You're listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
Senior political advisors have discussed genetically modified crops at a bi-weekly consultation session.
According to a statement issued after the session, members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference suggested that China research, promote and supervise genetically modified crops from the perspective of overall national interest and long-term development.
They suggested that the government should emphasize basic research while encouraging enterprises to play a more active role in applied research.
The political advisors urged caution in promoting genetically modified crops, especially staple foods, taking the current level of public knowledge and acceptance into consideration.
In addition, tougher regulations, stricter law enforcement, more funding as well as third-party testing agencies are called for in an improved supervision system for genetically modified crops that guarantees consumers' rights to information and choice.
This is NEWS Plus Special English.
Scandals over prawns and bars at tourist sites sparked a consumer rights furor during the national holiday, with industry insiders warning that poor tourism service at home would push tourists to travel overseas.
The National Day holiday, from Oct 1 to 7, is the peak season for travel, and all tourism destinations saw growth in the number of visits.
However, not all of the tourists were happy about their trips.
A tourist from Nanjing surnamed Zhu complained about being overcharged for a seafood dinner in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao.
Zhu was charged 1,500 yuan for a plate of prawns with marked price of 38 yuan. The restaurant owner threatened to beat his family if they didn't pay the bill.
Local police didn't help, but suggested Zhu pay the bill.
The restaurant has now been closed for business and fined 90,000 yuan, roughly 14,000 U.S. dollars. A local market supervision official was suspended
