china daily中国日报2012.05.18

Life Phoenix Legend soaring Hot Chinese pop duo winning fans overseas with dynamic performances. > PAGES 18-19 World Another Kennedy tragedy Estranged wife of Robert Kennedy Jr, and mother of four, found dead at home. > PAGE 11 Nation Husband, 75, becomes a father again Proud parent shows off little bundle of joy to waiting reporters. > PAGE 7 CHINADAILY chinadaily.com.cn RMB ¥1.5FRIDAY, May 18, 2012 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 In this issue NATION .........................................2,4,5,7 COVER STORY. ......................................6 COMMENT.......................................8,9 WORLD.........................................10-12 BUSINESS......................................13-17 LIFE.................................................18-21 SPORTS..........................................22-24 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 © 2012 China Daily All Rights Reserved Vol. 32 — No. A member of the Asia News Network 9996 Consumer optimism fl ying high Confi dence at levels last seen seven years ago due to low infl ation: survey By HU YUANYUAN huyuanyuan@ chinadaily.com.cn Consumer confidence in the first quarter of this year rose to its highest level since 2005, amid easing inflation and a cooling property mar- ket, according to a Nielson survey released on Th ursday. The quarterly consumer confi dence index increased by 2 percentage points to 110 in the fi rst quarter, making Chi- na the fourth most optimistic out of 56 markets measured. “The government’s firm support for small and medi- um-sized enterprises through expansion of credit, shifting policy to boost domestic con- sumption and demand, and continued enforcement of restrictions designed to defl ate the real estate bubble are all contributing to consumer opti- mism,” said Yan Xuan, presi- dent of Nielsen Greater China. In April, the consumer price index, a main gauge of infl ation, eased to 3.4 percent year-on-year from 3.6 percent in March, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Inflation may ease in the first three quarters, while rebounding slightly in the last, the NBS report said. “As infl ation is easing, amid a stabilizing economy, con- sumers feel more optimistic about the economy, job pros- pects and personal fi nances,” Yan said. Though GDP growth slowed to 8.1 percent in the fi rst quarter, the fi ft h decline in a row, economists said the situation is not likely to wors- en in the following quarters. “The leading economic indicators we monitor have been stabilizing, indicating a further sharp growth fall is not likely,’’ said Pan Jiancheng, deputy director of the China Economic Monitoring and Analysis Center, a research unit of the NBS. Economic growth will recover due to an export rebound, property sales and stronger fiscal spending, Deutsche Bank AG said in a recent research note. “We marginally revised down our 2012 GDP growth forecast by 0.1 percentage point to 8.5 percent on a tech- nical change in the seasonal adjustment method,” Ma Jun, the bank’s chief economist, said. For Dale Preston, senior vice-president, Analytic Con- sulting Greater China at Niel- son, there is no direct link between GDP growth fi gures and consumer confi dence. SEE “SURVEY” PAGE 2 Investors get the picture with art Buyers in the frame to hedge against risks in other sectors, report Zhu Jin, Pei Pei and Jiang Xueqing in Beijing. W hen Zhao Zhike v i s i t e d t h e Shanghai World Expo in Octo- ber 2010, he stumbled upon Beautiful Asset Management, a Beijing-based company that specializes in the management of art investment funds. Based on his previous invest- ment experience, Zhao, who runs an international trading business in Beijing, believed art could become a highly profi t- able tool to hedge against infl a- tion. Make no mistake, art is big business. Earlier this month The Scream, prob- ably the most famous work by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, sold for $119.9 mil- lion in New York. Th at price tag saw the painting become the most expensive work ever sold at auction, despite being one of four copies made by the artist. Th e other three are all owned by museums in the artist’s home country. After consulting friends and several contacts at BAM, Zhao began to invest in art at the end of 2010. He now puts around 20 or 30 percent of his total annual investment into art funds, equivalent to 2 to 3 mil- lion yuan ($317,420 - $475,970). When traditional invest- ments, such as equities and real estate, were in recession in 2011, art funds prospered as investors sought a hedge against long- term inflation. More than 70 funds have been founded by nearly 30 art investment com- panies since 2009 with a com- bined value of 5.77 billion yuan, according to an investigation by the Chinese magazine, Money Journal, at