In brief

 Soil erosion has caused crop production in Heilongjiang province to drop over the past decade from 4.5m tonnes to 2.5m tonnes, said a Ministry of Water Resources report.
Zhejiang province has adopted a new regulation allowing private individuals to build and run fishing ports, Shanghai Daily said.
 New rules to stem capital flight have been introduced by the People’s Bank. Tighter registration systems will be brought in to identify and monitor customers of banks and other financial institutions, and crack down on the practice of holding accounts under false names.
 At least five people were killed and several injured in a suspected bomb attack in mid January in Yulin, Shaanxi province. Local media said a chemical fertiliser bomb blew a massive hole in the front wall of the Jingbian Hotel in Jingbian county.
 China plans to launch its first manned space flight this year, according to Shanghai aerospace centre director Yuan Jie.
 A business dispute threatens to undermine the Guangzhou government’s Yn4bn convention centre, said South China Morning Post. The dispute relates to a reluctance by China
Export Commodities Fair to move from its city centre home, which is owned and operated by Moftec, to the new facility situated in Guangzhou’s southeastern outskirts.
 A State Council think-tank has forecast that foreign direct investment into China would reach US$100bn in every year of the 11th five-year plan, 2006-10.
The property markets in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are in supply and demand equilibrium, according to property consultancy DTZ Debenham Tie Lung. This should prevent a new property bubble forming, said executive director Alexandra Lam.