News

Survey shows big drop in smoking: A survey released Thursday said the smoking rate in China has dropped significantly over the past decade. The smoking rate among Chinese 15-years-old and above decreased from 32 percent in 1993 to 26 percent in 2003, the survey said.

Rising Medical Bills Hold Back Patients: A survey released Wednesday said that medical expenses are growing faster than the average income in China. "In the past five years, the annual income of the urban and rural residents rose by 8.9 percent and 2.4 percent respectively, while the medical expenses in urban and rural areas rose by 13.5 percent and 11.8 percent."

Beijing warns EU on weapons ban: China has warned the EU that it risks damaging bilateral ties unless it lifts a 15-year embargo on selling arms to Beijing. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui said the ban, imposed after the 1989 crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square, was "outdated".

'Shrek 2' Latest Front in China's War on Piracy: China is using a recent campaign against pirated copies of the animated hit movie ``Shrek 2'' to show it is getting serious about stemming copyright fraud. The National Copyright Administration said on Friday it had confiscated more than 1,100 pirated ``Shrek 2'' disks, closed two stores and levied 58,000 yuan ($7,000) in fines in a national sweep covering 2,600 units producing fake CDs and DVDs between October and November 30.