the end of 2011. SEE “ART FUNDS” PAGE 6 COVER STORYWORLD BEATER PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Italy’s World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi instructs Guang- zhou Evergrande players during a training session on Th ursday, hours aft er he accepted a letter of appointment from Guangzhou boss Xu Jiayin. See story on page 24. JAY DIRECTO / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE The docking of a US submarine in a Philippine port led to a student protest near the US embassy in Manila on Thursday. The USS North Carolina docked in Subic Bay, north of Manila, on Tuesday. Subic Bay is close to Huangyan Island. The protesters are calling on the US to keep away from the area. Manila set to dispatch envoys to Beijing Move refl ects desire to ease tension over island standoff , experts say By LI XIAOKUN lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn Manila will dispatch two special envoys to Beijing amid a tense standoff in the South China Sea following the harass- ment of Chinese fi shermen in territorial waters. Beijing issued an immediate response on Thursday saying that it noted Manila’s “attitude”. Chinese experts said that dis- patching the envoys, given that the Philippines has not had any ambassadorial representation in China for more than a year, refl ects Manila’s desire to ease the crisis. Sending the envoys, con- fi rmed by Malacanang Palace in Manila on Th ursday, is in sharp contrast with Manila suspend- ing diplomatic dialogue with Beijing in late April. Former Philippine ambas- sador-designate to China, Domingo Lee and Cesar Zal- amea, chairman and chief exec- utive officer of Focus Range International, are the envoys. Philippine President Benigno Aquino, who is in the process of selecting a new ambassador to China, signed the appointment papers on May 10 for a term of six months, the palace said. The palace said Lee will “closely coordinate with, and provide regular feedback on, initiatives undertaken” to the ambassador, once an appoint- ment is made, and to the Department of Foreign Aff airs assistant secretary for Asian and Pacifi c Aff airs. He was also directed to pro- mote 2012-13 as years of friend- ly exchange between the two countries. As the special envoy for investments, Zalamea will “aggressively encourage more Chinese investors to locate and set up in the Philippines in preferred areas of invest- ment as well as new and emerging areas for growth”. “We need envoys to help us along. (China) is a vast coun- try, you need people to special- ize for instance, on attracting investors,” presidential spokes- man Edwin Lacierda said on Thursday. “We have cultural exchanges, we have business, we have tourism ... and we would like to explore all avenues of our relationship not just focus on the contentious one,” he added, referring to the dispute over Huangyan Island. SEE “ENVOYS” PAGE 12 Inside See more, page 12 C H I N A D A I L Y advertisement 3F R I D A Y, M A Y 1 8 , 2 0 1 2 By HE DAN in Shanghai hedan@chinadaily.com.cn The government plans to invest more to improve senior citizen services in rural areas because more elderly people live there than in cities, a social trend expected to continue until the middle of the century, a senior Ministry of Civil Aff airs offi cial said on Th ursday. Dou Yupei, vice-minister of civil aff airs, said the rural elderly population is 1.24 percent larger than its urban counterpart. By 2028, he said, the discrep- ancy is projected to increase to 11 percent. By the middle of the century, the number of rural elderly will be 20 percent higher than urban elderly in 28 provincial-level regions, Dou said at the 2012 China Forum on the Develop- ment of Senior Service Industry in Shanghai on Th ursday. “The proportion of elderly people in rural areas is far high- er than in urban areas. Th e mas- sive migration of young adults to urban areas is the driving force behind this phenomenon,” said Wang Dewen, a World Bank economist specialized in social security system. Th is trend will continue and families will come under more strain to support future genera- tions of the rural elderly, Wang warned. “We will increase our eff orts to improve social support ser- vices for the aged in rural areas, especially for those left -behind seniors (whose adult children migrate to cities),” Dou told China Daily in an interview on the sidelines of the forum. He said that during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), the government will allocate more funds and resources to provide better care services for rural elderly. He added that the gov- ernment aims to have 50 percent of rural communities equipped with basic elderly-friendly facili- ties and provide senior services by the end of 2015. But the gap between urban and rural elderly support ser- vices will remain because all urban