5-year visas allowed

    More professional experts from overseas will be eligible for visas that are valid for up to five years under a new regulation released on December 11.

    Overseas experts whose business requires them to enter and exit the country multiple times can obtain a visa that’s valid for five years and allows them to stay in China for 180 days at a time. For the first time, the rules will allow foreign spouses* and children of Chinese overseas returnees to obtain long-term visas and residence permits, or even permanent residence permits.

    Sirens wail to remember

    Sirens* wailed at 10 a.m. on December 13 in Nanjing, as 9,000 people from around the world attended a peace rally* to mark the 75th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre.

    Large wreaths were presented and the People’s Republic of China national anthem was played before attendees bowed three times and took part in a silent tribute.

    China submits oceanic claims

    China on December 15 presented to the U.N. Secretariat* its Partial Submission Concerning the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf beyond 200 Nautical Miles in the East China Sea.

    Physiognomy* and geological characteristics show that the continental shelf in the East China Sea is the natural prolongation* of China’s land territory, according to the document. The natural prolongation of the continental shelf of China in the East China Sea extends to the Okinawa Trough, which is an important geographical unit featuring remarkable partition*, it said.

    22 Henan kids knifed

    A knife-wielding* man has been detained by police after attacking 22 children and a woman at a primary school in Henan Province on Friday.

    The suspect was identified as Min Yingjun, a 36-year-old villager in Guangshan County, Henan Province.

    All the injured were immediately taken to local hospitals after they were hacked* at the entrance of Chenpeng Village Primary School.

    Min’s motive was not clear.

    (SD-Agencies)