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At a Glance
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Consumer prices
BEIJING: China consumer price index (CPI) for March dropped 0.6 per cent from that for the previous month though it grew by 1.1 per cent on a yearly basis, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said yesterday.
The NBS attributed the drop of the CPI in March to lower prices of vegetables, eggs, meat and poultry products, as well as price drops in most industrial products.
Healthy foods
BEIJING: China this year will impose 50 more State quality standards on agricultural products and 180 standards for trade and industries, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
A nationwide check-up on pesticides, fertilizer, seeds and feed has been underway since the beginning of this year in a bid to crack down on poor-quality and fake products.
The Chinese Government also plans to set up marketplaces, in which only pollution-free foods can be sold, in several large and medium-sized cities on a trial basis.
Diamond ornaments
SHANGHAI: More than one billion yuan (US$120 million) worth of diamond ornaments were sold in Shanghai, China's leading industrial and commercial city, in 2000, statistics show. The figure is one-fifth of the national total for last year.
Pan Bin, president of the Shanghai Diamond Association, said the sales volume of diamond ornaments in China has increased by more than 30 per cent annually in recent years. China now ranks fifth in the world in terms of diamond consumption.
Sperm bank
SHANGHAI: The Shanghai Municipality Human Sperm Bank, the only institution of its kind approved by the local health department, became operational on Wednesday in Shanghai.
The bank has conducted some 1,000 artificial fertilization and helped impregnate some 330 women in the past 10 years of trial operation.
To date, the bank has some 700 volunteer sperm donors, 150 of whom have passed strict selection and been incorporated in the bank network.
Ancient tomb
TAIYUAN: Archaeologists have unearthed a large ancient tomb in a southern suburb of Taiyuan, the capital of North China's Shanxi Province.
The tomb dates back to the Western Han dynasty (206 BC --- 23 AD). So far, experts have disinterred about 40 bronze articles from the tomb including ancient cooking vessels, swords, water jugs and chariot models.
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