News » China » Heavy rain lashes SW China, flood peak nears

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• Heavy rain lashes SW China, flood peak nears
• China issues emergency response to deal with floods
• Downpours wreak havoc across China
• Boats urged off crowded Yangtze as flood peak nears
• Nation seeks strategic industries' development
• The ups and downs of Latin adventure
• Beijing tourist sites unscathed by deluge
• Eastern promise fades as western growth soars
• Chinese beauties put more weight on inner beauty
• China raises alert as tropical storm Vincent nears
• Chinese DM holds talk with Afghan counterpart
• China urges EU not to abuse trade remedies
• Work to save traditional culture in Guizhou
• WTO to set up panel on China's rare earth export restrictions
• Chinese vice premier calls for strengthened flood control efforts
• Putin sends condolences to Chinese leader over Beijing downpour victims
• China stocks retreat to 3.5-year low
• EU urged not to abuse trade remedies to disrupt trade
• Mayor elected in newly established Sansha city
• Mayor elected in newly established Sansha city

Heavy rain lashes SW China, flood peak nears Posted: 23 Jul 2012 12:39 PM PDT Authorities have called for tighter control of boats and small ships on the Yangtze River to ease river traffic congestion at the Three Gorges Dam, which is about to face the largest flood peak of the year this week.

China issues emergency response to deal with floods Posted: 23 Jul 2012 11:26 AM PDT China's flood control authority on Monday issued an emergency notice nationwide alerting flood control departments to prepare for expected surging water flows in the Yangtze River and floods in other parts of the country.

Downpours wreak havoc across China Posted: 23 Jul 2012 11:25 AM PDT Rainstorms since the weekend have ravaged many parts of China, including the capital city of Beijing where the heaviest rain in 60 years caused 37 deaths.

Boats urged off crowded Yangtze as flood peak nears Posted: 23 Jul 2012 12:27 PM PDT Authorities have called for tighter control of boats and small ships on the Yangtze River to ease river traffic congestion at the Three Gorges Dam, which is about to face the largest flood peak of the year this week. In a joint statement, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the Ministry of Transport called on local authorities to try to dissuade owners of boats and small ships from operating during the flood peak period and to tighten safety measures of vessels crowded at the dam. The Three Gorges Dam will face the largest flood peak this year before dawn on Wednesday after heavy rains hit upstream areas of the Yangtze River, the national flood control authority said. The flow rate could also be the highest at the dam since it began operation, the authority said. Soldiers in Chongqing use a makeshift raft to evacuate people after heavy rain lashed the city over the weekend. More rain alerts have been issued for South China. [Photo/Xinhua] The dam increased its floodwater release from 38,000 cubic meters per second to 43,000 cu m per second between Monday evening and Tuesday morning. Authorities have promised to improve the efficiency of ferry services at the dam as soon as the amount of floodwater release is lowered. Shipping congestion at the Three Gorges Dam has occurred since late June as the flood peak approached. As of July 13, there were 606 ships were caught in the river traffic at the dam. The congestion has already affected river cruises that operate between Chongqing and the dam. "We have to cancel the tour to the ship locks because of the congestion," said a staff member of Chongqing Tourism Investment Group named Jiang. His group operates river cruises along the Yangtze. Jiang said the congestion has increased the company's operating costs because it has to disembark the passengers at Yichang, Hubei province, and then use buses. Torrential rain has ravaged 17 of China's provinces since July 20, leaving 95 dead and 45 missing, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Monday, Xinhua News Agency reported. Natural disasters caused by the downpours have affected 6.23 million people in 264 counties and 17 provinces and municipalities such as Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi, Sichuan, and Guizhou, and forced the evacuation of 567,000 residents, the ministry said in a statement. The ministry reported 37 deaths in Beijing, 17 deaths and 21 missing in Hebei, eight deaths and two missing in Sichuan, six deaths and four missing in Yunnan, five deaths in Chongqing, four deaths and one missing in Shanxi, three deaths in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and three deaths and 14 missing in Shaanxi. Rainstorms have destroyed 29,000 houses and damaged another 55,000. National disaster relief and civil affairs authorities initiated a level-four emergency response and sent teams to the worst-affected areas of Beijing and Hebei on Sunday to direct relief work. As of Monday noon, natural disasters — strong wind, hail, floods, landslides and mudslides — had affected 110 million people on the Chinese mainland this year, leaving 680 dead and 137 missing, according to the ministry. Jin Zhu contributed to this story. xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn

