French soprano Julie Cherrier rehearses at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing on April 28 before a concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and France.

The concert was also the opening performance of the 14th Meet in Beijing Arts Festival. A total of 280 shows will be performed by 212 art groups from 33 countries and regions during the art festival that will last until May 25.

Navigation System

A domestically developed， highprecision global positioning system went into operation in China on April 25， further improving the capability of the countrys satellite navigation system.

Xihe， named after an ancient Chinese god， was developed by the National Remote Sensing Center of China （NRSCC） under the Ministry of Science and Technology （MOST）. It has an outdoor accuracy of 1 meter and an indoor accuracy of 3 meters， the NRSCC said.

Xihe can identify and connect with various satellite navigation systems， including Chinas homegrown Beidou， which many other positioning systems cannot identify.

The system has undergone trials in Beijing， Shanghai and Tianjin， according to the NRSCC.

Jing Guife， NRSCC Deputy Director， said that the system will play an important role in many areas， including positioning， transportation and the Internet of Things.

“It will also help extend the application of the Beidou system， which enjoys a smaller market compared with other international competitors，” Jing said.

According to a white paper issued by the MOST in 2013， the Xihe system will cover more than 100 Chinese cities and benefit more than 100 million households by 2020.

Environmental Law

The Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress， Chinas top legislature， on April 24 voted to adopt revisions to the Environmental Protection Law， the first change to the legislation in 25 years.

With the addition of 23 articles， raising the total to 70 compared with 47 in the original law， the revised law sets environmental protection as the countrys basic policy.

The law gives harsher punishments to environmental wrongdoing， and has specific articles and provisions on tackling smog， promoting environmental protection awareness and protecting whistleblowers.

It says that citizens should adopt a low-carbon and frugal lifestyle and perform environmental protection duties， and nominates June 5 as Environment Day.