Articles from About china, olympic games,beijing,and tourism

HSBC approved to be 1st foreign lender to set up village bank in China
2007-08-12 05:28:09
BEIJING, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) — HSBC has got the nod from China’s banking regulator to set up a village bank in the central province of Hubei, becoming the first foreign bank to expand its business in the country’s vast rural areas, HSBC announced on Thursday.   The village bank will be opened in Zengdu District with a population of 2 million in Suizhou of Hubei Province at the end of 2007 and is expected to employ 25 people. (Xinhua File Photo) Photo Gallery>>> ”The new bank will provide financial service tailored to rural communities and local enterprises,” said Vincent Cheng, chairman of the HSBC Bank (China) Company Ltd. Chinese farmers and rural enterprises currently have few places to get funds for their businesses. Official figures show Chinese farmers rarely obtain loans of more than 5,000 yuan. On Monday, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) vowed to help more banking institutions to extend serv ...

Bush says Musharraf able to beat terrorists
2007-08-12 05:27:33
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) — U.S. President George W. Bush said Thursday he is confident in the ability of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to crack down on militants at the Afghan border and cooperate with the United States. President Bush gestures during a news conference, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2007, in the White House Press Room at the White House in Washington.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>> ”We spend a lot of time with the leadership in Pakistan talking about what we will do with actionable intelligence,” Bush said of U.S.-Pakistan cooperation in anti-terror war at a press conference. ”Am I confident they (terrorists) will be brought to justice? My answer is, ‘Yes I am.’” Bush declined to talk about whether the American troops would go into Pakistan without permission from leaders there. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice talked by telephone to Pakistani President Pervez Musharr ...

Five Die, Five Missing After More Torrential Rains
2007-08-12 05:26:33
Five people have been confirmed dead and another five are still missing after torrential rains hit northwest China’s Shaanxi Province on Thursday, a spokesman with the provincial flood control authority said. The downpours started at 8:00 AM on Wednesday. They have affected more than 308,000 people in 37 townships. Precipitation in 13 counties has exceeded 100 millimeters, the spokesman said. In Shaanxi province 18 rivers have flooded, inundating more than 3,100 houses and damaging 3,600 houses, he stated. More than 9,500 hectares of farmland have been flooded, totaling an estimated 64 million yuan (US$8.4 million) in economic losses. On Thursday morning intense downpours forced 37,000 people to flee from their homes in Yunxi, central China’s Hubei Province, sources with the local flood control headquarters said. Torrential rains lashed Yunxi County, located in northwestern Hubei, from 3:00 AM to 8:00 AM on Thursday. Precipitation reached 184.3 millimeters in certain areas, ...

‘Harry Potter’ Arrives at Midnight Friday
2007-08-12 05:25:10
Daniel Radcliffe, the Harry Potter star will not come to China to promote the fifth movie in the boy wizard franchise, which will roll to Chinese theaters at 12 o’clock midnight, Friday. [Photo: sina.com] “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”, the fifth in the boy wizard franchise, will roll to Chinese theaters at 12 o’clock midnight, Friday. Theatres in the capital city have prepared a series of activities to celebrate the occasion, including a magical show, and a Harry Potter characters imitation show, the Star Daily reports on Friday. Previous reports have suggested that a premiere ceremony of the movie had been canceled, which means that the movie stars, including the wizard actor Daniel Radcliffe will not come to China to promote the film. However, the cancellation didn’t affect Chinese fans’ love of the young wizard. Up to now, 80 percent of the tickets in various theatres in Beijing have been booked by the hard-core Harry Potter fans, a ...

Halo 3 Beta Impressions
2007-08-10 20:10:21
Halo 3 Beta Impressions Today was the launch of the Halo 3 beta for everyone who was lucky enough to get into it. After about a full day of gaming we wanted to give you our thoughts on the game and give you a video of some of the gameplay if you were unable to get into the beta. You should have received an e-mail from Bungie giving you your download code. I downloaded the beta first thing this morning. It really did not take long at all. After you download is complete you can go ahead and go into your game demos and you will see the beta. Read on to see our thoughts on the beta and see our gameplay video! When the beta loads a huge Bungie logo comes on the screen and the Halo music starts to play. From there you are brought to the main menu. This is only a multiplayer beta so that is all you can play. So you go right into match making. The match making screen looks a lot like Halo 2, you have the map information and such on the left side and all the players on the right. Playing ...

