Beijing Impact

The construction site of the new Beichuan county seat, Sichuan province, on Feb 5, 2010.

Construction of the new Beichuan county seat, which was devastated by the deadly earthquake in May 2008, will be finished in October this year, Wu Jingping, Party secretary of Mianyang city, said at a news conference in Beijing on Thursday.

More than 10,000 houses are being built in the new seat of Beichuan, about 23 km from the original location, Wu said.

"These houses, ranging from 70 square meters to 120 sq m, are being built as affordable or low-rent housing, and will help about 35,000 people," the mayor said, adding that roads, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure are also under construction.

The old town of Beichuan will be open to the public at the two-year anniversary of the earthquake in May this year. Some quake relics are to be preserved as sites for education and as a memorial, Wu said.

The Third Session of the the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 5. [Xinhua]

BEIJING - China's National People's Congress (NPC), the country's parliament, started its annual session at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday morning.

Premier Wen Jiabao will deliver a report on the work of the government at the opening session, chaired by NPC Standing Committee Chairman Wu Bangguo.

A total of 2,939 lawmakers are present at the opening meeting along with top Party and state leaders Hu Jintao, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang.

A famous model in the car industry vowed Thursday to bring a man who uploaded her explicit video to justice.

Zhai Ling, 23, from Shandong province, nicknamed "shoushou" (beast), is a professional model belonging to the New Silk Road Model Company in Beijing.

Zhai took second place in the China Underwear Model Final Competition in 2006 and won the "Silk Road Cup" China Final Competition of the International Model Competition in the same year. Her fame grew online in 2008 and her blog was visited by thousands daily.

When he made the highest bids for food stalls at two local temple fairs that occurred during Spring Festival, Kebab King Gu Shengli was confident he would make millions.

The two locations cost him a total of 534,000 yuan ($78,221). His colleagues estimated he would need to sell more than 150 yuan of meat every single minute the stall was open, just to cut a profit.

“Kebab King” Gu Shengli has his own way to survive the heated competition. [CHINA DAILY]

However, the man simply shrugged off such concerns. Gu claimed he had made 10 yuan every second by selling Middle Eastern-style kebabs at previous temple fairs. He believed he could pull off the miracle again this year, despite the much higher stake.

And he almost did.