China yesterday held a ceremony to confer the title of "Heroic Astronaut Team" on the nation's space pioneers, who have done a great job over the past five years.

The team of 14 astronauts has been outstanding in astronaut training since being formed in January 1998, according to a decree signed by Jiang Zemin, chairman of the Central Military Commission, to honour the astronaut team.

Sino-German ties

Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo said yesterday the relationship between China and Germany is at its best point in history, and co-operation and exchanges in all fields have fully developed.

Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, told visiting German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that China attaches great importance to its relations with Germany, and considers Germany a reliable partner.

TIANJIN

More animals bred

The Tianjin Zoo has been successful in breeding animals in captivity, with 720 offspring and birds born so far this year.

The new arrivals belong to 44 different species, 25 per cent of which are under State protection, a source with the zoo said. They include Siberian tigers, jaguars, lesser pandas, red-belly tragopans, red-crowned cranes, black swans and green peacocks.

GUANGZHOU

Inferior US soft drinks destroyed

A batch of beverages imported from the United States were found to be over-germed some 7,000 times more than the standard allowed and were destroyed in Jiangmen of South China's Guangdong Province yesterday.

Some 42 boxes of aloe beverage, weighing 239 kilograms, were found to contain about 770,000 germs per gram, compared with the standard of 100 germs per gram at Jiangmen port, by the Jiangmen Inspection and Quarantine Administration (IQA). As no authorized approval number was on the package, it had to be detained and destroyed as soon as possible, said the IQA.

HK, Macao promotion week around corner

Hong Kong Macao Promotion Week is to be launched in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, between February 11 to 14, 2004.

Co-sponsored by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Invest HK and Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute, the promotional activity is to push the implementation of the two closer economic partnership arrangements.

BEIJING

Architectural design contest ends

A national architectural design competition on rural residential housing ended yesterday in Daxing District in Beijing.

Sponsored by the district government, the event attracted hundreds of individual designers and architectural institutes who handed in their designs during the past two months, organizers said. Appraisal committees composed of senior architects and farm representatives selected 40 schemes and each of them won from 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) to 180,000 yuan (US$21,686).

Circuit exhibition of horses in plan

Famous European horse-carving artist Bondarenko Sergie visited Beijing on November 29 to negotiate with Yan Feihong, a famous horse-painter, about plans to launch a circuit exhibition of world-famous equestrian art. Their circuit exhibition is expected to be held next year. It will tour Beijing, Shanghai, Zhuhai, Hong Kong, as well as several foreign countries, including the United States, Russia and Japan.

HARBIN

Rules to protect forest park

A regulation took effect on Monday in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province to protect the Heilongjiang Forest Park, the country's only downtown park, by restricting actions harmful to trees. It is the first special regulation on forest park protection in China.

Located in the Dongli District of the provincial capital of Harbin and set up in 1958, the park has 1,200 species of trees that grow in Northeast China, of which 15 rare trees are under State protection. It played an important role in preserving water and soil and adjusting the city's climate, said Li Guangwu, who is in charge of the park. The regulation set restrictions on 13 actions that harm the trees and surroundings of the park.

(China Daily 12/03/2003 page3)