China has now published last year's major scientific research results for use in industry, agriculture and other economic sectors. This is the first time the State has released its research findings to the public. They were previously only made available to ministries

and commissions under the State Council and local governments, said
Lin quan, secretary-general of the State Science and Technology
Commission (SSTC), at a press conference yesterday in Beijing.

The SSTC will release major scientific research findings annually in
the future, Lin said.

Last year, 30,566 major scientific research findings were registered-
2,727 theoretical research programmes, 26,244 applied technology
programmes and 1,595 other research and constancy subjects.

Statistics from more than 7,000 major applied technology programmes,
used in all economic sectors, indicated these programmes added 10.4
billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) to output last year.

The scientific research results obtained last year covered such
fields as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery, mining,
manufacturing, power, energy, construction, geological exploration,
water conservancy, transportation, posts and tele-communications,
finance and insurance, health, social benefits, education, culture,
broad-casting and television, and technological and other social
services.

More than 5,000 of the research results last year reached advanced
international standards, according to the SSTC.

More than 30,000 scientific research results have been produced in
China annually in the past few years. But to date, only 80 per cent
of these results have been converted into production, said Lin.

The SSTC encourages scientific departments across the country to
focus more on the development and production of high technology,
basic science research and applications, he said.

According to Dong Jinsheng, director of the Department for Scientific
Research Findings under the SSTC, such research results will
contribute substantially to the national economy.

For example, the History of Plans in China and the History of Animals
in China provide a comprehensive explanation of a multitude of
species. They will be important reference works for resource
exploration, land management, regional planning, environmental
protection, and research and production in the agricultural, light
industrial, medical and defense sectors.

Last year, scientists developed traditional Chinese medicine
preparations to provide better treatment for cancer and the ageing
syndrome.

According to clinical trials, new medicine preparations effectively
cured insomnia, palpitations and melancholy in more than 85 per cent
of cases.

China's first transgenic goat is producing milk with a therapeutic
protein, leaving scientists hopeful there is a treatment for
hemophilia.

The milk contains a human gene, the IX Factor, known as plasma
thromboplastin component (PTC), Shanghai Research Institute of
Genetics scientists announced on Monday.

Four other goats bred by the institute will soon produce milk with
the IX Factor, and scientists expect more transonic goats will be
born in the spring.

The births of China's first transgenic animals, bred for medical
purposes, are considered a "breakthrough" for China's genetic
engineering research.

Transgenic refers to an animal or plant having genetic material
artificially introduced from an other species.

Embryo transplant techniques developed by the researchers are
expected to ensure a 70 per cent impregnation rate for recipient
goats.

The success rate was previously 50 per cent.

Transgenic goat research, a national biotechnological project listed
as a major item under China's "863" High-Tech Plan, with government
support, has been conducted for years by Fudan University and genetic
research institutes in Shanghai.

Chinese scientists are collaborating with overseas counter-parts in
the bid to prepare new medical products for the next century.

The research and industrial production of new drugs was listed two
years ago by the State Science and Technology Commission (SSTC) as a
key scientific programme in the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1996-2000).

Gan Shijun, director of the Department for Social Development under
the SSTC, said in an interview with China Daily that specific project
plans in cloud building trial centres for drugs, reinforcing medical
teams, co-operating with biological and medical circles in Hong Kong,
and setting up a centre for developing life science research in the
United States.

Research is progressing well in major cities across the country, A
national health centre has been established in Zhongshan in Guangdong
Province, along with a biopharmaceutical industrial base in Shanghai,
and a number of research centres for pharmaceutical engineering
technology in other major cities.

Co-operation between mainland and Hong Kong Biological and medical
circles aims to encourage industrial parks and multinational medicine
groups, Gan said.

China will also launch a project to produce high value-added medical
apparatus and materials this year, he said.

The State has set up a medical doctorate fund to train more
specialized talents. So far, the fund has aided nearly 70 doctors in
59 specialties. These doctors are pioneering the development of new
medicines in China.

Gan said that about 40 kinds of new medicines are produced in the
world each year. But only two of these are manufactured by China.

China's drugs industry is not very competitive as a result of lax
standards for testing drugs, insufficient funds allocated to the
research and development of new products, and a lack of clinical
trials, safety tests and patent applications for new medicines, said
Gan.

He said China should improve the drugs testing and clinical trial
systems, select major research programmes in line with world market
demand, and organize medical researchers rationally.

China should also consider setting up contract research organizations.

This method is employed in some developed countries, since such
organizations can help new drugs enter clinical trials and acquire
manufacturing permits rapidly, Gan said.

A traditional Chinese medicine preparation for cardiovascular
diseases has been approved for clinical trial by the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) of the United States. The medicine was produced
by Tianjin Tianshili Pharmaceutical Co and recommended by the Life
Science Development Centre under the SSTC.

This is the first time a Chinese medicine has been approved by the
FDA for clinical trial.

The FDA regulates food and drug management in the United States, and
supervises the stipulations of relevant laws and their implementation.

