The real estate market in China is quickly turning hot. On Monday, for instance, a land parcel along Beijing's Guangqu Road was auctioned off for more than 4 billion yuan (US$585 million) after fierce bidding among major developers from the mainland and Hong Kong.

Although the Chinese stock market has breached the 3,000-point barrier after a six-month bull run, analysts and investors are cautious since they see the rally as being led largely by big-cap stocks rather than an across-the-board upswing.

China's power output rose for the first time in eight months in June, as demand was boosted by an unusually hot summer and a tentative economic recovery, state media said Friday.

With the goal of building Shanghai into a world-class financial hub, the central government is showing renewed interest in inviting foreign-funded firms to be listed in the country.

The waiting period for Chinese spouses of Taiwanese citizens to be naturalized remains too long, even after the Legislature passed an amendment last month to shorten the wait, social activists complained Friday.

A Chinese bus fire that killed 27 people and injured dozens last month was deliberately set by a man who committed suicide, state media said Friday.

A group of around 130 Hong Kong protesters were forcefully removed from the city's government headquarters early on Thursday following a major protest march that drew an estimated 76,000 thousand people.

U.S. President Barack Obama will meet China's President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit in Italy next week, a senior White House official said on Wednesday.

The move to open the Taiwanese market to Chinese investments will not pose a threat to the national security, as speculated by some people because of the strict restrictions attached to the liberalization policy, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) stressed.

Nearly 1.6 million passengers have been served over the past year since direct cross-Taiwan Strait charter flights were launched July 4, 2008, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) reported yesterday.