Society

Vice Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday opened the first China-Eurasia Expo in northwestern Chinese city of Urumqi, an event that aims to fast track economic cooperation at the heart of Eurasia.

Foreign leaders at the opening ceremony in the capital city of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region included Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari, Kyrgyz president Roza Otunbayeva, Azerbaijan's vice premier Abid Sharifov, and Kazakhstan's deputy prime minister Aset Isekeshev.

China's Minister of Commerce Chen Deming told participants at the expo that China had made a key decision to accelerate the opening-up process to neighbors to its west. While the global economic recovery slows, China is determined to push for regional prosperity by working closely with Asian and European countries on trade and industrial cooperation.

It is well recognized that China’s recent prodigious economic growth has been built on not just exports, but equally massive bank lending for fixed-asset investment.

But keep doing the same thing for too long, and it is likely to eventually run into the basic economic law of diminishing returns. China’s growth model increasingly appears to have hit a ceiling, with few easy answers this time round.

As a series of economists last week pared their gross domestic product forecasts due to weaker global growth, fresh fears have also emerged over unsustainable levels of bank lending. The need for China to switch to domestic-consumption-led growth now looks a matter of necessity rather than choice.

A decision by Beijing authorities to impose tax on mooncakes, a delicacy given as gifts for the Mid-Autumn Festival, has sparked an outcry in the Chinese capital, reports said Monday.

The cakes — heavy pastries containing sweet lotus seed paste — will from this year be considered a non-cash benefit and subject to income tax, the Global Times said, citing the Beijing Local Taxation Bureau.

A poll conducted by the microblogging service Weibo found that 96% of users opposed the tax on the sweetmeat, and many Chinese said they would prefer not to receive them at all.

Passengers stand in line for security checks at Terminal 3, Beijing Capital International Airport, on Sunday afternoon.

Fights broke out among angry passengers at Beijing Capital International Airport on Sunday morning, after the security level for domestic flights was raised from level one to level two.

Long lines formed as passengers were told to remove their shoes and belts and luggage was checked, and tempers flared as passengers pushed and shoved to get through the security gates.

"I have witnessed three fights," said one passenger on his micro blog.