be enough women. Sociologists are calling for swift measures to be taken to address the nation's growing gender ratio imbalance. China now has 37 million more males than females, the People's Daily reported on Friday, without giving the source. And the number of males below the age of 15 is 18 million more than females in the same age group, the report said. (Click for full report on ChinaDaily.net)

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• China staggers under soaring grocery bills. The Globe and Mail. Nov.14 -- The food crunch
  -- 55%. PORK: Prices soared after farmers cut production because of increased feed costs and outbreaks of blue ear disease, which killed 70,000 animals and prompted the government to destroy thousands more.
  -- 34% EDIBLE OILS: Three people were killed last week in a stampede for cut-price cooking oil in Chongqing. Prices for edible oils have risen on reduced oil seed crops.
  -- 30% VEGETABLES: Bad weather has led to poor vegetable crops and pushed up prices. Rising food costs threaten to fan unrest, spur wage demands and undermine the stability of an economy that grew 11.5 per cent in the third quarter.
• World's tallest man holds traditional wedding ceremony
  The world’s tallest man, 56-year-old Bao Xishun, holds his bride’s hand during a traditional wedding ceremony on Thursday, July 12, 2007, in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.(Click the title of this news for full report and pictures.)
   
• Official: Single-child parents in China can have second child
  July 10, 2007 - A Chinese spokesman confirmed on Tuesday that in all Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, except for Henan Province, couples in which both parents are only children can themselves give birth to two children. (Click the title of this news for full report.)
   
• China has 162 mln Internet users
  July 19, 2007 - The number of Internet users in China hit an estimated 162 million by the end of June, with nearly 100 people a minute going online for the first time, the China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) announced on Wednesday. (Click the title of this news for full report.)
   
• 715 people killed in natural disasters so far this year
  July 19, 2007 - China''s death toll from natural disasters is 715 so far this year, and 129 people are missing, the Ministry of Civil Affairs reported on Thursday. The figures compiled to July 16 also showed 200 million people were affected by natural disasters, including floods, landslides, droughts, gales, snowstorms and earthquakes, while 4.45 million people were forced to leave their homes. (Click the title of this news for full report.)
   
• China has 37 million more males than females
  July 10, 2007 - China has become the most imbalanced country in gender ratio of newborn babies in the world. This period of imbalance is also the longest time in the world. In 2005, the ratio between newborn girls and boys was 100:118.88, far from the average ratio of 100 to 104-107. In Jiangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Anhui and Hunan provinces, the ratio is even higher- 100:130. (Click title of this news for full report.)

In 2005, the ratio between newborn girls and boys was 100:118.88, far from the average ratio of 100 to 104-107. In Jiangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Anhui and Hunan provinces, the ratio is even higher- 100:130.

• Freelance -- fact and fiction about freedom and fun, July 17, 2007

• 70 pct of Chinese women content with their lives: survey China's newly-weds spend 125,000 yuan (about 16,000 U.S. dollars)

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• Woman tops rich list after IPO
  hina Daily, April 20, 2007 -A 25-year-old woman became the richest person on the mainland on Friday following the debut of the Country Garden Holdings Co. Ltd on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Huiyan Yang saw her wealth surged to HK$66.64 billion (yuan) after the Guangdong-based giant property developer opened at HK$7.01 per share in the Hong Kong stock exchange, an increase of 36 per cent over the IPO price of HK$5.38. (Click for full coverage.)
   

• Forbes Cancels China Philanthropy List
  US magazine Forbes announced last Tuesday that it will cancel the China Philanthropy List this year and gave no timetable for resumption.Forbes compiled its first China Rich List in 1999, the first of its kind in China, and has released the China Philanthropy List annually since 2004.Ms. Zhang Xiaohua, marketing director for Forbes China, attributed the cancellation to the immaturity of charity in China, Chongqing Business News reported."Chinese entrepreneurs haven't reached a consensus on charity and therefore it is immature to make such a list," she said.Traditionally, Chinese people don't want to show off their wealth, so entrepreneurs seldom publicize their donations. (Click for full report.)
   

• Women gain more say in China's politics
  Xinhua News, May 15, 2007 - Chinese women have more say in politics, with more than 200 of them now in positions of the governors, cabinet ministers or holding posts equivalent to that level. The proportion of female officials at various levels of government and state institutions has been raised to 40 percent, said Huang Qingyi, vice-president and first secretary of the Secretariat of All-China Women's Federation, at a press conference on Tuesday. "The participation of women in politics has increased enormously," Huang said, noting that currently there are nine female "state leaders" -- a term described people with a post equal to or above the vice-premier level. These important females include Wu Yi, vice-premier and Political Bureau member of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, He Luli, Gu Xiulian and Uyunqimg, all vice-chairwomen of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, or top legislature, and Chen Zhili, State Councilor. Five women have been promoted to state leaders in less than six years since 2001, Huang added. At the end of 2005, there were 241 women in the ministerial posts across China, which means they are key decision-makers in a province and ministry, or equally important state agencies.
   

