Most overseas students return

More than 72 percent of overseas Chinese students have returned to China after finishing their education abroad since the late 1970s, according to a report by a government-backed agency. From 1978 to 2011, about 818,400 Chinese students returned home after studying abroad, said a report issued on Sunday by the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange.

Cold forecast for much of country

The ongoing cold snap will bring a drop in temperatures along with gales and snowfall to most of northern China before Friday, according to the national weather forecaster. With another cold front expected to pass through the country from Nov 25 to 27, the China Meteorological Administration warned local authorities to make preparations to avoid economic losses and guarantee power and heating supplies.

Snow claims two lives on mountain

Two tourists were killed on Monday after being stranded by heavy snow on the Great Wall in Beijing. According to Beijing Evening News, they were part of a group of seven people, all aged around 50, who got trapped in a snowstorm after reaching the top of the wall in Heituo Mountain, Yanqing county, northwestern Beijing, on Sunday.

Three arrested for selling knives

Three men suspected of illegally operating and selling more than 1,000 knives in Beijing were arrested last week, according to the public order department under the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau on Monday.

Hong Kong

Jobless rate rises to 3.4 percent

Hong Kong's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose from 3.3 percent in July-September to 3.4 percent in August to October, while the underemployment rate fell from 1.6 percent to 1.5 percent, the city's Census and Statistics Department announced on Monday. Unemployment increased mainly in the hotel, transportation and construction industries.

3 dead, 50 hurt in bus crash

A double-decker bus crashed into two other vehicles on Monday morning at Shau Kei Wan on Hong Kong Island, leaving three people dead and about 50 injured, local media reported. The bus was going downhill at 11:38 am when the driver lost control and the vehicle hit a taxi and another bus. The taxi's driver and two passengers were killed.

Hunan

Hole swallows 2-story building

A 40-meter-deep hole swallowed a two-story building on Friday in Hunan province. The hole destroyed the building as well as more than 20 trees and parts of a vegetable field, the Xiaoxiang Morning Post reported. As of 11 am on Saturday, the area affected by the cave-in had reached 333 square meters in Quanhong village in the Yuelu district of Changsha, capital of Hunan.

Guangdong

Young runner dies after road event

A young runner died of cardiac arrest on Monday morning in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, after taking part in a 10 km race a day earlier, a hospital source said. Chen Jie, 21, suffered cardiac arrest after he crossed the finish line during one of the events held alongside the Guangzhou Marathon, the first of its kind in the southern city, on Sunday.

Grandpa model boosts sales

A 72-year-old man modeling women's clothes for his granddaughter's online store has become a Web celebrity and sales have surged. The photos of Liu Qianping in dresses or coats have drawn widespread attention since he made his modeling debut on Nov 9. His granddaughter Lu Ting, in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, runs a women's clothing store at Taobao, a major online shopping service provider.

Zhejiang

Ceremony held for bio-war victims

A ceremony commemorating victims of Japan's germ warfare in China 70 years ago was held in a village in Zhejiang province on Sunday. The ceremony was attended by volunteers, activists from China and Japan and more than 100 descendants of the victims in Chongshan village, Yiwu city. The Japanese army bombed Chongshan with biological weapons and after studying the effects, burned the village to the ground on Nov 18, 1942, to destroy the evidence. In all, 408 people were killed.

Shanxi

3rd environment satellite launched

China launched the third of its Environment I satellites on Monday, increasing its environmental monitoring and disaster forecasting abilities. The launch marks the completion of a plan initiated in 2003 to create a small environmental monitoring satellite constellation, according to the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province. The radar satellite will join the two previously launched optical satellites to form a network covering most of China.

Protection plan set for Great Wall

Shanxi province is drawing up a plan to protect parts of the Great Wall that have been seriously damaged by nature or human intervention. By the end of 2015, the province will have finished placing warning signs and recruiting surveillance crews from villagers to protect the structures, said Bai Xuebing, of the Shanxi Cultural Heritage Bureau, on Monday.

Gansu

Drought threatens wild camels

A scientist working with wild camels said that although their numbers are increasing, they are seriously threatened by drought. The camels migrate seasonally several hundred kilometers between Gansu province and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, said Bai Shengxuan, a research director with the Annanba Nature Reserve. Only 420 to 470 of camels remain in China, fewer than the number of wild pandas.

China Daily - Xinhua