1.SMG radio news center: Good afternoon. I'm a reporter from SMG radio news center. Not long ago, the State Council launched a special nationwide campaign to ensure product quality and food safety. What I want to know is what concrete measures Shanghai has initiated in this regard and what effects have been achieved so far.

Jiao Yang: In regard to product quality and food safety, the central and Shanghai Party as well as governments at all levels -- ranging from the State Council to Shanghai municipal government -- have paid high attention. Shanghai, with the State Council's central arrangement, has joined the entire country in a four-month-long campaign targeting product quality and food safety that started in August and will go through the end of the year.

The campaign involves three key targets, eight aspects and twenty-eight goals. The three key targets include key products, key companies or institutions and key areas; The eight aspects are farm produce, processed food, food in production and distribution, food served at restaurants, drugs, pork, imported and exported products, and products relating to human health and safety. And the twenty-eight goals fall in three categories based on the requirements of the State Council.

Those in the first category are requirements on urgent demand to be reached, involving twelve goals that must be all cleared. They include:
The city's major farming and breeding bases and wholesale markets must be subject to product quality and food safety monitoring by the agricultural department; All food production and processing companies must have food production licenses; All small workshops must sign commitments to food quality and safety; All wet markets and supermarkets above the township-level must demand product quality and safety certificates from their food product suppliers.
All the twelve goals must be reached.

The goals of the second category that demand wide crackdown cover six areas, including the illegal use of banned pesticides, veterinary drugs and food addictives, trading of drugs by forming affiliated businesses of a company or beyond the dealer's business scope and unlicensed production of ten products such as electric home appliances.

The third category involves ten practices that need thorough crackdown, eradication and inspection, including illegal workshops of sixteen kinds of food in small towns and rural-suburban conjunction areas, and illegal small food stores and roadside food traders in these areas.

Full, detailed information of the twenty-eight goals of the three categories can be conferred with the municipal government spokesperson work group after the meeting.

This national food campaign, though comprehensive in terms of its large scope, is clear in focuses and goals. Just as Vice Premier Wu Yi pointed out, the goals and tasks all reflect the government's solemn commitments to product quality and food safety and they must be reached as expected so as to win belief from the public as well as protect the public interests and the government's creditability and image.

On Shanghai's part, its special food campaign has achieved some success since the start in August. The efforts have turned out to be fruitful in eight areas:
All the city's major farming and breeding bases and wholesale markets have been subject to quality monitoring; All the illegal meat, fruit and waste imports have been returned or destroyed; All the food exports have been labeled with a product quality and quarantine mark on their packages in transport.

The next step is to reinforce management of small restaurants, workshops, groceries and roadside stands and deal with problems concerning everyday life.

A few days ago the city government held a meeting to arrange the tasks for the coming period. The meeting was told to mobilize the grassroots to promote public awareness of the food campaign so as to make it well-known to all families, enhance the self-discipline of food industry insiders and business owners, and attract public attention to the issue of product quality and safety. The meeting was also told to target small workshops, restaurants and food stores as small workshops are liable to deal with fake product manufacturers and traders while small restaurants are more often than not where food safety problems are reported. It should become a rule that food business runners ask their suppliers for product quality certificates and auditing be carried out on a regular basis.

The city government will soon set up a leadership group for product quality and food safety that will organize inspection teams in local districts and counties to check how the campaign has been going on. It will arrange on-site meetings about the eight aspects to examine the situation and, by comparing with the tasks and goals set for the campaign, detect problems and then put forward solutions.

2.Xinmin Evening News: From October 27, new discount policies for public transport transfers will take effects, under which discount margins and routes involved will be enlarged from the existing ones. My question is which public transport routes will be covered for the discounts and how it is going on with the update for the ticketing system to cope with the new discount pricing policies?

Jiao Yang: With discounted transfers between the city's rail and bus systems to be in place from October 27, bus and rail transport operators have been bracing up to update the ticketing equipment. Some buses have already completed the system update for their POS terminals for public transport cards and have started trial operation of the new ticketing policies. According to the new pricing policies, from October 27, discounts will be availed for transfers between the city's existing rail services, including Metro Line 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and air-conditioned buses on 409 routes running within the Inner Ring Road. The discounts will further apply to new bus routes and rail lines when they start operation.

Reporters may advise citizens as follows: A passenger exiting a rail line station within 90 minutes after boarding on an air-conditioned bus, or one boarding an air-conditioned bus within 90 minutes after entering a rail line station, will get a one-yuan discount for the second ride if he/she uses the same single transport card. Besides, each month, a Metro passenger will get a 10-percent discount on rail service after the bill of the same single card adds up to 70 yuan for rail rides. The two discount policies will run independently, not interfering with each other.

