Rainfall at this plum rain season normal
CONTINUOUS showers during the week ushered in the first installment of the plum rain season this year, according to Shanghai Central Meteorological Station.
AIDS boy Peng Peng passes away
PENG Peng, the 14-year-old haemophiliac who was infected with the AIDS virus through a blood transfusion, died on Tuesday. (See Peng Peng's stories on front page of Shanghai Star on May 30 and June 2).
Huating moves
IN just a few months, Shanghai will say goodbye to Huating Road Clothes Market where over 15,000 foreign visitors and countless domestic people go shopping every year.
Timeshare hotel concept checks in
TIMESHARE hotel room booking concept and service is now making inroads in China.
ROK delegation here for talks
AN eight-member delegation from Cholla-Namdo in the Republic of Korea, led by Governor Huh Kyung Man, will arrive in Shanghai today for a one-day visit. Huh is expected to meet Mayor Xu Kuangdi this evening.
China, Iran look forward to increased trade in future
IRANIAN and Chinese business people explored potential for further exchanges and co-operation at a seminar titled "Sino-Iranian Trade and Investment Opportunities Seminar" yesterday afternoon.
Bookshops turn over new leaf on piracy
THE city's 151 State-owned book stores have made a public pledge to fight against pirated books, audio-video and electronic publications.
Survey sparks controversy
SENIOR researchers have called into question the authenticity of a recent report which claimed the divorce rate among laid-off women workers in the city is rising.
Entrepreneurs warned not to neglect their studies
WHILE experts agree university students who go into business can reap enormous benefit from the practical experience, they warn these students against neglecting their studies.
Cheat in the name of 'helping the poor'
POLICE are investigating a case of fraud involving 1 million yuan ($120,000) in which a man exploited China's drive to develop the poverty stricken areas.
She escapes from warring island
ZHANG Meifang, the only Shanghainese in the 117 Chinese stranded in the Solomon Islands following the breaking out of the conflict on the islands, told her tale of woe recently to local reporters.
A passion for study overseas
KE Qing's parents struggle to survive on meagre pensions, but they have done everything they can to support their daughter who is passionate about studying abroad.
Study abroad tempts local teenagers
By Shi Hua
AS living standards improve and China's opening-up progresses, local students are choosing to study in foreign schools and universities in increasing number. "There are more and more students going abroad to pursue studies," said Wang Jialiang, manager of the Office of Overseas Students of Shanghai Overseas Affairs Service Centre (SOASC), the largest of the city's overseas education agencies. Australia is now one of the most popular study destinations. About 4,000 Chinese students left China to study in Australia in 1999, 31 per cent more than in 1998, according to the Australian Consulate General in Shanghai. Of the 4,000 students, none were primary school students and most were senior middle school students above 15 years old, the consulate said. "It is well acknowledged that foreign schools cultivate creativity and the Chinese education system is too stiff and mechanical," said Liu Jun, a local businessman, who is intending to send his 12-year-old son abroad. The annual cost of studying in a foreign middle school is about 100,000 yuan ($12,000). A few years ago, foreign countries did not insist on the family of a Chinese student having a healthy bank account. Now they will only admit students whose parents have at least half a million yuan ($60,400) in their bank account. Some parents choose to send their children of primary school age (six to 11 years old) abroad. In late 1999, however, the Education Ministry decreed no overseas education agencies were allowed to help primary or junior middle school (six to 14 years old) students go abroad. These children can still go to overseas schools, but their parents must go through all application procedures by themselves. The US Consulate General has also stopped issuing visas to Shanghai middle school students because a number of them did not return to China once their visas expired but stayed on as illegal immigrants. Some Chinese education experts say children below the age of 15 should not be sent overseas to study. They feel it is harmful for students who have not reached adulthood to leave their home country and not be surrounded by people speaking their mother tongue. Chinese media recently reported some young overseas Chinese students have difficulty adapting to life abroad and spend too much time gambling at slot machines. (See related story on Page 5)
Copyright 2000 by Shanghai Star. All rights reserved.