Beijing has drafted a document of suggestions on promoting the integrated development of culture, science and technology.

The document provides specific implementation guidelines for the related industries, including setting up the certification standard for the demonstration enterprises for the integrated development between culture and science and technology.

A new economic engine

Beijing has five demonstration bases of integrated development between culture and science and technology at the national level.

“Software, internet and computer services — mainly animation game, online literature and new media — dominate the cultural and creative industry in Beijing,” Du Feijin, director of the Publicity Department of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC, said.

Du said the total revenue of the software, internet and computer services in 2016 reached 701.1 billion yuan (US$106.6 billion), accounting for 39.2 percent of the revenue of the cultural and creative industry in Beijing.

Xu Qiang, director of the Beijing Science and Technology Commission, said “Beijing has a great atmosphere for innovation and entrepreneurship in the cultural and creative industry.”

According to him, by the end of 2016, there are 3,047 high technology enterprises in the cultural industry in Beijing, about 20 percent of the number throughout China.

Du said that the integrated development of the culture and science and technology industries has become the new engine for the economic development of Beijing.

Supportive policies and copyright protection

The document stipulates 10 major tasks, including setting up the certification standard of the enterprises of integrated development of culture, science and technology, promoting the use of technology in protecting the history and culture of Beijing, and improving the financing service system.

The document also provides specific implementation guidelines, such as requiring the city to identify the qualified enterprises that meet the certification standard once a year.

However, Du said support for cultural enterprises by the city fall short in comparison with support for science and technology enterprises, and policies on regulating and supporting the integrated industry are yet to be in place.

“Most cultural enterprises lack the capability of independent innovation,” Du said.”The investment in research and development in cultural enterprises is not sufficient.”

What’s more, copyright protection for cultural properties remains a challenge in the integrated development industry, Haidian District party secretary Yu Jun said.

Beijing’s science and technology advantages

By the end of September, there were more than 470,000 scientific and technological enterprises in Beijing, over 1,000 research institutes, and other workshops and organizations that provide platforms for the integrated development of culture and science and technology.

Universities and colleges in Beijing have set up new academic programs to train interdisciplinary talents in order to meet the needs of the integrated development.

All 38 delegations to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) had arrived in Beijing by Monday evening for the upcoming political event.

The delegations represent the Chinese mainland’s 31 provincial regions, departments of the CPC Central Committee, central government organs, enterprises controlled by the central government, central financial system, the People’s Liberation Army, the Armed Police, and CPC members of Taiwan origin.

More than 2,200 delegates, chosen from more than 89 million CPC members across the nation, will attend the twice-a-decade congress, scheduled to open Wednesday.

The delegates will deliberate an 18th CPC Central Committee report, a CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection work report and an amendment to the CPC Constitution at the congress.

The congress is also expected to unveil new CPC leadership and set a blueprint for national development for the next five years and beyond.

Chinese police have handed over an American “Red Notice” fugitive to U.S. law enforcers Monday at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) said in a statement.

The repatriation was demanded by U.S. law enforcement authorities and was the latest result of Sino-U.S. cooperation in chasing fugitives and illicit money since the countries’ first law enforcement and cybersecurity dialogue on Oct. 4.

According to the MPS, the fugitive conducted multiple sexual assaults on children aged from six to 12 in the United States during July 2009 and August 2012. In June 2017, Interpol issued a “Red Notice” on the fugitive after a year of investigation by U.S. police.

The investigation showed that the fugitive fled to Shanghai in May. Chinese police played their part by locating and capturing him after receiving a notice from the United States.

The MPS said China and the United States will carry out further cooperation in chasing fugitives and illicit money.

Chinese scientists on Monday announced observation of the “optical counterpart” of gravitational waves coming from the merger of two binary neutron stars using a survey telescope in Antarctica.

The gravitational waves were first discovered by the U.S.-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors on Aug. 17. The Chinese telescope independently observed optical signals resulting from the merger the next day, among some 70 telescopes on the ground or from space across the world, according to the Chinese Center for Antarctic Astronomy.

It was the first time humans have detected gravitational waves and the corresponding electromagnetic phenomena resulting from a binary neutron star merger.

Data exclusively collected by the Chinese detector has led to a preliminary estimate of the ejecta parameters, according to Wang Lifan, director of the center.

The merging process ejected radioactive material with more than 3,000 times the mass of the Earth at a speed of up to 30 percent the speed of light, Wang said.

A merger of black holes with an extremely strong gravitational field can not generate ejecta or electromagnetic phenomena, according to Wu Xuefeng, a researcher with the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

However, the collision of binary neutron stars is accompanied by a series of electromagnetic phenomena that are crucial to research in origins of heavy elements like platinum and gold.

“The crash of binary neutron stars is like a gigantic gold factory in the universe,” said Jin Zhiping, an associate researcher with the observatory and a member of an international team that analyzed optical signals.

The host galaxy of the incident is located about 130 million light years from the Earth.

In 2015, LIGO detectors confirmed the existence of gravitational waves produced during the merger of two black holes, which were predicted by Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity 100 years ago.

So far, LIGO and its partners have discovered four cases of gravitational waves coming from mergers of two black holes.

The Chinese telescope is a catadioptric optical telescope with an entrance pupil diameter of 500 mm. Its unique location allows for continuous observations lasting longer than 24 hours during the austral winter.

China’s first X-ray astronomical satellite, a Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope named Insight, also contributed to the detection.

Only two months after its launch, the satellite successfully monitored the space where the incident occurred.

Chinese scientists forecast that the next achievement in observation might be gravitational waves coming from the merger of a binary neutron star and a black hole.

China will pilot a lawyer mediation system in nine provinces and two municipalities in an attempt to better resolve civil and business conflicts.

A new guideline jointly issued by the Supreme People’s Court and the Ministry of Justice encourages lawyers to play a more active role as a third party in the mediation process to assist disputing parties in resolving conflicts through negotiation.

Lawyers will be allowed to work as mediators at mediation offices set up at local courts and tribunals, as well as legal service centers, lawyer associations and qualified law firms.

The measure is expected to improve the efficiency of solving civil and commercial disputes, save legal resources and reduce litigation costs.

The new measure is the latest addition to China’s mediation system. China has been adopting a “people’s mediation” method to resolve disputes outside judicial proceedings.

In 2010, the country’s legislative organ promulgated the Law on Mediation.

Under the guidance of the law, China has established people’s mediation committees in village (neighborhood) committees, townships or towns (urban districts), enterprises and public institutions to handle the mediation process.

Administrative and judicial mediation have also been used in China to handle disputes outside judicial proceedings.