Society

Around China: Mayor forced to resign

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-30 07:04

1 BEIJING

Economic reforms in pipeline

The State Council on Thursday approved guidelines tailored to promote the country's economic reforms in 2010, in a bid to build more flexible systems to keep pace with the fast economic growth in the nation.

The country will continue to encourage the non-public sectors of the economy, reducing institutional obstacles for private investment and improving supportive policies for the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises, according to the guidelines adopted at an executive meeting of the State Council, presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.

The government will deepen reforms of the State-owned companies and monopolistic industries, with focuses on the power generation, railway and postal service sectors.

More effort will be made to improve income distribution and the social security systems, as well as to enhance the construction of pension, medical treatment and educational mechanisms in both urban and rural areas, according to the guidelines.

CNR adopts new look

One of the country's most important and influential media unveiled its new visual identity on Wednesday.

Wang Qiu, president of the China National Radio (CNR), the only national radio station with an estimated audience of more than 700 million listeners, attended an inauguration ceremony to launch the station's new logo, which appears as an acronym of CNR's English name presented in striking Chinese red, with its full title in Chinese characters. A section of music was also introduced as CNR's musical identity.

At the ceremony, Wang said the new logo signals CNR's ambition to transform itself from a radio station into a top international broadcasting system.

After a series of reforms in recent years, CNR's programming and production processes have increasingly become more specified, targeted and personalized, according to CNR executives.

Climate change tops agenda

China and the European Union have established a mechanism of dialogue and cooperation on climate change, China's top economic planner announced on Thursday.

The establishment of the mechanism was announced at ministerial-level talks on climate change between China and the EU in Beijing, said the National Development and Reform Commission.

High-tech energy in focus

The China Hi-Tech Fair 2010, which is scheduled to open on Nov 16, will focus on "new energy, saving energy and environmental protection", its organizer said on Thursday.

"The fair has become the largest and most influential exhibition on science and technology in China," Xu Qin, vice-director of the fair's organizing committee, said in Beijing.

"It is an important window for the country's high-tech industry to show its best to the world and also an important platform for the high-tech trade," he said, adding that the six-day fair has already attracted more than 300 enterprises on its registration list.

2 TIANJIN

Ex-official on trial for corruption

A former senior legislator in Northeast China's Jilin province went on trial on Thursday for receiving bribes in Tianjin municipality.

Mi Fengjun, former vice-chairman of the Jilin provincial people's congress standing committee, was accused of receiving bribes worth 6.82 million yuan ($1 million) from 16 people who sought benefits from Mi using his power and influence on their behalf.

Mi was removed from his post and expelled from the Party in February 2009 over his alleged misconduct.

3 CHONGQING

Taking stock in fight against mafia

A total of 52,835 people have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in mafia-style crimes since early 2006 when the country launched a nationwide campaign against organized crime, a leading Chinese prosecutor said.

Of the total, 51,639 have been prosecuted, said Yang Zhenjiang, a member of the prosecuting committee of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, while he addressed a two-day symposium on mafia-style crimes and legal control in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality.

Since the crackdown began, more than 256 former officials have been placed under investigation for assisting and protecting gang members.

4 ANHUI

Classes suspended for 2 days

More than 10,000 students from six primary and middle schools in a county town of East China's Anhui province received two days of leave on Monday and Tuesday to make way for a conference held by the local government, Xin'an Evening News reported on Thursday.

An official with Shucheng county's education bureau confirmed that his office rescheduled classes for local schools to facilitate the meeting in the county town.

"The meeting was so important for the county that we suspended classes in downtown Shucheng to prevent traffic congestion, which often occurs on nearby roads outside the schools, to guarantee the meeting and ensure its success, which was important for the county authorities," said Yu Jing, the county's deputy mayor.

5 QINGHAI

Hu's message to be memorialized

Chinese experts are working to permanently preserve a chalk message written by President Hu Jintao this month at a school for survivors of the deadly quake in the remote Tibetan county of Yushu.

The blackboard, on which Hu wrote 12 Chinese characters during his visit to the Yushu School for Orphans after an earthquake there killed more than 2,000 people, has been removed and sent to the provincial museum, local media reported on Thursday.

"There will be new schools! There will be new homes!" the characters read. Hu led children who survived the quake in reading them aloud together in Mandarin.

One of China's leading historical relic preservation experts, Professor Li Yuhu, of Shaanxi Normal University, arrived in Qinghai to work on preserving the board.

6 HENAN

Trio die in village blast

At least three were confirmed dead after a farmer's house exploded late on Wednesday afternoon in Central China's Henan province, the local government said on Thursday.

The blast occurred at around 6:30 pm on Wednesday at a villager's home in Tiemen Township of Xin'an County. At least three people were immediately killed in the blast. No injuries have been reported.

According to a preliminary investigation by local police, the blast was caused by the illegal storage of explosives.

The police are continuing their investigation into the case.

7 LIAONING

Mayor forced to resign

A mayor of a Northeast China city has resigned after the country's netizens blasted him for failing to meet 1,000 petitioners, local authorities said on Thursday.

The people's congress in Zhuanghe city, Liaoning province, said it approved the resignation of mayor Sun Ming on Wednesday.

The city's Party committee in Dalian, which administrates Zhuanghe, had earlier ordered the resignation.

On April 13 a group of 1,000 villagers from Haiyang community petitioned the city government of Zhuanghe and asked to meet the mayor to request land compensation funds and an investigation into alleged corruption by the community's officials.

Many even knelt in front of the government office building for 30 minutes. However, Sun refused to meet with them.

The mass petition was widely reported on the Internet and many netizens criticized the mayor for failing to respond to the public.

(China Daily 04/30/2010 page6)