Jonathan King says that Beijing is often seen as the cultural city with Shanghai touted as more of a commercial entity.

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By Liu Weifeng (China Daily)

Beijing authorities are planning to increase the number of emergency shelters downtown to 100, to ready the city for natural disasters such as earthquakes.

The plan, unveiled by the Beijing urban planning administration, said more than 100 shelters will be built over the next few years, meaning people living and working in the downtown area will never be more than a 20-minute walk from the nearest one, the Beijing News reported yesterday.

Beijing opened a new subway line yesterday in a bid to boost public transport and ease road congestion ahead of the Olympics.

Beijing's No 5 subway line, which runs through the heart of the city from north to south, opened at 2:00pm yesterday, when the week-long National Day holiday ended.

The 27.6-km line, after nearly five years' construction, is installed with 23 stations and runs from Tiantongyuan North Station in northern Beijing's Changping district to Songjiazhuang Station in southern Fengtai district.

BEIJING, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Chinese paramilitary police swept through a busy bar district in Beijing, detaining about 20 African nationals suspected of selling drugs, witnesses said.

The raid at midnight on Friday in fashionable Sanlitun, also home to many embassies, came as police tighten security ahead of a Communist Party meeting in mid-October and next year's Olympic Games.

"The paramilitary police sealed off the street at both ends, then moved in," said a witness surnamed Wang.

Starting October 1 there will be a smoking ban in Beijing’s 66,000 taxis to help create a “non-smoking” Olympic Games in 2008. The municipal government has also drafted a set of regulations banning smoking at Olympic venues, athletes’ accommodations and in vehicles designated to serve the Games. Sales of cigarettes will also be banned in all venues, and training and accommodation areas.

 BEIJING - Despite a persistent gray haze, officials said Tuesday an exercise that removed more than 1 million private vehicles a day from Beijing's gridlocked streets was a success that could mean a clearer sky during next summer's Olympics.

By Reuters
Monday August 13, 12:07 PM
BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing city authorities will reward citizens who report food safety concerns to officials, state media said on Monday, a day after a TV reporter was jailed for cooking up a report about dumplings made with cardboard.

China has been shaken by a wave of safety scares over products ranging from toys to toothpaste and food laced with toxins, bacteria and dangerous additives, and has fought back through news briefings, new rules and promises of more spending.

BEIJING (AFP) - A Beijing television journalist has been jailed for one year for fabricating a report about cardboard-stuffed buns that embarrassed China during a barrage of food scandals, state media said Monday.

Zi Beijia, a temporary employee at Beijing TV, was also fined 1,000 yuan (130 dollars) after a court on Sunday found him guilty of "infringing the reputation of a commodity", the Beijing News reported.