Nation seeks strategic industries' development Posted: 23 Jul 2012 12:27 PM PDT China will step up its efforts to develop seven strategic emerging industries to fight downward pressure on the economy and upgrade innovation capacity, but experts warned of overinvestment and overcapacity in these areas. The government wants the seven strategic industries to generate 8 percent of China's GDP in 2015 and 15 percent by 2020, said Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, in an online interview on Monday. China unveiled a national development plan for strategic emerging industries during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) on Friday, which detailed 20 major projects that it wants to focus on during the period, such as the Broadband China program, new flat-panel displays and cloud computing. To speed up economic restructuring, the country unveiled plans to develop seven strategic emerging industries in 2010- energy saving and environmental protection, new-generation information technology, biotechnology, high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy, new materials, and new-energy vehicles. The seven strategic sectors accounted for less than 4 percent of GDP at the end of 2010. Saving energy and protecting the environment are listed as chief concerns. "The fast industrialization and urbanization in previous years have consumed a large amount of energy and had an adverse effect on China's environment, so we have made this a top priority, " Zhang said. Developing strategic industries will play an important role in helping relieve downward pressure on the economy during a negative economic outlook, said Zhang. China's economy grew at 7.6 percent in the second quarter, its slowest pace in three years. Some analysts expect the government to launch stimulus policies. Wan Jun, a researcher of the Institute of World Economics and Politics, at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said a slower economy needs fresh driving forces, but massive investment in emerging industries might be unwise. "Growth rates in traditional industries such as steel, automobile, real estate and chemical all plummeted, and the nation hopes emerging industries can play a leading role in economic development," Wan said. However, unlike traditional industries, emerging industries face huge uncertainties in their development. Technologies like those used in electric vehicles could become outdated quickly, and it will take time to commercialize technologies and nurture the market, he said. Policymakers must transform ways of thinking, as the successful development of emerging industries won't rely solely on new building, as was the case during the development of the chemical industry in the past decade, he said. Also, overcapacity has emerged in emerging sectors such as wind power. At the same time, the government must position itself well in the development of emerging industries, he added. Public investment should mainly focus on key common technologies that could be shared among companies. The government could also play a positive role in creating a favorable investment environment and launch pilot programs to help shorten the time it takes new products to be accepted in the market. "The government should play only a limited role in the development of emerging industries. To make these industries really competitive and mature, market mechanism should play a decisive role," Wan said. Strategic emerging industries are targeted to maintain an average annual growth rate of more than 20 percent, and the government will provide favorable fiscal and financial policies to boost their development. Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, said the planning showed the central government's preference for future investment, and local governments will follow suit to get their projects' approval. Some provinces have announced a series of subsidy measures to support strategic emerging industries. Companies in strategic industries can expect significant subsidies from the central government and local governments, experts said. The central government has set up a 7.5 billion yuan ($1.17 billion) investment fund this year for strategic emerging industries, said Lin. Reuters reported at the end of 2010 that China was considering investing up to $1.5 trillion in the seven strategic industries by 2015. Contact the writer at lanlan@chinadaily.com.cn

