GREETINGS: Han Xiaohu, Commander of the eighth Chinese naval escort flotilla, shakes hands with a Pakistani man on March 13 when the fleet visited Karachi. The fleet's mission is anti-piracy in the Gulf of Aden (QIU JUNSONG)

Consumers' Redemption

China's authorities retrieved 980 million yuan ($149.16 million) for cheated buyers in 2010 as the country stepped up efforts to protect consumer rights, official figures showed.

In 2010, industrial and commercial regulators found 94,000 cases of substandard food production and 110,000 cases of fake and shoddy product sales, according to figures released by the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) ahead of World Consumer Rights Day.

Thousands of other cases of misconduct were discovered. They include trademark infringements, competition by inappropriate means, deceptive advertising and pyramid selling, said the SAIC.

Consumer complaints services around the country received 5.21 million queries in 2010 while 754,000 complaints were filed during that period.

There are altogether 339 centers to deal with consumer complaints across the country and 22 provincial authorities had set up consumer protection agencies, the SAIC said.

More Wastewater Treated

In a span of five years, China increased its city wastewater treatment rate by 24 percent to 75 percent at the end of 2010, said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

According to data released by the NDRC on March 15, China's daily wastewater treatment capacity reached 65 million tons at the end of 2010. During the past five years, its daily capacity to decontaminate urban garbage grew by 200,000 tons.

At the end of 2010, China had more than 200 wastewater and garbage treatment enterprises with annual revenues topping 1 billion yuan ($152 million) each, it said.

Brain Backflow

Nearly 135,000 Chinese students returned home after finishing their education abroad in 2010, up 24.7 percent from the year earlier, said Yin Weimin, Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, on March 11.

According to the Ministry of Education, a total of 1.9 million Chinese studied overseas from 1978 to 2010. More than 632,000 of them reportedly have returned home since 1978.

The Chinese Government launched a global recruitment program in 2008, offering favorable policies in terms of taxation, insurance, housing, children's education and spouse settlement, career development, research project financing and government awards. As of last year, 1,143 scientists and professionals had worked in China under the program.

More than 150 industrial parks nationwide, hosting 8,000 companies, attracted 20,000 returnees.

Heritage Protection

China issued a program on March 15 for the protection of the Mogao Grottoes, one of the country's three major Buddhist art treasures dating back more than 1,600 years, in Dunhuang City in northwestern Gansu Province.

The program designates a 1,344-squarekm area for heritage and environmental protection.

The Institute of Architectural History under the China Architecture Design and Research Group began drafting the program in 2003, shortly after a local regulation was passed for the better protection of all underground relics, sites of historical interest and the natural environment around the Mogao Grottoes.

The Mogao Grottoes, or the Ancient Caves of 1,000 Buddhas, were listed in 1987 by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as China's first world heritage site.