Dong Yongquan has been under intense pressure ever since the Beijing Olympic Games ended in 2008. As the president of Qingdao International Yacht Club, he is running the 15.5-hectare harbor built for Olympic yachting events – and is supposed to turn a profit.
“The harbor is eating up 50,000 yuan (about $7,350) every day in maintenance costs and if I don’t attract enough members, I can lose millions every year,” Dong said.
Only about 300 yachts – powerboats and sailboats – are a …
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About five hundred sailors from 14 countries and regions will compete in three events of the Qingdao International Sailing Week from August 21 to 29.
A forum will be also held alongside three international sailing events, namely the Qingdao-Rizhao Sailing Rally, the Qingdao International Sailing Regatta and the 2010 International Optimist Sailing Regatta.
Attracting 20 teams from seven countries and regions, the Qingdao-Rizhao Sailing Rally will start from Rizhao, a coastal city of east Ch …
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Chinese Local News
Torrential rains will hit China’s northeastern, central and southwestern regions in the next 24 hours, China’s National Meteorological Center (NMC) warned Saturday.
Heavy rains are expected to affect southern and eastern Sichuan Province, western regions of Yunnan, Hubei, Guizhou and Hunan provinces, southern areas of Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, northern areas of Henan, Hebei and Shandong provinces, and southeastern parts of Liaoning and Jilin provinces.
Rains will also strike southern r …
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Chinese Local News
The country recorded more than 26,000 geological disasters in the first seven months of this year, nearly 10 times the number in the same period last year, Minister of Land and Resources Xu Shaoshi said on Friday.
The disasters, ranging from landslides to ground subsidence, left 843 people dead or missing and led to direct economic losses of more than 3.34 billion yuan ($491 million), Xu said in an interview excerpt posted on the ministry’s website.
Xu attributed the disasters to frequent …
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More than 10,000 people have been evacuated as of 9 a.m. Saturday after the swollen Yalu River flooded parts of Dandong City in northeast China’s Liaoning Province, according to local flood control department.
No casualties have been reported yet. Transport, communication and power supply in some areas are cut off due to the flood, said an official with Dandong’s flood control headquarters.
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Members of the Chinese expedition team attend the national flag-raising ceremony held on China’s “Xue Long”, or “Snow Dragon” icebreaker, at 88 degrees and 22 minutes north latitude Aug. 20, 2010. The Chinese fourth expedition team arrived at 88 degrees and 22 minutes north latitude on Friday, which is the highest latitude ever reached by Chinese ships. (Xinhua/Zhang Jiansong)
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Chinese police have arrested six suspects and detained 41 others who allegedly participated in distributing melamine-contaminated milk after a national crackdown in 2008, food safety authorities said Friday.
The latest melamine-tainted milk powder was first discovered in northwest China’s Gansu Province, and police traced the source to the Dongyuan Dairy Factory in Minhe County of neighboring Qinghai Province.
The factory’s chief, Liu Zhanfeng, deputy chief Liu Xiping, and workshop directo …
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Rescuers are racing to search for 80 people still missing three days after rain-triggered mudslides hit a remote mountain town in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, killing at least 12.
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&$Rescuers find a victim’s body which is covered by hardboard in mudslide-hit Puladi Township of Gongshan Drung-Nu Autonomous County, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Aug. 20, 2010. The rain-triggered mudslides in Puladi killed 12 …
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Though relentless downpours have caused continuous miseries for the country, it has brought smiles to the faces of the workers in a giant panda research center in northwest China, as the three giant pandas in the facility withstood being tested by the recent torrential rains.
“They appeared calm and clever in the face of the heavy rains. They climbed up hills and trees or hid themselves under the trees to avoid the rains.” said Pu Zhiyong, a panda keeper from the Qinling Giant Panda Research …
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Zhang Liancheng, a 63-year-old farmer in northeast China’s Jilin Province, never dreamed he could one day free himself from toiling in the fields.
Just three years ago, Zhang, like many other farmers in China, spent most of his time in the fields, sowing, plowing and reaping. However, a whole year’s hard work only brought him 20,000 yuan (2,946 U.S. dollars) in return.
Zhang’s life completely changed in May 2008 when he joined a local farmer cooperative. “I became a shareholder of the coop …
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