Business travel hit as campaign bites

Sales of first and business class tickets on flights dropped as China's frugality campaign gathered momentum beyond high-end dining, according to the country's civil aviation authorities. Since December, the number of business travelers in first and business class seats fell by about 10 percent compared with the same period a year ago, according to Li Jun, deputy head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

More power plants to be subsidized

The national environmental watchdog on Monday expanded a trial program on subsidizing denitrified power plants to the entire country to further cut nitric oxide emissions and protect the environment. The program, previously available in 14 provinces, grants a subsidy of 0.008 yuan ($0.00127) per kilowatt-hour for electricity generated by verified coal-fired power generation units with denitration facilities.

Central, East China to face cold snap

A strong cold snap will hit central and eastern parts of China early this week, bringing snow or rain and a drop in temperatures of up to 8 degrees, the National Meteorological Center said on Monday. In the coming two days, snow and rain are expected to hit the Tibet autonomous region, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Hebei provinces, while strong winds caused by the cold front will bring a dust storm to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Gansu province.

New Confucius branches on way

Confucius Institute Headquarters will have branches in nearly 500 large cities across the world by 2020 to promote the Chinese language and culture, Xu Lin, the agency's head, said on Monday. There are now more than 400 Confucius Institutes in more than 100 countries and regions, Xu said, adding that the number will reach 500 and the number of Confucius Classrooms will reach 1,000 by 2015, with 1.5 million registered students.

Shandong

Collision kills 7 and injures 11

Seven people died and 11 others were injured when a bus and truck collided in Shandong province on Sunday afternoon, government sources said. The accident occurred at around 3 pm on a section of National Expressway 204 near Yantai, when a bus carrying 20 passengers collided with a truck, sources with the Yantai government said. None of the passengers hurt in the collision suffered life-threatening injuries.

Shaanxi

Record claim for bronze armor

Archaeologists in Shaanxi province said on Sunday that one piece of thigh armor and two pieces of upper-body armor dating back 3,000 years may be the oldest pieces of bronze armor unearthed in China. The announcement was made after experts studied the artifacts retrieved from the tomb of a nobleman from the Western Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century - 771 BC) on Shigushan Mountain in Baoji.

Chongqing

New district Party chief appointed

The municipal committee of the Communist Party of China in Chongqing municipality appointed Long Hua as the Party chief of the municipality's Beibei district on Monday, three months after the district's former Party chief was sacked following a sex tape scandal. According to Chongqing police, the scandal came about because a criminal ring hired women to seduce officials and then secretly filmed intimate footage for extortion. The criminal ring was busted in January.

Yunnan

School resumes after earthquake

Fifty-three schools in Eryuan county, Yunnan province, had resumed classes by Monday after they were suspended due to an earthquake on March 3, according to the local education authority. The suspension affected 5,246 students who have returned to school. Teachers and government officials worked together to build tents and mobile houses after the earthquake to accommodate the students.

Guangdong

Stricter rules on electric bikes

Three cities in Guangdong province, Zhongshan, Huizhou and Zhanjiang, have been selected as pilot areas where stricter rules on electric bikes will be introduced in the coming months, according to Guangzhou Daily. Under the rules, all electric bikes will have to be granted licenses before they are allowed on roads. Those continuing to sell substandard bikes and mopeds after March 30 will be fined up to 15,000 yuan ($2,390), traffic police from Zhongshan said on Monday.

Xinhua - China Daily