Beijing News You Might Have Missed This Week, Dec 11

Beijing is a happening city! Don't miss a thing with our weekend roundup of the latest news.

City announces official start of free after-school tutoring at public schools: Beijing has announced it will be offering official after-school tutoring services soon, following a major crackdown on the industry earlier this year. The services will include subjects like Chinese, math, and English, and will be available from 6 to 9pm, Monday to Friday. Most importantly, however, they're entirely free.

City reduces price of nucleic acid tests to RMB 35: Beijing has decided to drop COVID-19 testing fees to RMB 35 throughout the city, effective Dec 11. To date, a total of 30 provinces have lowered the price of a single test to less than RMB 40 per person.

Subway Line 8 slated to open in full by year’s end: Line 8 will open in its entirety by the end of 2021, according to Beijing’s transport authority. Currently split into two sections in the north and south of the city, the final section, which spans 4.3 km, will begin at China National Art Museum Station in the north and connect to Zhushikou Station to the south. The soon-to-open section will include a new station at Jinyu Hutong, and will connect with Line 1 at Wangfujing Station, Line 2 at Qianmen Station, and Line 7 at Zhushikou Station.

Fresh vegetable, pork prices on the rise: Prices for fresh vegetables and pork have been on the rise in recent months compared with data from 2020, according to China’s Bureau of Statistics. Prices for vegetables saw a rise of 30.6 percent in November. On the other hand, pork prices, which are still lower than they were this time last year, have risen 12.2 percent since October. This comes as food prices increase globally, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

READ: Beijing News You Might Have Missed This Week, Dec 4

Images: China Daily, freeImages.com, CNBC