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Experts urge passage of new demolition rule
Excerpt:According to experts, houses can only be demolished to serve the "public interest". Residents must be paid full compensation before they move out. Relocations can take place if and when at least 90 percent of residents agree with the compensation proposal.
The existing regulation has no such requirements. Local governments today have the authority to force relocations before compensating the owners.
Summary:There was a rumor that a new bill would be passed in June but that appears to F -
No repeat of Japan's mistake: official
China refuses to bend to US pressure to allow changes to be made to the foreign exchange rate. This decision is based on the disaster with the Japanese currency after they signed the Plaza Accord in 1985 and then fell into economic stagnation over the past twenty years.
It has allowed the yuan to become more flexible since June 16. -
New fruitful industry
China's new industry for wine promises to become the 6th largest wine producer in the world by 2058.Cities like Qinhuangdao are at the exact same latitute as the famous french wine prducing regions.The winery holds an annual harvest festival in late September or early October during which visitors can crush grapes with their feet and help make their own wines. Investors are being attracted to this growing industry. -
Amazing surge in popularity
Excerpt:Millions of tourists from China and overseas are drawn to the city of Haining in Zhejiang province every year to witness one of China's most unusual and spectacular sights - the amazing surging tides of the Qiantang River.
The extraordinary tides presented by the Qiantang River are a world-renowned natural wonder caused by gravitational pull.
An international tide watching festival has been held annually since 1994 and has attracted millions of domestic and overseas tourists. -
China allows rowdy anti-Japanese protests
"Chinese authorities have allowed rowdy anti-Japanese demonstrations in several cities to defuse simmering public anger over a territorial dispute with Japan" over the Diaoyu islands (according to China) and the Senkaku islands (according to the Japanese). -
Shanghai-Hangzhou High-Speed Railway makes trial operation
" Home / Photos Shanghai-Hangzhou High-Speed Railway makes trial operation 2010-October-19 14:55:21 A train runs on Shanghai-Hangzhou High-Speed Railway during its trial operation, in Shanghai, east China, Oct. 18, 2010. The train CRH380A, setting a new speed record of 416.6 kilometers per hour, will make its debut operation officially at the end of this month. The ticket prices and the operation time table will be released this week. (Xinhua)" -
North and South Korea may revive six-party talks
"The six-party talks aim to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns as a result of the North Korean nuclear weapons program. The six participating states are North Korea, South Korea, China, United States, Russia and Japan." -
Government and Policy Second-hand smoke targeted in tough draft law
"The draft law outlines penalties for smokers who light up in public or work places and affect others with their smoke".
"The highest fine would be 2,000 yuan (about $300), making it the harshest fine for a smoking offense in China"
" Under the law, smoking is strictly banned in 12 categories of public locations, including offices, conference
"Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, has employed 10,000 smoking-control supervisors and volunteers to work in the city's public places." -
For the elderly
"Social communities to take care of senior residents is badly needed, and foot-dragging will have severe consequences as the country's population above the age of 60 is set to rise by about 8 million every year."
There is the beginning of a system (such as pensions and food wavers) for the elderly but it is slow and there is not much development. -
49 killed in Shanghai as fire engulfs high-rise
An apartment building catches fire in Shanghai, the number dead is not mentioned though more than 100 are saved by helicopter. The fire started about 1:45 AM and was eventually put out about 5 hours later by 60 fire engines. The source of the fire is unknown but it is expected that the installation of the energy efficient unit may have been the cause and the scaffolding of the building under renovation only helped the fire along as the safety nets are flammable. -
Man reunites with wife and son after 12 years
"Hecame across Qin Haizhou, an acquaintance who was suspected of abducting his wife and son, on a local market in his hometown in August 2010. Yi pushed Qin into admitting that Qin had abducted Yi's wife and son, and then the local police began an investigation."Yi met his wife's current husband and said that he does not hate him but feels grateful that he had been taking good care of his wife and son for 12 years.
Yi said the man agreed that Yi's wife and son had the right to go back to Sichua -
Society Hubei to invest $26.5 billion on port expansion
"Authorities in Central China's Hubei province announced Sunday they will invest more than 180 billion yuan ($27 billion) to expand throughput capacity of Wuhan New Port on the Yangtze River between 2011 and 2020.