Halo 3
2007-08-10 20:00:49
The epic saga continues with Halo 3, the hugely anticipated third chapter in the highly successful and critically acclaimed Halo franchise. Master Chief returns to finish the fight, bringing the epic conflict between the Covenant, the Flood, and the entire human race to a dramatic, pulse-pounding climax.Taking full advantage of the power of Xbox 360, Halo 3 expands on everything that has made the Halo franchise great, adding a wealth of graphical, technical and gameplay advancements, as well as offering a whole new level of online gameplay. ...

Halo 3 Beta Details
2007-08-10 19:56:10
Microsoft has since clarified that the Halo 3 multiplayer beta will be more open than originally believed. The quest to enter the Halo 3 public beta begins next Monday. The previously announced Halo 3 Beta will, in fact, be available to every eager Xbox 360 gamer when it launches in spring 2007. In a press release teasing the December 4 Halo 3 trailer, Microsoft revealed that gamers will “register for the opportunity to be one of the select members” of the public beta. There will be other ways to enter the beta, which will be revealed soon. In essence, if you want to play the Halo 3 beta (and who doesn’t), you will have multiple opportunities. On December 4, the millions of hopefuls in North America and Europe can go to halo3.com to sign up for the beta. You thought the Internet hit a crawl as consumers tried frantically to purchase a PS3? This could be worse. If you don’t get it, again, don’t fret. There will be other ways to get in on the beta ...

Car replacements: the new rage
2007-08-09 10:43:35
Chinese vehicle markets have shifted permanently in favor of replacements, according to the Union of National Passenger Car Market Information.Rao Da, secretary-general of the association, predicted there would be at least 8.5 million vehicles sold in 2007, one-fifth of which will be consumers’ second car. Figures show the number of passenger cars in China increased to 35 million units in 2006 from 12 million in 1997. The new vehicles sold in Beijing totaled 392,000 in 2006, and the number of second-hand vehicles sold was 320,000 units, up 57 percent from 2005, said Su Hui, general manager of Beijing Asian Game Village Automobile Exchange, adding the transaction volume of second-hand vehicles is expected to reach 500,000 units this year. ...

Passenger vehicle sales rise 24% in 1st 7 months
2007-08-09 10:42:55
China’s passenger vehicle sales rose to 3.54 million in the first seven months this year, up 23.7 percent from the same period last year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Sales of sedans jumped 26.6 percent to 2.64 million, sports-utility vehicles soared 46.4 percent to 187,600, while multi-purpose vehicles went up 17.8 percent to 124,400. Passenger vehicle sales in July, however, declined by 10.45 percent from the previous month. Changan Auto, one of China’s auto manufacturers, saw the largest sales decline of 49.3 percent in July, followed by SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile, down 15.8 percent, according to the China’s Passenger Car Association. Yang Dayong, deputy director of the Changan auto marketing department, explained, “July is an off-season for car sales. People just don’t want to get out to buy cars in hot weather. Also minivans, largely used for carrying farm tools or agricultural products, are not demand because July is ...

Bank workers sentenced to death for record heist
2007-08-09 10:39:52
SHIJIAZHUANG — Two bank workers were sentenced to death on Thursday for China’s largest ever bank theft, involving 50.95 million yuan, in northern Hebei Province. Ren Xiaofeng, 34, and Ma Xiangjing, 37, who worked as vault managers at the Handan branch of the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), were convicted of theft and were given death penalties at the Handan Intermediate People’s Court after first-instance hearings. Ren Xiaofeng, 34, who is suspected of stealing nearly 51 million yuan (US$6.5 million) from the Handan branch of the Agricultural Bank of China in Hebei Province last Saturday has been seized by policemen in Lianyungang, east China’s Jiangsu province April 19, 2007. Ren’s complice 37-year-old Ma Xiangjing was arrested in Beijing Wednesday. Police has recovered 3.4 million yuan.[Xinhua] Zhao Xuenan and Zhang Qiang, who joined Ren in embezzling 200,000 yuan in October last year, were sentenced to five years and two years in prison with a ...

