Traveling proves tough during a downpour in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, on June 24, as East China is swept by heavy rain. Lang Congliu / for China Daily

Environment

Yangtze Delta region braces for heavy rains

Heavy rain that has affected the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River since June 24 is expected to last for about a week.

The National Meteorological Center warned on June 25 that severe rain will affect 12 regions, including the south of Anhui province, the southeast of Jiangsu province and other areas bordering the Yangtze, with rainfall of 100 to 150 millimeters expected on June 25 and June 26.

More regions will be affected later in the week.

From late afternoon on June 24, the rain had caused damage in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, especially affecting residents in the north of the city, where many streets were flooded.

Yu Chao, spokesman for the Hangzhou flood prevention and drought relief headquarters, said it was the most severe rainfall Hangzhou had seen in recent years.

Finance

Currency swap to broaden yuan's use

China and Britain agreed on June 23 on a 200 billion-yuan ($32.59 billion; 24.8 billion euros) line of currency swap that is expected to further broaden the Chinese yuan's use in global trade and investment. The swap would also give an edge to London in its plan to become an offshore center of yuan trading, in face of competition from global financial centers including New York, Paris and Frankfurt.

The People's Bank of China said in a statement that the agreement will take effect in three years and is aimed at "supporting economic and financial exchanges" and protecting "financial stability". It will also "provide liquidity to yuan trading in London and facilitate the yuan's offshore use".

Since 2008, China has signed currency swaps with 22 countries worldwide, totaling about 1.7 trillion yuan.

Liquidity squeeze bleeds equities

China's central bank has hinted it won't shore up liquidity to address the credit crunch, a move analysts said reflects top policymakers' increasing tolerance for slower growth. The bank said on June 24 in a circular that the liquidity level of the financial system was "reasonable" and urged lenders to strengthen their control of credit expansion.

The announcement took a heavy toll on the stock market. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index plummeted 5.3 percent on June 24 to close at 1963.23, its biggest daily loss in nearly four years.

Bank shares led the losses, with investors concerned over the cash squeeze that has seen banks put the brakes on new lending, which has in turn been a drag on the economy.

Top auditor has 'problematic funds'

China's top audit office on June 24 revealed that it had about 24 million yuan ($3.89 million; 2.97 million euros) of "problematic funds" while implementing the 2012 budget.

The National Audit Office published a review of 57 departments under the central government, including itself. The NAO found that it has about 4.47 million yuan of funds that have violated budget regulations, and has another 19.57 million yuan of problematic funds in other financial revenues and expenditures.

Expenditure of another 3.61 million yuan for computer maintenance and equipment updating was not included in the budget, according to the NAO report. The office also said that it prepaid 643,100 yuan in 2012 for software products that it did not receive until March 2013.

Society

Zoos urged to halt imports of elephants

Wildlife experts have called for Chinese zoos to stop importing elephants from Africa, saying they cannot meet the animals' physical or psychological needs.

In January, four young elephants were imported from Zimbabwe - two for Xinjiang Safari Park in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and two for Taiyuan Zoo in Shanxi province. However, one at Taiyuan Zoo died soon afterwards.

Joyce Poole, an elephant behavior study expert with Elephant Voice, an NGO in the United States, said confining wild elephants to cages should be stopped. Elephants are complex animals that like to live with their family and in herds, she said. They have the habit of walking long distances each day to hunt for food.

Drug-related crimes on the rise in Xinjiang

The number of drug-related cases dealt with by courts in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has increased significantly since 2010, a spokesman for the region's high court said on June 20.

"The number of drug-related cases we handled between January and May increased by 18 percent compared with the same period last year," Yu Huitang, a spokesman for Xinjiang High People's Court, said during a briefing in Urumqi.

The incidence of drug crimes in Xinjiang remains high because of its special geographic environment, Yu said. Xinjiang borders the Golden Crescent, one of the two principal areas in Asia for illicit opium production, which overlaps Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.

Culture

Curtain rises on performance market

China's performance market grew tremendously in 2012, with several fields reaching historical heights, according to the 2013 Report on the Performance Market by the Ministry of Culture. It grew to 60.3 billion yuan, an increase of 60 percent from 2011. There were 2.01 million performances in China last year.

There were 13,000 registered performing groups, 3,059 agencies and 1,966 venues. The number of private performing groups reached 10,000, a year-on-year increase of 25 percent.

The Ministry of Culture expects China's performance market to maintain robust growth. "After 30 years of development, China is facing a transition of its economic structure, and cultural consumption will play a more important role," said Zhao Haisheng, deputy director of the Bureau for External Cultural Relations with the Ministry of Culture.

Reduced red tape the ticket for artists

Overseas artists will soon find it easier to strut their stuff on stage in China. Starting on July 1, applications to perform on the mainland will no longer need approval from the Ministry of Culture. Instead, they will be sent directly to provincial cultural departments, dramatically cutting approval time.

"Now that the procedure is simplified, the time for the promotion and sale of performances will increase. It's good news for the industry," said Zhang Ligang, general manager of Beizhan Performance Culture Co, which presented the Irish dance show Riverdance in China, and is planning a tour of the show in 40 Chinese cities next year.

Orchards stimulate Beijing's economy

Beijing orchard farmers are boosting the city's economy and job market by finding valuable uses for land under their trees, authorities say. More than 23,526 hectares, which had been left empty, are now being used to grow mushrooms, flowers, traditional Chinese medicine ingredients and for keeping poultry, according to the Beijing Landscape and Forestry Bureau.

Authorities say that by the end of last year "the industry under the green", as it is known in Chinese, was worth 1.9 billion yuan and provided more than 300,000 jobs.

"The industry under the green has achieved great progress in the past few years," Hu Jun, deputy director of the bureau's desertification control office, said at an agricultural exhibition in Beijing, which attracted 57 companies from the capital's 12 districts and counties.

China Daly

(China Daily European Weekly 06/28/2013 page3)