China is introducing updated Technology to upgrade its railway
network, the Ministry of Railways said in Beijing.

In the next three years, new technology will be widely applied to
communication facilities, and locomotive and safety equipment
production, according to Railway Vice-Minister Fu Zhihuan.

Equipping China's railways with advanced technology will greatly
raise its efficiency in the transportation market. There is already
fierce competition in this market as a result of the rapid development
of road, water and air transportation, Fu said.

The ministry is speeding up the establishment of a transportation
management information system. Its use will enable China's railway
communication network to reach international standards, he said.

Another sign of the technological improvement of the country's
railways is that more rail lines are being electrified.

By the end of last year, China had nearly 12,000 kilometers of
electrified railways, almost 20 per cent of the overall network.

This proportion should reach 24 per cent by 2000 when the country's
railway network is expected to expand to 68,000 kilometers, ministry
sources said.

China now has 23 electrified rail lines, including about 3,870
kilometers of double-track lines.

Electrification is an important symbol of a modernized railway,
leading to more efficient management and better conditions for train
transport, said ministry officials.

China began building electrified railways at the end of the 1950s.
The first electrified line from Baoji to Chengdu was completed in
1975.

China only has 1,033 kilometers of electrified railways in operation
before the start of its reform and opening-up drive in the late 1970s.

China's railway industry is becoming a major industry in the promotion
of the country's development.

While China is facing the pressing issue of building a robust and
efficient economic structure by the turn of the century, its capital
is focusing on developing high-technology and related industries.

Beijing's Mayor Jia Qinglin says that these sectors should be given
priority as they are the key areas in economic growth.

Beijing has the intellectual and industrial potential for developing
high-tech industries, the mayor said.

Statistics show that Beijing has nearly 100 colleges, universities
and research institutions. And about 10 per cent of its residents are
scientists or technicians.

At the beginning of China's reform and opening-up drive, some experts
and technicians left their studies and built a "Computer street" at
Zhongguancun in western Beijing, which later acquired the reputation
as the cradle of Beijing's high-tech industry. During the following
two decades, State, private and over seas investors have flocked to
Beijing's new industries.

According to the Beijing Association for Science and Technology, the
number of high-technology enterprises in the city has exceeded 6,000,
with foreign enterprises reaching 1,000.

The Legend Computer Group Co, based in Zhongguancun, has become
China's personal computer giant and its second largest electronics
enterprise, Stone Crop, founded in 1984, has expanded its business
from manufacturing lighting equipment to developing computer software
and trade, grossing 6.5 billion yuan (US$ 780 million) last year.

At present, most of the city's high-tech enterprises are in Beijing's
pilot economic and technology development zones. The high-technology
industry development pilot zone generated 10 per cent of the city's
GDP last year.

Jia said that Beijing's high-tech development should be led by the
information industry and such new industries as electronics, bio-
engineering and pharmaceuticals.

High-technology will also be applied to rejuvenating traditional
industries and improving their technological level, the mayor said.

China's technology imports are expected to scale ever greater heights
in 1998 and the new year will also see bright prospects fro the
nation's technology exports, a senior trade official said last week.

Due to increased technological refurbishment of China's massive
enterprises and increased financial support from preferential loans
from the Chinese Government and international organizations, the
nation clinched US$15.9 billion in technology import contracts in
1997, up 4.4 per cent from the previous year.

"The upbeat momentum will continue in 1998, boosted by the
government's preferential policies in favrous of high technology
imports," said Liu Hu, director-general of the Technology Import and
Export Department under the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic
Co-operation.

From January 1, 1998, enter-prices in high-tech sectors have been
exempted from tariffs on equipment imports.

In the 5,984 technology import contracts inked in 1997, "Soft"
technology-know-how, patents and administrative skill-accounted for
an increased share-14 per cent-of the total contractual worth.

"This is a pleasing indicator that Chinese enterprises are shifting
their emphasis from the introduction of 'hard' equipment to 'soft'
manufacturing technology, which is of significant help in enhancing
their productivity," Liu said in an exclusive interview with Business
Weekly.

As with China's technology exports, he sees immense potential while
indicating that some unfavorable factors will have negative impacts.

In 1997, China's technology export sector boasted 2,532 contracts,
soaring 104.5 per cent from 1996. Contractual capital also leaped
17.62 per cent to US$5.5 billion.

"The rapid increases will greatly improved China's export product mix
by injecting more value added and technological ingredients," Liu
said, adding that the upgrading of China's manufacturing industry has
enabled high-tech exports to flourish.



SCIENCE BRIEFS

Central China's Hunan Province has increased rice harvest by more
than 1.5 billion kilograms in the past seven years by adopting a rice
seedling dry-nursing technique.

The technique, introduced from Japan, has been popularized in Northeast
and North China regions since the early 1980s, and agricultural experts
note that the technique can raise per-hect-are rice output by about 600
kilograms.

According to an official of the Hunan Provincial Agricultural Bureau,
the province has applied the technique on 2.67 million hectares over
the past seven years.