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News Research

Laba is celebrated on the eighth day of the last lunar month，referring to the traditional start of celebrations for the Chinese New Year.“La”in Chinese means the 12th lunar month and “ba”means eight. It goes on January 15ththis year.

Legends about the origin of this festivity abound. One holds that over 3，000 years ago sacrificial rites called “La”were held in the twelfth lunar month when people offered their preys to the gods of heaven and earth. The Chinese characters for prey and the twelfth month were interchangeable then，and ever since “La”has been used to refer to both.

Sincethe festival was held on the eighth day of the Last month，people later appended the number eight (“ba”in Chinese)，giving us the current Laba.

The date of the Laba Festival usually falls in mid-January. The majority Han Chinese have long followed the tradition of eating Laba rice porridge on the Laba Festival. Laba rice porridge was first introduced to China in the Song Dynasty about 900 years ago.

Buddhism was well accepted in the areas inhabited by the Han Chinese，who believed that Sakyamuni，the first Buddha and founder of the religion，attained enlightenment on the eighth day of the twelfth month. Sutras were chanted in the emples and rice porridge with rice，beans，nuts and dried fruit was prepared for the Buddha. With the passing of time the custom extended，especially in rural areas where There is，however，another touching story：When Sakyamuni was on his way to the high mountains in his quest for understanding and enlightenment，he grew tired and hungry. Exhausted from days of walking，he fainted away by a river in India. A shepherdess found him there and fed him her lunch –porridge made with beans and rice.Sakyamuni was thus able to continue his journey. peasants would pray for a plentiful harvest in this way

After six years of strict discipline，he finally realized his dream of full enlightenment on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.Ever since，monks have prepared rice porridge on the eve and held a ceremony the following day，during which they chant sutras and offer porridge to Buddha.Thus，the tradition of eating Laba porridge was based in religion，though with the passing of time the food itself became a popular winter dish especially in cold northern China.

According to written records，large Buddhist temples would offer Laba rice porridge to the poor to show their faith to Buddha. In the Ming Dynasty about 500 years ago，it became such a holy food that emperors would offer it to their officials during festivals. As it gained favor in the feudal upper class，it also quickly became popular throughout the country.

International News

Hillary, Romney emerge to win Nevada caucuses

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-20 08:46

WASHINGTON - US Senator Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Nevada caucuses Saturday, beating arch-rival Barack Obama in a hard-fought race, while former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney won a land-slide victory on the Republican contest.

US Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) points to supporters before she gives a victory speech after winning the Democratic caucuses in Las Vegas January 19, 2008. [Agencies] 

With 79 percent of precincts reporting, Hillary has 51 percent of the vote, compared to 45 percent for Barrack Obama, her arch- rival.

John Edwards came in with a remote third place, grabbing only 4 percent of the votes.

Clinton's victory continued a comeback she began in New Hampshire on January 8 and gave her momentum going into the South Carolina primary a week away from now.

Obama's loss in Nevada was his second in a row and came despite support from the state's most powerful union.

The Nevada Democratic contest was intense, despite the absence of negative television commercials.

On the Republican side, with 38 percent of the precincts reporting, Romney won 53 percent of votes, followed by John McCain and Ron Paul, who tied in a second place with 13 percent of votes each.

Romney said party supporters had cast their votes for change - and he was the man to provide it.

US Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (L) speaks at a campaign stop in Reno, Nevada, January 18, 2008. [Agencies]

"With a career spent turning around businesses, creating jobs and imposing fiscal discipline, I am ready to get my hands on Washington and turn it inside out," he said in a statement issued while he flew to Florida, site of the January 29 primary.

In fact, the Republican caucuses drew relatively little candidate interest in Nevada.

Nevada Republicans said the economy and illegal immigration were their top concerns, according to preliminary results from surveys of voters entering their caucuses. Romney led among voters who cited both issues.

Mormons gave Romney about half his votes. He is hoping to become the first member of his faith to win the White House.

Alone among the Republican contenders, Congressman Ron Paul of Texas aired television ads in Nevada.

The Republicans are also casting votes in South Carolina primary Saturday, and the results will come out later.

Nevada offered more delegates -- 31 versus 24 -- but far less appeal to the Republican candidates than South Carolina, the primary that has gone to the party's eventual nominee every four years since 1980.

Nevertheless, a victory in Nevada is likely to add momentum to the campaign of the winners.

