HONG KONG -- Chief Executive of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has outlined plans to help people of different means become home owners. In her maiden policy address on Wednesday, Lam said meeting the public's housing needs is the government's top priority and the government has an indispensable role to play in the provision of adequate housing. She said the government will introduce a "Starter Homes" scheme for middle-class families. The initial plan is to incorporate provisions into the land lease to require developers to build not only private units, but also a specified number of "Starter Homes" units, she said. Those eligible to buy "Starter Homes" must be local residents who have lived in Hong Kong for at least seven years and have never owned any property here. Their income ceiling will be set at not exceeding 34,000 HK dollars ($4,356) a month for singletons and 68,000 HK dollars for households of two or more members. Details on the scheme will be finalized in the middle of next year and a pilot scheme will be launched by the end of next year to provide about 1,000 units. On the short-term ways to increase housing supply, Lam said the government will optimize the use of idle government premises to provide units for the needy at an affordable rent. Noting the Green Form Subsidized Home Ownership Scheme (GSH) can help the better-off public housing tenants move up the housing ladder and vacate their units for the needy, Lam said she has asked the Housing Authority to consider regularizing the scheme and offer more GSH flats for sale. The GSH is a scheme to sell certain apartments at affordable prices to tenants of public housing so that the tenants can turn into home owners. hen party wristbandsadjustable wristbandscustom silicone bandscheap silicone wristbandsprinted braceletsjordan wristband rubbercustom livestrong bracelets
More than 450 million Chinese suffer from shortsightedness Doctors from Beijing Anzhen Hospital offer free eye checks to young patients in Beijing on Wednesday, National Eye Care Day. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily] More than 450 million Chinese suffer from shortsightedness, the country's top health authority estimates, warning that it appears to be affecting children at a younger age. The prevalence among Chinese primary school pupils is estimated at 30 percent, but the rate climbs to 60 percent for junior high students, 80 percent for those in senior high and 90 percent for college students, according to the National Health Commission. Most begin developing the condition in their teenage years. The latest statistics were released at a commission news conference on Monday to mark National Eye Care Day, which falls on June 6 each year. Currently China lacks specific data on myopia, but clinical experience shows myopia is occurring at a younger age and worsening at a faster rate in China than the rest of the world, said Long Qin, a senior ophthalmologist at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. The World Health Organization released a report in 2015 that said approximately half of Chinese were affected by myopia, and the myopia rate among teenagers was the highest in the world. Wang Ningli, head of the Ophthalmologic Center at Beijing Tongren Hospital, said the primary cause of myopia is close-range eye fatigue, which is likely to happen when you work, read a book or play video games and hold the item you are looking at too close to your eyes. The National Health Commission released three guidelines about preventing and correcting myopia and two other visual defects on Tuesday in a bid to improve eye health services and boost awareness of the conditions. Wang highlighted two keywords from the guideline about myopia - close-range eye fatigue and outdoor activities. He suggested that children as early as preschool begin taking part in outdoor activities for at least an hour, and ideally two hours, a day as it had proved effective in preventing myopia or halting its progression. The key is to let them see objects at least five meters away from them, Wang said. A shallow space won't work. Recent research has also shown that eye drops with a low concentration of atropine, used in places like Singapore, can effectively relieve myopia. China's drug authority is currently assessing the treatment for the Chinese mainland market. On Tuesday, a joint report on Chinese mobile phone habits issued by Aier Eye Hospital, a Chinese private hospital specializing in eye care, and Particle News app noted that 753 million Chinese spend an average of six hours staring at electronic screens a day. Women born in the 1990s spend an average of 10 hours a day, mainly browsing online shopping sites and watching videos. Li Shaowei, a professor at the Aier School of Ophthalmology at Central South University in Changsha, Hunan province, suggested that frequent mobile users have regular eye examinations to prevent cataracts and other eye diseases. Wang Xiaoyu contributed to the story.