China stock market capitalization tops GDP
2007-08-09 10:35:25
An investor monitors stock price movement at a brokerage in Changchun, Northeast China’s Jilin Province August 9, 2007. [newsphoto] China’s stock market capitalization topped the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first time on Thursday as a key stock index hit a fresh record high for a fifth straight session. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.95 percent to close at 4,754.09 points, while the Shenzhen Composite Index went up 1.51 percent to 1,348.87. That made the overall value of the two bourses surpass the 21.087 trillion yuan in GDP in 2006, according to data from China Securities Journal. Blue chip stocks were the main market drivers. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China increased 2.67 percent to close at 6.54 yuan per share, while China Merchants Bank gained 5.49 percent to 36.10 yuan. Ping An Insurance of China moved closer to the 100-yuan mark after a 7.41 percent growth, closing at 94.45 yuan. Its rival China Life fol ...

Foreign Tourists to China Up 18.47% in 1st Half Year
2007-08-09 07:44:50
Nearly 12.12 million foreigners came to the Chinese mainland for sightseeing from January to June, up 18.47 percent year-on-year, according to the latest figures from the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA). The growth rate more than tripled the 6.1-percent increase for all inbound tourists to the Chinese mainland, who added up to 63.37 million in the first half of the year. It also overtook the 4.22-percent rise for tourists from Hong Kong, 0.56-percent rise for tourists from Macao and 8.84-percent rise for tourists from Taiwan. CNTA figures revealed that foreign tourists came mainly from 16 countries, with tourists from the Republic of Korea registering the rapid growth of 30.62 percent, followed by India 16.48 percent, and Russia, 15.73 percent. Philippines, Canada, France, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Germany, Malaysia, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States registered a growth of over ten percent in the number of tourists to China. Tourism generated nearly U ...

How to score Olympic tickets
2007-08-09 07:43:47
Now is the time to act if you want to be one of the lucky ones to witness the opening of the Olympics at China National Stadium on the evening of August 8, 2008. The first phase of ticket reservation for the Beijing Olympics started on April 15. More than 7 million tickets were opened for sale to the public, 75 percent of which will be sold in China, and 25 percent overseas. It was reported that on that first day, more than 50,000 people submitted ordering forms successfully on the official website www.tickets.beijing2008.cn, placing orders for 250,000 tickets. The website received 18 million person/time visits in two days. Luckily, everybody is likely to have the same chance to the most popular tickets if applying before the first phase ends on June 30, 2007. A computer-operated draw will determine who gets tickets for oversubscribed events. So you still have two months’ time to get a chance to enter the draw. And who knows, maybe you can get your tickets directly if the ones y ...

Beijing Launches Non-Emergency Hotline
2007-08-09 07:42:46
Beijing opened a hotline on Tuesday to receive non-emergency calls relating to all aspects of public services. Citizens can dial the simple number 12345, to report problems and complaints about traffic, electricity, heating and so on. The hotline has been set up in conjunction with various government departments so the reported problems and complaints can be quickly directed to the relevant department. It also enables callers to search for different government department phone numbers, or be directly put through to them. Beijing Mayor, Wang Qishan, said at the launch ceremony that he hoped the hotline would develop to become a useful tool for citizens to solve problems in their everyday lives. Currently the service is available in Chinese and English, but will add more languages as it develops into a city-wide network for solving non-emergency issues. It is expected to play an important role next year when the city holds the 2008 Olympic Games. Currently, 100 staff members are on-call ...

Chinese top legislator joins national one-year countdown to Olympics
2007-08-09 07:32:43
Chinese top legislator joins national one-year countdown to Olympics– Wu Bangguo (C), chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC), and International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge (front R), attend the celebration of the one-year countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on the Tian’anmen Square, Beijing, China, Aug. 8, 2007. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>> Wu Bangguo (C), chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC), and International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge (R), attend the celebration of the one-year countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on the Tian’anmen Square, Beijing, China, Aug. 8, 2007. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>> BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) — China’s top legislator and other senior officials joined in the sea of joy at Tian’anmen Square here Wednesday evening when the country started its one-yea ...

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