The investment will help expand annual cargo throughput to 200 million tons and container throughput to 2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2015 from the current 100 million tons and 650,000 TEUs, it said.
The annual throughput is expected to increase to 240 million" -
Pupil finds danger in mushrooms
What started out as a 6th grade science project is now a subject of controversy. Zhang Hao decided to carry out tests on mushrooms after he heard some sellers might have been dipping mushrooms in fluorescent brightener to keep them looking fresh. Testing 16 mushrooms from supermarkets, only 3 were not laced with the cancer causing chemical. His results were backed by microbiologist Gao Ruifang, of the China Agricultural University, who lent his lab and gave guidance over the experiment. -
Rabbit abuse video highlights animal rights issue
Animal rights experts are calling for urgent legislation to stop animal cruelty, following the exposure of an emerging business behind widespread videos of rabbit abuse on the Internet.the woman in the clip originally was hired to crush salad with her heels and then the videos excaladed to include killing rabbits. She was threatened with the release of the videos to keep her making them and after quitting, has be psychologically harassed since.Thegroupthat makes these videosisknownas"cruelfetish -
Unclaimed stray dogs in Shanghai to be put down
"Shanghai set a new rule aimed at collecting and controlling stray dogs. If nobody claims ownership within 30 days, the dogs will be put to sleep" The argument is that the dogs are spreading rabies though there is the argument that if the dog is not infected, it should not be put down. -
Corrupt officials fired for colluding with gangs
"A total of 920 people were arrested and 1,335 others were prosecuted last year for involvement with 46 criminal rings, Yu said, adding that the gangs' power had spread throughout various sectors, including construction, entertainment and transport. "
The figures respectively jumped by 118 percent and 140 percent over 2009, when the crackdown began.
None of the death sentenes have been rejected or subjuect to retrial. -
Building supervision gets makeover
The municipal government released 22 circulars on Tuesday to strengthen safety management of construction in Shanghai, urging builders to learn a painful lesson from the deadly blaze on Nov 15.
Lack of supervision on renovation projects, an insufficient budget for construction safety management, ineffective site supervision, illegal subcontracting and lack of training for construction workers are the major causes of construction safety accidents,
Proposed fix: circulars. -
NYU to open first American Campus in Shanghai
"The NYU Shanghai campus will be China's first international university co-established by higher-learning institutes from the two countries.
The NYU Shanghai campus will be located in the Pudong New Area's Lujiazui financial and trade zone.
And the new campus is expected to open as early as fall 2013.
In addition, construction will begin within five years on the Shanghai Zizhu International Education Zone.official negotiations to attract internationally prestigious colleges and universities" -
GDP ' Slow This Year'
Outrageous property rates increases, hope to slow. Battling inflation. "GDP is expected to retreat 9.8% this year.
In addition, measures aimed at increasing food supplies, together with oversupply in the manufacturing sector and the appreciation of the yuan, will curb inflationary pressures later in the year, the think tank said.
Bank will increase benchmark interest rates again early next month and let the yuan appreciate about 3 percent this year to cap inflation." -
Museum worships poet on 'Day of Humans'
"A grand ceremony was held in the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, to worship Du Fu (712-770AD), one of the greatest Chinese poets, on February 9 which was the seventh day in the first month of the lunar Chinese calendar.
The first day is the chicken, the second the dog, the third the pig, the fourth the sheep, the fifth the cattle, the sixth the horse and the seventh human beings." -
Incomes of rural residents in Xinjiang grew 20%
"The average per capita net income of farmers and herdsmen in far west China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region grew by 19.6 percent year on year to reach 4,642.67 yuan (US$703) last year, local authorities said Wednesday.
That growth rate was 4.7 percentage points higher than the national average, topping all the other 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions on the mainland for the first time." Said to be b/c of migrant workers from Xinjang, subsidies from the gov't etc. -
Govt tries to head off feared superbug
"China's top health authorities are launching a special national campaign this year to curb the rampant overuse of antibiotics over fears that the practice could unleash an explosion of drug-resistant superbugs.
Hospitals that are found to be overusing antibiotics will be named and shamed and related senior managers and doctors will get warnings or administrative punishments.
This is the first time for the ministry to launch a special campaign against the use of a certain kind of drug" -
Beijing tightens restrictions on flat buying
"The Beijing municipal government released a package of rules on Wednesday to restrict home purchases in the capital and rein in soaring property prices.