Industry News

Cell-phone roaming fees to stay for now

After a public hearing in Beijing, a National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) official said that though most of the representatives favored the second plan of reducing 63 percent of the roaming fee, no decision could be taken.

Participants at a public hearing in Beijing yesterday debate whether mobile phones' roaming fees should be cut. Xinhua

Chinese mobile carriers often charge users 0.60 yuan (about 8 US cents) a minute as cross-province roaming fee. And cell-phone users have long criticized the government-set tariff, saying it is "unreasonable" and should be reduced or even scrapped.

Earlier this month, the NDRC and the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) put up two reform plans for public hearing, sparking a hot debate among the country's 539 million cell-phone subscribers.

Both the proposals involved scrapping the existing roaming fee of 0.2 yuan a minute. The first proposal suggested cutting the upper limit of the roaming fees by 14.9 percent, while the second proposed reducing the upper limit by 63 percent.

Impact on operators

As industry watchdogs, the NDRC and the MII have been wary to respond to the demands of mobile phone users because they have to maintain the revenue growth of China Mobile and China Unicom.

And regulators' efforts to cut costs in recent years have led to sell-offs of China Mobile and China Unicom stocks.

Some industry observers said the two listed companies have become "hostages" of investors, who fear the one-way billing approach would cut both the companies' revenue.

In fact, sell-offs of China Mobile and China Unicom stocks have put regulators under pressure, for they are seen as "loss of State-owned assets".

China Unicom Vice-President and former chief of China Mobile's Guangdong subsidiary Li Gang said China Mobile earned 49 billion yuan ($6.76 billion) from roaming fees in 2005, while Unicom generated only a few billion yuan. That accounted for about a fifth of China Mobile's total revenue of 243 billion yuan ($33.56 billion) that year.

Some experts, however, said the cell-phone operators would not suffer a serious blow if roaming fees are cut because in reality the roaming fees they charge are already very low given the fierce competition in the market.

Social outcome

Some experts may regard the roaming fees as a regulatory or business issue, but there is enough evidence to show the reform will have an equally important impact on society.

An article, undersigned by the Beijing Consumers' Association, in Beijing News said the official hearing into roaming fees should be broadcast live on TV and radio to ensure transparency and avoid corruption.

A scholar named Hao Jinsong even threatened to move court against the NDRC after his request of joining the public hearing got no response.

Domestic News

Games uniforms unveiled

By Lei Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-01-21 07:36

The uniforms of Beijing Olympics' workers, technical staff and volunteers were unveiled last night to mark the 200-day countdown to the Games.

The uniforms have the key element of the lucky clouds and will be in three colors: red for Beijing Olympic Games Committee (BOCOG) staff, blue for the volunteers and gray for the technical staff.

Chinese models display the official uniforms for the Beijing Olympic Games Committee (BOCOG) staff (red), volunteers (blue) and technical staff (grey) of the Beijing Olympics and Paralympic Games during an unveiling ceremony in Beijing January 20, 2008. The event also marked the 200th day countdown before the Olympics Games which opens on August 8, 2008. [Agencies] 

"The different colors will the make the uniforms easily recognizable to people who need help," said He Yang, associate professor at Beijing Institute of Clothing Technology (BICT) and one of the main designers of the uniforms.

"Red signifies passion and action; blue, as a refreshing color, is suitable for the large number of volunteers; and gray represents calm, which is what the technical staff need the most. We hope the uniforms make everybody look healthy and passionate," she said.

The uniforms, to be provided by Beijing Olympics partner Adidas, will be worn by about 130,000 people during the Games.

BOCOG invited three professional institutes, the BICT, Tsinghua University's Academy of Art and Design and the Central Institute of Fine Art, in December 2005 to design the uniforms.

More than 200 designs were submitted before March 2006, and the International Olympic Committee approved of the BICT design on August 30, 2007.

"It was difficult to work out the design because the uniforms had a lot of requirements," He said.

"They wouldn't have looked good had we splashed the lucky clouds across the length and breadth of the dress. So we put several pieces of clouds in different color levels and chose a white cloud for the waist to make the symbol more obvious," she said.

The lucky clouds, also used on the Beijing Olympic torch, signify auspiciousness in Chinese culture.

"We hope people would see not only the uniforms, but also the tradition they represent," He said. "The Olympics is a good occasion to let more people learn about Chinese culture. I hope it's just the beginning of making people across the world familiar with Chinese culture."