This is Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.
Chinese officials and scientists have said that as a country with the world's largest number of scientific researchers, China is benefiting and will continue to benefit from scientific exchanges and cooperation with other G20 members, particularly in exchanges of talent and young research staff.
A senior official of the China Science and Technology Exchange Center said the G20 is the largest and most important group in technological innovation worldwide. Cooperation and innovation under the G20 framework will not only benefit the members, but will also be of great importance to the sustainable development of the world.
According to the China Science and Technology Talent Development Report, which was released by the ministry last year, China's human resources in this area exceeded 71 million people as of 2013, ranking it No 1 in the world.
Meanwhile, the latest statistics from the World Bank Group and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization showed that the research and development investment of 19 G20 members, excluding the European Union, accounts for 87 percent of the world total.
The academic papers that these members publish account for 76 percent of the world total and applications for patents from these members account for 97 percent.
This is Special English.
Silk products are synonymous with Hangzhou, the capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province. Hangzhou first exported silk 2,000 years ago. Today, the exquisite craftsmanship of silk continues to be the source of justifiable pride.
It should come as no surprise that guests at the B20 and G20 summits will find silk forming an integral part of their experience there.
To symbolize the city's attachment to the fine material, a gift package for the B20 Summit guests contains a pure silk scarf. More than 800 participants at the B20 Summit received such scarves.
Each of the silk scarves is printed and dyed around 20 times, and it takes six weeks for the process of platemaking, printing and dyeing to be completed.
China played a major role in developing sericulture, or silk farming, and one of its origins is located in northern Zhejiang province.
Archaeological digs there have unearthed silk thread, ribbons and silk from more than 4,000 years ago. After laboratory testing, they were confirmed to have come from domesticated silkworms.
Globally, the Japanese use the most silk products, and French brands like Hermes use silk for signature products. Italy is a well-known center for silk goods, and Brazil is a large silk manufacturer.
You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
China's quantum communication satellite, which was launched in August, is in good shape; and scientific experiments can begin this month.
A chief scientist of the project said all equipment carried by the satellite and all ground equipment is working well.
Satellite-to-earth links have been established between the satellite and five ground stations across China, laying the technical foundation for distributing quantum keys.
Scientists are confident that the project will fulfill its tasks.
China successfully launched the world's first quantum satellite on Aug. 16.
The satellite will explore "hack-proof" quantum communications by transmitting "unhackable" keys from space, and provide insight into the strangest phenomenon in quantum physics, quantum entanglement.
This is Special English.
The voyage taken by the research ship "Tan Suo Yi Hao" to the Marianas Trench from late June until Aug 12 made a series of breakthroughs in deep-sea scientific exploration, both domestically and internationally.
According to scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the breakthroughs include a successful nitrogen cycle experiment conducted by the "on-site experiment" deep-sea elevator. The elevator is a research device that is lowered with an anchor and was developed by the Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering of the academy.
A scientist in the academy who headed the expedition said it made history among similar devices internationally.
According to the scientist, the Tianya deep-sea lander, another device taken on the voyage, also made history. It collected deep-sea water samples of more than 100 liters for the first time, much more than its counterparts from other countries have done.
During the voyage, China's unmanned submarine, the Haidou, dived for the first time to a depth of more than 10,000 meters, reaching 10,767 meters.
You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
China will establish several national ecological experimental zones to explore reforms ranging from natural resource balance sheets to the ecological performance evaluation of officials.
An official guideline has been released by the general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, aimed at carrying out reforms on the "ecological civilization system".
According to targets set in the guideline, major progress shall be achieved by 2017; and fully-fledged ecological civilization systems shall be established by 2020, with best practices replicable across the country.
The main experiments will include establishing a natural resource property right system, compiling a natural resource balance sheet, optimizing land and space planning, and incorporating ecological performance into officials' evaluation.
The provinces of Fujian, Jiangxi and Guizhou have been selected as the first batch of experimental zones, because they have "relatively optimal ecological foundations, and relatively strong environmental and resource capacity".
This is Special English.
Chinese universities will have the autonomy in transferring the intellectual property from scientific research and shall keep all the earnings.
A government document released by the Ministries of education and science and technology, said no less than half of the net earnings from transfers shall be rewarded to researchers.
The circular said major contributing researchers and faculty members should take no less than 50 percent of the total rewards.
China has created a series of policies to encourage scientists to translate their research into commercial products.
In March, the State Council issued a regulation that provides detailed measures for academics and inventors on how to commercially exploit their work, as the country pushes for innovation-driven development.
The authorities are also encouraging research institutions and technical personnel to transfer or licensing their achievements or to invest with them as trade-ins.
According to the policies, performance in translating scientific outcomes to products will be considered in the overall evaluation of research and higher learning institutions.
You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. You can access the program by logging on to newsplusradio.cn. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing us at mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. That's mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. Now the news continues.
Tsinghua University and Peking University have for the first time broken through the top 100 global ranking of universities.
According to the 2016 Academic Ranking of World Universities released recently, Tsinghua occupies the 58th spot and Peking University is at 71. A total of 41 Chinese mainland universities are among the top 500, nine more than in 2015.
Starting from 2003, Academic Ranking of World Universities has been presenting the world top 500 universities annually based on transparent methodology and third-party data. More than 1,200 universities are included every year.
Harvard University retains its crown for the 14th year, followed by Stanford, the University of California Berkeley, University of Cambridge and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Tokyo University in Japan is ranked 20 this year, the sole Asian university to be among the top 20 worldwide.
This is Special English.
Quarantine dogs were first employed at Nanjing airport in 2002, after their implementation in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.
After training for four months, quarantine dog Daxiong started work in 2009. Daxiong was good at sniffing out plant products, and its biggest discovery was 17 boxes of forbidden fruit totaling 180 kilograms.
At nine years old, Daxiong is the equivalent in dog years to a 60-year-old man, but he is nevertheless as excitable as ever when it comes to food. Daxiong is so sensitive to forbidden goods, especially meat products and fruit, that his trainer rewards his good behavior with snacks.
Quarantine dogs usually work three to four hours a day, taking a rest every half hour. This keeps them alert and accurate.
From 2014, the department began to seek an adopter for Daxiong in preparation for his retirement. His trainer Yan Han explaines that the adopting family had to love dogs and have some experience of looking after them. Additionally, Yan hoped that the whole family would get on well with the dog. By this metric, a local resident surnamed Zhi became Daxiong's adopter.
To prove that Daxiong is living a happy and healthy life with his new family, Zhi provides periodic photos and videos to the dog's former handlers.
This is Special English.
(全文见周六微信。)