The ups and downs of Latin adventure Posted: 23 Jul 2012 12:27 PM PDT It wasn't supposed to be like this. Lin Peifeng, a Chinese engineer, points at a blueprint that shows a giant fertilizer chemical plant, along with two electric power plants, several warehouses and workers' dormitory buildings. But outside the window of his container-turned temporary office, battered by the howling winter wind, stretches a tract of land thickly covered with withered yellow grass, dotted with occasional piles of coal in the distance. In reality, there is only wilderness. This construction site in Rio Grande — a northern city in South Argentina's Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego — is no ordinary one. It dates back to early 2010, when, in a bid to meet the South American country's growing demand for fertilizers, three Chinese companies from the country's energy and coal chemical sector — Shaanxi Coal & Chemical Industry Group Co Ltd, Shaanxi Xinyida Investment Ltd and Jinduicheng Molybdenum Group Co Ltd — made a joint investment worth $1 billion, to deliver a plant that could produce 450,000 metric tons of ammonia and 800,000 tons of urea per year. It is so far the largest Chinese investment in the whole Latin American region. With the promise of fantastic prospects and support from both governments, agreements for the investment were signed to huge media fanfare on both sides of the world. But the initial enthusiasm soon cooled and strains began to show. Tension came to a head in April when a shipment of vital construction equipment and machinery was barred from entering a port in Argentina, due to the country's import restrictions. Lin works for Tierra Del Fuego Power & Chemical Co Ltd, known as TEQSA in Spanish, a company set up by the three Chinese companies to take charge of the project. The Argentine government has declined China Daily's repeated requests for comments on the issue, but lacking the necessary machinery, the construction work, supposed to have been finished by April, was also halted. "There's not much to do here," added a Chinese construction worker at the site. "I have put on 10 kilograms in weight." Two years after the agreement was signed, the project is still no further than at the preliminary stage. "There are troubles, troubles everyday," said Li Dacan, TEQSA's general manager, as he describes his work over the past three years. TEQSA is only one of a wave of Chinese investments that has flowed to Latin American countries in recent years. In 2011, the outflow of Chinese investments in the region stood at $10.1 billion, accounting for 16.8 percent of the country's total overseas investment volume, according to official data. The Latin American region has now emerged as China's second-largest overseas investment destination, second only to Europe. The headline figures might look like a massive success story on paper, but for many companies the reality is very different. China is currently the region's third-largest trading partner — but there has been growing criticism in recent years of what is now a growing imbalance in trade between the two parties. In 2011, total trade volume between China and Latin America jumped 31.5 percent from the previous year to $242 billion, according to official Chinese data. Some 60 percent of China's imports from Latin American countries are made up of natural resources, while its exports to the region are dominated by processed or manufactured products. Latin American producers have reacted badly to the influx of cheaper Chinese goods. The Brazilian National Confederation of Industry, an industrial lobby, for instance, announced in January the establishment of a bilateral body with its counterparts in Argentina, as a way to combat import competition. Several big names in Brazilian business have taken an active part, including Mafrig, the third-biggest Brazilian food processing company. According to information from the Economist Intelligence Unit, participants in the body have prioritized the need to urgently tackle growing imports from China. But growing investments being made in South America might be the key to helping ease the situation, and the imbalance, suggested economists and trade experts. "One of the main reasons for the trade imbalance is that the manufacturing sector in Latin America is not very competitive," said Yue Yunxia, a Latin America specialist from the Institute of Latin American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Investments, especially to help improve the industrial infrastructure in certain sectors and upgrade the quality of products and their manufacturing efficiency, are seen as especially favorable, Yue said. Yet, there remains a strong reluctance toward foreign investments in many Latin American countries, said analysts and experts. Previous Page 1 2 3 Next Page Previous Page 1 2 3 Next Page

Beijing tourist sites unscathed by deluge Posted: 23 Jul 2012 12:27 PM PDT Most scenic spots in Beijing got through the storm on Saturday unscathed, but rain continued to lash neighboring Hebei province, killing at least 17 people by Monday. Meanwhile, the highway linking Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao remains blocked. Some lamp poles, guardrails, signboards and parking lots were damaged by the worst storm in the capital in more than six decades, and the government is repairing them, Beijing tourism authorities said on Monday. The worst-hit tourist sites included Shidu, Badachu Park and Tongzhou Grand Canal Forest Park, Yu Debin, deputy director of the Beijing Tourism Development Committee, said at a news conference on Monday. Lu Yong, the committee's director, warned the public to stay away from undeveloped mountainous areas because Beijing might get another rainstorm on Wednesday. "We will restore the warning and direction signs that were damaged by the storm as soon as possible, but we're also advising tourists not to go to dangerous places," Lu said. Lu said the storm, which killed at least 37 people in the city, will not seriously hurt Beijing's tourism industry. Liu Wenbo, director of the administrative office of Badaling special zone, where the famous Badaling section of the Great Wall stands, said "not fewer" tourists visited the scenic spot over the weekend than before. "The rainfall here was not as serious as it was downtown," he said. Famous downtown tourist sites, such as the Palace Museum, the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace, were not damaged by the torrential rainfall, according to the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage. China CYTS Tours Holding said its business in the capital was not affected because most of the scenic spots and routes are in the northern part of the city, where storm damage was not as bad as in the southern part. A bus driver for a private transportation company in Hebei province that carries passengers from Beijing to Hebei's capital, Shijiazhuang, said no trips have been canceled or prices increased despite the rain. However, he has to take a different route because the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway was still blocked on Monday. That was the only highway still flooded in Beijing, according to the committee. "The detour adds an hour to the trip between the two cities," said the driver, named Fu. The storm that hit Beijing on Saturday ravaged neighboring Hebei on Sunday and Monday. At least 17 people have been confirmed dead and 21 missing in Hebei, the provincial civil affairs bureau said on Monday. Eleven thousand tourists and 2,700 rural residents are still stranded in Laiyuan, Laishui and Yixian counties, as roads leading to rural tourists attractions remain blocked and telecommunications cut off. The rain has brought floods and hail to 56 counties in Hebei, and nearly 160,000 people were evacuated over the weekend. Hebei's Yesanpo tourist resort was one of the worst hit areas. Thousands of tourists, who were short of water and cut off in traffic and communication, have been taken away from Yesanpo, according to the micro blog of Laishui county, where Yesanpo is located. zhengxin@chinadaily.com.cn