seniors will have access to community-based care by then, under the central govern- ment’s plan. Wang urged the government to increase medical reimburse- ments for rural Chinese who have joined the New Rural Cooperative Medical Care Sys- tem, calling it an eff ective way to reduce the fi nancial burden of healthcare for the rural elderly. In addition, he said it is urgent for China to perfect the New Rural Pension Scheme to ensure income support for the rural elderly. Maggie Siu, vice-chairwom- an of Hong Kong Age-Friendly City, which is affi liated with the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, said mutual aid services for the aged is a more economic way to meet the needs of the elderly in rural and remote areas based on the experience of Hong Kong. She said some senior citizens can be trained as peer councilors to help others. According to the Ministry of Civil Aff airs, there were 185 million people in China aged 60 or older by the end of 2011. The country has the world’s largest elderly population. Under China’s strategy for its ageing society, the government will enable 90 percent of elderly to spend their golden years at home enjoying in-home ser- vices and guarantee that 7 per- cent of the elderly can aff ord to live in senior citizens commu- nities. Th e remaining 3 percent would be institutionalized. Jane Barratt, secretary- general of the International Federation on Ageing, an organization for improving quality of life for elderly people worldwide, said the Chinese government is responding to an international trend. She said growing older at home is becoming an increas- ingly popular choice for people in developed countries, and that some countries, such as Denmark, stopped building nursing homes in the 1960s. “Older people who are dis- connected from families and who are institutionalized can actually die earlier,” Barratt said. 4 nation C H I N A D A I L Y F R I D A Y, M A Y 1 8 , 2 0 1 2 Beijing Huiyuan Beijing Huiyuan Media Village ApartmentMedia Village Apartment Apartment Hotlines: (8610) 6499 3636/3528 E-mail: cz@huiyuangongyu.com.cn Hotel Hotlines: (8610) 6499 2828/2929 E-mail: sk@huiyuangongyu.com.cn Website: www.huiyuangongyu.com.cn Beijing Huiyuan Media Village (Huiyuan Service Apartment) is located in the central area of the business district of the Olympic and Asian Games villages, about 500 meters away from the National Stadium (the Bird’s Nest). As the media village of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, it was home to more than 1,000 Chinese and foreign journalists. It offers a number of different varieties of apartments. Spacious and well-lit, they have ample facilities and furnishings and are suitable for residential or business use. Businesses may be registered here and it is ideal for individual business or tourist customers. Preferential rents are available. Contact us for details. UNWELCOME VISITORS PHOTO BY ZHOU WEI / FOR CHINA DAILY Th ai suspects of telephone fraud are repa- triated to Th ailand from Guangzhou Bai- yun International Airport, Guangdong province, on Wednesday. ZHOU WEI / FOR CHINA DAILY A worker from a Japanese company shows visitors a therapeutic “robot” seal named Paro, which is used to provide a companion to the elderly. The 2012 China Forum on the Development of the Senior Service Industry opened in Shanghai on Thursday. More gauges of water pollution By WU WENCONG wuwencong@ chinadaily.com.cn More gauges, such as lev- els of heavy metal and per- sistent organic pollutants, will be used to evaluate the quality of major rivers and lakes, an official said on Th ursday. China has been trying to combat water pollutants after several major river pollution cases triggered a public outcry. A total of 22 indicators will be used to evaluate riv- er quality during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) period, Zhao Hualin, head of the pollution preven- tion department under the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said at a news conference. C h e m i c a l o x y g e n demand, a test commonly used to measure the amount of organic compounds in water, is the major indicator used to evaluate water quali- ty nationwide. Other indica- tors are used in some areas but have not been adopted in the national evaluation system. Aft er more gauges, such as heavy metal, become national standards, the water quality of some rivers may be downgraded for a certain period of time, said Ling Jiang, deputy head of the department. “But strict- er evaluation will be good in the long term.” China’s awareness of water safety has been heightened following sev- eral major pollution cases in recent years. A recent case happened in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in January, when cadmium contamination was detected in the Longjiang River aft er large numbers of dead fi sh appeared. The