中国日报20110602

By WANG XIAOTIAN, HU YUANYUAN AND YU RAN CHINA DAILY BEIJING — The purchas- ing managers’ index (PMI), a key gauge of manufacturing activity, hit a nine-month low in May, sparking fears that ongoing monetary tightening measures may slow economic growth. But analysts said the economy would still manage a soft land- ing as the country tries to curb infla- tion and shift the economic growth pattern. The PMI dropped to 52 in May, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said on Wednesday. The figure was down from 52.9 in April and 53.4 in March and showed across-the-board declines in all categories. “The consecutive drops in the PMI indicate that the cen- tral bank’s tightening monetary policies have been overdone,” said Dong Xian’an, chief economist at the Peking First Advisory. To soak up excess liquid- ity, and fight inflation, the People’s Bank of China has raised interest rates four times since October, and the reserve requirement ratio for banks — money that has to be set aside by the lenders — has been raised eight times since then to reach a record 21 percent. “It is possible that the cen- tral bank will cut the reserve requirement,’’ Dong said. ‘‘With signs of infl ation easing and an economic slowdown, China will loosen its tightening policies to help achieve a soft landing.” The effectiveness of the tightening measures seems limited, as the consumer price index (CPI), a main indicator of inflation, is likely to hit a record high in May. It rose by 5.3 percent in April year-on-year, 0.1 per- centage points lower than the 32-month high for March. Th e CPI will peak at around 6 percent this year, and make the 4 percent annual target set by the government impossible to reach, said Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank in a research note. With high infl ation, the rising cost of capital and dwindling orders, small and medium- sized enterprises are facing dif- fi culties and some have declared bankruptcy, said a businessman surnamed Pan in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, whose enterprise produces 40,000 pairs of shoes every day. CHINADAILY chinadaily.com.cn RMB ¥1.5 COVER STORY THURSDAY, June 2, 2011 F or three generations, Wang Bingzhong’s family has lived by fi shing the Bohai Sea. Th e family business is now on the brink of being submerged: A fl eet of unlicensed vessels attacked and sank his boat two months ago. While others worked to harvest as much as possible before Wednesday, the start of a three-month moratorium on fi shing, Wang could only watch in port as they unloaded box aft er box of their catch. “I should have been one of them,” he said while lighting a cigarette. “What can I say? They are nothing but pirates who want to kick me out of their terri- tory,” said Wang, 46. “Fisher- men are getting more and more desperate and turning to violence these days.” Supplies of fi sh and seafood have diminished in shallow coastal waters around China over the past decade, and fi sh- ermen have found it increas- ingly diffi cult to earn a living. But what really scares them are the gangs that attack other boats and keep the rich fi shing areas to themselves. On March 28, Wang went out with eight other fi shermen looking for shrimp in the Bohai Sea off North China’s Hebei province. As on any other day, they sailed to the open sea off Qinhuangdao city, searching for a suitable fi shing area. THE FULL PICTURE PHOTOS BY LI MINGFANG AND HAN CHUANHAO / XINHUA One of China’s best-known ancient paintings, the Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, is shown in its entirety for the fi rst time in more than 360 years in the Palace Museum, Taipei, on Wednesday. Th e painting was damaged and torn in two in the 17th century. One part of the painting was kept in Taiwan aft er 1948 while the other section remained on the Chinese