It is sometimes called Cantonese cancer, as the inciden
e in Guangdong – 30 cases per 100,000 people – is more than 30 times higher than the rest of the world.
The country’s central and western regions saw explo
sive year-on-year increases, with annual growth in Gansu, Guizhou and
Qinghai provinces of 290 percent, 157 percent and 155 percent, respectively.
The growth is inseparable from the regions’ economic strengths and potential, accord
ing to Li Shunde, a senior intellectual property researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Internet-related IPR cases have been surging in recent
years because of the rapid development of the sector, he said.
Of the 10 typical IPR cases last year that were released by the top court on Monday, three were internet-related.
“Efficiency in settling cases also improved significantly in 2018,” said Song Xiaoming, head of the court’s IPR tribunal.
Courts settled 319,651 cases during the year, including some they had accepted previously, Song said.
Although the scandal involving Visual China Group e
exposed disordered copyright management by stock-image providers, legal
professionals said the increased efforts to protect copyright should be applauded.
For example, the National Copyright Administration has launched crackdowns against pira
ted works every year, aiming to increase copyright protection through administrative measures.
Last year, it took online short videos, audio material, literary articles and music as major target
s. It eliminated 1.85 million web links with content that infringed copyright, and confiscated 1.23 million pirated works.
Wang, the Beijing lawyer, said he appreciated governme
nt attempts to protect copyright, but said such efforts are still insufficient.
He called for the country to improve copyright-related laws as soon as poss
ible, and especially to issue a specific rule for footage, pictures or other photographic works.
Tesla probes car self-ignition case in Shanghai
US auto giant Tesla said on April 22 that no one was hurt in a vehicle se
lf-ignition accident at an underground garage in Shanghai and it has sent a team to the scene.
According to the Xinmin Evening News, the self-ignition of a white Tesla sedan took
place at about 8 pm on April 21 at a community garage in Shanghai’s Xuhui district, whe
re residents living in the apartment building were evacuated following the accident.
Footage caught on a surveillance camera showed that thick smoke ro
se from the car, followed by huge flames. Cars parked nearby were also damaged.
Due to the irritating odor, firefighters closed the en
trance of the garage to spray water before going inside to clear out the fire.
Tesla said on its official micro blog that it has alerted related agencies and was cooperative in verifying the incident.
Cabbies evacuate students free of chargeed many pe
Cabbies warmed many people’s hearts when they rushed to evacuate stu
dents and residents free of charge after a fire broke out on Qipan Mountain in She
nyang, Northeast China’s Liaoning province, last Tuesday, Beijing Evening News reported.
The fire started at about 1:50 pm and expanded quickly as the wind blew at a speed of 12.8 meters per second.
Students of He University, situated at Mt. Qipan Scenery Tourism Dev
elopment Zone, and residents living nearby needed to be evacuated for safety reasons.
Many cabbies rushed to Qipan Mountain and transported people away free of charge.
“We don’t know if the university has enough vehicles to send studen
ts away, so we came as soon as we heard the news,” said Zhang Shengjun, a member of Fu
shun Leifeng, a voluntary cab-driver team. “We’re waiting outside the school gate to see if we can offer some help.”
rists from China view cherry blossoms from a boat in Kyo
hen Zeyong, CEO of online visa service tigerwing.cn, said the Jap
anese government issued 7 million visa stickers for Chinese nationals last year.
“If visas become a bar code or QR code emailed to applicants, their w
orkload will be greatly lessened,” he said during the Shanghai World Travel Fair on Thursday.
Japan Tourism Agency data showed that 8.38
million tourists from the Chinese mainland trave
led to Japan in 2018, representing year-on-year growth of 13.9 per
cent and contributing nearly 27 percent of international tourists.
China has been the world‘s largest source of tourists since 2014, reachin
g nearly 150 million last year, according the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
The market potential remains huge,” said Dai Bin, direct
or of the China Tourism Academy. “Compared to the United States, w
here 48 percent of its citizens hold a passport, the figure in China is only around 10 perce
nt. It’s estimated that the number of Chinese outbound travelers will reach 230 million in 2030.”
A report published by major Chinese travel agency Ctrip showed th
at 160 million Chinese people have travel plans during the upcoming four-day May Day hol
iday. Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan and Indonesia are the top destinations outside the mainland.
Malaysia, which receives around 10 million Chinese tourists annually, began to i
ssue e-visas for Chinese in 2017. “The number of visa stickers on passports of Chinese na
tionals dropped by 70 percent in the first year after the service was introduced, showing its high popularity,” said Han.
Since last year, countries including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Turkey, Thailand and Sri Lanka have starte
d to accept visa application documents online and issue e-visas, either a bar code or QR code.
hina Arts Festival to showcase power of modern ar
The 2019 edition is co-organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Shanghai municipal government. Since its esta
blishment in 1987, the festival has changed host cities in each edition, traveling to a
reas including Beijing, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Hubei over the past three decades.
Sales of tickets have opened online, with concessionary tickets price
d from anywhere from no cost up to 380 yuan ($56), according to the organizers.
To allow a larger audience to access the progra
ms, the festival will also feature live broadcasts online. “We will use new media to br
ing the shows to more ordinary people through livestreaming, letting them know about the modern dev
elopment of Chinese arts,” said Zhu Di, head of the ministry’s arts department, at
a news conference in Beijing on Thursday.As China merged the Ministry of Culture and National Tourism Admini
stration into a ministry of culture and tourism in 2018, this year’s festival is also aimed at promoti
Information compiled by the NGO from government docum
ents show that at least 162 sources of drinking water across the country have been aba
ndoned or were slated for suspension over the past decade, mostly in the south.
It said many areas in the south must receive water diverted from far
away because of local pollution. For some areas in the north, diversion is chosen beca
use of water shortages. Many places in Jiangsu province have turned to the Yangtze for water.
Previously, cities in southern Jiangsu relied on Taihu Lake, China’s third-largest fresh
water lake, and other local water bodies for their drinking water. This changed, however, after a major outbr
eak of blue-green algae in 2007. The incident forced Wuxi to temporarily suspend water supplies. After the inci
dent, major cities in the Taihu basin turned to the Yangtze for drinking water, the report said.
In Taizhou, located on the north shore of the Yangtze, Xinghua is the o
nly one of six areas administrated by the city that has yet to tap the Yangtze for its drinking wat
er. But a diversion project from the river was listed on the Xinghua government’s agenda last year.
For example, Netflix is investing in really diverse c
He also underlined the significance of a strong audience base in the fu
