A former senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Liaoning Province was sentenced to 13 years in prison after his appeal against a corruption verdict was dismissed by a local court.

Qin Lianhui, former deputy Party secretary of the Fushun CPC committee, was convicted of taking more than 400,000 yuan ($51,414) worth of bribes from a hotel manager surnamed Wang to help acquire land to build a new hotel, the Yingkou Intermediate People's Court heard.

Jade capital

The Xiuyan Manchu Autonomous County, Liaoning Province, was named "Jade captial" in recognition of the size, color, brightness and hardness of its jade last month.

According to China Mining Association, Xiuyan Jade is the ideal industrial material for jade carving. Xiuyan Jade accounts for 70 percent of the nation's total jade output. The county has more than 3,000 enterprises engaged in jade carving, employing more than 50,000 people. The county government has built a jade culture research center, a world jade carving theme park and many other projects.

(China Daily 02/06/2007 page4)