The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) conferred the UNICEF-China Leadership for Children Media Awards for the 1996-2000 Country Program to famous Chinese film director Zhang Yimou and five media recipients Tuesday for their outstanding contributions to the children's cause in China during the past five years.
The UNICEF believes that Zhang's film "Not One Less", which tells the story of a strong-willed village primary school teacher who insists on bringing one of her students back to the classroom, has raised the question of children's education in China's remote and poverty-stricken rural areas.
The film, which won a Golden Lion at the 56th annual Venice Film Festival, is of high artistic value and social benefit as well.
The five institutional recipients are the Programs Center for Youth and Children of China Central Television (CCTV), China Daily, China Radio International, ISL-Team China and Saatchi and Saatchi- Beijing.
According to the UNICEF, they have offered great support to UNICEF projects in China in the past five years and have evoked wide social attention to children's well being through their efforts.
Tibetans Enjoy Considerably Higher Living Standard
Tibetans have substantially improved their living standard, with 85 percent of farmers and herdsmen living in new homes and all urban residents having a per capita living floor space of 20 square meters.
Last year, the per capita net income of urban residents in Tibet hit 6,448 yuan (776.86 US dollars), up 7.5 percent from the previous year. That of farmers rose 5.8 percent to 1,331 yuan.
Taking taxi is no longer luxury for residents in Lhasa, the region's capital city. With 140,000 permanent residents, the city has 1,100 Santana taxi cabs.
Tibet has highways with a total length of 24,000 kilometers. This, plus faster urbanization process, has paved the way for cars to enter ordinary urban Tibetan families.
In the past four years, the number of individuals buying motor vehicles has increased ten percent annually and that of private motor vehicles reached 10,385. Having a private car has become a vogue for young Tibetans. In sharp contrast, Tibet had only one car owned by the 14th Dalai Lama 50 years ago.
Cafe, bars, Internet bars, and disco halls have become popular for the young Tibetans. With optical cable lines laid to remote villages, televisions, telephones and Internet have come into ordinary families in rural and pastoral areas.
(People’s Daily 05/16/2001)
