China Digest, August 20

Published: 12:00am, 20 Aug 2012

Chongqing is the hottest of all China's municipalities and provincial capitals, according to a 31-year-analysis by the China Meteorological Administration, the reports. Rounding out the top five are Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Nanchang and Changsha.

A heatwave in recent weeks has raised the danger of forest fires in the municipality and resulted in roadblocks being set up in the mountainous areas of Jiangbei, Shapingba, Yubei, Banan, Changshou and Dazu districts, the reports. Only public service vehicles and people with local ID cards are allowed to enter the blocked-off areas.

Average market prices have dropped by 10 per cent in Shijie town of Dongguan since a provincial-wide crackdown on commercial bribery was launched this year, the reports. Four officials in the town were found to have been protecting criminal gangs. A total of 70 Dongguan officials have been punished in connection with the crackdown.

A court in Foshan will on September 12 hear former Olympic gold medalist Zhuang Xiaoya's lawsuit against Jianlibao Group, a soft-drink maker based in the city, after she found that a beverage can awarded to her and supposedly made of gold was actually silver. Zhuang was judo champion at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

The five-star Howard Johnson Resort Sanya Bay has been fined 679,800 yuan (HK$830,600) after 141 guests including six foreigners contracted food poisoning from the hotel buffet on August 12, China News Service reports. The restaurant of the Sanya hotel was ordered closed pending a quality-assurance review.

Cracking down on the misuse or abuse of antibiotics, provincial health authorities have issued a new directive to hospitals capping the level of each adult outpatient's prescriptions for the drug at 20 per cent of their total prescriptions, the reports. For inpatients, the proportion of antibiotic prescriptions can be no more than 60 per cent of the total. Quarterly records of antibiotic use must also be submitted by public hospitals. Overuse of antibiotics risks making virus strains stronger.

Trade between Russia and the northernmost Chinese province has surged 19.5 per cent in the past seven months, Xinhuanet.com reports. Exports increased by 5.8 per cent to US$2.59 billion and imports leaped 23.8 per cent to US$9.72 billion. The increase was attributed to a rise in the number of Heilongjiang businessmen visiting Russia for trade fairs, as well as diversified investments in other industries.

Experts from the Harbin Institute of Technology are unable to identify the source of four glowing triangles of yellow lights photographed by a Harbin resident near the Songhua River last week, People.com.cn reports. The analysts said the pictures had not been doctored, and the resident said the lights were visible for two hours.

Police detained a man in Yancheng on Saturday for allowing two four-year-old girls to watch pornography with him, the reports. Neighbours spotted him with the girls, who lived nearby and were said to have often watched television with him.

A video featuring a knock-off Lamborghini Reventón built by a 28-year-old car mechanic from Suqian has become a hit online, the reports. Wang Jian had spent more than 60,000 yuan since May last year to build the car with second-hand components. Police advised him not to drive the vehicle, calling it unsafe, but Wang said he plans to use it to transport chemical fertiliser in his village.

A Spring Airlines flight carrying 173 passengers to Hong Kong had to return to Shanghai shortly after take-off on Saturday morning after it hit birds, the website of the reports. One engine was reportedly damaged. No one was injured and passengers boarded another flight to Hong Kong that afternoon.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University on Saturday released a list of the most-searched terms on the internet in China last year, Xinmin.cn reports. The public was most interested in government spending on the "three public" items of international travel, entertainment, and vehicle purchases and maintenance. Official microblogs, "PM2.5" pollution levels, "gutter oil" and Steve Jobs were the other most-requested items.

The family of a six-year-old girl who was declared brain dead on Saturday after being hit by a motorcycle in July has decided to donate her organs, making her the province's youngest ever organ donor, the reports. The motorcyclist was not caught.

The middle section of a large bridge spanning a river in Dujiangyan collapsed early on Saturday morning amid torrential rainfall that persisted through the weekend, the reports. No injuries were reported but transportation to two towns was cut off.

A property company in Dali paid out three million yuan in back-owed salary payments to its construction workers on Saturday under pressure from the government, Xinhuanet.com reports. The payments were made after 13 children aged between five and 14 joined their parents protesting outside the office of Yunnan Guangsha Properties last week, sparking public discussion and government concerns. Workers are still owed more than 17 million yuan.

The province's first jewellery and mineralogical museum is expected to boost the local jewellery industry after opening on Friday in Kunming , the reports. The museum features a collection of more than 400 exhibits and admission is free.

A deputy party secretary of Balidian town in Huzhou has been dismissed from his post after interfering with a local television news crew reporting on the mysterious mass death of fish in a local pond on Wednesday, reports. Police said the official pushed a cameraman into the water, destroying his expensive equipment.

The former deputy director of the public security bureau's airport division in Taizhou has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for taking bribes, Xinhua reports. Zhang Wencong was found to have received more than 400,000 yuan in exchange for covering up an arrest warrant issued in 2008 for the organiser of an illegal gambling ring, who was caught in 2009.

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