Eastern promise fades as western growth soars Posted: 23 Jul 2012 12:27 PM PDT Traditional powerhouses splutter as inland regions go full throttle Growth in central and western regions was stronger than the traditional coastal powerhouses in the first six months of the year. The shift was due mainly to the transfer of technology and manufacturing, a focus on infrastructure and declining exports, analysts said. A total of 22 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities published their first-half growth figures, after the National Bureau of Statistics reported 7.8 percent national growth earlier this month. Guizhou province, in Southwest China, registered the highest first-half growth of 14.5 percent, while Beijing and Shanghai were neck and neck with 7.2 percent expansion, the lowest score, in the first six months. While these figures would be remarkable in almost any other country they do represent a relative slowdown. "This is due to global conditions and measures initiated by local authorities to transform the economy, which, have made progress," Yan Jun, chief economist at Shanghai's municipal bureau of statistics, said. Shipped exports from Shanghai dropped 5.1 percent year-on-year, but non-store retail sales jumped 52.3 percent. "The service sector has contributed 6 percentage points to the 7.2 percent growth," Yan said, adding that the proportion of the real estate sector in the city's economy fell by 0.9 percentage points. Most regions in East China, apart from Tianjin and Fujian, reported growth lower than 10 percent, while inland provinces were growing above that level. Guangdong province remained the largest in terms of economic clout but even here growth fell by 2.7 percentage points to 7.4 percent for the year. "Shrinking exports are having a bigger impact on costal provinces, such as Guangdong and Zhejiang," said Zhang Qizi, assistant director of the Institute of Industrial Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "It will be hard for these costal provinces, with their small manufacturers, to see a quick rebound in growth," Zhang said. Xu Fengxian, also an academy researcher, said that national growth targets would be harder to meet. "The eastern provinces accounted for more than half of the country's overall economic output, so if their growth drops below 7.5 percent it will be a difficult for the country to achieve its GDP growth target for the year.'' Zhu Haibin, chief China economist at JP Morgan Chase & Co, said policy fine-tuning in the next two months will be crucial for the survival of manufacturing companies along the coastal area. "The most dangerous threat for the economy in the next six months will be consecutively declining corporate profits, which are expected to reduce company investment and weaken domestic demand," Zhu said. JP Morgan recently lowered the growth outlook for the whole year to 7.7 percent from 8.2 percent. "The economic slowdown was an aftereffect of the massive stimulus taken in previous years, which was like giving a cardiotonic shot to the patient, he will have to digest the side-effect after all,'' Zhang said. However, it seems that the short-term stimulus is still on the cards for western provinces. Most economic growth in Guizhou province in the first half was driven by fixed asset investment. Guizhou's investment picked up 60 percent, year-on-year, to 346 billion yuan ($54 billion), while another 400 billion yuan is scheduled for the second half. Ministry of Commerce data showed that foreign capital flowing into central and western regions increased by 14 and 28 percent, while nationally the figure grew by 10 percent. To restore growth, investment remains the key component in areas such as infrastructure, the environment, new energy and affordable housing, said Zhu, who expected an additional fiscal easing in this year's budget. "In the long run, the government's policies need to shift to reduce the role of public investment and encourage private capital to inject into growth-support investment projects," he said. "Investment-driven growth is still the most effective way to boost growth for the western regions, as it has a higher marginal effect than in the east," Zhang said. "The western provinces are following the same development pattern as the eastern regions did a few decades ago, receiving relocated manufacturing. "But in the long run, the western regions will eventually face the same problem the eastern provinces are facing today," he said. But for business owners of coastal enterprises, survival is the immediate concern. Jiang Lei, who runs a shaver company in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, said he is struggling to keep his factory running. Orders have shrunk by two thirds. "I have to lay off employees or I cannot make it," he said. Contact the writers at weitian@chinadaily.com.cn, chenjia1@chinadaily.com.cn and xieyu@chinadaily.com.cn