mainland. See stories on pages 3, 7. Fishermen face wave of attacks ZHANG TAO / CHINA DAILY Fisherman Wang Bingzhong from Changli county, Hebei province, examines his boat on May 25 after it was damaged in what he described as a pirate attack. SEE “PIRATES” PAGE 6 Contacts News: (86-10) 6491-8366 Subscription: (86) 400-699-0203 Advertisement: (86-10) 6491-8631 E-mail: editor@chinadaily.com.cn iPhone app: chinadaily.com.cn/iphone © 2011 China Daily All Rights Reserved Vol. 31 — No. 9698 国内统一编号:CN11-0091 国际 标准 excel标准偏差excel标准偏差函数exl标准差函数国标检验抽样标准表免费下载红头文件格式标准下载 编号:ISSN0253-9543 邮发代号:1-3 On chinadaily.com.cn Cartoons: Challenges faced by Chinese children Web comment: Chinese hospitals scare Indians Podcast: Lack of sleep may lead to gaining weight Media news: Zuma says Gadhafi refuses to leave Libya In this issue NATION.......................................... 2-5 COVER STORY..................................6 COMMENT .................................... 8,9 WORLD ....................................... 11,12 BUSINESS ................................. 13, 14 LIFE............................................ 22, 23 SPORTS ...........................................24 Factory output slowing Manufacturing index declines amid fears over economic growth SEE “PMI” PAGE 2 Hunt on for killer bacteria source By DAVID RISING ASSOCIATED PRESS BERLIN — Scientists have still not been able to pinpoint the source of an unprec- edented foodborne bacte- rial outbreak that has killed 16 people in Europe and left more than 1,000 sick, including 400 suffering from severe and potentially fatal symptoms, Germany’s agriculture minis- ter said on Wednesday. In Germany, which has been hardest hit by the outbreak, parliament has called a special meeting of its consumer pro- tection committee to discuss emergency measures. Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said scientists are working nonstop to fi nd the source of the unusual strain of the E. coli bacteria that is believed to have been spread on tainted vegetables — and where in the long journey from farm to grocery store the contamination occurred. “Hundreds of tests have been done and the responsible agencies ... have determined that most of the patients who have been sickened ate cucumbers, tomatoes and leaf lettuce and primarily in north- ern Germany,” Aigner said on German television. “Th e states that have conducted the tests must now follow back the delivery path to see how the cucumbers, or tomatoes or lettuce got here.” German authorities initially pointed to a few cucumbers from Spain, but further tests showed that those vegetables, while contaminated, did not cause the outbreak. But officials are still warning all Germans to avoid eating raw cucumbers, tomatoes or let- tuce. E. coli is found in large quantities in the digestive systems of humans, cows and other mammals. It has been responsible for a large num- ber of food contamination E. coli kills 16 people in Europe and causes more than 1,000 to fall sick SEE “BACTERIA” PAGE 11 World Dangers of twin disasters underestimated But IAEA praises Tokyo’s response to the earthquake and tsunami as ‘exemplary’. > PAGE 12 Nation Children to benefi t from free lunch charity move > PAGE 5 5253.9 PMI EVOLUTION % Source: National Bureau of Statistics 52.9 52.2 53.4 52.9 Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Industry fl ounders as ‘pirates’ plunder dwindling resources, Cui Jia and Kane Wu report from Hebei. Sports Li Na reaches French Open semifi nals Chinese tennis player beats 4th-seeded Azarenka 7-5, 6-2. > PAGE 24 Inside Editorial, page 8 By CHENG ANQI CHINA DAILY BEIJING — Reports of watermelons bursting from excessive amounts of a “swell- ing agent” have also popped the incomes of growers. “I have been here since 9 am but sold only 10 watermelons in fi ve hours,” said Zhou Deyi, a 