China’s top disciplinary watchdog has named a number of grassroots officials implicated in abuse of poverty relief funds.

The nine cases involve dereliction of duty, embezzlement of poverty relief funds and theft of allowances for house renovation, according to the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

In one case, Long Zuoshi, former Party chief of Jile Village in Hunan Province, was stripped of his CPC membership for stealing 81,800 yuan (12,300 U.S. dollars) of poverty relief funds and abusing his power to help another villager illegally obtain 100,000 yuan. Long’s case has been transferred to judicial organs.

Xiao Guangliang, head of the agricultural cooperative society of Fenghuang village in Guizhou Province embezzled 150,000 yuan for his personal use and hosted banquets using public funds, among other violations, from 2014 to 2016. Xiao was stripped of his CPC membership and his case has been transferred to judicial organs.

The CCDI ordered harsh punishments for officials implicated in misuse of poverty relief funds.

China has set 2020 as the target year to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society, which requires the eradication of poverty.

[unable to retrieve full-text content]GaoYuying, partner and director of the International Legal Transaction Department of Beijing Century Law Firm, is offering pioneering legal consultation and assistance for foreigners intending to apply for the Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card in China, otherwise known as the green card.

Three men have been detained and two given an admonition for wearing Japanese military uniforms from World War II and posing for photos at a renowned war monument in downtown Shanghai earlier this month.

Sihang Warehouse War Memorial Hall, where five men caused outrage over the wearing of Japanese uniforms.

Police announced the punishments yesterday. Four of them are in the photos while fifth took and published the photographs. Earlier, the Sihang Warehouse War Memorial Hall issued a statement criticizing the young men, calling their act “impudent blasphemy” after their photos appeared on the Internet on August 8 and went viral, sparking an indignant reaction from online users.

During China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-1945), Japanese troops invaded Shanghai for the second time on August 13, 1937, but met strong resistance.

The conflict in Shanghai, known as the second Battle of Songhu, was one of the bloodiest campaigns in the war.

In the autumn of 1937, a few hundred Chinese soldiers successfully defended against Japanese invading troops at the warehouse. Entrenched around the concrete warehouse just opposite the so-called International Settlement at that time, the Chinese officers and men of the 524th Regiment, 88th Division, knew only too well that their mission was suicidal, but they accepted their fate stoically to showcase Chinese courage.

Their ordeal started on October 26, 1937, continuing for a further four days of brutal fighting until the main Chinese Army had successfully withdrawn.

Their heroic stand during the defense of Sihang Warehouse had amply demonstrated Chinese courage to the world.

Police said the five, who are from out of town traveled to Shanghai on August 1 and took the controversial pictures about 10pm on August 3, with one of them putting the pictures onto the Internet a few days later.

The suspects turned themselves in when Shanghai police traveled to Sichuan, Zhejiang and Beijing to investigate the case, police said.

They didn’t reveal for how long the three offenders will be held in detention, but said two of the five were not detained because they were under the age of 18. The five, who claimed to be fans of military uniforms, were also made to write down notes of apology for hurting the feeling of their compatriots who will never forget that more than 35 million people in China died or were injured in World War II.

The police yesterday said the five men knew that the warehouse was a famous historic site. Their actions were offensive to Chinese people, police added, and the accused had fallen foul of the law on penalties for administration of public security.

Xiongan New Area has a stable geologic structure, good for ground construction and underground infrastructure, as well as vast farmland and groundwater resources, according to the first phase of a geological survey released on Wednesday.

China announced plans in April to establish Xiongan New Area, a new economic zone about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing that covers Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin counties in Hebei province.

The plans include buildings, such as entertainment complexes and logistics and transportation hubs, some underground.

Experts from China Geological Survey, a research bureau under the Ministry of Land and Resources, started the first stage of their survey in June.

Over 1,700 experts have participated in the first phase of the survey, which covered 1,770 square kilometers in the region, collecting extensive data on water, soil and other geological information.

They concluded that 89.5 percent of the surveyed land is geologically stable and “suitable or relatively suitable for construction”, but they warned authorities should be aware of the land subsidence.

There is no heavy metal pollution on 99.3 percent of the land, and 1,533 hectares is good farmland – 573 hectares, were found to be rich in selenium, an essential trace element that is good for human health.

“It’s valuable, high-quality farmland without pollution in the region, and we suggest the authorities make better use of it and set it up as a special farmland zone with extra protection,” Ma Zhen, head of the geological survey groups in Xiongan, said on Wednesday.

Xiongan also has good groundwater, said Hao Aibing, director of the research bureau’s hydrogeological environment department. Seventy-eight percent of it in the shallow layer – up to 150 meters deep – and 95 percent from the deep layer could be drinkable immediately or after simple treatment.

The geologists also found that Xiongan New Area has rich geothermal energy resources in the shallow layer – up to 200 meters deep – which could make the area more ecologically sound.

Geological survey authorities intend to continue collecting data on the area.

By 2020, they will present comprehensive findings as the “transparent Xiongan” system, a compilation of multifaceted data from continuing surveys of space, resources, environment, and potential disasters, to fully support the city’s growth.

Local governments have been told to streamline college tuition loans for students from poor families, after a man was suspected to have killed himself over a document related to his son’s loan application.

Yue Chengyi, a resident of Youyu county in Shanxi province, was reported to have stabbed himself to death on Aug 14 as he was trying to obtain a document from the local government that was required for a student loan application.

Yue, 50, was the breadwinner of his family – an unemployed wife, two sons and a daughter.

On Aug 7, Yue’s second son was admitted to a college and needed about 5,000 yuan ($750) for tuition for his freshman year.

Aware of the student loan policy to reduce the financial burden for impoverished families, the father approached the township government on Aug 14 hoping to obtain an official document proving that his son qualified for the loan.

Students are allowed to apply for interest-free loans from banks if they have documents showing the family’s financial difficulty. The documents must carry government seals.

Yue went to the government office alone. Two hours later, he was found lying in blood in the office by himself, with several stab wounds on his belly and neck. He was sent to the hospital but was too severely injured to be saved. He died that night while being moved to a hospital in Beijing.

On Aug 17, the Youyu county government said on its Weibo account that, according to the local police, Yue, who was feeling great pressure, killed himself with a knife 15 to 20 centimeters long.

Yue Zhong, the older son, told Beijing News that he didn’t know whether the knife was his father’s.

“We don’t know what happened in the office at that time,” Yue Zhong was quoted as saying. “We don’t know why my father did it.”

A staff member of the township government told Beijing News that because there was no surveillance camera in the office, nobody knew exactly what happened.

The Youyu county government told China Daily on Wednesday that a task force has been formed to investigate the incident. The government helped the son get the loan.

The China National Center for Student Financial Aid issued a notice on Tuesday urging education authorities and banks to improve working efficiency and make the application process “student-centered”, so that every student in need can get loans in a timely manner.

“Students who can offer a statement showing their families’ financial difficulty – whether it’s from their school or the village-or township-level government – are eligible for the loans,” the center said in the notice.