China has been cracking down on property bubbles, with around 30 cities imposing restrictions on home purchases.
The government last month raised the minimum down payment for second-home purchases from 50 percent to 60 percent."Property taxes were also introduced in Shanghai and Chongqing. They also limit the number of houses you can own. -
China Reportedly Plans Strict Goals to Save Energy
"China is in the process of setting strict goals for greener and more conservative energy. China has placed a big bet on renewable energy, emerging as the world’s biggest and lowest-cost manufacturer of wind turbines and solar panels. But the country remains heavily reliant on coal for its electricity.No decisions have been made yet on how the almost entirely state-owned energy sector would allocate the limits by city, province or electric utility. This is already causing considerable anxiety." -
Why Shaming has lost power
"Public shaming was made illegal this week because of dissent. The public demands to know what criminals for petty crimes are paraded and yet corrupt officials are not. Unable to defend this, the parades are now done. "
Also reference"China pushes to end Public shaming." -
Toxic Acid leaks from E. China chemical company
"Hangzhou
About 20 tonnes of toxic hydrofluoric acid leaked from a chemical company in east China's Zhejiang province, local government authorities said Thursday. The cause of the leakage has not been found yet.Hydrogen fluoride is a chemical compound used mainly for industrial purposes, such as etching glass, and is extremely corrosive. Inhaling the hydrofluoric acid gas can cause severe health damage and even death." -
New fiberglass factory for Zhejiang
Owens Corning Corp (OC), the world's leading producer of fiberglass reinforcements, began operating a new $100 million facility in Yuhang, Zhejiang province, on Wednesday.
The new manufacturing base will produce single-end rovings (reinforcement for fiberglass products) for the Chinese market.
Will cost $253 million. Leaves room for markeet expansion. China produces half of the world's fiberglass -
New Census Finds China’s Population Growth Has Slowed
"The government said China’s population was 1.34 billion, an increase of 73.9 million, or 5.8 percent, from the last tally in 2000. "This is the slowest growing counrty in the 50 years. Chinese families are averaging 3.1 people with 1 in 5 people registering in a different place than they lived aka migrant workers sending money from the cities to the rural area. -
Editor's Pick Lost in tulip clouds in Hangzhou
"For citizens and tourists to Hangzhou in eastern China, it is good news they don't have to go as far as Holland to get lost in the clouds of colorful tulip flowers. In the city's Taiziwan park, blooming tulip flowers decorated the river banks and stretching grass lawns during March and April. Every year since 1992, the park will hold a tulip exhibition to celebrate its rich resources of the plant. " -
Chinese Currency Rises Above Key Level
China is allowing the currency, the renminbi, to rise in 2005 and a sign that the authorities might be using the appreciation as a weapon against inflation. It is becoming more and more of a sensitive topic in China but it is progressing well, albeit slowly enough not to harm China's exports and imports. -
Theft Reveals Lapses in Chinese Museum’s Security
"A bungled art theft this week at the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City in Beijing may not have been worthy of a master thief, with the police quickly claiming to have found the suspect, but the episode has nonetheless produced questions and criticism about security at Chinese museums.
Supposedly electricity was cut and thus there was a bigger criminal design then just the one man." The museum apologizes and says it will beef up security. -
China Delays Report Suggesting North Korea Violated Sanctions
"China has tried to suppress a report at the United Nations suggesting that North Korea and Iran have been routinely sharing ballistic missile technology, United Nations diplomats said Saturday, expressing concern that Beijing was again working to shield the North." -
Thirst for profits risk historical sites
In the city of Hangzhou, in East China's Zhejiang province, the development of an area that was home to the remains of a Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) imperial city has continued without approval for more than a year.
The area was listed as a historical and cultural site under State protection in 2001 and was also listed as one of China's most important protected relics during the period of the country's 11th Five-year Plan (2006-2010).
Similar desecrations are thoughout China. -
8 officials punished for lead poisoning
"Eight government officials in East China's Zhejiang province have been punished over a lead poisoning case in which 332 people, including 99 children, were found to have excessive lead levels in their blood, local authorities said on Friday."
"Zhejiang Haijiu Battery Co. improperly disposed of metal in the county of Deqing, which sickened local residents."
Treatment lasts for months and causes vomiting frequently.
273 other battery plants are being checked in the Zjejiang province.