45- year-old farmer who has relied on her watermelon production to support the education of her two daughters. Zhou said that last May she could sell 400 kilograms of watermelon a day on the weekends for more than 3,000 yuan ($460). Zhou has been growing melons for more than 10 years in Panggezhuang, which for seven centuries has been Beijing’s most famous water- melon production center. While waving flags along the Beijing-Kaifeng Highway to remind passers-by of the ongoing 23rd Beijing Daxing Watermelon Festival, the wait- ing melon booths receive few consumers. Not only have sales fallen, the price has dropped from 4 yuan per kg to 3 yuan per kg in less than one week, Zhou said. “Swelling agent? I have grown watermelons for more than 10 years and had never heard about it until recently. All of a sudden it seemed every consumer was asking me about it,” Zhou said. She said the Panggezhuang area enjoys the most comfort- able temperature for growing watermelons plus more sun- shine than most other produc- ing regions. The sandy soil absorbs the heat during the day and releases it at night, which is perfect for making melons sweet, she said. Zhou started to grow water- melons, along with peaches and sweet potatoes, in 1998 on a nearly half hectare of farmland. Each year, she grows two batches of watermelons — one from March to June, the other from June to September. All together, Zhou said, she usu- ally harvests around 3,000 watermelons, which she sells for more than 30,000 yuan. “Forced ripening won’t hap- pen here because the natural environment provides the best fertilizer for the melon,” she added. In fact, to ensure the watermelon’s quality and taste, Zhou and her fellow villagers even built greenhouses for the watermelon plants in 2006 with subsidies from the local government. “Inside the greenhouse, it takes 10 more days for the watermelons to ripen,” Zhou said. “But watermelons produced this way also taste better.” For fertilizer, Zhou turns to a nearby chicken farm for its organic waste, which she sometimes also shows to her customers to convince them about the quality of her water- melons. But most of the time when consumers ask about the swelling agent, Zhou simply opens some watermelons to let them taste. Excessive swelling agent decreases the melons’ sweet- ness and quality, Zhou tells her customers, citing what she has heard from experts. “Facts speak louder than words,” Zhou said. “I know how my watermelons taste because I tend to their growth personally.” Nevertheless, Zhou said she expects a decline in sales of her watermelons this year, but she is not complaining much. Last year, with the opening of subway Line 4, Zhou landed a job in a station as a cleaner with a monthly income of 1,000 yuan. “Now growing watermelons has become my sideline,” Zhou said. PAGE 2 | nation 23 / 32 23 / 33 26 / 31 27 / 34 24 / 35 26 / 32 27 / 33 26 / 32 27 / 32 29 / 35 28 / 39 17 / 21 16 / 24 22 / 30 22 / 30 22 / 27 23 / 27 26 / 32 26 / 32 27 / 32 28 / 34 26 / 33 26 / 33 20 / 30 20 / 28 23 / 34 23 / 33 5 / 18 8 / 22 18 / 27 19 / 28 THURSDAY FRIDAY 19 / 35 23 / 33 14 / 21 15 / 25 TRAVELER’S FORECAST Chengdu Urumqi Beijing Xining New Delhi Kathmandu Thimphu Yangon Singapore Jakarta Kuala Lumpur Bangkok Vientiane Ulaanbaatar Shanghai Bandar Seri Begawan Macao Hong Kong Guangzhou Manila Hanoi Taipei Seoul Pyongyang Tokyo Lhasa CHINA AMERICAS JUNE 2-3THU - FRI LOW/HIGH TEMPERATURES, IN DEGREES CELSIUS, AND EXPECTED CONDITIONS C Cloudy D Drizzle Du Dust F Fog O Overcast R Rain Sh Shower S Sunny Sn Snow St Storm T Thunderstorms weather ASIA-PACIFIC-MIDDLE EAST EUROPE BuenosAires 7 / 18 S 5 / 16 S Chicago 16 / 24 Sh 18 / 23 T Caracas 18 / 30 T 22 / 29 T Houston 21 / 31 S 23 / 34 S Las Vegas 16 / 27 C 16 / 29 C Los Angeles 11 / 22 S 11 / 22 C Mexico City 12 / 26 T 12 / 28 T New York 19 / 27 S 14 / 26 S