• Average urban marriage cost hits 560,000
  China Daily, April 20, 2007 - The average wedding cost in urban China hits a record of 560,000 yuan (US$72,572), and young couples are heavily depending on parents' financial aids to pave the way for their marriages, reported the Jiefang Daily Friday. The 560,000 yuan is based on some 60,000 valid questionnaires of a recent survey conducted by the Committee of China Wedding Expo. According the survey, the wedding related expense, honeymoon, new house and car are prime contributors to the soaring marriage cost in the urban area. (Click for full report.)
   

• Only 1% Shanghai Residents Want to Be Blue-collars
  CRI April 9, 2007 - A recent survey in eastern China's Shanghai municipality showed only 1% of the interviewed would like to be blue-collars. Xinhua News Agency reported the survey covered 4,000 local households. Most people preferred to seek posts in the government or at government-run institutions, monopolies, banks and insurance companies. "The figure shows that Chinese people are still greatly affected by traditional values in job hunting. It also indicates there are problems in the government's work in human resources development," said Lin Zeyan, an official with the human resources department under the development research center of the State Council.
   

• Housing, Medicine, Jobs -- Chinese Dreams for 2007
  Xinhua News, Jan. 2, 2007 - Four years working as a white-collar worker in China's largest city of Shanghai, Liu Xiaoqiang feels he's far from being able to afford his own apartment there. He makes 5,000 yuan (US$640) a month as an IT engineer, but that's only half the average price for a square meter of housing in downtown Shanghai. When Liu finished college study in 2002, he had vowed to buy an apartment in three years at most so that his parents would leave their countryside home in central Hubei Province and live with him. "They spent up their savings to finance my education through college while other villagers had moved into bigger houses," said Liu. "I just hope houses in Shanghai would be more affordable for home buyers like me." A recent survey made by the Shanghai government shows 33 percent of the new settlers in the city think they'd need at least10 years of hard work to buy an apartment, 32 percent said they would need six to 10 years and 20 percent said five years. (Click for full report)
   

• China fires official for having too many children
  China Daily, Apr. 9, 2007 - China's Communist Party has fired a local official for having too many children -- both with his wife and a mistress -- in violation of strict family planning policies, a state newspaper said on Monday. Qin Huaiwen, who headed a construction bureau in Yulin in the northwestern province of Shaanxi, had three daughters with his wife and a son and a daughter by his mistress, who was almost 20 years his junior, the Beijing News said. Most urban Chinese couples are only allowed to have one child. One of his daughters by his wife was registered as being his wife's sister's, while the two children he had with his mistress took their mother's surname and lived with their grandparents, the report said. The family ties only came to light after the mistress began complaining about a lack of child support and her second-rate position to Qin's wife, the newspaper added. Qin denied his mistress' children were related to him, but DNA tests proved otherwise, it said. Qin was also charged with adultery, and was expelled from the party as well as losing his job, it said.
   

• China's family planning policy helps prevent 400 million births by 2005
  Xinhua News, May 3, 2006 - The family planning policy has helped China prevent 400 million births by the end of 2005, Zhang Weiqing, minister in charge of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, has said. In an interview with "Qiushi" (Seeking Truth From Facts) magazine, he said thanks to hard efforts in the past three decades, China has curbed fast population growth and recorded low birth rate, reducing 300 million births by 1998 and 400 million births by 2005. Government statistics show that there are 1.8 children for a Chinese couple on average, while the number of children for each couple came to six in the early 1970s when the family planning policy was just introduced. The 400 million births, if not prevented, would postpone China's drive to build a well-off society, said Zhang. Such an achievement should be recognized as many developed countries spent over a century before reaching low birth rates, he said.
   

• 30% of couples abandon sex for stress
  China Daily, April 2, 2007 - With constant pressure from families and careers, a staggering 30 percent of middle-aged couples give up on sex, according to a new survey. The survey, the first of its kind to measure intimacy between middle-aged couples in China, was conducted by American pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly Company and the Beijing-based China Population Communication Center. Interviewing 32,906 people in 10 big cities including Beijing and Guangzhou, the poll found that middle-aged couples in the Chinese mainland seldom communicate in their daily life, and often rate their sex lives poorly. (Click for full coverage.)
   

