The Communist Party of China’s (CPC) top disciplinary watchdog Wednesday named and shamed officials in five cases for consuming high-end wine and liquor bought with public funds.

In one case, the Tinghu District government of Yancheng city in Jiangsu Province was found to have spent 1.2 million yuan (182,731.8 U.S. dollars), buying over 2,000 bottles of liquor from 2013 to 2016, according to a CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) statement.

Most were consumed at banquets hosted by principal leaders of the district government. The officials exposed in the five cases were largely given a warning.

Luxurious wine, liquor, food and cigarettes are banned from business receptions in the country, and officials of the Party and government departments are forbidden to attend banquets held by state-owned enterprises and financial institutions, the CCDI said.

The government has promised harsh punishment for officials who dine out on public funds.

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University inaugurated Wednesday the Faculty of Business – Belt and Road Center, which serves as a leading think tank on issues related to the Belt and Road Initiative.

The center is a platform that pools the research strengths of the university’s business faculty in logistics and maritime studies, accounting, finance, economics, law, marketing, management and international business.

It will conduct inter-disciplinary research, consultancy for local community and Belt and Road economies, intellectual exchanges for the region, as well as integrating Belt and Road components into university curriculum.

Officiating at the inaugural ceremony, Alex Wai, vice president of the university, said the center will be their new initiative focusing on intellectual exchange and consultancy relevant to the Belt and Road Initiative.

Edwin Cheng, dean of the university’s Faculty of Business, said that besides conducting inter-disciplinary research and exchanges related to Belt and Road Initiative, the center also endeavors to serve local community and beyond by undertaking related consultancy projects.

“We will also work together with the public and private sectors, professional bodies and other universities,” Cheng added.

Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, Tuesday opened an office to attract overseas talent in Toronto, Canada.

It is the city’s third international office, following one each in the United States and Germany, established to welcome high-end businesses and talent to relocate to Chengdu, according to the city’s human resources and social security bureau.

“We are trying to make the region’s demand for businesses and talent known, and some companies in the Canadian health sector have shown interest,” said Zhang Jing, manager of the office.

As a hub in China’s western regions, Chengdu wants to woo overseas talent to help it compete with larger cities on the east coast, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, by offering more generous terms and a better environment.

Jiang Zhonghan, a Canadian citizen originally from China, has decided to bring his design team to Chengdu.

An innovation and entrepreneurship competition for overseas Chinese concluded in the city last week and Jiang’s team’s design, a battery management system for new energy vehicles, won first prize.

“Our system is like the ‘brain’ of battery unit, which enables it to operate with high efficiency,” he said.

Currently, they are negotiating with the Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, which offers preferential policies like lower office rental costs, subsidies for the new energy sector and government aid to help recruit industrial workers.

The competition was part of a hi-tech conference for overseas Chinese in western China jointly organized by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council and two other bodies.

Since 1995, the conference has helped to attract over 1,400 hi-tech talents and more than 1,000 international projects to relocate to Chengdu.

Last month, the city launched a preferential policy for overseas talent who hold a Chinese green card, in which they can enjoy benefits in 20 aspects, such as healthcare and education for their children.

“The rapid development of western China and its thirst for hi-tech talent has made the region a hotbed for entrepreneurship and innovation,” said Jiang.

From September 22-30, Beijing will host a high-profile leisure carnival, involving a leisure conference, an expo and a gala fashion show, Wu Xiaojie, deputy head of the capital’s Pinggu District, announced at a press conference in Beijing yesterday.

Beijing will host a leisure conference as well as a leisure expo and gala show, according to a press conference held in Beijing on September 19. Wang Degang (second left), vice president of China Tourism Association, Wu Xiaojie (second right), deputy head of the capital’s Pinggu District and Wang Xiaodong (right), deputy head of Pinggu District attended the press conference.[Photo/China.org.cn by Guo Xiaohong]

The first China (Beijing) Leisure Conference will be held September 22-24, said Wu.

Under a theme of “leisure enhancing life quality,” the three-day conference will bring together hundreds of domestic and foreign experts, entrepreneurs and officials from international leisure organizations, travel associations, leisure-based enterprises and tourism cities.

They will explore new findings in leisure research and innovation, and share their experience on how to further promote the leisure industry through four academic forums that form part of the conference.

The leisure carnival will also include cultural and related events including the 2017 International Leisure Industry Expo and Leisure and Fashion Gala, showcasing the latest trends in leisure vogue, diversity and new products.

These activities will help people embrace a new lifestyle, and, in return, boost the leisure industry, Wang Degang, vice president of China Tourism Association, said at the same press conference.

“We have entered an era where leisure has become a new form of productivity,” said Wang.

He continued: “The leisure industry combines travel, sports, entertainment and the arts,” adding that he hoped it could become a contributor to people’s health and happiness while helping adjust the national economic structure.

According to Wu Xiaojie, Pinggu will stage two more such carnivals in 2018 and 2019 respectively as a prelude to convening the 16th World Leisure Conference in 2020.

Pinggu District, known as an area focusing on ecology with 66.5 percent of forest coverage, boasts a number of titles such as being a land of peaches, calligraphy and ornamental stones. It has designated leisure as its pillar industry and is fully geared up for the upcoming carnival, Wu said confidently.

The upcoming leisure is being organized by the China Tourism Association, Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development and Pinggu District government, as well as the executive committee of the 2020 World Leisure Conference.

Hebei Province in northern China has a large disabled population. Over the past 30 years, the care for the disabled in the province has developed rapidly, and many disabled people have benefited from the work.

Ding Yukun is seen in a recent photo. [Photo: China Plus]

Born with congenital spina bifida, 35-year-old Ding Yukun had to have both of her legs amputated in 2008 due to recurrent inflammation. But since then she has started an online business.

She said she tried to apply for several jobs before the amputation, but there was little that was suitable for her.

“When I was nearly 20 years old, I started to look around for a job. I had tried many fields, but they didn’t seem to be suitable for me. In 2008, I had amputation surgery, and then, I began my online business at home. The Internet is fantastic! It has given me wings and taken me to wherever I want to go.”

But learning to use a computer was not easy for Ding, because she never attended school. Her doctor once asserted that she wouldn’t make it through 12 years old.

She learned to read with the help of a dictionary and then learned typing and surfing the Internet.

For the first month, she worked 10 hours every day on the Internet as a copyreader. And she remembered clearly that her “first bucket of gold” was 270 yuan, around 40 US dollars.

Now, as a successful e-commerce businesswoman, Ding is busy with helping other disabled people. She provides an online platform to sell handicrafts made by the disabled.

Ding Yukun is one of 5.2 million disabled people in Hebei Province.

In the last five years since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held, over 10,000 disabled people in Hebei have started businesses online. The provincial government has supported 100 shops opened by the disabled on Taobao, China’s largest e-commerce platform.

Also, nearly 250,000 disabled people have received training, and over 620,000 rural disabled people have been employed.

Zhu Lijie, Chairman of Hebei Disabled Persons’ Federation, said laws and regulations are adequate to guarantee the disabled persons’ rights.

“Under the ’13th Five-Year Plan,’ we have developed a solid framework for the disabled-related work we need to do. Previously, what we can do is to donate or establish a charity for them, but now, education, medical treatment, rehabilitation training, social security, protection of human rights and related issues have all been considered.”

She added that 80% of all disabled in the province are expected to receive rehabilitation training by 2020.