Chinese beauties put more weight on inner beauty Posted: 23 Jul 2012 09:45 AM PDT Despite the saying that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", the latest winners of several Chinese beauty pageants have received an overflow of online criticism for their "godforsaken appalling looks" that are believed to be twisting the image of Chinese ladies. Of course, the description may be a little exaggerated, as most people doing the beholding are used to setting a higher standard for women from beauty contests. But Yue-Sai Kan, the national director of Miss Universe China, is taking the attack seriously and bringing the champion of Miss Universe Hainan province, one of the beauties most attacked online, to "clear up some misunderstanding". "The overwhelming attention comes as a great surprise for me, since Chinese are rather strange with the pageant culture and quite indifferent to events like this," said Kan on Monday, one day before the final of Miss Universe Shanghai. "But what we are selecting is not only a good-looking girl, but also a comprehensive beauty," she added, though failing to define "comprehensive". "And I can guarantee 100 percent that the process is fair and not manipulated." Rumor has it that judges at several beauty pageants held in China recently have been bribed to vote for girls whose families are rich or have connections. Tan Qiaoyi, the winner of Miss Universe in Hainan province - whose photo with two other winners has been ruthlessly described with words like "ugly", "hideous" and even "grotesque" - also stood up against all the rumors and guessing. "Yes, the picture does look bad. But there is the problem of hairstyle, makeup and maybe most importantly photographic lighting," said Tan, a 1.77-meter Hainan native. "I am not upset with the rumors at all, because I know what the picture presents is twisted," said the 22-year-old. A fourth-year English major at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, Tan said she took part in the competition because it's a good opportunity and a precious experience for her future career, which she hopes is related to the entertaining industry, like an actress or a model. Tan is now busy preparing for the national final of Miss Universe China to be held in September in Shanghai.

China raises alert as tropical storm Vincent nears Posted: 23 Jul 2012 09:45 AM PDT Updated: 2012-07-23 21:09 ( Xinhua) BEIJING - China's meteorological authorities Monday issued an orange alert, the third-level of the five-tier warning system, as tropical storm Vincent nears the country's southern coast. The eighth tropical storm this year is moving northwestward at a speed of 15 kilometers to 20 kilometers per hour, and is expected to make landfall over the coast of Shenzhen and Zhanjiang in Guangdong province Monday evening and Tuesday morning, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said. The strongest tropical storm to hit China so far this year will bring heavy rains to most parts of south China over the next three days and precipitation will exceed 50 millimeters there. Parts of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan will see rainfall of 200 to 350 millimeters, the NMC warned.

Chinese DM holds talk with Afghan counterpart Posted: 23 Jul 2012 09:45 AM PDT Updated: 2012-07-23 21:07 ( Xinhua) BEIJING - Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie held talks Monday with his Afghan counterpart Abdul Rahim Wardak and pledged to boost military ties between the two countries. Liang, who is also a state councilor, hailed the ongoing cooperation between China and Afghansitan in multiple areas since the start of the war-shattered country's process of reconstruction as well as the close coordination and communication in regional and international affairs during their two-hour talk. "The military-to-military exchanges are increasing, the high-level interactions are going on and the pragmatic cooperation in terms of personnel training and military aid ... are going ahead in a stable way," said the Chinese general. "The Chinese side is willing to cement and enhance the current cooperation between the two militaries based on mutual respect and win-win reciprocity to advance the military ties in a sustainable way," Liang said, adding that the armed forces of the two nations should play an active role in safeguarding their national interests as well as regional security and stability. Before their talk, Liang held a welcoming ceremony for the visiting Afghan defense minister.

China urges EU not to abuse trade remedies Posted: 23 Jul 2012 09:45 AM PDT Updated: 2012-07-23 20:59 ( Xinhua) BEIJING - China's Ministry of Commerce on Monday repeated its calls for the European Union (EU) to avoid abusing trade remedy measures to disrupt bilateral trade, after the EU's highest court last week ruled in favor of a Chinese enterprise. "For a long time, the European Commission has been abusing the discretionary power and mis-using relevant laws in its trade investigations, which have led to unjustified trade remedy measures," read a statement posted on the ministry's website. The ministry said as an important member of the World Trade Organization, the EU should strictly observe trade rules. The remarks came in response to a court ruling that rejected an appeal by the EU Council to impose anti-dumping duties on imports of the herbicide glyphosate produced by China's Zhejiang Xinan Chemical (Zhejiang Xinanchem) because of the Chinese government's minority stake in the company. The ruling said the state's control over the general meeting of Xinanchem's shareholders did not automatically exclude the company from the benefit of market economy treatment (MET), marking a landmark victory for Chinese companies seeking MET in Europe. The granting of MET to certain producers subject to an anti-dumping investigation is a commercially-significant status. Producers granted MET are not subjected to the discriminatory non-market economy regime that applies to exporters from some countries, such as China, whose market-economy status isn't acknowledged.

