A fire in February in the Tiantan Hotel restaurant in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, killed 33 people, South China Morning Post said. Most of those killed and injured were customers celebrating the Chinese New Year, and the major cause of death was smoke inhalation. An investigation found that the fire started when a member of staff […]
Category: Politics & Society
One of Beijing's deputy mayors, Meng Xuenong, has been appointed mayor, replacing Liu Qi, who will stay on as Beijing's Communist Party secretary. Meng was reported by South China Morning Post as being an ally of the new head of the party, Hu Jintao, who is due to replace Jiang Zemin as state president in […]
Categories
Ministerial shake-up planned
Wen Jiabao, who is poised to take over the premiership when Zhu Rongji stands down in March, has been considering mergers among government ministries responsible for industry and the creation of new regulatory commissions with broad powers for several strategic sectors of the economy, South China Morning Post said. The plans are still being debated […]
Political reform that aims to limit the power of the Communist Party while introducing a system of checks and balances will be introduced to Shenzhen, the Financial Times said. The new system is the brainchild of Zeng Qinghong, dean of the party's political school and a close confidant of Jiang Zemin who stepped down as […]
The Taiwan authorities have agreed to allow chartered flights to operate to and from the mainland to help carry the many Taiwanese wanting to return home during busy periods such as the Chinese New Year. The carriers will have to stop over in Macau or Hong Kong and the move still requires the approval of […]