Chinese scientists, popular science activists and science journalists have elected China's top ten public scientific events of 2005.

They included the second manned space mission, the major pollution in the Songhua River and the spreading of bird flu.

The rest of the ten events are: the World's Physics Year China activities, the country's first favored taxation policy for popular scientific promotion in Hebei Province, the new construction plan for the China Science and Technology Museum, thefirst nationwide Popular Science Day activities, the initiation ofstate honor grants for rural popular science activists, the commemoration for the late popular scientist Gao Shiqi and the exhibition on energy-saving society.

An official from the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) said the ten events reflected a comprehensive overview for the popular scientific advancement in 2005 in China. Such events help the Chinese people to improve their scientific awareness.

The Popular Science and Technology News, which is affiliated to CAST, has organized this kind of election for the last four years,in order to popularize science and technology among the people.

(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2006)