Oriental Morning Post
September 3, 2008

Many of today's newspapers reported that China is going to launch another manned spacecraft before the end of September. The reports say that China's third manned spaceship, Shenzhou VII, originally planned for an October launch, has been rescheduled to lift off before the National Day holiday on October 1.

However, a report in the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post refuted those stories:

Yesterday, some Hong Kong media quoted a source from Beijing saying that "the Shenzhou VII, which was originally scheduled to be launched in October, was pushed ahead to the end of September. The specific time will be between the close of the Paralympics and the October 1 National Day"... the article didn't provide the identity of the source.

The General Armament Department, with which the China Manned Space Engineering Office is affiliated, told the Oriental Morning Post that the report about the Shenzhou VII was false: "I don't know where they got the news, but we have never released such news."

Today's paper also printed the names of the top 800 of about 15,000 participants in Shanghai's leg of the "The Human Race," a Nike-sponsored 10 kilometer run held in 25 international cities on August 31. Shanghai runners as a whole placed second to last out of the 25.

The paper reported:

Many Shanghai people couldn't understand why Shanghai fared so badly in the race, thinking that we should exercise more to become stronger. Others believed the result means little because the race is not a formal one.

Daily Sunshine
September 3, 2008

The article ended with a professor from the Shanghai University of Sport saying that the result is alarming, as it shows that China is not paying enough attention to physical exercise.

The Oriental Morning Post is not the only newspaper that is being alarmist about the physical condition of Chinese citizens. The top headline in today's Daily Sunshine reads "70% of Shenzhen residents lack exercise."

That conclusion was reached based on a poll conducted by the Shenzhen Health Education Research Institute in which only 30% of 6,530 respondents said that they exercise regularly. The research also indicates that the number of overweight people in Shenzhen is 18.29% higher than the national average. 45.75% of respondents said that they have too much stress, and 27.60% said they always feel depressed.