China's most advanced submersible-support vessel is put into operation in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Aug 6. The 13,000-ton ship is 125 meters long - about the length of 28 sedans if placed end to end. Yu Fangping / for China Daily

Shipping

Vessel for deep-sea salvage

Shenqianhao, China's first ship that carries a saturation diving system allowing divers to work at depths of up to 300 meters and capable of conducting submarine rescue and salvage, was put into service on Aug 6 in Qingdao, Shandong province, according to a statement from the Ministry of Transport.

The ship was built by Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry and will be managed by Shanghai Salvage Co.

The deep-water saturation diving system in the ship allows 12 divers to work in turns at depths of more than 300 meters.

Education

Varsities plan open-house days

Forty-one top universities in China have collectively put forward the idea of having more open-house sessions with the general public to raise technological awareness, according to the Beijing Morning Post.

Chen Jining, president of Tsinghua University, delivered the joint public pledge on behalf of the 41 universities involved in the program.

Chen said higher education institutions have a social responsibility to open their libraries and science labs and promote innovation among the public.

Peking University, which hosts a summer camp for high-school students from across the country, promised to open its main labs and libraries to visitors starting from the third week of September, which also coincides with the national Science and Technology Promotion Week.

Health

Attitudes toward sex change

Almost half of female migrant workers under 30 have become pregnant before marriage, a dramatic jump in the number of unwed mothers compared with only a generation ago, according to a report published by the National Population and Family Planning Commission on the migrant population's changing behavior in sexual and marital affairs.

The report, based on monitoring results of migrant workers in 2011, said nearly 43 percent of the second-generation female migrant workers got pregnant before getting married, 16 percentage points higher than their counterparts of older generations. Experts warn that increased pregnancy before marriage may result in more violations of women's rights.

The report defines migrant workers born in the 1970s and earlier as the first generation and those born later as the second generation.

Entertainment

Movie ticket prices high: poll

Many Chinese people are shunning cinemas because of the sky-high ticket prices and a lack of diverse movie options, according to a study by the Guangzhou Public Opinion Research Center in 423 cities and counties in 23 provinces and four municipalities.

Of the 5,000 people polled, more than 65 percent said they have not visited a cinema within the last year, although 52 percent said they would be interested in doing so.

Thirty-one percent of the respondents said tickets prices are too expensive, while 50 percent said they would like to see prices lowered.

China Daily

(China Daily 08/10/2012 page2)