Tourism continues to boom in Tibet

LHASA, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) - Tibet Autonomous Region hosted a record 3.72 million tourists over the first 10 months of the year, well over a million more than the total for the whole of last year.

The flood of tourists brought the region 4.4 billion yuan (about 550 million U.S. dollars).

"The plateau is of great appeal to overseas tourists - one out of ten tourists were from overseas, said Wu Yingjie, deputy chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government during a recent interview with a three-member press delegation from the Russian Information Agency (RIA).

The huge leap in the number of visitors can be attributed to the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway on July 1, 2006, according to He Benyun, deputy head of the Regional Development and Reform Commission.

The tourism sector had 2.5 million tourists last year and raked in 2.77 billion yuan (about 346 million dollars) in total earnings, accounting for 9.6 percent of the region's gross domestic product (GDP).

The Tibet regional government set a target of 3.8 million tourists for 2007, a figure that now seems certain to be exceeded.

Industry experts predict more than four million tourists will visit the area this year and the sector will account for 12 percent of Tibet's GDP.

At the invitation of Xinhua News Agency, the RIA press delegation visited Beijing and Tibet between Nov. 1 and 10, with the purpose of finding more about Tibet, such as information regarding reform and development, economic construction, minority nationalities and religion.

Hangzhou ranked China's "happiest city"

If you are seeking happiness in China, Hangzhou is the place to go as the capital of Zhejiang Province topped a magazine poll of more than 3 million citizens rating the country's "10 happiest cities".

Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, finished runner-up in the poll conducted by Oriental Outlook magazine, followed by the Zhejiang Province cities of Ningbo and Taizhou. Zhuhai and Zhongshan, both in south China's Guangdong Province, were fifth and sixth, respectively. Qingdao, in eastern Shandong Province, was seventh.

Shanghai, the country's commercial hub, ranked eighth, followed by the national capital Beijing. Chengdu, capital of southwestern Sichuan Province, rounded out the list.

The poll conducted by the Shanghai-based magazine was carried out in early November under the administration of the Xinhua News Agency, the China Association of Mayors and the China Population Welfare Foundation. It asked people to name the city where it was easiest to get a sense of happiness.

People could vote via text message, the Internet or by filling out a questionnaire.

A total of 35 cities were picked from the country's 269 prefectural-level cities as candidates in April, according to statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics and local government work reports.

Employment, income, social security, housing, medicare, environment and education, as well as the intensity of work pressure and relations between individuals and individual and society, were the major indices for selecting the happiest cities, according to the organizing committee.

Chinese Premier vows to stabilize prices

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao says Monday his government will take measures to ensure sufficient supply and stabilize prices during his visit to some needy citizens in Dongcheng District of Beijing.

BEIJING, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Monday his government would take measures to ensure sufficient supply and stabilize prices.

"Prices have been on the rise these days and I'm aware that even a one-yuan (0.13 U.S. dollars) increase in prices will affect people's lives," said Wen during his visit to some needy citizens in Dongcheng District of Beijing.

To prop up people's incomes, Wen called on employers in the country to offer higher salaries and to strictly abide by the rules on minimum wages.

"Only when people's quality of life is improved will we feel reassured and believe we did a good job," said Wen.

To prevent prices from rising drastically, the government was trying to ensure adequate supply by giving support to the pig-raising, cooking oil and dairy industries and encouraging imports, said Wen.

It was also cracking down on activities that attempted to force up prices far beyond real values, said Wen.

Prices were stable from 2003 to 2006 but climbed rapidly this year, said Wen, adding that the recent price hikes were resulted from such factors as the rising oil and grain prices on the international market.

Rising prices of pork and cooking oil pushed up prices of other foodstuffs even though China had enjoyed bumper harvests in the last four years and the country's grain output would reach a record 500 million tons this year, said Wen.

China Bans Time-Limited Sales Promotions

China's Ministry of Commerce issued an urgent circular on Monday banning time-limited sales promotions in shops following a deadly stampede at a Carrefour outlet.

Three people died and 31 were injured in a stampede triggered by a sales promotion at a Carrefour outlet on Nov. 10 in the country's southwestern Chongqing Municipality.

The three-day promotion at a hypermarket in the city's Shapingba District was launched to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the French retail giant's entry into the city.

The shop offered an 11.5 yuan (1.5 U.S. dollars) savings from the original price of 51.4 yuan for a five-liter bottle of edible oil. When it opened its doors for business throngs of people swarmed in and a mass stampede began.

"The outlet has been ordered to suspend operation and the work safety watchdog has started an investigation," said Gao Chang, spokesman for the Shapingba District government.

The ministry has ordered local commercial authorities and public security departments to launch an overhaul of retail stores to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

It also ordered local branches to help store managers foster safety awareness and establish emergency-response procedures.