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　　BEIJlNG, March 9－The central government will require an additional three years of use for official vehicles for ministers and governors to reduce the costs of purchasing new cars, media have reported．

　　The new rule has been applied among all Party and government departments nationwide, the Beijing News reported on Tuesday．The new rule has not yet been made public, said Li, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee．

　　Under the old rules, the cars used by minister-level officials could be replaced as often as every five years, Li said．These officials will also retain the same cars when they assume new posts, he added．

　　The new rule also reiterated(重申)that officials ranking below minister-or governor-levels should not be allocated cars．The cars possessed by their departments should be used on demand．

　　“It violates the rules for lower-ranking-even county-level-officials to be allocated cars,”Li said．

　　Purchases of vehicles for official use have been heavily investigated, as they account for a large expenditure of public funds every year．

　　A survey on the Web news www.ifeng.com found 64 percent of respondents believed the new rule will be difficult to implement because it is related to officials' interests．

　　Local government departments had halted approvals for requests for such vehicles and had started to work on new quotas under the new rules, Li said．“The future reform of official vehicle use will introduce market mechanisms and monetization,”Li said．

　　Premier Wen Jiabao said in the annual government work report on Saturday that expenditures on such vehicles will not increase in 2011 compared with a year ago．

　　Beijing's standing deputy mayor Ji Lin last week said the municipal government will release the number of vehicles for official use in the capital as early as at the end of this month．

　　Earlier this month, the Ministry of Finance had published a rule regulating the budgets for such vehicles．

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　　On a grassy plain in South Africa, thousands of miles from home, two pairs of zoo-bred South China tiger cubs－one-year-old Hope and Cathay and six-month-old Tiger Woods and Madonna－are learning to hunt in the wild．The hope is that they will one day pass on their skills to their young, allowing the next generation to get back to wildlife reserves(保护区)in China．

　　A survey shows that the tigers are in more danger of dying out than China’s most famous animal, the giant panda．Forty years ago, about 4000 South China tigers lived in the wild．Today there are only about 30．An additional 64 live in 19 zoos in China, which are all descendants(后代)of six wild animals seized in 1956．

　　The cubs were born in zoos in China and removed from their mothers when they were three months old．Their first home in South Africa was a one-acre camp where they stayed for a month．Their next home was a ten-acre area, where they lived for three months to help them gradually get used to life outside a cage．

　　When the cubs first arrived in South Africa, they didn’t even want to leave their cages．It took weeks to get them to eat chicken, used as they were to being fed beef at the zoo in China where they were born．It took months of practice to hunt a live animal and then make the link between the kill and food．Now just a few months on, and living in a 150-acre camp, they have become remarkably skilled hunters．

　　All four animals will finally return to zoos in China while the pioneering pairs’ cubs will grow up completely wild．The aim is for the first rehabilitated tigers to go to reserves developed in China by 2008, when the Olympic Games will be held in Beijing．

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　　Buying a house for most of the people is a once in a lifetime decision, which means people decide to do so only after coming across the ideal house．Surprisingly, eight in every 10 home buyers are unhappy with their houses．

　　A survey conducted by the Beijing Consumers’ Association(BCA)recently shows about 80 percent of the 2,315 respondents in 23 residential complexes of Beijing are dissatisfied with the soaring house prices．

　　They think the reasonable price in Beijing should be between 3,000 yuan and 7,000 yuan per square meter．

　　The quality of the buildings, the surrounding environment and traffic and property management are the other factors that play a role in people’s decision to buy a house．

　　The BCA has suggested strict sales regulations and contracts to ease house-owners’ sufferings．It has urged the authorities to impose severe punishment on developers found violating building and other rules and joining hands with others to bid up property prices．

　　About 41.2 percent of the respondents have complained that their houses have defective designs, while nearly 40 percent say the lighting and ventilation are far from satisfactory．

　　The landscapes in the residential areas are a source of unhappiness for 43.2 percent of the respondents, and about one-third say they were “bluffed” into buying “third grade”网houses．

　　And more than half are not satisfied with the sport and entertainment facilities in their neighborhood．

　　Property management in the buildings, 56.5 percent of the respondents say, is way below standard compared to the high fee charged by the complexes．

　　A 60 percent of the consumers doubt the contents of developers’ advertisements, with only 6.3 percent being satisfied．

　　Experts have suggested consumers gather thorough knowledge about a developer and their work before deciding to buy a house from it．They should check the day-light conditions and ventilation in different weather conditions in advance, if possible．