Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, last week became the first Chinese city to promote itself as a tourism destination at the annual Arabian Travel Market expo in Dubai.
As lay offs in the banking sector increases, foreign banks, which have felt the sting of the US mortgage crisis, have on the whole spared the cleaver in high-growth markets in China and other Asian regions.
An earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale has hit southwest
China, some 95km northwest of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. The
earthquake occurred at 2.28pm local time, and was felt as far away as
Hanoi and Bangkok. State media say 11,921 people are confirmed dead.