Launch ceremony of 2-year countdown to Guangzhou Asian Games held

A grand ceremony was held last night (November 12) at the Guangzhou Tianhe Sports Center to mark the two year countdown to the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games. Our journalist Zhu Yuzi has the details:

After an hour of splendid fireworks and sensational performances the countdown clock started ticking at 8:55. An excited crowd immediately cheered the event, probably impatient to see these 730 days elapse before the Asian Games commence.

Guangdong governor Huang Huahua announced that Guangzhou has entered the  Asian Games time:

"The launch of the countdown clock isn't only important for the promotion of the games, it's also a witness of Cantonese people's great support to the event."

At the same time, the "Road of Asia" tour was also launched last night. Jointly organized by the OCA and GAGOC, the tour will take representatives of sponsors, sport professionals, volunteers and media workers along the Land Silk Road and the Ocean Silk Road and reach a number of Asian countries and regions in the next twelve months, carrying Chinese people's best wishes to people in other parts of Asia and spreading the spirits of the Asian Games.

Citizens attending the ceremony shared their excitement with us;

"If they do recruit volunteers, I will apply without any hesitation"

"I hope I can become a volunteer, so as to show our Cantonese culture to Asian People."

Fair to Boost Development of Mountainous Area

Beginning Today (November 13), the 5th Economy and Technology Cooperation Fair between the Pearl River Delta Region and the Mountain regions, East and West of Guangdong, will be held in Zhanjiang, a coastal city in the south-west Guangdong. Deputy Director of Guangdong's Economic and Trade Bureau Yang Jianchu, said that this conference will become an important platform to introduce infrastructure projects which can boost domestic demand. It's a strategy to cope with the impact of the international financial crisis on Guangdong's foreign-oriented economy.

Export Rebates Raised to reverse sharp economic downturn

Chinese Government decided to raise export rebates, effective Dec 1, on 3,770 export products, or about 28 percent of the total. They are mainly in the labor-intensive, and mechanical and electrical product sectors. It did not release details of the size of the rebates or which products would be affected but was the third such move in the second half. The measures add to a series of urgent steps taken by Beijing to reverse a sharp downturn in economic growth.