The revised Constitution of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the report of the 19th CPC National Congress have been published across the country.

Dozens of publishing houses are printing the latest revision of the CPC Constitution, which highlights the inclusion of “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”, and the report delivered by Xi at the congress.

The report and the CPC Constitution are available at nationwide bookstores.

Shanghai Printing Group had printed 600,000 reports, 800,000 CPC Constitutions, and other related documents, according to Shen Jianyi, general manager of the company.

Shen said he initially knew Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era was included in the amendment of the Constitution via the Internet. But more than 150 employees at the company would experience the “historical moment” of printing it.

Jiang Jianhua, who took part in the debut of the printed reports and CPC Constitutions in a bookstore, said he was eager to study the fulltexts. “We should integrate those new concepts and new ideas into our daily lives, particularly Xi’s thought.”

After reading the report and the CPC Constitution, Tang Di, a recent graduate of Lancaster University in Great Britain, who has just returned to China, said he understood the strong leadership of CPC as key to unifying the country.

“I have obviously felt that the position of my country has been improved during the time I’ve spent abroad,” Tang said.

“China is now full of opportunities. Our young generation should be more confident about the future and the country,” he said.

Beijing Friday issued an orange alert for air pollution in the coming days, advising children and the elderly to stay indoors.

The alert, the second highest level, will come into effect from Saturday, said Beijing’s air pollution emergency response office.

Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and their neighboring regions are forecast to see slight to severe air pollution from Saturday to next Wednesday, said the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

In Beijing, the air will gradually improve from Tuesday night when a cold front arrives, the ministry said.

The office advised children, the elderly and those suffering from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases to stay indoors, and kindergartens, primary and middle schools to cancel outdoor activities.

The office ordered some manufacturers to reduce production and some construction sites to halt work. Heavily polluting vehicles and trucks carrying construction waste and dirt were banned from roads.

According to the local air pollution emergency response plan, an orange alert should be issued when the average air quality index (AQI) is forecast to exceed 200 for three consecutive days and and one of those day is forecast to be over 300.

Under China’s four-tier warning system, red is the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region sits in the heart of the North China Plain where air pollution, particularly winter smog, often occurs as a result of the high concentration of industrial and vehicle emissions, limited air circulation and the burning of coal.

More residents are increasingly worried about the health impacts, particularly of PM 2.5. The smaller particles pose a greater health threat as they can get deeper into the lungs than larger particles.

China has set a target to reduce the average PM 2.5 level by at least 15 percent in the cities around the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region between October 2017 and March 2018, compared to last year’s level.

Authorities in Tianjin and neighboring Hebei Province previously ordered heavily polluting industries, including steel, casting and coking, to restrict production and cut emissions in the winter heating period.

Authorities in the region have been also helping more households switch from coal-fired heating sources to gas and electric sources.

A total of 1.21 million households in Tianjin will switch to clean energy-fired heating sources in 2017 and 2018. In Hebei, 1.96 million households will finish the shift in 2017.

Beijing Friday issued an orange alert for air pollution in the coming days, advising children and the elderly to stay indoors.

The alert, the second highest level, will come into effect from Saturday, said Beijing’s air pollution emergency response office.

Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and their neighboring regions are forecast to see slight to severe air pollution from Saturday to next Wednesday, said the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

In Beijing, the air will gradually improve from Tuesday night when a cold front arrives, the ministry said.

The office advised children, the elderly and those suffering from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases to stay indoors, and kindergartens, primary and middle schools to cancel outdoor activities.

The office ordered some manufacturers to reduce production and some construction sites to halt work. Heavily polluting vehicles and trucks carrying construction waste and dirt were banned from roads.

According to the local air pollution emergency response plan, an orange alert should be issued when the average air quality index (AQI) is forecast to exceed 200 for three consecutive days and and one of those day is forecast to be over 300.

Under China’s four-tier warning system, red is the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region sits in the heart of the North China Plain where air pollution, particularly winter smog, often occurs as a result of the high concentration of industrial and vehicle emissions, limited air circulation and the burning of coal.

More residents are increasingly worried about the health impacts, particularly of PM 2.5. The smaller particles pose a greater health threat as they can get deeper into the lungs than larger particles.

China has set a target to reduce the average PM 2.5 level by at least 15 percent in the cities around the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region between October 2017 and March 2018, compared to last year’s level.

Authorities in Tianjin and neighboring Hebei Province previously ordered heavily polluting industries, including steel, casting and coking, to restrict production and cut emissions in the winter heating period.

Authorities in the region have been also helping more households switch from coal-fired heating sources to gas and electric sources.

A total of 1.21 million households in Tianjin will switch to clean energy-fired heating sources in 2017 and 2018. In Hebei, 1.96 million households will finish the shift in 2017.

China’s largest cutter-suction dredger is due to be launched on Friday in the city of Qidong, Jiangsu Province, reports China Youth Daily.

The Tiankun, which is 140-meter-long and 27.8-meter-wide, can dredge to a depth of 35 meters, and carry its load for 15-thousand meters.

The dredger was designed by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard as well as the China Merchants Industry, and was built by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries.

Tiankun is larger and has greater capability than the Tianjing, formerly the largest cutter-suction dredger in Asia, which was built with imported parts.

Wang Jian, President Assistant at the China Communications Construction Tianjin Dredging Group, says Tiankun represents a landmark as China’s first independently developed heavy-duty self-propelled cutter-suction dredger, over which China has completely independent intellectual property rights.

Tiankun leads the field of similar boats in the world in terms of distance of delivery and in many other respects.

Its advanced systems allow automated dredging and monitoring. It can also carry out dredging and reclamation work at ports, in coastal waters, in addition to deep-sea operations.

It will be put into service in the first half of 2018.

A recent letter from a Zhejiang primary school has prompted heated debate on social media.

The row centers on the extent to which parents should get involved in their children’s education.

The letter from the school was titled, ‘Allowing parents to bid farewell to homework checking,’ a phenomenon particularly popular in Chinese. “Checking homework is the basic responsibility of each teacher, while parents have their own business to worry about,” the letter goes on.

Naturally all parents want the best for their child. China’s one-child policy, which has only recently been relaxed in the last few years, made educating your only child even more of an obsession.

Teachers too want children to succeed. That’s their job after all.

Recent years have seen the growth in what’s sometimes called ‘Parental Homework,’ where teachers have encouraged mothers and fathers to correct homework on their behalf, and guide their children’s study, piling yet more concern on already busy parents.

A recent survey of 2001 parents (71.5% of which had young children or were parents of primary school students) showed that 81.8% were lumbered with ‘parental homework.’ A call for an end to checking and signing off on children’s homework was supported by 79.3% of those questioned.

The practice of signing their names in exercise books as a way to prove that they had joined in their children’s study process, surfaced in the last 10 years. The original intention was to create more opportunities for parents to interact with their children. However, simply signing their names soon expanded into the expectation that they had to correct the homework instead of the teachers.

However, if the onus of teaching children is shifted back onto schools, what then should be the role of parents? According to the survey, the majority believe the main responsibility of parents is to shape their child’s personality and character. Teachers, they believe, should stick to teaching, and rely less on parents.

Some are concerned however that a move away from the ‘parental homework’ phenomenon, might mean parents being ‘absent’ from their child’s education.

Professor Tang from Suzhou University said, schools can’t shirk their duties regardless of how closely they co-operate with parents. Parents should act as watch-dogs. People should avoid extremes and find a balance.