More Attention and Aid to Left-behind Children

The special campaign to monitor and support rural left-behind children launched by several central agencies in November 2016 has remarkable achievements， according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. During the past year it has identified guardians for 760，000 rural children whose parents work far from their home regions –known as left-behind children. The campaign helped 177，800 children successfully apply for hukou， or registered permanent residence， and helped 16，000 children who had dropped out of school， resume their education.

This campaign is part of Chinas increased efforts in recent years to protect rural left-behind children. In October 2017， an online information platform for these children went into operation. Connected with databases of subsistence allowance， lowincome families， and people with disabilities， the platform at present maintains the information of 1.3 million minors with disabilities and 110，000 children from impoverished families， and the database is expanding as information collection is underway across the nation.

A national survey by the Ministry of Civil Affairs， Ministry of Education， and Ministry of Public Security found that there were nine million rural left-behind children in China by the end of 2016， with 90 percent living in central and western provinces.

Poverty Reduction in Ethnic Minority Regions

The Economics School of Minzu University of China released the 2017 report of progress in poverty alleviation in ethnic minority areas. These areas refer to the five Chinese autonomous regions – Inner Mongolia， Ningxia， Xinjiang， Tibet， and Guangxi – and three provinces –Guizhou， Yunnan， and Qinghai– that have a larger presence of ethnic minority groups.

The report discloses that by the end of 2016， the number of rural poor in these areas totaled 14.11 million， accounting for 32.5 percent of the national total. In 2016， 4.02 million people in these areas rose above poverty， contributing to 33 percent of the national lot. This brought down their poverty headcount ratio from 12.1 percent in 2015 to 9.4 percent in 2016， which was still 4.9 percent higher than the national average.

The report also shows strong gains in the per capita disposable income of rural residents in the eight areas in 2016， which grew by 7.4 percent year-on-year to RMB 9，577， edging closer to the national average.

The report finds that the remaining 14.11 million rural poor in the eight ethnic minority areas are mired in extreme poverty， and 113 ethnic minority counties are still designated as severely impoverished.endprint

Oracle-bone Inscriptions Listed as Memory of the World Register

UNESCO included Chinas oracle-bone inscriptions in the Memory of the World Register in November 2017.

Oracle-bone inscriptions were excavated from Yin Ruins in Anyang City， Henan Province. These inscriptions served as records of making divination and praying to gods by the Shang people from 1400 to 1100 BC. The materials used for divination were mainly cattle scapulas and tortoise shells， as well as other animal bones.

The inscriptions on them allow researchers to reconstruct the royal genealogy of the Shang Dynasty， and conduct research on the important events of royal families and how people lived during the Shang era. They are also important materials to study the original configuration of Chinese characters and the earliest state of Chinese language grammar.

UNESCO established the Memory of the World Program in 1992. Impetus came originally from a growing awareness of the parlous state of preservation and access to documentary heritage in various parts of the world. An International Advisory Committee holds meetings every two years to discuss recommendations for the register. Chinas Documents of the Nanjing Massacre made it to the list in 2015.endprint