. China News .




.
SINO DAILY
China shows off its migration schemes
by Staff Writers
Yongning, China (AFP) Oct 13, 2011

S.Africa foreign policy "independent" over Dalai Lama: Zuma
Pretoria (AFP) Oct 13, 2011 - South African President Jacob Zuma on Thursday insisted on his government's independence in its foreign policy in a veiled reference to South Africa's handling of a visa application by the Dalai Lama.

"Let me state categorically that our foreign policy is independent and decisions are informed by the national interest," Zuma said at a public lecture at the University of Pretoria in the capital, without directly referring to the visa debacle.

"We are not dictated to by other countries, individuals or lobby group interests within our own country."

"We look at what is of benefit to the South African people, and what will advance our domestic priorities at that given time," said Zuma.

The Tibetan spiritual leader cancelled his visit to South Africa last week because of delays in his visa application.

He had been invited to the 80th birthday celebrations of his friend and fellow Nobel Peace laureat Desmond Tutu.

Tutu lambasted South Africa for dallying on the visa, and accused the country of playing to the tune of its biggest trade partner China.

Zuma noted in response to a question that "a birthday party has become a national issue", referring to Tutu's birthday on Friday.

He noted that governments made decisions on immigration matters based on security and other issues, noting that during the days of the struggle against apartheid, even Nelson Mandela appeared on the United States terrorist list.

South Africa followed a "One China Policy", which recognises "the territorial sovereignty of China as the sole and legitimate representative of all the people of that country, with which we have strong historical, political, economic and social relations," said Zuma.


On a dry plain in China's remote northern Ningxia region, thousands of neatly aligned, identical brick houses have sprung up from the dusty soil.

This is the Yongning Green Migration Scheme, where 3,000 two-room houses are being built to accommodate 17,800 villagers from the poorer, mountainous south of the region.

Bu Xing'ai, director of external affairs for Ningxia, said authorities planned to move 350,000 people within the autonomous region over the next five years as he showed off the project to journalists on a recent visit.

China's breakneck economic growth has been accompanied by huge population movements, as exemplified by Ningxia, where new towns have been quickly built, sometimes at the heart of semi-arid zones.

China's migrant population now numbers 221 million, or 16.5 percent of all citizens, and a recent government report said more than 100 million more farmers would move to urban areas over the next decade.

For the government, planned migration is a way of channelling the inevitable rural exodus and redistributing the labour supply to suit the country's needs.

Authorities in Ningxia say those who move under the scheme will have a better quality of life than they do at present.

A cement factory with the capacity to produce 4,500 tonnes of cement a day is being built to provide employment for the migrants.

"Once they are here they will find roads, electricity, water, they will be able to find work at the factory and their children will be able to go to school," said Wu Guangning, deputy director for development and reform in Ningxia's Yongning county.

Many of the intended residents are Hui, a Muslim minority that has lived in the autonomous region of Ningxia for centuries.

The local climate is dry, but the authorities have planned an irrigation scheme that would allow residents to grow grapes, mushrooms and goji berries -- a highly nutritious fruit that is popular in the area.

It is not entirely clear why the scheme has been labelled "green". The roofs of the houses are to be fitted with solar panels, but they are not yet visible.

Each house will cost 40,000 yuan ($6,275), but of that, the local government provided 30,000 yuan, said Wu.

Asked about the practicalities of getting mountain people to move to the desert, Wu said they were being encouraged to come and see the new settlement and decide whether they are "satisfied" with it.

"They are currently living in very difficult conditions," he added.

With no one yet living in the new houses, and their proposed occupants living many hours' drive away, it was not clear how their satisfaction with the new housing might be gauged.

So, the organisers of the trip took the journalists by bus to see a migrant who had agreed to be interviewed in his tiny home, where baskets of fruit had been laid out.

Ma Guowen was dressed in a Muslim skull-cap and wearing his best jacket for the occasion. But the farm worker's comments on the benefits of the government rehousing scheme seem a little too pat to be convincing.

Related Links
China News from SinoDaily.com




.
.
Get Our Free Newsletters Via Email
...
Buy Advertising Editorial Enquiries


Ai Weiwei named as world's most important art figure
London (AFP) Oct 13, 2011 - Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, detained by authorities earlier this year, was on Thursday named the world's most powerful art figure by the influential Art Review magazine, drawing Beijing's criticism.

Ai, who was released in June after 81 days in detention for "economic crimes", tops the London-based publication's annual "power 100 list" ahead of curators Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Julia Peyton-Jones of London's Serpentine Gallery.

Mark Rappolt, the magazine's editor, said that Ai "had reminded the art world of its wider political role, as an agent of protest outside the sometimes inward-looking domain of galleries and museums.

"His activism has been a reminder of how art can reach out to a bigger audience and connect with the real world," he added. "Institutions, while they are really important, can be great tombs."

Ai was detained earlier this year after he was accused of tax evasion -- a charge rights groups say was used as an excuse to silence the outspoken critic of China's Communist Party.

China's foreign ministry took a sideswipe at the magazine's decision to honour Ai, calling the decision political.

"To make a judgement from a political perspective is against the purpose and principals of the magazine," ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told journalists at a briefing in Beijing.

Ai, whose detention sparked outrage around the world, was released in June due to his "good attitude" in admitting to the charges against him, his willingness to repay taxes he owes and on medical grounds. He has diabetes.

Rights groups have said the outspoken 54-year-old was detained as part of a crackdown on critics of the regime.

The artist recently covered the floor of London's Tate Modern museum with 100 million porcelain sunflower seeds as part of an exhibition and becomes only the second artist after Damien Hirst to top the ten-year-old list.

Glenn Lowry, director of New York's Museum of Modern Art, was third in the list, while Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate network of British museums, placed at sixth.

The power 100 list top 10

1 Ai Weiwei

2 Hans Ulrich Obrist and Julia Peyton-Jones

3 Glenn D Lowry

4 Larry Gagosian

5 Anton Vidokle, Julieta Aranda and Brian Kuan Wood

6 Sir Nicholas Serota

7 Cindy Sherman

8 Iwan Wirth

9 David Zwirner

10 Beatrix Ruf



.

. Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle



SINO DAILY
Tibetan monastery a 'virtual prison': exiled monk
Beijing (AFP) Oct 12, 2011
The exiled head of a Tibetan monastery in China has described it as a "virtual prison", saying monks are taking their lives in despair after two men set themselves alight over alleged repression. The attempted self-immolations happened on Friday near Kirti monastery in the southwestern province of Sichuan, the scene of repeated protests since early this year as monks complain their religious ... read more


SINO DAILY
China's trade surplus narrows in September

eBay platform prime for Internet age shopping

China vendors 'riot' online over Taobao fee hike

South African wage deal aims to save textile jobs

SINO DAILY
Energy, food security to dominate Rio+20: envoy

Which direction are herbicides heading

Burkina Faso says faces food crisis

Plant genomes may help next generation respond to climate change

SINO DAILY
Food crisis looming in Sudan: UN agency

Kenya tries to contact French woman's abductors in Somalia

Berkeley Lab Tests Cookstoves for Haiti

Guyana opposition warns foreign bauxite firms

SINO DAILY
China auto sales up 5.5% in September

Kicking hybrids out of carpool lanes backfires, slowing traffic for all

GM China sales up 15.3% in September

Crash-safe battery protection for electric cars

SINO DAILY
World needs joined-up nuclear safety approach: report

Cold War's nuclear wastes pose challenges to science, engineering, society

Areva's Finnish EPR reactor delayed again

Taiwan, China to sign nuclear safety pact

SINO DAILY
Experts: Cybercrime threats 'persistent'

Terrorists yet to turn to cyberattacks

S. America security fears boost telecoms

Mitsubishi Heavy 'targeted by over 50 computer viruses'

SINO DAILY
Commentary: Found and lost?

Outside View: Political acts of insanity

Russia's Putin holds talks with China's Hu

Bulgarian candidate says not anti-Russia

SINO DAILY
GE invests in Indian wind power

Euro Bank: Wind policy 'direction' needed

Natural Power US to act as Owner's Engineer on 2.1GW Wyoming wind farm

Natural Power deploys first dual-mode ZephIR wind lidar in India


.

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2011 - Space Media Network. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement