CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE: A repair project on the Sichuan-Tibet National Highway is underway in Qamdo, Tibet Autonomous Region, on July 13 (WANG SHOUBAO)

Tourist Destination

South Korea is poised to overtake Thailand as the largest outbound destination for Chinese tourists this year, said a report from China's leading online travel agency Ctrip.com.

Ctrip predicts the number of Chinese visitors to South Korea will jump 40 percent from a year ago in 2014, thanks to a visa-free policy for Chinese visitors to Jeju Island, the most popular tourist attraction in South Korea.

In 2013, Chinese tourists made nearly 4 million trips to South Korea, the largest among foreign visitors, according to Ctrip. Chinese airline companies have started to increase the number of flights between the two nations to meet the growing demand.

New Rules

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) released a new set of rules governing major asset restructuring by listed companies on July 11, with the market playing a larger role.

Under the new rules, major asset restructuring such as asset purchases, sales and swaps can proceed without approval from the CSRC.

But restructuring involving stock issuance and backdoor listing still need to be examined and approved by the commission.

The CSRC also clarified the tightened oversight of backdoor listings, stating that requirements for a backdoor listing will be the same as those for an initial public offering.

Transport Ties

The county government of Nairobi, Kenya, on July 14 signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Chinese automaker Foton Motors to upgrade the commuter transport system in Nairobi.

Under the MOU, Foton Motors will provide 260 buses for the project. The Beijing-based vehicle manufacturer will also extend financial support to enable the county government to secure soft credit from international lenders to buy the buses and repay the loan at a rate of 15 percent.

Rapid population growth in Nairobi has exerted pressure on the region's public transport system. Nairobi County Governor Evans Kidero noted 2.5 million people in Nairobi depend on public service vehicles.

"We require a mass public transport system to ease congestion on our roads and reduce carbon emissions," Kidero said.

Senior executives of Foton Motors revealed that it will assist Nairobi in developing a cashless payment system accompanying modern terminals.

Booming Sales

Sales of Chinese-brand smartphones have skyrocketed to 33.8 percent of the world's total in the past year from almost zero in 2010, according to a report published at the 2014 National Electronic Information Industry Symposium in Ji'an, east China's Jiangxi Province, on July 14.

Homegrown brands dominated the domestic market in 2013, accounting for 72 percent of all the handsets sold in the country, up from a mere 16 percent in 2010.

China produced 870 million smartphones in 2013, a year-on-year increase of 74 percent, the report shows.

By January, 838 million Chinese, nearly two thirds of the country's population, were using mobile Internet, according to official statistics.