Ottawa 12 / 18 Sh 8 / 21 Sh Rio De Janeiro 19 / 24 C 20 / 26 C San Francisco 8 / 14 S 9 / 16 S Sao Paulo 13 / 23 C 14 / 22 C Vancouver 10 / 13 Sh 10 / 17 D Washington 19 / 31 S 17 / 26 S Athens 19 / 27 S 20 / 26 S Berlin 12 / 24 S 12 / 25 S Brussels 9 / 22 S 12 / 24 S Geneva 11 / 23 C 13 / 24 C Istanbul 18 / 22 S 17 / 22 S London 12 / 24 S 13 / 24 S Madrid 8 / 21 S 9 / 22 S Moscow 11 / 27 S 15 / 25 S Paris 10 / 24 S 13 / 27 S Rome 16 / 27 T 18 / 28 T Vienna 15 / 25 Sh 17 / 25 Sh CHINA AFRICA 15 / 25 16 / 25 Cairo 19 / 30 S 21 / 31 S CapeTown 10 / 19 C 9 / 18 C Johannesburg 3 / 17 S 4 / 18 S Lagos 25 / 31 T 24 / 31 T Nairobi 16 / 29 T 14 / 26 T Abu Dhabi 26 / 46 R 27 / 45 D Bangkok 26 / 32 T 27 / 33 T Colombo 26 / 29 T 26 / 30 T Dubai 32 / 42 S 33 / 42 S Hanoi 23 / 32 T 25 / 33 T Islamabad 24 / 35 S 24 / 38 S Jakarta 23 / 32 D 23 / 33 Sh Karachi 28 / 34 S 27 / 34 S Kuala Lumpur 24 / 34 C 24 / 35 O Manila 27 / 32 T 28 / 34 T Mumbai 18 / 31 T 18 / 31 T New Delhi 29 / 35 T 28 / 39 T Pyongyang 15 / 27 C 17 / 24 C Riyadh 31 / 43 C 31 / 43 S Seoul 15 / 25 C 16 / 25 C Singapore 26 / 31 C 27 / 34 C Sydney 14 / 19 C 13 / 19 C Teheran 23 / 33 T 26 / 35 T Tokyo 17 / 21 Sh 16 / 24 D Wellington 10 / 13 S 9 / 13 S Yangon 26 / 32 T 27 / 32 T Beijing 19 / 35 O 23 / 33 O Changchun 11 / 24 T 14 / 19 R Changsha 20 / 26 Sh 21 / 27 Sh Chongqing 19 / 28 O 19 / 28 O Dalian 15 / 24 S 16 / 25 S Fuzhou 22 / 27 Sh 21 / 30 O Guangzhou 23 / 34 C 23 / 33 C Guilin 23 / 30 C 23 / 29 C Guiyang 16 / 19 R 15 / 21 R Haikou 24 / 33 C 24 / 33 C Hangzhou 20 / 31 C 21 / 27 Sh Harbin 9 / 24 D 16 / 19 R Hefei 19 / 32 C 20 / 30 C Hohhot 12 / 29 C 13 / 28 S Hongkong 26 / 32 C 26 / 32 C Jinan 20 / 32 S 26 / 34 S Kunming 13 / 24 Sh 14 / 25 C Lanzhou 14 / 28 S 15 / 31 S Lhasa 13 / 25 C 12 / 24 C Lijiang 10 / 21 C 14 / 23 C Macao 24 / 32 C 24 / 31 C Nanchang 21 / 29 Sh 22 / 25 Sh Nanjing 20 / 33 S 21 / 32 C Nanning 25 / 33 C 25 / 33 C Qingdao 17 / 23 S 16 / 24 S Sanya 26 / 33 Sh 26 / 33 C THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2011 Shanghai 20 / 30 C 20 / 28 C Shenyang 16 / 28 C 15 / 25 Sh Shenzhen 25 / 32 C 25 / 32 C Shijiazhuang 21 / 35 S 22 / 34 C Suzhou 20 / 31 S 22 / 30 C Taipei 22 / 30 R 22 / 30 Sh Taiyuan 14 / 31 S 16 / 32 S Tianjin 20 / 34 S 23 / 31 C Urumqi 14 / 21 C 15 / 25 S Wuhan 19 / 30 C 19 / 27 O Xiamen 22 / 28 Sh 22 / 30 O Xi’an 18 / 30 C 19 / 31 C Xining 8 / 24 C 7 / 25 C Yantai 16 / 30 S 15 / 25 S Yinchuan 15 / 30 C 16 / 31 C Zhengzhou 19 / 33 S 21 / 34 S Zhuhai 25 / 32 C 26 / 32 C CHINAFACE No swell time for melon growersbriefl y CHENG ANQI / CHINA DAILY Zhou Deyi, a 45-year-old farmer from Beijing’s watermelon production base of Panggezhuang in Dexing district, works in her watermelon greenhouse on May 29. Tainted drink companies banned By WANG JINGQIONG CHINA DAILY BEIJING — Th e mainland’s top quality watchdog issued a temporary ban on importing food from Taiwan enterprises identified as producing food with an illegal additive. Th e ban, which took eff ect on Wednesday, is the latest response from the Gen- eral Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine toward the high- profi le Taiwan drink scandal, during which many enterprises have been found producing beverages with DEHP. DEHP, an additive used to make plastic soft and pliable, can affect hormone balances in young people, and has been identifi ed as carrying serious health risks in plastic toys for children. Th e ban listed 10 enterprises as problematic, including Uni- President, which was founded to have exported more than 200 cases of tainted aspara- gus juice to Fujian province. The list will be updated on www.aqsiq.gov.cn. Sports drinks, juices, tea drinks, fruit jams or syrups, tablets or powders, and food additives produced by these 10 enterprises will be banned from entering the mainland market, and other Taiwan enterprises have to