3. Shanghai Morning Post: In the past few months, the number of bidders for the city's monthly private car plates remains stable while the winning prices continuously go up. What's your comment on this phenomenon? And will the city government roll out measures to control the plate prices?

Jiao Yang: As far as I know, the city's transport authority has never released any information relating to changes to the private car plate auction policies. And the practice has proven, under the current condition, the city's plate auction policy for new private cars has been effective in controlling the number of new vehicles, relieving the congestions on local streets and ensuring the implementation of the city's public-transport-first policy.

4. Eastday.com: Nowadays, it has become common for senior citizens to live by themselves, which has drawn wide public attention. As you just have mentioned, the city government will equip emergency call equipment for the seniors and appoint special nursing staff to take care of them. Besides the first-aid service, what other measures will be adopted to help the seniors with their lives and what subsidies will the Shanghai government provide to the needy ones?

Jiao Yang: In a metropolitan like Shanghai, the increase of core families and live-by-their-own seniors has become a social phenomenon. All the favorite policies I have briefed for the senior people apply to the live-by-their-own senior citizens. Meanwhile, Shanghai has in the past few years introduced a caring service for the lone seniors. From 2004, to cope with the increase in senior families and lone seniors and prevent them from being inaccessible to immediate treatment when in emergencies, the city's civil affairs bureau and the authority in charge of the senior people have required all districts and counties to organize special staff -- such as neighborhood committee officials and community volunteers -- to help take care of the lone senior citizens which numbered 172,400 at that time across the city. The services include promoting public awareness of the care services, paying regular visits to the seniors, setting up consulting hotlines, arranging security checks, providing first-aid in emergencies as well as making other nursing services available on demand. Every district or county has provided caring services that cater to their own conditions and the seniors' demand. For example, Pudong New Area, Yangpu District, Jing'an District and Zhabei District have launched a service team for the lone seniors and provided daily nursing service to those in urgent need of care.

As to the subsidies for the needy senior people, I've briefed on the policies at an earlier press conference this year. Shanghai subsidizes nursing service to the needy senior citizens. Shanghai residence above 60 years and living on low-income insurance and low-incomes as well as requiring nursing services will be granted a monthly nursing subsidy of 200 yuan if passing government assessment. Meanwhile, the government has set up a special allowance for those in need of comparatively intensive nursing services. Seniors living on low-income and low-income insurance and already enjoying the nursing subsidy will be entitled to an additional 100 yuan of special nursing allowance a month for medium-level nursing services or a monthly 200 yuan for intensive nursing, if their conditions have passed the government assessments. Those already enjoying community-level subsidies will also be entitled to this allowance if they stay in community nursing homes. Currently, the number of seniors benefiting from stay-at-home nursing service has reached 130,000 in Shanghai.

5. News Times: I learned the traffic authority is considering rolling out monthly tickets, weekly tickets and daily tickets for the public bus service and rail system. When will the new ticketing system be unveiled and how cheap will the new tickets be, compared with the discounts currently availed?

Jiao Yang: The new ticketing policy is still under research and improvement. It will be unveiled when it's ready.

6.China Business News: My question is about discounts on public transport. Since the public bus service and rail system are operated as businesses, they must consider profits. Now the government requires the firms to cut prices or offer discounts for the public interest, then does that mean the city will have to increase the government budget to subsidize the transport firms? Beijing has cut the Metro ticket price to two yuan to prepare for the Olympics. Is it possible for Shanghai, preparing for the World Expo 2010, to follow suit and slash the Metro ticket price to two yuan? Also, it's said civil servants working in eastern areas of Shanghai will have a large-scale salary cut, probably by up to 40 percent. Do you have any information to offer on this report?

Jiao Yang: I've never heard of the issue concerning your last question. It's my first time to hear about it. I'm unable to reply to it.

It is Shanghai's strategic policy to put priority in developing public transport. It is put forward at the city's ninth Party congress to thoroughly implement the transport development strategy by laying priority on public transport and enabling the reduction of citizens' transport costs. In line with this strategy as well as the specific condition of a large city like Shanghai, the city has approached in a sustainable and gradual way to scientifically adjust the public transport ticketing system in a bid to gradually decrease transport costs for local citizens. Since the transport transfer discount policy was first enacted at the end of last year, a series of more discounts have been unveiled and benefited an increasing number of commuters. And more such discounts will follow. All these discounts embody the public-transport-first strategy. The city government will further improve the public transport ticketing system to meet the requirements of the central and Shanghai party committees.

