New Central Banker

Zhu Min, former Vice President of Bank of China (BOC), has been appointed vice governor of the People's Bank of China, the central bank. Zhu's resume, available on the official website of the People's Bank of China from October 22, confirms his new title.

Zhu, 56, received a doctorate in economics from Johns Hopkins University in 1989 and worked as an economist with the World Bank between 1991 and 1996.

Zhu joined BOC, the country's largest foreign exchange lender, in 1996. Since 2003, he had served as its assistant president and vice president, overseeing the bank's accounting, internal control, compliance, strategy and research. Zhu led the initial public offering of BOC's Hong Kong unit in 2002 and the lender's first-time offering in 2006. A BOC statement said that Zhu resigned on October 16.

According to Beijing-based Caijing magazine, Zhu might be nominated by China to become a vice president of the International Monetary Fund after assuming his post at the central bank.

Record Breaker

Olympic champion swimmer Liu Zige shattered the world record for the women's 200-meter butterfly on October 21 in the final race of China's National Games. She clocked 2:01.81 to clinch the title of the event, shaving more than 2 seconds off the previous world mark of 2:03.41 set by Australian Jessica Schipper at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships in Rome last summer.

It was the only swimming world record established at this year's National Games in Jinan, east China's Shandong Province. The Games are China's largest sports meet held every four years.

"I don't think the result today is fast enough for me, and there is still room for me to improve the record in the future," Liu, a silver medallist in the 200-meter butterfly in Rome, told reporters after the competition.

The 22-year-old began her swimming career at age 7. She made her international debut at the 2005 World Aquatics Championships in Montreal, Canada, where she finished 20th in the 200-meter butterfly at 2:14.25. Only three years later, she won China's only gold medal in swimming at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing in the women's 200-meter butterfly, wiping more than 1 second off the then world best set by Schipper in 2006.

Media Star

Rui Chenggang, a bilingual business anchor and talk show host at China's national TV broadcaster CCTV, has been selected by The Hollywood Reporter as one of the 20 under-35s who are redefining the world of international television. He is the only Chinese to enter the list.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, 30 million people watch Rui every day.

Rui, 32, joined CCTV in 1999 as one of the country's earliest Chinese-English bilingual anchors. Since then, he has conducted interviews with a number of the world's top politicians, business leaders and economists.

In 2001, Rui was named a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum at its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. He was also the youngest ever Yale World Fellow, attending the university in 2005-06.

"We are now predominantly committed to peaceful development and we will not and could not challenge or threaten any other country."

Xu Caihou, Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission, speaking at a Washington think tank during his visit to the United States from October 24 to November 3

"The old growth model where, simply put, we have still to rely on consumption in the West for goods and services produced here, we feel will no longer serve us."

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, at the 15th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit in Thailand's seaside resort of Hua Hin on October 25, where Asian leaders agreed to a massive EU-style community covering half the world's population

"The blood of Iraqis is very cheap and I ask, how many victims will it take to convince the government that it has totally failed?"

Hameed Salam, a former Iraqi army officer now driving a taxi, complaining about the insecure situation in Iraq after twin suicide bombs on October 24 killed 155 people in Baghdad

"From the start, international humanitarian law focused on the refugee issue but not so much on the question of the displaced. So with this convention it's a case of enriching international law insofar as displaced people in Africa far outnumber refugees."

Ramtane Lamamra, Peace and Security Commissioner of the African Union, after African leaders on October 23 adopted the world's first convention on human displacement at a summit in Kampala, Uganda

"Direct and indirect land-use changes associated with an aggressive global biofuels program have the potential to release large quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere."

Jerry Melillo, a scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory, warning that the economic incentives for biofuels to be developed on land reclaimed from forests add to the climate change problem rather than helping to solve it