A project designed to diversify offerings at rural school cafeterias has so far benefited 450,000 students in China, according to the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF). In recent years, some rural schools have witnessed an increase in the number of boarders, whose need to eat safe and nutritionally balanced meals cannot be guaranteed because of a lack of proper kitchen equipment, CYDF secretary-general Tu Meng said on Monday. Hope Kitchen [...]

Plans for plant pulled after protests over environmental concerns A Shanghai battery maker has given in to public pressure and canceled its plans for a new lithium battery factory in the city’s Songjiang district. Shanghai Guoxuan New Energy said on Wednesday it had withdrawn its investment for the Songjiang program and would return the planned factory site to the local government, without claiming any compensation. The company gave in after [...]

SHANGHAI Guoxuan High-Tech Power Energy Co said yesterday it will scrap plans for a battery factory in Songjiang District after residents protested against the project over environmental concerns. The company said that it will return the land that was allocated to them for the project by the district government and “will not seek any compensation.” The statement was broadcast on district TV channel yesterday. Locals, worried about environmental concerns, had [...]

Shanghai lawyer Yan Yiming has failed to receive from the National Development and Reform Commission the reply to his request for information, which, as a Chinese citizen, he is legally entitled to. The lawyer filed an application to China’s top economic planner on March 26, requesting information on its decision to lift a decade-long ban on the use of disposable foam plastic tableware. According to the laws and regulations on [...]

The company behind the controversial battery plant slated to be built in Shanghai’s Songjiang district has announced they will cancel the project Wednesday. This follows concerns over the potential pollution effects, which prompted thousands of residents to take to the street in recent weeks to protest against the plant. Local residents told the Global Times that they were very happy to see the withdrawal of the unwanted industrial project. “The [...]

A yearlong assessment of the controversial Shuangjiangkou hydropower project in southwestern China has been given approval on Monday, prompting concern among green campaigners and local residents. Despite critics claiming the dam – on the upper reaches of Dadu River in Sichuan province – would affect water quality, kill fish and result in several nature reserves being submerged, the Ministry of Environmental Protection gave the assessment the green light. China Guodian [...]

A whistle-blower said Monday that the social supervision committee of the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) was not qualified as a third party to monitor the scandal-stricken organization due to financial links and business connections. Zhou Xiaoyun, a whistle-blower who claimed to have insider information, published an article online Monday stating that the supervisory body’s funds and facilities are provided by the RCSC as its protocol states, and it [...]

Ma Yun, founder of the Alibaba Group, stepped down as CEO of the firm Friday, ending his 14-year reign in the top job of China’s biggest e-commerce company. Lu Zhaoxi, a veteran of the company who has worked in nearly all of the group’s divisions since joining in 2000, was announced as Ma’s successor. Lu, 43, is a former CEO of taobao.com, the country’s largest consumer-to-consumer online platform. “I have [...]

Concepts about masculinity can contribute to abusive behavior An international survey on domestic violence that interviewed more than 2,000 Chinese found that half of male respondents confessed they have physically or sexually abused their wives or girlfriends. James Lang, program coordinator of Partners for Prevention, a regional joint program by four United Nations agencies including the UN Population Fund, said “some preliminary findings are shocking”. The survey showed that one [...]

The Red Cross Society of China, being the largest charity organization in the country, should have led the relief operations in Ya’an city, Sichuan province, after it was hit by a magnitude-7 earthquake on April 20. But its once lofty credentials seem to have been tarnished beyond repair, and it has become an object of ridicule in public discussions, especially in cyberspace. Immediately after the quake, the Red Cross said [...]