Much Revolves Around the Spring Festival

Wen Jiabao stressed that to solve the people's livelihood problems it is necessary to always persist in economic construction as the central task and insist on scientific, harmonious, and peaceful development. There is a need to greatly increase social wealth and to lay a solid material foundation for improving the people's livelihoods. We must unswervingly advance reforms and opening up, stick to the direction of socialist market economy reform, adapt to social development requirements, promote economic, political, cultural, and social system reforms, give protection to the people's democratic rights and legitimate interests, and realize social fairness and justice. There is a need to further change work style, build a closer relationship between the party and the government and the masses. We must understand the voices and calls of the people, listen to the opinions of the masses, care for the hardships of the masses, and help solve well educational, medical, employment, income distribution, and social protection problems, which for the masses are of the most concern, the most direct, and the most interest-related practical issues.

More than 100 prisoners in Beijing are joining their families to celebrate the Spring Festival as a result of China’s largest ever parole and sentence commutation.

Wednesday morning, 147 prisoners currently incarcerated in Beijing, were released on parole, just in time for them to return home to enjoy Spring Festival with their families.

This is the last working for up to two weeks for large swaths of East Asia as we approach the Lunar New Year/Spring Festival/Chinese New Year holiday. Hong Kong will be closed for business Monday and Tuesday while many in the mainland will take off a couple of weeks.

This is a very happy, family holiday and, as this year it falls relatively late, looks set to be warmer and more pleasant than is often the case.

China will not apply to designate Chinese New Year an intangible world cultural heritage, according to an official from the Ministry of Culture.


The Vice Culture Minister, Zhou Heping, revealed on Tuesday that the country's first batch of the intangible cultural heritage name list will be published on June's "Culture Heritage Day."