Rural elementary and secondary schools will get the bulk of educational funds allowing children to enjoy new computer and multimedia classrooms and free education as early as 2010, according to the Ministry of Education (MOE). "Rural education is still the weakest link, and our newly-allocated educational funds will be used mainly in rural areas," said Zhang Xinsheng, vice-minister of MOE. As many as 36 million rural students are currently benefiting from this policy. They will be exempted from paying miscellaneous as well as tuition fees by 2010.

Zhang said China aims to increase the percentage of educational input in gross domestic product from 3.41 percent in 2003 to 4 percent in the future. This new program aims to solve the educational gap, whereby 8 percent of the country has not yet completed nine-years of education in the poorer western part of China.

Northeast China's Heilongjiang province is expected to see a record harvest year in grain production, with the total grain outputs to hit 79 billion pounds this year, an increase of 14.8 percent to the previous year, according to sources with the provincial government.

Since 2004, a series of preferential policies on supporting grain production have been issued. Farmers in the province were exempted from agriculture taxes and were given grain subsidies. To promote grain production and help farmers earn more money from grain planting, the province of Heilongjiang has invested USD 32.5 million in modernizing farm equipment.

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus could shift the final assembly line for some of its aircraft outside Europe for the first time under an industrial pact signed with China on Sunday, company officials said. A feasibility study will establish within six months whether it would make sense to build an alternative assembly point for A320 single-aisle aircraft in China, the company said.

Chinese demand for aircraft is expanding rapidly, helping to propel Airbus and its US rival Boeing towards a record year for orders in 2005 despite a severe downturn of the aviation industry in the U.S.

Canada's McCain Foods Ltd. has learned one clear lesson from the two-week shutdown of its new French fry factory in Harbin, China: It has to start digging a well. The plant should restart early this week, said Basil Hargrove, McCain's chief executive officer for Asia, who is coping with fallout from an industrial accident that sent toxins spilling into the river from which Harbin derives its water supply.

McCain, the world's largest producer of French fries, had just opened its plant in late October, ending six years of crop trials and false starts in searching for a suitable factory location. Mr. Hargrove said the incident has not lessened McCain's enthusiasm for its Chinese factory. He sees it as part of the learning curve in a long- term venture aimed at seizing a bigger share of the rapidly growing fast-food market in China.

Since Walmart's entry into China in 1996, the retail supergiant has opened 40 stores in various stores. Latest expansion include the construction of a 200,000 square feet store in the city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province.

In other news, domestic Chinese retail giant Dashang Group Co Ltd yesterday merged with Harbin No 1 Department Store, one of the largest department stores in the country. Dashang will refurnish the entire store, changing it into a new shopping facility, which integrates shopping and entertainment. This marks the beginning of Dashang's further expansion in the Northeastern retail market. With the liberalization of the Chinese economy, the rate of disposable income has increased tremendously which drives the booming retail industry.