latest public outcry over water safety came aft er a Century Weekly magazine report earlier this month, citing unnamed insiders, said that about half of urban tap water failed to meet national quality standards. Th e government later said the rate was 17 percent in 2011. Amid enhanced public awareness, the government has vowed to bring an end to water pollution and ensure drinking water safety. According to a plan approved by the State Coun- cil on April 16, China aims to improve the water qual- ity of major rivers and lakes from “moderately polluted” to “slightly polluted”, Zhao said on Th ursday. Under the plan, 49.2 per- cent of the rivers and the lakes monitored by the cen- tral authorities should meet at least Grade III standards by the end of 2015. Th at will be an increase of 5 percent- age points from 2010. The country also plans to reduce the proportion of “worse-than-Grade-V” water by 8 percentage points in fi ve years from 25.8 per- cent in 2010. In China, river water quality is measured in six levels, from Grade I to Grade V and another grade called “worse than Grade V”. Only Grade I and II water can be used as drink- ing water sources, according to regulations. An estimated 500 billion yuan ($79.1 billion) will be spent from 2011 to 2015 to ease the pollution in 10 major rivers and lakes monitored by the central government. They include Songhua River in Northeast China, Haihe River close to Beijing, and Taihu Lake in East China. Idle buildings to be seniors’ homes By LI WENFANG in Guangzhou liwenfang@chinadaily.com.cn To cope with the its aging population, Guangdong prov- ince plans to turn unused buildings into community care centers for the elderly. Idle schools, hospitals, fac- tories and offi ce buildings will be renovated and made into residential communities and providers of services geared toward the elderly as a part of the province’s drive to expand its social safety net. Backed by the government, this approach tries to provide for the needs of the elderly within their own communities so that they have easy access to their homes and families. Unlike nursing homes, where all patients live full time at the facility, the centers will also offer day care, allowing seniors to get healthcare while living with their families. By 2015, community care centers will serve 7 percent of the elderly, while the tradition- al method of care by children in the home will still account for 90 percent and nursing homes, 3 percent, according to the province’s fi ve-year plan for senior care. Guangdong’s elderly popula- tion is in a period of relatively rapid growth. By 2015, the number of residents aged 60 and older is expected to reach 12.43 million, and the popula- tion aged over 80 will reach 2 million, according to the fi ve- year plan. Those aged over 60 num- bered 10.72 million at the end of 2010, accounting for 12.6 per- cent of those with a household registration in the province. The social security system for the elderly is insuffi cient to meet the increasing demand caused by the province’s aging population and a decrease in the size of families. For the elderly living at home, more service points will be built and businesses will be encouraged to provide related services. An information sys- tem will be established to link up emergency calls, hospitals and social service organiza- tions. Th e plan’s target is for nurs- ing homes to have a total of 350,000 beds or 30 beds for every 1,000 elderly people in the province by 2015. Nurs- ing homes in Guangdong had more than 110,000 beds at the end of 2010, according to the provincial civil aff airs depart- ment. Also, more hospitals with departments specializing in elder care will be built in the future. The most difficult part in expanding the care centers is management, said Law Koon- chui, a professor in the Depart- ment of Sociology and Social Work at Sun Yat-sen University. In implementing the whole plan, the government should clearly assign the responsibili- ties, including the sources of funds and the parties in charge of management, she said, add- ing some local governments are reluctant to fund the con- struction and management of care facilities for the elderly. Wu Songyi and Shu Meng con- tributed to this story. New standards for fuel to reduce pollution in city By ZHENG XIN zhengxin@chinadaily.com.cn Beijing will introduce new fuel standards on May 31 that municipal officials say are nearly on a par with the European Union’s Euro V, the fi rst Chinese city to do so. All fuel sold by retailers in the Chinese capital will be required to adhere to the new standards, which are expected to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions from 50 to 10 milligrams per kilo- gram, according to the Bei- jing environmental protec- tion bureau. “Th e new Beijing V stan- dard fuel, once implement- ed, will gre