Beijing News profiles a father living underground, English to be removed from gaokao, and David Cameron said he "can't tell them what to do" about Sherlock Holmes – it's all trending in China.
English out of gaokao
English will be excluded from the unified national entrance exam, or gaokao, starting in 2017 on a trial basis, a gaokao reform draft scheme published on the Ministry of Education's website said. By then, English language exams will be held multiple times a year, and students can choose when to take them. Other changes include removing the division of arts and science in high-school education. Officials will begin soliciting public opinions on the plans soon.
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Train tickets go on sale
The official ticketing website 12306.com has launched an app to further assist passengers.
Migrant workers will enjoy earlier access to train tickets as the Spring Festival travel rush approaches, China Railway Corporation said on Saturday. A spokesman told Xinhua that employers of migrant workers can book train tickets for their workers starting on Dec 7, 40 days ahead of the first day of the travel season. The upcoming Spring Festival falls on Jan 31; the travel season will last from Jan 16 to Feb 24.
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Road traffic peaks ahead of Spring Festival
Underground dweller
The son of an underground dweller said that every time he saw a manhole cover it reminded him of his father, who made headlines recently after reports revealed he had been living underground for 10 years. The story from Beijing News made a splash profiling Wang Xiuqing, a worker from suburban Beijing, who lives underground in a heating facility as a way to avoid the rising rent and in order to save money to pay for his children's education. Wang was found living underground near Lidu Park community in Beijing's Chaoyang district. He makes money by cleaning cars.
Beijing News said it has received at least 15 requests to help Wang, with some of them willing to sponsor his children's education.
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Woman lived underground for 20 years
Job hunting difficulty
A record of 7.27 million college graduates are set to try their luck in the already tough job market in 2014, an increase of 280,000 from 2013. This year the situation is expected to be worse, according to People's Daily on Sina Weibo.
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Graduates face grim hunt for work
Haze blocks out traffic lights?
Nanjing police rejected online rumors that fines will not be levied for running red lights on hazy days, its weibo account stated Saturday. The weibo post said that on days with modest haze, which does not hinder the ability to see traffic lights, fines will be charged. Smog is still lingering in Nanjing, capital city of East China's Jiangsu province, after the city issued a red alert, the highest level for smog, on Dec 5, and shut down schools on Dec 5 and 6.
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Haze continues to shroud east, north
Adios, Conca
A tearful Darios Conca sent the home stadium of Guangzhou Evergrande into a frenzy at his farewell match on Saturday. The Argentine, set to return to South America next season, kissed a patch of turf at Tianhe Stadium, ending his two-year stint at Evergrande. The newly-crowned Asian champion failed to defend their CFA Cup title during the match. The Guangzhou-based club signed Conca in July 2011 and made him one of the highest-paid players in the world. He lived up to his hype and won over Chinese fans by helping the club snatch several important titles. (www.163.com)
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Evergrande makes history in Guangzhou
Fines for social security use
Shi Yuzhu, a retired CEO from a Chinese high-tech firm, recommended in a weibo post that China's administrative fines should be used as social security funds, winning strong support among Chinese Internet users. Currently fines by government departments are regarded as sales revenue. Shi slammed China's arbitrary fines on highway drivers in the post, citing statistics from a CCTV program that departments can generate annual profits worth trillions of yuan.
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Draft regulation raises fines for polluters
Cameron & Sherlock
British Prime Minister David Cameron, who just wrapped up a visit to China days ago, recently started his own weibo account, a Chinese micro-blogging service. As of Saturday, more than 410,000 Internet users have already followed him.
Light-hearted questions on weibo to push more content on Sherlock Holmes, a hit British show, turned out to be an effective way to bring the prime minister closer to the Chinese people. "I can't tell them what to do," said Cameron, when addressing some of the questions on weibo. To relieve Chinese fans, he did add, "I will do everything I can to say that people in China want more Sherlock Holmes."
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