LONDON Alex Burmistrov Jersey , Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Britain's world famous Oxford University has offered more places to women than men, it was confirmed Thursday.

It prompted the Times newspaper to report it is the first time in history that men have been overtaken in the race for places at Oxford.

Figures show that last year 1,275 women received offers from Oxford compared with 1,165 men. Of those, 1,070 women got the grades to secure their place compared with 1,025 men.

The gender gap at Cambridge has also narrowed with 1,140 men starting their studies last fall compared with 1,055 women.

The Times said that data, from the universities admissions body Ucas, dates back only to 2012, but men are likely to have outnumbered women since the first Oxford college was established in 1249, though records of education being offered in Oxford date back 1,000 years.

A spokeswoman at Oxford told Xinhua: "We can't say for certain whether this is the first time in history that Oxford has let in more women than men, but it certainly is the first time since 2012 which is as far back as this year's UCAS figures go. And while it's too early to call this a trend based on one year's numbers, it is a welcome sign of progress for female applicants to Oxford."

Women were first admitted to Oxford university when Lady Margaret Hall opened its doors as an all-women college in 1878. Women could only attend lectures and were not allowed to take degrees, however. They became full members of the university in 1920.

The Good University Guide for 2018 shows the number of better-off children still dwarfs those from poorer backgrounds.

At Oxford 1,340 students came from the richest homes last year and 105 from the poorest. At Cambridge it was 1,135 to 110.

The number of university applications across the country fell last year, a result of a smaller cohort of 18-year-olds.

The Oxford Mail newspaper, published in the university city, said the new figures also reveal a record number of Asian students admitted to Oxford in 2017.

ZHENGZHOU, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's "post-90s generation" has taken the political stage as twentysomethings make their debut at provincial-level legislative meetings across the country this week.

The generation -- born after 1990 and raised in an affluent and rising China -- is stereotyped as lazy and selfish. But Shi Pengfei, 25, a deputy to the Henan Provincial People's Congress in central China, defies this generalization.

Shi, a 2014 human resources graduate of the University of Liverpool, returned to Dulouma Village in Weishi County and became a farmer.

"I was born in the village. I love my homeland," said Shi, who has rented more than 2,000 mu (133 hectares) of land to grow edible fungi. During the harvest, more than 1,000 villagers worked at his fungi cooperative.

As a first-time deputy, Shi feels a responsibility to express the voice of the villagers at the provincial people's congress, which started on Wednesday.

"I'm going to propose that the government should promote rural land transfer to improve agricultural efficiency and farmers' income," said Shi.

Shi is one of four post-90s deputies of the 935-member provincial legislature of Henan. The province is China's most populous, with a population of more than 100 million people.

"The tech-savvy post-90s generation is more outspoken and more willing to take responsibility," said Yang Rubei, deputy secretary general of the standing committee of the Henan Provincial People's Congress.

Liu Yiming, 27, another deputy, is focused on the rights of left-behind women in the countryside and laid-off women in the cities.

Liu runs the Snowflake Vocational Training School in Pingyu County, offering babysitting and maternity nurse training for women.

"We trained 800 women in 2017, 500 of whom were impoverished and received free training," said Liu, who also volunteers to match poor people with job opportunities.

A trained maternity nurse can earn more than 8,000 yuan (1,250 U.S. dollars) in Beijing and Shanghai, said Liu, who called for better supervision of the household service industry.

"It's a prejudiced view that post-90s are lazy and selfish," said Liu. "It's time for us to fulfill our social responsibilities."

Liu's view was echoed by Jiang Mingqin, 28, a deputy to the provincial people's congress of Guangdong in south China.

"The post-90s are more pragmatic, creative and more willing to take risks," said Jiang, a manager at Guangzhou Kugou Computer Technology Co. Ltd, a music streaming and download service.

Jiang is spearheading a project to invite the most popular users on Kugou's live-streaming platform to sing with left-behind rural children via the service in order to raise public awareness.

During the annual legislative meeting, she will propose a bill asking for more government support to left-behind children.

"In the past, I only cared about the interests of my company. Now I need to consider more people's interests and work for their welfare," said Jiang.

Yang Rubei is glad to see the involvement of post-90s young people in the legislature.

"They are full of vigor and vitality and inject 'new blood' into the legislature," said Yang.

"In the future, we will see more of them play their due roles in China's democracy process," he said.

BEIJING, March 16 (Xinhua) -- An asteroid has been named after Song Jian, a scientist known for his contributions to aerospace engineering, a statement from the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) said Monday.

A ceremony was held Monday to officially announce the naming of Song Jian Asteroid, which was discovered by a Chinese researcher in August 2007, according to the statement.

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