show DEHP-free certificates to export the above-listed prod- ucts to the mainland. According to the announce- ment, Taiwan authorities have notified the administration about the enterprises that have illegally used DEHP. “To ensure the safety of imported food from Taiwan and the health of mainland citizens, we issued the ban to better supervise food import- ed from Taiwan,” according to the announcement. Experts welcomed the ban, calling it timely and eff ective, but wondered whether similar products produced by main- land enterprises might also contain DEHP. “Th e ban is very important at such a time when the public are very concerned and nervous about food safety,” said Sang Liwei, a lawyer specializing in food safety. “However, if Taiwan enterprises use that in their products, we have every reason to suspect mainland enterprises may also use it. I suggest the administration take a further step and start a thor- ough examination of DEHP by mainland food producers.” Sang emphasized that the toxicity of DEHP is about 30 times that of melamine, and this scandal is no less formida- ble than the melamine-tainted dairy scandal on the mainland in 2008. Zhou Yingheng, a professor from Nanjing Agricultural University, who is also a food safety expert, echoed Sang’s opinion and suggested that such examinations should be carried out “immediately”. “Most examination of food is about things on the list, and DEHP is not an item on the food examination list. This scandal reminds us that they can add things we never thought possible to be put in food,” said Zhou. York Chow, secretary for Food and Health of Hong Kong, announced on Wednes- day that Hong Kong is check- ing whether food, beverage and medicine imported from Taiwan contain DEHP, and the results will be made public daily. Given that more than 200 enterprises have been implicated and 500 prod- ucts contaminated, Taiwan’s health authorities on Tuesday required companies to verify their products were free of six chemical plasticizers, includ- ing DEHP. Companies that failed to produce the required certification will have their products removed from the market. On May 23, Taiwan’s health authorities announced that DEHP had been found in some bottled beverages and dairy products, and have demanded 168 food proces- sors recall more than 1 million tainted items. Qiu Bo contributed to this story. BEIJING 5-year program benefi ts orphans A project for training nursing staff in the country’s orphanages was launched in Beijing on Wednesday, Inter- national Children’s Day. Th e fi ve-year Rainbow Program will be conducted by the China Center for Chil- dren’s Welfare and Adoption, along with the Half the Sky Foundation, an NGO that focuses on helping orphaned children. JP Morgan Chase will donate $7.14 million for this program, of which $864,640 is the initial fund for the project this year. Th is program will help China improve the quality of workers in child welfare homes and make sure orphans can receive profes- sional care and services, said Sun Shaocheng, vice- minister of civil aff airs at the launch ceremony. Pensions for jobless urbanites Th e State Council, China’s Cabinet, said on Wednesday that a new pension program will be launched next month to benefi t urban residents who are not employed. Th e urban social pension system will be carried out in 60 percent of cities and townships by the end of this year, before it is introduced nationwide next year. All unemployed urban residents above the age of 16 are eligible to join the program. Students are not included. XINJIANG ‘3 killed’ in plant explosion Witnesses said at least three people were killed, and an unknown number of oth- ers injured, in a workshop explosion on Wednesday evening in Urumqi, capital of Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Th e death toll has yet to be confi rmed