Your News Roundup For The Month Of January

2014-01

Shanghai Students Leading The World

Shanghai has once again trumped all other participants, according to the Program For International Student Assessment released last month. With participating countries and regions representing more than 80 per cent of the world’s countries, the PISA survey is well respected for the validity of its findings. Originally started in 2000, Shanghai joined the survey program in 2009 and has consistently ranked first in three categories ever since. Competing with competitive countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong, Shanghai ranked first in mathematics, science and reading. A great success for Shanghai. It reflects the great pains parents and students in the city go to in the pursuit of educational success.

 

New Train Services Out Of Hongqiao Railway Station

The Shanghai Railway Bureau has announced that as many as thirty newtrains are running from Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station with high-speed services to northern China. A trip from Shanghai to Harbin, which normally takes 31 hours, will now take 13 hours by high-speed train due to vastly improved cross-country travel. In addition to Harbin, travellers can look forward to high-speed trains also serving northern cities including Changchun, Shenyang and Dalian. In an effort to alleviate heavy traffic during the anticipated 2014 Spring Festival, the addition of these extra train services will certainly help those traveling during that period. 

 

Gaokao To Drop English

The Ministry Of Education has announced that by 2020, English will be dropped from the gaokao, China’s university entrance exam. Instead, universities will have their own differing requirements for English language skills when accepting pupils. This may alleviate pressure for some students, if they do not need excellent English skills for their future employment, whereas others will need to take new English tests to prove their ability. In further efforts to lessen the load on students during the life determining examination period, the gaokao will be held at multiple times throughout the year, offering students numerous opportunities to sit the crucial test. 

 

Mobile Phone Payment System

Jing’an District government announced that workers in the neighbourhood are able to order and pay for their food using mobile phones. Having launched the Mobile Payment Pilot Street on Nanjing Xi Lu last month, officials plan to install the payment system district-wide by June. This project, in conjunction with district restaurants and office buildings, enables white-collared workers to have access to machines that allow them to place orders and pay without leaving their place of work. Employees at participating restaurants will have unique chips installed in their mobile phones to receive orders and payment. Currently, more than half of the restaurants in the area have installed the new technology, and customers can pay by waving their phones at kiosks located in cooperating office buildings. 

 

M50 Graffiti Wall Partially Demolished

As part of an ongoing project to develop an empty lot on Moganshan Lu, developers have demolished one of M50’s prized graffiti walls. Construction on the site is scheduled to begin later this year but developers hope to preserve parts of the wall, at least for the time being. The graffiti has long been a point of contention between neighbourhood developers and local artists, with developers wanting to demolish and build on the empty lot and artists petitioning for the preservation of the art piece. The distinctive wall has been a big draw for the M50 art district, and artists hope that developers will preserve what is left of the remnants.