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Scientists in Communist China are launching new experiments after discovering a batch of new viruses that could potentially infect humans. The never-before-seen viruses were found by Chinese scientists on a tropical island. The researchers who discovered the viruses were tasked by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with preparing the world for future pandemics. They took almost 700 samples from rodents living in Hainan, just off China’s southern coast. Eight novel viruses were uncovered in the CCP-funded project. One of the viruses belongs to the same family as Covid, researchers revealed. Experts said the discovered pathogens had a “high probability” of...

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji recently cracked a joke about the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Zhu told the joke to a captive audience of Asian executives during the April Bao business conference held on Hainan Island. Zhu's remarks came during a question-and-answer session with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. According to Zhu, "Japan bought many huge buildings in New York, but luckily they didn't buy the World Trade Center. If they had bought them, now the Japanese would be sadder than the Americans." Zhu's joke was quickly followed by a long round of laughter and applause...

The Chinese military is holding six concurrent drills in various coastal regions this week, amid continued high tensions with the U.S. and its neighbors over territorial disputes in the contested South China Sea. On Sunday, the Guangdong bureau of China's Maritime Safety Administration announced a new round of drills off the country's southern coast that will run from Monday to Saturday, The South China Morning Post reported. The administration's bureau on the southern island of Hainan had already said Saturday that it would conduct a similar drill off its South China Sea coast at the same time. Chinese forces will...

(Author Joe Hoft lived in Hong Kong for nearly a decade and provides this first hand perspective)China took control of Hong Kong, the former British colony, in 1997. Ever since that time, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the small group that runs China, has attempted to control the tiny country. This has escalated over the past year. The CCP agreed to a 50-year plan to take over the country of Hong Kong in 1997 after the takeover. However, this may never have been the CCP’s intent. Now after less than 25 years, the CCP is hammering Hong Kong into...

An epidemic of African Swine Fever is sweeping through China's hog farms, and the effects are rippling across the globe, because China is a superpower of pork. Half of the world's pigs live in China — or at least they did before the epidemic began a year ago. "Every day, we hear of more outbreaks," says Christine McCracken, a senior analyst at RaboResearch, which is affiliated with the global financial firm Rabobank. McCracken and her colleagues now estimate that by the end of 2019, China's production of pork could be cut in half. "That's roughly 300 million to 350 million...

* China is grappling with a widespread African swine flu (ASF) epidemic, a disease fatal to pigs but harmless to humans. * ASF's effects on pigs are gruesome. Symptoms include diarrhea, depression, and miscarriages. * The government is urging farmers to cull infected pigs to prevent the spread of the disease, which is in turn dramatically decreasing the country's pork production. * Dutch bank Rabobank estimates that the country will kill 150 million to 200 million pigs — or one third of the country's supply — this year. * China is the world's largest pork producer and consumer. The steep...

“Wenchang” the fourth space center being built in China will not be ready for service earlier than 2014-2015, a media report said. The construction of the space center was previously expected to be completed by 2013. "The construction of the fourth space center, Wenchang, is ongoing. China's first low-latitude space center will be commissioned in 2014-2015," Ria Novosti quoted a local government official as saying to CCTV on Tuesday. Wenchang, located on the northeast coast of the Hainan tropical island, will be the country's first low-latitude space center. Its latitude of only 19 degrees north of the equator will contribute...

China's tropical getaway becomes latest property boom Hainan province offers case study in nation's real-estate explosion By Chris Oliver, MarketWatch HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- It's home to a submarine base, a recent host for the Miss World beauty pageant, and it draws the likes of action hero Jackie Chan and legendary financier George Soros. And now China's southern island of Hainan can add another distinction -- the nation's newest hot property market. Real-estate prices on the island, where white-sand beaches and jungle-covered mountains have earned it associations with Hawaii, have jumped by more than one-third in the last five weeks....

Imagery confirms underground nuclear sub base in China Imagery confirms underground nuclear sub base in China Richard D Fisher Jr Analyst - Virginia Key Points Exclusive access to Digital Globe satellite imagery has allowed Jane's to document China's nuclear naval build-up on Hainan Island The Sanya base may be used to house the new Type 094 nuclear submarine High-resolution satellite imagery from Digital Globe has enabled Jane's to confirm the construction of a major underground nuclear submarine base at Sanya, on Hainan Island off the southern coast of China. Although Asian military sources first suggested the existence of the base...

/begin my translation Melodrama Crews Accidentally Filmed Chinese Warships, Clashing with Chinese Navy [Yonhap News 2006-10-03 16:13] (Seoul=Yonhap News) Baek Nari = 'Lovers', produced by director Shin Woo-chul and writer Kim Eun-sook, which follows their past productions, 'Lovers of Paris' and 'Lovers of Prague', was being filmed on location in Hainan Island, China, when film crews accidentally filmed new Chinese warships in the background, and films were confiscated, according to belated reports. According to K-dream(?), the production company, the crews, as well as lead character Kim Jung-eun and Lee suh-jin were filming the pursuit scene over the sea in front...

SHANGHAI, China – Typhoon Damrey slammed into southern China's resort island of Hainan on Monday, killing at least two people, collapsing houses and sweeping away rice, rubber and banana crops. Packing winds of up to 125 mph, Damrey made landfall north of Hainan's Wanning City before dawn, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It was the island's strongest typhoon since 1973, the agency said. The storm, whose name means "elephant" in Cambodian, scoured the island's southern portion before heading out to sea to toward Vietnam to the west. More than 200,000 people were being evacuated along the coast ahead of...

HAIKOU, Aug. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- The First Chinese Guitar Festival and the First Chinese Guitar Masters Competition opened in scenic Hainan Island Monday. Sponsored by the China Guitar Society and China Musicians Association, the event is the first national guitar culture festival held on a par with international guitar competition practice. More than 400 guitar players and fans from all over China gathered at the festival.World famous musicians and guitar mastersfrom home and abroad such as Shi Fu, Fan Shengqi, Zhang Shiguang and Ivan Carcia from Spain, are attending the event. The festival consists of guitar competitions, a camp tour...

HAIKOU, Aug. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- A long-awaited rainfall on Friday has not bring too much joy to the farmers of the drought-hit Lingao County in south China's island province of Hainan, because a large area of their cropland was ruined a locust plague. More than 800 mu (53.3 hectares) of seedlings in the county were eaten up by the locusts and the sugarcane fields were also stricken by the plague. Lingao is not the only place that has been stricken by locusts. According to statistics from the provincial Department of Agriculture,16 counties and cities in the province, covering an area...