Work to save traditional culture in Guizhou Posted: 23 Jul 2012 09:45 AM PDT Traditional ethnic cultures in China are being increasingly threatened by rapid industrialization and urbanization and should be better protected, said experts who attended a recent forum in southwest Guizhou province. Guizhou is one of the most poverty-stricken and ethnically diverse provinces in China. As a result, it has become an important site for the Tencent Foundation, which is owned by the Internet company Tencent Group. Since 2009, the company has carried out various charity projects aimed at preserving local ethnical cultures and reducing poverty. The foundation also initiated the forum that was held recently in Guizhou's Liping county and was aimed at protecting rural culture in China, especially the cultures of various ethnic groups. The event was attended by more than 100 local officials and scholars as well as representatives from NGOs. "Many ethnic cultures are now faced with threats," said Zhang Xiaojun, a professor at Tsinghua University, speaking at the forum. "And many ethnic villages are disappearing from the Chinese cultural scene. The situation is serious." He said various ethnic groups in Guizhou have seen their traditional ways of living, such as mountain farming, change with the advent of globalization. That process has caused many traditional cultures to wither, he added. "Although no one can stop industrialization or urbanization, we should think more about how we can better preserve these unique arts and pass them down to future generations," said Xie Qingsheng, vice-governor of Guizhou province, who is also a scholar on ethnic culture. For the five years following the start of the Tencent Foundation's charity work in 2009, the organization has plans to spend more than 50 million yuan ($7.8 miilion) to support singers from various ethnic groups and teach young students at schools. The work is meant to ensure the passing down of art forms such as the Dong Chorus, which was listed as being an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2009. Many traditional art forms are being stunted as more and more young people move from villages to cities to seek better lives, leaving behind fewer people who can receive knowledge of the forms. As a result, some customs have almost died out. "We intend to set up a multifaceted system to provide education, the preservation of native cultures and boost local economies," said Chen Yidan, CEO of Tencent Group, who started the charity project. The foundation has also established a special fund and worked with the local government to open a museum and research center dedicated to Dong ethnic music in Liping county.

WTO to set up panel on China's rare earth export restrictions Posted: 23 Jul 2012 06:54 AM PDT The US, EU and Japan have brought their complaint against China?s rare earth export restrictions one step further.

Chinese vice premier calls for strengthened flood control efforts Posted: 23 Jul 2012 05:48 AM PDT Vice Premier Hui Liangyu on Monday called for strengthened early warning and monitoring of severe weather and typhoons and timely evacuation of affected people after the heaviest rain in 60 years lashed Beijjing on Saturday.

Putin sends condolences to Chinese leader over Beijing downpour victims Posted: 23 Jul 2012 05:48 AM PDT Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao over Beijing flood victims, the Kremlin reported Monday.

China stocks retreat to 3.5-year low Posted: 23 Jul 2012 06:36 AM PDT Chinese stocks slid to the lowest level since 2009 as fears of slowing economy show no signs of abating. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.26 percent, or 27.24 points, to close at 2,141.40.

EU urged not to abuse trade remedies to disrupt trade Posted: 23 Jul 2012 06:36 AM PDT China's Ministry of Commerce on Monday repeated its calls for the European Union (EU) to avoid abusing trade remedy measures to disrupt bilateral trade, after the EU's highest court last week ruled in favor of a Chinese enterprise.

Mayor elected in newly established Sansha city Posted: 23 Jul 2012 06:36 AM PDT Xiao Jie was elected Monday afternoon the first mayor of the newly established Sansha city in the South China Sea along with the director of the standing committee of the city's People's Congress.

Mayor elected in newly established Sansha city Posted: 23 Jul 2012 06:06 AM PDT Xiao Jie was elected Monday afternoon the first mayor of the newly established Sansha city in the South China Sea along with the director of the standing committee of the city's People's Congress.

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