Launching the projects has led to the growth of the high-tech sector, innovation in traditional industries, an increase in agricultural production and the development of basic scientific study.

Statistics show that the export volume of China's high-tech products last year reached about US$25 billion, 13 percent of the total export volume.

The Torch Project, launched in 1988 to encourage the development of technology, has played an important role in the growth of a group of high-tech zones, in which there were 17,000 high-tech enterprises last year.

Those enterprises had an overall industrial output worth 594 billion yuan (US$72 billion) and earned about US$12 billion in foreign exchange for the country last year.

Among them, the number of high-tech enterprises whose revenues exceeded 1 billion yuan (US$120 million) reached 100 last year.

China has made a series of breakthroughs in mapping the genome of the rice plant, producing genetic medicine and applying animal transgenetic technology, making the country a leader in the field of biotechnology among developing countries.

During the period, China has supported 147 innovative projects in its industrial sector and their research findings have been widely used in production.

The railway sector has completed the computerization of ticket sales, and the value of tickets ordered and sold on the computer system are now 80 percent of the total.

The country's first regional system to examine the marine environment three-dimensionally has been set up in Shanghai, upgrading the region's ability to forecast and protect against typhoons and storms.

About 20 projects to develop scientific applications in agriculture were carried out in the period.

One of the projects developed new hybrid rice strains, which are expected to be grown on 3.3 million hectares and increase the output of grain by 3.5 billion kilograms this year.

During the period, 44 projects focused on maintaining sustainable social development and bettering the environment.

Those projects have helped promote the formation and development of industries such as the new medicine industry and environmental protection.

Furthermore, 11 newly explored oil and gas fields in the Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have added over 500 million tons to China's oil and gas reserves.

This has supported the project of transferring gas to the East, which is an important part of the country's strategy to develop the west.

Technologies like remote sensing have contributed to the discovery of a number of large and medium-sized metal deposits in Xinjiang and the western Qinling Mountains, containing minerals in short supply in the country, such as gold, silver and copper.

The country has invested 200 million yuan (US$24 million) every year in the renewal of equipment used in important scientific research.

In the past, only a limited number of university graduates with registered residence other than Beijing, were allowed to stay in the city.

Beijing has a population of more than 11 million. Every year up to 60,000 will be graduated from its universities, with majority of whom come from other provinces or municipalities.

To make the city not so crowded, Beijing has been capping the number of out-of-town students staying in the city after graduation.

Though the high-tech companies can now enjoy a cap-free personnel policy, limits on other fields or industries are still there, the official said.

(chinadaily.com.cn 11/14/2000)