BEIJING - Many people visit Shanghai Tower to admire what is the tallest building in China, but few people know that it is home to one of the smallest cells of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in the country. Lu Jiawei, 24, is the head of the cell. The joint Party branch in the landmark building he overseas is only six-months old. It had five CPC members from five different companies when it was launched in February. Now its membership has grown to ten, including two from mobile and online payment service Alipay. Under CPC regulations, such a joint branch can be set up for companies with less than three Party members, as they are not qualified to form an independent branch. Rising 632 meters over Shanghai's bustling Lujiazui financial and trade zone, the landmark building is home to nearly 100 domestic and foreign companies. A large "gold-collar lounge" on the tower's 22nd floor has been reserved for Party members to study Party policies and principles. "This is a library, a gym, a teahouse and a place to meet new friends," Lu said. "We hold various activities of the Party organizations, including sessions of criticism and self-criticism." In August, he organized members to watch "The Founding of an Army," a domestic war film made in honor of the 90th founding anniversary of the People's Liberation Army. "If the Shanghai Tower can be regarded as a mark for the physical altitude of China's economic development, the building of Party organizations within it marks the spiritual altitude of economic and social development," said Shao Zhuqing, deputy Party committee secretary of Shanghai Tower Construction and Development. The gold-collar lounge is a place to recharge Party members spiritually, a home to offer service to white-collar employees in the region, and a platform to improve communication between Party members and the general populace, Shao said. Not far away from the tower, functional CPC cells are vibrant in Shanghai Disney Resort, a Sino-foreign joint venture located in central New Pudong District. "Some of my colleagues are surprised to know there is a Party committee within the company," said Murray King, vice president of public affairs for the Shanghai Disney Resort. "The Party committee is a normal part of our business, a normal part of our operations, in fact it is a very helpful part," he said. "It's a source of knowledge and resources, which I think is very valuable for a successful business." "I'm often pleasantly surprised to find some of our most talented people are Party members. I have to give credit to the Party committee because some really good ideas come from the Party committee, and some of our most dedicated employees are Party members," King said. In 2013, the Shanghai Disney project, which was still under construction at the time, created a "golden idea" platform for its employees and Party members to provide ideas to help the company improve, and eight of its 39 proposals made had been submitted to the company's executive team. Nearly 1,000 kilometers away from Shanghai, grassroots Party organizations are leading villagers toward a better life in Jinggangshan, home to CPC's first rural revolutionary base, established 90 years ago in the inland province of Jiangxi. Huang Chengzhong is secretary of the Party committee of Shenshan village. The committee is responsible not only for enabling the villagers to get to know CPC policies and goals such as poverty eradication, but helping ensure they are carried out and achieved in the village. There are 19 Party members in the village, with the eldest born during the war against Japanese aggression and the youngest in 1993. Under the leadership of the village Party committee, a leading group for targeted poverty relief, comprised of five Party members, including Zuo Xiangyun, has been set up. Poverty relief projects initiated under the group include setting up cooperatives to grow peaches and tea, promoting farm tours, renovating dilapidated houses and helping villagers pay social insurance. Together with two fellow villagers, Zuo set up a tourism council to arrange farm tours to the village. "We assign tourists to different households, record the revenue and distribute it among participating villagers," Zuo told reporters when counting one morning's revenue, which was over 1,000 yuan (152 U.S. dollars). "The amount was about the equivalent of a poor household's annual earnings ten years ago," Zuo said. Zuo attributes the increase to the Party's leadership, institutional arrangement and hard work of the villagers. With 50 villagers in 21 households, Shenshan has been officially taken off the list of impoverished areas together with the Jinggangshan region earlier this year, as the number of people who live under the poverty line here has fallen below 2 percent. "Casting of poverty is only the first step," Huang said. "The next step to which the Party is leading our small village is to achieve moderate but common and sustainable prosperity." paper wristbands for eventsyouth wristbands
LOS ANGELES - A Chinese Internet pioneer has been inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame for his contributions to Internet technology, deployment and education in China and Asia Pacific. Dr Jianping Wu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, was one of 14 people selected this year for induction to the Hall of Fame, according to a statement released by the Internet Society (ISOC) on Tuesday. Wu, also chairman of the Department of Computer Science at China's Tsinghua University, has since 1994 led the design, development and evolution of CERNET, the first Internet backbone in China, helping it become the largest national academic network, the statement said. Hailing from 10 countries, the 14 inductees have pushed the boundaries of technological and social innovation, the ISOC said. The inductees were selected by an Advisory Board of past inductees who guide the long-term planning and direction of the program. Members of the Internet Hall of Fame, which was launched by the ISOC in 2012, include luminaries such as Vint Cerf, who is often called the "Father of the Internet" for co-designing its early protocols, and Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web. The leading Chinese technologist has been named a Global Connector, a category which recognizes and celebrates individuals who have made significant contributions to the growth, connectivity, and use of the Internet either on a global scale or within a specific region that resulted in global impact. "We always believe the Internet is international and one world, one Internet as I mentioned in 2010 when I got Postal award," Wu told Xinhua. "I hope that China shouldn't profit from Internet only, but also should make more contribution to the Internet and strengthen collaboration with global internet organizations such as ISOC," he said. He has also been a leader in the promotion and deployment of IPv6 in China, proposed the China Next Generation Internet Project -- designed to facilitate the development of China's next-generation Internet backbone -- and led the development of CNGI-CERNET2, China's first large-scale IPv6 Internet backbone and one of the largest native IPv6 networks in the world. Wu has consistently encouraged the participation of Chinese scientists in global Internet development efforts and has played an important role in developing advanced networks in Asia Pacific and Trans-Eurasia. "Ultimately the success of the Internet depends on the people behind it," Kathy Brown, ISOC President and CEO, said at the ISOC's 2017 Induction Ceremony on Monday at the University of California, Los Angeles, the place from which the first message was sent over the Internet's predecessor, the ARPANET, nearly 50 years ago. The ceremony was held in conjunction with the ISOC's 25th anniversary celebration. "These inductees personify the pioneering spirit of the 'Innovators' and 'Global Connectors' that have been so instrumental in bringing us this unprecedented technology. They are some of the earliest Internet evangelists and their work has been the foundation for so many of the digital innovations we see today." Founded by Internet pioneers, the non-profit organization ISOC says its mission is to "ensuring the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet into the future." ISOC is also the organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), develops and promotes voluntary Internet standards, in particular the standards that comprise the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP).