As to the government subsidies for the public transport and rail service enterprises for their contribution to the public welfare, the government will surely give consideration. But we must give strict and scientific calculations before being able to draft the subsidy policy, which should be reasonable and feasible.

7. M2F: The transport transfer discounts mainly cover public buses and rail lines. But I have noticed the rail line stations at Shanghai Railway Station are a bit different. No direct transfer between Metro Line 1 and 3 is enabled there between the stations. Do the new transport transfer discount policies unveiled today involve transfers at these stations? According to the city's 2009-2010 renovation plan for the northern square of Shanghai Railway Station, direct transfer between these two rail line stations will be enabled there after the renovation. How is this project going on?

Jiao Yang: The discount policies unveiled today don't involve the rail line transfers you talked about. As for the future, you should talk with the transport authority.

8. SMG TV news center: My question is about free bus rides for seniors. Since there's a grace period before January 1 next year when the seniors will be entitled to free transport service by showing their red social security cards, what kind of certificates have they now to show to take to the free rides if they haven't yet obtained the red cards? And can you brief about the procedure of how to apply for the red card? How long will it take to get the card?

Jiao Yang: The issue in your question is very important. The reason why we set up the grace period is just out of our consideration for the senior people who haven抰yet obtained the red social security cards. While some local seniors have obtained red cards, many others have not yet. The city's transport authority has noticed this fact and, based on the people-orientation principle, set up the grace period during which seniors can use any valid identification certificates to enjoy free bus rides: Red social security cards, senior citizen certificates and old-version social security cards all apply. But from January 1 next year, only red social security cards will work.

Work staff with rail and bus services will be lenient with identification certificates during the grace period. But if they require checking the certificates, senior people should cooperate and show their identification cards.

Starting next January 1, red social security cards are a must for seniors to enjoy the free rides. The media may urge seniors to hurry up to apply for the red cards, as the procedure may take nearly one month. As I mentioned when releasing this policy, senior people can fill out this application at the social security card service points and service stations at their residence. Meanwhile, to make it convenient for the seniors, the authority has drafted "a notice of application for the red social security card and affixed card." The notice is published in the media and such Websites as the Shanghai municipal government Website (www.shanghai.gov.cn), Shanghai urban transport Website (www.jt.sh.cn), Shanghai informatization committee Website (www.shanghaiit.gov.cn) and Shanghai citizen information service Website (www.962222.net). A hotline 62222 has also been set up. Citizens, especially the seniors, may dial the hotline or go online to learn about the application procedure.

9. Youth Daily: As you have revealed, by 2008 the transport transfer discounts will cover all the public transport lines throughout the city, including those in the suburban areas. But a bus ride between downtown and suburban areas normally takes longer time. For example, a ride from Xujiahui, Puxi, to Zhangjiang, Pudong, will take longer than 90 minutes. Therefore, a further ride after this trip will be unable to enjoy the discounts under the current "90-minute" interval time limit for a transfer between two rides. Has the government considered prolonging the "90-minute" time limit ?

Jiao Yang: You are very careful in considering all these details. You may check with the transport authority on this matter.

10. Shanghai Evening News: When you briefed about the free ride service for seniors, you mentioned social security cards or valid identification certificates are required and public transport work staff may check the cards. Then how will the check be carried out? Should a commuter hand over the red social security cards to the work staff when boarding on the bus or just show them at a POS terminal?

Jiao Yang: When taking Metro lines, seniors aged above 70 should show their red social security cards to the work staff when entering the entrance. For bus rides, they should show their red cards to bus conductors. From next January 1, only red social security cards can be used to apply for free rides. But now, during the grace period, any valid identification certificates will do.

11. Shanghai Daily: My question is how many people over the age of 70 are currently living in Shanghai who are entitled to the free bus rides?

Jiao Yang: Shanghai is said to be an aging city, the earliest area nationwide to enter the aging society state. Here are some data from 2006. Of the 13.68 million citizens in Shanghai, 20.1 percent, or 2.76 million, are aged above 60, 15.2 percent, or 2.08 million, aged above 65, and 11.2 percent, or 1.55 million, aged above 70. Those above 80 reached 467,800, accounting for 17 percent of those aged above 60, and 3.4 percent of the city's total. People aged above 100 reached 680, including 140 males and 540 females. These data indicate, for a city like Shanghai that has seen a large proportion of its population reaching old age, it is very important to provide services to benefit the seniors and make their lives convenient.

For more details of the issues released at today's press conference, you may confer with the city's civil affairs bureau, transport authority or the municipal government spokesperson work group. This press conference is over. Thank you all.