HISTORICAL LINK: The Shanghai Yangtze Bridge, which links Changxing and Chongming islands and is called the "No.1 Bridge Across the Yangtze River," passed every technical examination as of September 22 and will open in the near future (XINHUA)

A/H1N1 Vaccine Recipients

The first batch of people to receive A/H1N1 flu vaccinations in Beijing had no abnormal reactions, a local health official said on September 22.

The nation's capital took the lead to start an A/H1N1 flu vaccination program on September 21. Students due to take part in the National Day celebrations on October 1 were the first to be immunized, said Zhao Tao, head of the Beijing Health Bureau's Disease Control and Prevention Department.

About 10,000 students and celebration participants received the vaccinations.

The Health Bureau has deployed 500 medical staff in 49 teams to carry out vaccinations in colleges and middle and primary schools in the city, he said.

The vaccination is being funded by the Municipal Government and is free. Citizens can choose if they want the vaccination, he said.

UNESCO Chair Forum

The 2009 UNESCO Chairs International Forum, co-hosted by the Communication University of China (CUC) and the UNESCO Beijing Office, was held in Nanjing, in east China's Jiangsu Province, on September 16-18.

UNESCO Chairs are awarded each year to individual colleges, universities and research institutions to initiate programs that further research and training in one of UNESCO's fields of competence.

A total of 32 representatives from universities, academia and the media attended the forum. Of those, 11 were UNESCO Chair holders from 10 countries.

The main topics discussed included cultural diversity and collaboration between UNESCO Chairs, media improvement and women's development. The forum will help strengthen cooperation and communication among all UNESCO Chairs and make further development possible, said Liu Liqun, head of the UNESCO Chair on Media and Gender founded in 2005, the first UNESCO Chair in the field of communications in China.

Antarctic Exploration

More than 260 participants will board the vessel Snow Dragon to take part in China's 26th Antarctic exploration in early October, said the State Oceanic Administration.

The scientific expedition team will start its trip on October 11 and plans to return on April 10, 2010. The trip will last about 180 days.

Wei Wenliang, an official for polar expedition affairs with the State Oceanic Administration, said the upcoming exploration would be the longest in the country's polar expedition history and would include the largest number of researchers taking part.

Scientists will perform research at the Changcheng and Zhongshan stations and continue to build the third station, named Kunlun, which will be located at Dome Argus, the pole's highest icecap that sits 4,093 meters above sea level.

Great Wall

Chinese archaeologists have discovered a section of ruins of the Great Wall dating from the Qin (221-206 B.C.) and Han (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) dynasties in northeast China's Jilin Province, which proves the defensive wall stretches eastward farther than previously thought.

"The site was found in Tonghua County, Jilin, 10.9 km east of what was previously thought to be the eastern end of the Great Wall in neighboring Liaoning Province's Xinbin County," said Zhao Hailong, head of the Great Wall Resources Research Team in Jilin, on September 22.

He said the team's research was part of a national project to measure the length of the Great Wall of the Qin and Han dynasties. The project is jointly sponsored by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping.