China to eliminate old ID cards

The first version ID cards are lined up at a police station in Tancheng county, East China's Shandong province, May 31, 2012. The cards, launched in 1985, will be prohibited from use from Jan 1, 2013. Chinese people will also be required to register their fingerprints when applying for ID cards from January 2013 in a bid to curb counterfeit cards and ensure faster identification. In 2004, the country introduced the second-version card. By 2010, 1.04 billion people or 77.6 percent of China's population had received the second version. [Photo/Xinhua]