First Golf Major

Chinese golfer Feng Shanshan won the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Championship on June 11 to become the first Chinese player to win an LPGA Tour title and a major event, closing with a 5-under 67 for a two-stroke victory.

Born in 1989, Feng started playing golf at an early age. She has invested all her spare time in training. She joined the Guangdong Youth Team at the age of 10 and took part in international youth competitions at 14. She won the China Women's Amateur title when she was 15. She started her career as a professional player in 2008 when she became the first registered player of the China Golf Association to join the LPGA tour. So far, she has ranked among the top 10 of all kinds of competitions for 17 times and won a prize money of nearly $2 million.

The championship really goes beyond Feng's expectations. "I still cannot believe that I have won a major," said Feng.

Many foreign media compared Feng's victory with that of Chinese tennis player Li Na at the French Open. BBC even predicted that China's golf players would amount to 20 million in 2020 boosted by Feng's success.

"I hope this will help the development of this sport in China," Feng said.

Human Rights Plan

The Chinese Government on June 11 publicized its second National Human Rights Action Plan, promising to address challenges and work for the happiness and dignity of every citizen.

The new plan, which addresses human rights protection work in 2012-15, was published by the State Council Information Office and follows the previous one that covered the 2009-10 period.

In an interview with Xinhua News Agency, Wang Chen, Minister of the State Council Information Office, said that the major points of the action plan are as follows: providing protection for citizens' economic, social and cultural rights; providing protection for citizens' civil and political rights; providing protection for the rights of ethnic minorities, women, children, senior citizens and the disabled; conducting education on human rights; fulfilling obligations to international human rights conventions; and participating in international exchanges and cooperation on human rights.

China will enforce preventive and remedial measures to prevent extraction of confessions by torture and collecting evidence through illegal methods, the document says.

It also pledges that no one will be forced to prove themselves guilty.

The action plan also contains targets such as helping 13 million disabled people obtain rehabilitation through the implementation of key rehabilitation programs, increasing citizens' average life expectancy so that it will reach 74.5 years by 2015 and the coverage of affordable housing will reach 20 percent.

Food Safety Campaign

A week-long publicity campaign was launched on June 11 in China to promote honesty in the food industry after a series of food safety scandals.

Under the theme of "building a homeland with moral integrity and strengthening food safety," various departments at all levels around the country held activities to show the results of their work in strengthening food safety and cracking down on major food safety cases.

Moreover, activities were held to raise food producers' and dealers' awareness of relevant laws and regulations, as well as boost their level of honesty and enhance their credibility.

Market Cleanup

The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on June 13 that China reported fewer cases of making and selling counterfeits from January to April this year due to consistent law enforcement activities.

Chang Xiaocun, Director of the Market Order Department with the MOFCOM, revealed that 78,773 cases involving intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement and counterfeits were investigated in the four months.

During the period, people dealing in fake goods worth 1.81 billion yuan ($287.3 million) were probed in a concerted effort to crack down on copyright infringement and counterfeiting, according to Chang.

He said that government departments would continue to clamp down on violations pertaining to trademarks, copyrights and patents while strengthening supervision over the sales of medicine, cosmetics, farming materials and auto parts.

Tibetan Heritage

Cultural specialists in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region have found more than 100 pages of Tibetan scripture that dates back to the 13th century, local authorities said on June 13.

The document, whose content covers traditional Tibetan medicine and religion, was found at a monastery in Nyemo County on the outskirts of Lhasa.

"The document was compiled during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)," said Pempa Tsering, a Lhasa-based specialist on ancient Tibetan literature.

The finding was among a total of 853 cultural heritage pieces uncovered in Lhasa over the past year, local cultural authorities said.

Palace Museum Counting

Beijing's Palace Museum has catalogued its entire collection of 1,807,558 artifacts, the museum's curator Shan Jixiang said.

After more than seven years of efforts, the museum has catalogued all of the artifacts in its archives, including about 53,000 paintings, 75,000 calligraphy works, 16,000 pieces of copperware and 10,000 sculptures, said Shan on June 9.

The Palace Museum, built in 1420 in the heart of Beijing, is more popularly known as the Forbidden City.

Statistics show that more than 312 million people have visited the Palace Museum since 1949. The number of annual visitors jumped from 1 million in 1949 to 14 million at present, putting the Palace Museum among the world's most popular museums.

It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

Climate Research Facility

China on June 11 announced the establishment of a national research center designed to facilitate the country's efforts to cope with climate change.

Xie Zhenhua, Vice Minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said at the center's launching ceremony that it would provide technological support for China's efforts to map out a climate change plan.

The National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation, which will serve as a window for international cooperation, will conduct research in the fields of strategic planning, laws and regulations, international policy, carbon markets and information consultancy, according to the NDRC.

China has made several efforts, including fiscal measures to promote the efficient use of energy, to cope with rising environmental challenges.

The government plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 45 percent compared with 2005 levels by 2020, as well as boost the use of renewable energy to 15 percent of the country's total energy consumption.

Foreign Labor Rules

The Chinese Government issued new regulations for the management of foreign labor service enterprises to protect workers sent overseas and boost the development of foreign labor cooperation.

The regulations will go into effect on August 1.

Foreign labor service enterprises will each be required to create a bank account containing no less than 3 million yuan ($47.62 million) to be deposited in banks designated by authorities in order to cover potential risks, according to the new rules.

The funds will mainly be used to cover service fees, wages, compensation for losses and emergency expenses when labor service enterprises fail to pay.

Foreign labor service companies should help workers protect their legal rights, the regulations said, adding that companies will be obliged to provide compensation that foreign employers fail to provide.