Beijing

Policy released to address counterfeits

The State Council has recently released a new policy to crack down on intellectual property infringement. Targeted at cross-regional and organized illegal businesses, the new policy calls for increasing fight against the production, distribution and sale of counterfeit goods. The efforts will include implementing new technologies, including big data and cloud computing, to enhance market supervision and inspection, and improved coordination between legal and administrative agencies. The policies will also advance the credit system and facilitate cooperation in IP protection overseas.

Economic Information Daily

Ethnic cultural items displayed for free

An exhibition of intangible cultural heritage of China's ethnic groups is being held at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities and will last through April 25. The exhibit, consisting of written and audio-visual records, features 14 items from ethnic groups across China, which are all on the UNESCO world intangible cultural heritage list. They include Uygur Muqam, a traditional type of music from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Mongolian traditional folk Long Song, Tibetan Opera and the Dong people's traditional grand chorus. The show is open to the public, free of charge.

seac.gov.cn

Guizhou

Govt helps farmers to improve GI use

The Guizhou Intellectual Property Office has initiated a new program to promote industrialization of five local agricultural products granted geographical indication status. They include coix seed from Xingren and green-shelled eggs from Changshun. It is the seventh GI product group that the office has released since the first list was published in 2010. The IP office has earmarked 2 million yuan ($290,500) to help local farmers to increase their GI awareness within two years, including GI logo use, market supervision and improvement in management and standardization.

Guizhou Science and Technology Department

Jiangsu

Undergraduates promote local opera

The first undergraduates of the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts' Yangzhou Opera program recently performed in Yangzhou to showcase their refined talent. The students, previously young actors at a Yangzhou Opera research institute, enrolled in the academy in Beijing in 2014 to study the national-level intangible cultural heritage of Yangzhou Opera. They acquired basic knowledge in the first two years at the academy, learned from opera artists in Yangzhou during their third year and will return to school to prepare graduation theses and performances in the last year.

Xinhua News Agency

(China Daily 03/30/2017 page17)