• Population hits 1.30756 bln by 2005: Survey
  People's Daily, Mar. 17, 2006 - The National Bureau of Statistics released Thursday the results of a 1 percent sample census conducted in 2005. At 0am Nov.1, 2005 China's population in 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government and active army was 1.30628 billion (excluding those in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan). Prediction based on the results shows that China's population would hit 1.30756 billion by the end of 2005 (excluding those in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan). (Click for full report)
   

• China Population Data (2000 Census): 

News Link: China adheres to family planning policy: Premier Wen
Dec. 28, 2006 - The Chinese government will adhere to the basic policy of family planning with improved services and stronger leadership, said Premier Wen Jiabao at a national conference. Family planning was crucial to China's modernization and the building of a harmonious society, Wen told the national conference on population and family planning held on Tuesday and Wednesday. (Click for full report)

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• Other China Population Data:

  Year	Total Population	Urban Population	Rural Population
  1995	1.2112 billion
  1996	1.2239 billion	359.5 million (29.4%)	864.39 million (70.6%)
  1997	1.2363 billion	369.89 million (29.9%)	866.37 million (70.1%)
  1998	1.2481 billion
  1999	1.2591 billion	388.92 million (30.9%)	870.17 million (69.1%)
  2000	1.29533 billion	36%	64%

   

  Year	Birth Rate (Per Thousand)	Death Rate (per thousand)	Natural Growth Rate (per thousand)
  1970	33.43		25.83
  1995	17.12	6.57
  1996	16.98	6.56	10.42
  1997	16.57	6.51	10.06
  1998	16.30	6.50	9.53
  1999	15.23	5.97	8.77
  2000

  The year of 1998 saw19.91 million births, 8.07 million deaths of the population, with a net growth population of 11.84 million (compared with 12.37 million in 1997);  More than 10% of total population is over 60 years old (1999 data).

  China population is distributed unevenly with more in the east (more than 300 persons per square kilometer) and fewer in the west (about 40 persons per square kilometer. The national average density of population is 119 per square kilometer (1990 census). For basic urban population data, please visit "ChinaToday.com" Provinces and Cities page. The average size of household was 3.7 persons. The proportion of population aged at 0-14 was 26.4 percent, those aged 15-64 was 67.2 percent, and that of the people aged 65 and over was 6.4 percent. The Average Chinese Life-Span of the population was 70.8 years, that for male was 68.71, and female, 73.04. (Some of the above data are based on the report from China National Statistics Bureau, FOR YOUR REFERENCE ONLY).

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• Population Information of Beijing in 2000 (Capital of China):

• Population: 13.819 million (3 million increase during the past decade, increase rate: 27.7%, average annual increase rate: 2.4%)

• Total number of families: 4.176 million

• Average number of family members: 2.9 

• Men Vs. Women: 52.1:47.9

• The group of 0-4 years old: 1.878 million, shares 13.6% of total city population; The group of 15-64 years old: 10.786 million, shares 78% of total city population; The group of 65 and older: 1.155 million, shares 8.4% of total city population.

• Review of 5 Censuses in China:

Woman with 'Unfavorable Looks' Settles with Employer
Xinhua News,  Feb. 10, 2007 - A 23-year-old woman, who has accused a Shanghai education training company of firing her because of her "unfavorable looks", settled with her employer on Friday and will continue to work in the company. The two sides reached an agreement after mediation on Wednesday and Friday. Qiu Zi will stay in the company, not as a teacher, but in a role where she promotes the company's charity work, according to the company. Qiu appealed to the Xuhui District labor disputes arbitration office and asked Shanghai Jiaotong University Only Education Group to pay 10,000 yuan (US$1,288) for rupture of contract and to refund a training fee of 260 yuan (US$33). (Click for full report)

 Survey: China's salary hike tops world three
China View, Feb. 8 - Chinese can expect huge salary increases in 2007, said a survey conducted by the human resources consultant ECA International. Benefiting from the growth of the economy, from human resource shortages and the decline of the inflation rate, workers in China will see a wage increase of 6 percent in 2007, ranking third in the world wage hike record. (Click for full report)

China bans illegal trade in human sperm,eggs
Feb. 2, 2007 - China's Ministry of Health has banned trade in human sperm, eggs, zygotes and embryos and laid down new regulations for assisted reproductive therapy (ART). A statement from the ministry said it had appointed a panel of specialists to examine and deliberate on licence applications to carry out assisted reproduction operations and open sperm banks. "China bans all forms of trading of sperm, eggs, zygotes, embryos, and will not brook any illegal collection of sperm and eggs. Violators will be severely punished," said the statement. (Click for full report)

Population hits 1.30756 bln by 2005: Survey
People's Daily, Mar. 17, 2006 - The National Bureau of Statistics released Thursday the results of a 1 percent sample census conducted in 2005. At 0am Nov.1, 2005 China's population in 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government and active army was 1.30628 billion (excluding those in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan). Prediction based on the results shows that China's population would hit 1.30756 billion by the end of 2005 (excluding those in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan). (Click for full report)

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