President Peng Peiyun Headed the Delegation to Ireland

　　At the invitation of the Irish Country Women's Association (ICA), the Chinese women's delegation headed by Peng Peiyun, Vice Chairperson of the NPC Standing Committee and President of the ACWF, paid a visit to Ireland from October 9 to 15, 2001. During the visit, President Peng Peiyun had friendly and thorough exchanges with Seamus Pattison, Chairman of Dail Eireann, Ireland, and Tanaiste Mary Harney, Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland. The delegation also paid a visit to Mary Wallace, State Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, as well as officials in the counties of Cork, Kilkenny and Leitrim. The delegation visited several programs carried out by the ICA in various counties and also paid visits to the Adult Education College and the Horticulture College affiliated with the ICA. The delegation received a friendly and warm reception wherever they went. The great welcoming fully reflects that both the Irish Government and the Irish people have cordial and friendly feelings towards the Chinese people. The visit not only strengthened the traditional friendship and relations between the ACWF and the ICA, but it also enhanced understanding between the women of the two nations, laying a good basis for their further exchanges and cooperation.
Captions:
During the visit to Ireland, President Peng Peiyun (5th L) met with Chairman Seamus Pattison (4th L)

Qatar's Emir Consort Headed the Delegation to China

　　At the invitation of the ACWF, the 38-member women's delegation of Qatar headed by Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Nasser Abdullah Al-Misnad, Consort of the Emir of the State of Qatar and President of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs (SCFA), paid a visit to Beijing, the capital of China, from October 15 to 20, 2001.
During the visit, Hu Jintao, Vice President of China, gave an interview to the delegation. Zhu Lin, wife of Li Peng, Chairperson of the NPC Standing Committee, and Chen Muhua, Honorary President of the ACWF, respectively had an interview with the delegation. Gu Xiulian, Vice President and First Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, had a working conference with the delegation. The delegation visited China's Ministry of Education and the Red Cross Society of China and reached an agreement with intention for cooperation with the Ministry of Education. The delegation also visited the China National Children's Center, Guang'anmen Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Hi-Tech Zone in Zhongguancun and Asian Games Community. Her Highness Sheikha Mozah gave a speech at China Women's College.
　　Her Highness Sheikha Mozah spoke highly of Chinese culture. She said: "China is a fascinating country in the East. And Chinese people, composed, far-sighted and full of wisdom, are the best representation of oriental culture. They build their country with great intelligence and therefore have reaped the benefits of rapid development." After her visit to the Great Wall, she was deeply moved by the diligence and intelligence of Chinese people and wrote in the guests' book, "The Great Wall was built in the great spirit of mankind!"
Her Highness Sheikha Mozah also spoke highly of Chinese women's advancement. She said in China men and women work together and cooperate well with each other, which they take as the fine embodiment of the equality between the two in Chinese culture. She exclaimed that Chinese history is jointly written by men and women, and the Great Wall is one of their masterpieces. She also noted that Qatari people could draw on the successful experience of China's efforts in promoting women's advancement. Her Highness Sheikha Mozah, on behalf of the SCFA, signed an agreement for friendly exchanges with the ACWF and invited the Chinese women's delegation to visit Qatar. As a show of support for the advancement of Chinese women and children and their concern for those women and children in poverty-stricken areas, she donated US $500,000 to the ACWF.

2001 Top 10 Women's News Evaluated by China Women's News

* The APEC Women Leaders' Network Meeting took place in Beijing

* The Water Cellars for Mothers Project has started

* 56 women workers in Shenzhen brought a suit against their company concerning illegal body search

* Eight more women are newly elected as academicians to the Chinese Academy of Sciences

* Megawati takes the post as President of Indonesia

* China Women's News and other relative media carried out a discussion on women's staged employment

* The programs for the development of Chinese women and children (2001--2010) have been promulgated

* Yang Lan and Deng Yaping are among Goodwill Envoys in Beijng's bid for hosting the 2008 Olympic Games

