China

China Signs Green Deal with Canada

Canada and China signed a series of agreements on issues including climate change Thursday, during a visit by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper aimed at jump-starting ties between the two countries.

Harper held talks with Chinese leaders on the second day of his four-day visit, during which both sides called for an improvement in ties that have languished in recent years.

For years, Harper's government has been outspoken in criticizing Beijing over its human rights record and allegations of Chinese spying, sparking fears in the Canadian business community of a potential backlash in trade ties.

"Canada has great advantages in the fields of environmental protection, green economy and energy and chemistry,"Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told Harper.

Harper told China's President Hu Jintao in earlier talks that there was "great potential"in further developing trade and economic relations.

After the talks, ministers from China and Canada signed five agreements, including a renewed memorandum on mineral resources and a memorandum of understanding on climate change, just days ahead of UN talks in Copenhagen aimed at tackling global warming.

Harper will also visit Shanghai and Hong Kong.

First Chinese Song Competition Held in Nepal

The first Chinese Song Competition was held in Kathmandu on Thursday with participation of students from 12 primary and secondary schools.

Some 300 people, including officials from the Chinese Embassy in Nepal, teachers of the Confucius Institute at the Kathmandu University, Chinese volunteer teachers, local teachers, students and their parents attended the event in the N.K. Singh E.P.S. School. The competitors were divided into junior-grade and senior-grade groups.

The low-grade students sang the very popular Chinese nursery rhymes such as "Little girls going mushrooming" and "Catch the eels." And the students from L.R.I school won the first prize with "Catch the eels."

And the first prize of the senior grade went to students of Vishow Niketan Higher Secondary School.

Business

China to Encourage Foreign Investment

China's State Council Wednesday issued measures through its website to supervise foreign enterprises or individuals who establish partnership enterprises within China. The aim of the new measures is, to encourage overseas investors with advanced technology and management experience to set up joint ventures in China, and promote the development of industries such as a modern service sector.

According to a staff member of the Legal Affairs Office of the State Council, who wished to remain anonymous, the Measures for the Administration of Partnership Business Establishment within Chinese Territory by Foreign Enterprises, targets two or more than two foreign enterprises or individuals who establish partnership enterprises.

This measure can also be used when a partnership is established by foreign enterprises (or individuals) together with Chinese enterprises (or individuals) within China.

Foreign enterprises or individuals, who become partners via stock purchases or partnerships, would be also under the measure.

Also, money that foreign enterprises or individuals use to invest in partnerships should be "convertible currency," or renminbi acquired within the law.

This measure also applies to partnership enterprises established in the Chinese mainland by companies or individuals from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan.

The measure will take effect on March 1, 2010.

Local

Intern Positions Ignored in Liaoning

Local authorities in Liaoning province had initiated 8000 intern posts for graduates in April to enhance employment in the area, but seventy percent of the intern jobs are still currently unfilled, people.com.cn reported.

The internships last three to six months, and pay the local legal minimum. The provincial government is subsidizing 70 percent of the pay to encourage companies to accept more new graduates.

According to the report, the graduates' expectations are too high and they'd rather wait for a better chance rather than accept an internship post with low pay. However the graduates' lack of experience makes them unsuitable for higher positions.

 “Shenyang Forest Skiing Festival” to Kick Off

"The First Shenyang Northeast Asia Forest Skiing Festival” will kick off from Dec.16, 2009 to Jan.17, 2010 in Shenyang National Forest Park. The theme slogan of the Forest Skiing Festival is: "Meeting in the Forest Skiing Festival, Burning Passion in Shenyang Northeast Asia".

Health tips

Teen Internet addicts more likely to self harm: study

Teenagers who are addicted to the Internet are more likely to engage in self-harm behavior, according to an Australian-Chinese study.

Researchers surveyed 1,618 adolescents aged 13 to 18 from China's Guangdong Province about behavior such as hitting themselves, pulling their own hair, or pinching or burning themselves, and gave them a test to gauge Internet addiction.

Internet addiction has been classified as a mental health problem since the mid-1990s with symptoms similar to other addictions.

The test found that about 10 percent of the students surveyed were moderately addicted to the Internet, while less than one percent were severely addicted.

The students ranked as moderately addicted to the Internet were 2.4 times more likely to have self-injured one to five times in the past 6 months than students without an addiction, said Dr. Lawrence Lam from the University of Notre Dame Australia.

The moderately-to-severely addicted students were almost five times more likely than non-addicted students to have self-injured six or more times in the past 6 months, Lam and his colleagues from Guangzhou's Sun Yat-Sen University reported.

"In recent years, with the greater availability of the Internet in most Asian countries, Internet addiction has become an increasing mental problem among adolescents," the researchers said in their study published in the journal Injury Prevention.

"Many studies have reported associations between Internet addiction, psychiatric symptoms and depression among adolescents."

They said their results suggested a "strong and significant" association between Internet addiction and self-injury in adolescence even after accounting for other variables previously associated with the behavior, including depression, family dissatisfaction, or stressful life events.

They said this suggested that Internet addiction is an independent risk factor for self-injurious behavior.

Experts interpret Internet addiction, among other things, as feelings of depression, nervousness, moodiness when not online, which only go away when the addict gets back online.

Fantasizing or being preoccupied about being online are other signs of Internet addiction.

"All these behaviors may be rooted in some common ... factors that require further exploration," they said.