TRAMPLING TYPHOON: Greenhouses lie in ruins after a heavy rainstorm caused by the landing of Typhoon Fung-Wong in Gaotang, Xiangshan County, Zhejiang Province, on September 22 (HAN CHUANHAO)

Drug-Quality Fears

China's drug watchdog has found 12 percent of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) materials and tablets in a random sample check to be substandard, saying the quality situation is "not optimistic."

Irregularities including artificial coloring, weight-increasing practices and contamination by counterfeit or substandard ingredients were found in 93 out of 772 batches of TCM materials and tablets, according to a statement released by the China Food and Drug Administration on September 23.

Sold by weight and mostly processed from plants and animals parts, TCM ingredients are often bulked up through deceptive practices such as soaking them in salt water to increase their weight and mixing them with similar but cheaper and less effective materials.

The statement noted that the products checked were randomly collected from TCM manufacturers, sellers and users across the country, adding that groups related to questionable products will be duly penalized by local drug administrations.

Dangerous Loopholes

The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) has added 163 public places, including hotels, markets and schools, to a blacklist for high fire risk.

According to the fire control department of the MPS, the fire risks were detected in the course of a nationwide fire safety campaign launched in May. It said 69 of the total sites inspected, or some 42 percent, were markets, while 23 sites were hospitals and schools.

During the campaign, fire safety inspectors identified problems such as blockage of fire access lanes, malfunctioning fire alarms and water sprinkler systems, and use of flammable materials in construction.

Pop-Up Reform

Chinese Government plans to clean up the visual content of Internet pop-up windows that contain pornographic and illegal content, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said on September 24.

The announcement came after a recent meeting between CAC, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the State Administration for Industry & Commerce in Beijing.

Slated to start in the near future, authorities will push operators to edit and supervise the contents of pop-up windows on their websites, a statement issued following the meeting said.

A stricter protocol will also be imposed for operators installing pop-ups. They are banned from using the method to advertise without the consent of users and users should be able to close these windows with a single click.

Reduced Pollution

Emissions of four major pollutants in China have dropped year on year during the first half of 2014, China's environmental watchdog said on September 24.

The chemical oxygen demand index, a measure of water pollution, decreased by 2.26 percent, while the volume of sulfur dioxide emissions, a main indicator for measuring air pollution, totaled 10.37 million tons, a year-on-year drop of 1.87 percent, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a statement.

Ammonia nitrogen emissions totaled 1.23 million tons in the first six months of this year, a decrease of 2.67 percent, and nitrogen oxide emissions were cut by 5.82 percent from the levels of the same period last year, the statement said.

A PINCH, FOR TASTE: A fisherman holds up harvested Chinese mitten crabs on the Yangcheng Lake in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, on September 23. This year's harvest season for Chinese mitten crabs in Yangcheng Lake, a major production area, began that day. Also known as the big sluice crab, they have been long favored by gourmands in China and are top sellers in both online and traditional marketplaces. (LI XIANG)

Express Delivery Market

China will further open the domestic express delivery market to foreign enterprises in order to aid development of a modern tertiary sector, authorities said on September 24.

The State Council, China's cabinet, decided at a meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang to fully open the country's domestic package delivery business to qualified foreign companies.

The country will streamline license approval procedures and encourage mergers and acquisitions for businesses, even those launched with foreign capital, within the scope of the necessary review system.

China's international delivery business has become fairly open to overseas capital, while domestic markets in major cities have gradually become available to foreign players.

The authorities believe that allowing in foreign competitors, a move promised when China entered the WTO, will push homegrown delivery businesses to up their game.

'Silver Hair' Industry

The 2014 domestic market for providing essential services and products for China's aging population is estimated to be worth 4 trillion yuan ($650 billion), or 8 percent of GDP, but it will climb to 33 percent of GDP by 2050, according to the China Report on the Development of the Silver Hair Industry released on September 23. The report mainly studies seniors' needs in four distinct areas: financing, appliances, services and real estate.

China will become the largest market for businesses serving senior citizens by 2050, when its aging population will account for about one fourth of the global total. Total consumption for this market is expected to reach 106 trillion yuan ($17 trillion) within the same time period.

Manufacture Rebounds

A surprise strengthening in China's manufacturing sector following slumps in major economic indicators has once again pointed to the great potential latent in the Chinese economy.

The HSBC Flash China Manufacturing Purchase Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 50.5 in September from August's final reading of 50.2, beating the market expectation of an even 50, which would have been right on the line between expansion and contraction.

Sub-indices of total new orders and new export orders rose to the highest levels encountered since March 2010 and the quantity of purchases made by Chinese enterprises also increased at a faster pace, the British bank said on September 23.

Qu Hongbin, HSBC's chief China economist, said economic activity in the vast manufacturing sector showed signs of stabilization although the picture is still mixed.

The gain in the flash PMI, an estimate based on approximately 85 percent of PMI survey responses collected each month, deals a blow to speculation that the Chinese economy may face a sudden loss of momentum and fall short of the 7.5-percent overall GDP growth targeted for 2014.