* The first display competition of women's body-building was held

* The result of the second survey on Chinese women's social status was released

　　1. The APEC Women Leaders' Network Meeting took place in Beijing.
　　The APEC Women Leaders' Network Meeting was held in Beijing on August 22, 2001. Women representatives from all APEC economies discussed the challenges and opportunities for APEC women in the process of economic globalization. Discussions focused on women entrepreneurs and the world market, partnership with women-managed small and medium-sized enterprises, women's role in science, technology and sustainable development, and gender mainstreaming into the APEC processes and activities.
　　2. The Water Cellars for Mothers Project has started.
　　In 2000, the ACW F and the China Women's Development Fund sponsored the "Love of Earth·Water Cellar for Mothers" Project, which aims to collect donations to help solve the difficulties in providing clean and adequate drinking water for the women and children living in arid areas in the western part of China. Beginning in March 2001, this project has been tested in 75 counties within 10 provinces, cities and autonomous regions in this area.
　　3. 56 women workers in Shenzhen brought a suit against their company concerning illegal body search.
　　For mere suspicion of workers' stealing raw materials, supervisors in Bao Yang Wig Manufacturing Company, a South Korean owned company in Shenzhen, searched 56 women workers for more than one hour on July 30, 2001. Unable to swallow this insult, the 56 women brought a suit against the company for humiliation of human dignity
　　and violation of one's right of person, which attracted wide attention in society.
　　This case of illegal body search was settled on September 8, 2001, when both sides reached reconciliation outside the court. The company gave 4,000 RMB to each of the women workers and made another apology; the women workers withdrew their charge.
　　4. Eight more women are newly elected as academicians to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
　　Among the newly elected academicians to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2001, eight women have become the center of attention.
　　They are Ren Yonghua, head of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Hong Kong; Huang Chunhui, professor of Chemistry at Beijing University; Wang Ying, president of the School of Geoscience, Nanjing University; Wang Zhizhen, a full professor in the Institute of Biophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Zhang Yonglian, a principle research investigator in the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cytobiology; Ye Yuru, a neurobiologist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Zheng Shouyi, a senior scientist at the Institute of Oceanology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Chen Wenxin, a soil microbiologist at the China Agricultural University.
　　5. Megawati takes the post as President of Indonesia
　　On July 23, 2001, at a special meeting of the People's Consultative Assembly, the supreme power structure of Indonesia, the 591 members passed unanimously to recall current President Wahid, and nominated Megawati, then Vice President, as the fifth
　　President of the country. Megawati is the eldest daughter of Sukarno, the founding President of Indonesia. In June 1996, she was moved from her office as the General Chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party, which caused people's resentment and the most serious disturbance in Indonesia in the last 20 years. During the Parliament's vote in June 1999, the Democratic Party of Struggle, with Megawati as the leader, became the largest Party in the Parliament; but she lost in the vote for presidency soon afterwards and thus became the eighth Vice President of Indonesia.
　　6. China Women's News and other relative media carried out a discussion on women's staged employment.
In the proposal for State's 10th Five-Year Plan, the "staged employment" and "flextime" were put forward in the section concerning employment, which caught　the attention of relative departments and the media. This proposal raised queries such as: "Is this suggestion targeted at women and will it lead to women returning to the home?" "Is it necessary or a trend in social development that women return to the home so as　to vacate more posts for men?" and "Is it more advantageous or disadvantageous to women to practice the staged employment and flextime?"
　　The ACWF has carried out many investigations and studies on this. At the beginning of the year, China Women's News sponsored a series of discussions entitled "Will Staged Employment Hurt Women or Not?" At the same time, it also carried out a wide coverage on the background behind this proposal, the details of this proposal, situation and problems in the practice of this mode of working in other countries as well as on average people, especially young women's understanding, attitudes and opinions about this proposal.
　　7. The programs for the development of Chinese women and children (2001--2010) have been promulgated.
　　On May 22, 2001, the State Council promulgated, in succession, The Program for the Development of Chinese Women (2001--2010) and The Program for the Development of Chinese Children (2001--2010). These programs emphasize that the Chinese Government has been taking the protection of women and children's development as a bounden duty.
　　8. Yang Lan and Deng Yaping are among Goodwill Envoys in Beijng's bid for hosting the 2008 Olympic Games.
　　On January 14, 2001, Beijing's Olympic Bid Committee declared that Deng Yaping (a famous ping-pong athlete and world champion), Gong Li (a renowned movie actress),
　　Yang Lan (a well-known TV anchorwoman) and Sang Lan (a famous gymnast) were appointed as Goodwill Envoys of the bid committee. On July 13, 2001, Yang Lan and
　　Deng Yaping participated in the last narration of the Chinese committee to the International Olympic Committee.
　　9. The first display competition of women's body-building was held.
　　On May 26, 2001, as the first grand gathering for women's sports since
the founding of New China, the first display competition of women's body-building was ceremoniously inaugurated in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province.
　　This competition was co-sponsored by the ACWF and the State Sports Bureau to implement the Outline of the Nationwide Body-Building Plan; to display the results of women's body-building; to guide the majority of women to keep fit through scientific
means; and to express the yearning of Chinese women for success in Beijing's bid for hosting the 2008 Olympic Games.
　　10. The result of the second survey on Chinese women's social status was released.
　　On September 4, 2001, the result of the second survey on Chinese women's social status was released. Through analyzing the data gathered on various topics, including politics, economics, laws, education, health, marriage and the family, life-style as well as social gender, this survey has supplied a large quantity of information for further study and analysis of the sexual differences in the development process of Chinese society and situation of women's social status and development.