Beijing

Xi congratulates Ma on re-election

Xi Jinping, top leader of the Communist Party of China, sent a congratulatory message to Ma Ying-jeou, who was re-elected chairman of the Kuomintang on Saturday, sources from the CPC Central Committee said. Xi, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said in the telegraph that he hopes the two parties can deepen mutual trust and introduce positive interaction with broader vision when cross-Straits relations are facing important opportunities.

Shanghai

Half of couples delay conceiving

Half of young couples in Shanghai choose to go DINK (Double Income No Kids) during the first year of their marriage, according to research conducted by PLA Navy General Hospital. Young couples prefer to go "childless" mainly because they want more time of their own and believe raising a child requires a more solid economic base.

Liquor-saturated seafood banned

Restaurants in Shanghai are forbidden by the city's food safety office to make and sell liquor-saturated seafood, local Jiefang Daily reported on Saturday. According to Gu Zhenghua, vice-director of the office, restaurants used to saturate seafood with Chinese white wine for a very short period to give it a better taste, but it could be harmful to people's health.

Hunan

Changsha to have tallest building

Changsha is planning to build the world's tallest building, the Xiaoxiang Morning Post reported on Saturday. The 838-meter-high skyscraper, 10 meters taller than the current tallest building in the world in Dubai, has been dubbed the "city in the air" and will cost about 5.25 billion yuan ($855 million) to build. Construction is scheduled to be completed in April, and the building could be open for use by May, according to investor Broad Group.

Sichuan

Rainstorms force 18,000 to evacuate

More than 18,000 people have been evacuated in Qu-xian county since rainstorms began lashing the mountainous county on Friday. Floods raised the water level of the Quxian section of the Qujiang River to 18 meters on Sunday morning, inundating half the low-lying area in its old county town. Many residential buildings near the Qujiang River were flooded to the second floor.

Heilongjiang

Drill targets illegal border crossers

Border police in Fuyuan county held a joint drill with their counterparts in neighboring Khabarovsk, Russia, over the weekend to crack down on vessels illegally crossing the border. The drill is part of a joint operation between the Border Control Bureau under the Ministry of Public Security of China and its Russian counterpart. The two sides agreed to cooperate in law enforcement to deter smuggling, illegal immigration and other cross-border crimes.

Shaanxi

Falling rock kills 1, injures 18 tourists

Falling rock killed one tourist and injured 18 others on Sunday morning in Shaanxi province, local authorities said. Two of the victims are in critical condition. The landslide occurred at Jinsixia Gorge, a local tourist site. Falling stones crushed a rim skywalk and fell on the heads of several people, said Liu Fengxin, deputy manager of the Jinsixia management committee. The gorge has been closed temporarily.

Guangxi

New rules to protect beach

The Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has published a regulation to protect a 24-kilometer-long beach in Beihai. According to the regulation, which will take effect on Oct 1, those who damage the beach - for example by building permanent structures, destroying the sandbank or the seaside landscape - will be fined up to 500,000 yuan ($81,500). Beihai beach has been a national level tourist resort since 1992, and it attracts millions of tourists.

Henan

Helicopter store opens for business

Kaifeng opened its first private aircraft store on Friday. The store sells helicopters suitable for aerial photography, mapping and farming tasks, such as crop-dusting, Dahe Daily reported on Saturday. Prices range from 2 million yuan ($326,900) to 20 million yuan, and three aircraft were sold on the first day of business.

Xinhua-China Daily

(China Daily USA 07/22/2013 page3)