10 ancient Buddha statues carved into a cliffside in Jiajiang County, Sichuan Province, have been beheaded, reports the West China Daily.

10 Ming Dynasty Buddha heads in Sichuan Province were stolen between August 18th and 21st. [Photo: West China Daily]

Local police said that they believe this was a theft, rather than vandalism or act of religious intolerance.

“Preliminary clues indicate that the heads were stolen between the evening of August 18th and the dawn of August 21st,” said an official from the Jiajiang Agency of Cultural Relics Preservation.

The Buddha statues were carved into the cliffsides in 1522 during the Ming Dynasty.

Local culture authorities said they will cooperate with police to bring the criminals to justice.

Officials also said they intend to marshal more local volunteers to ensure the protection of the remaining relics at the site.

Local police have begun an investigation. So far authorities have not identified any suspects.

Fifteen students at a school for HIV-positive students in North China have been enrolled in colleges this year and will start their new lives in September.

Two of them will enter four-year study programs at colleges that award bachelor’s degrees, and the rest will go to three-year junior colleges, said Guo Xiaoping, principal of Linfen Red Ribbon School, in Linfen, Shanxi province.

Sixteen senior middle school students at the school – the only one in China that recruits students with HIV – took the college entrance exam this year, he said.

“The students are quite happy with the results, but they are also worried about their future,” Guo said.

All of the students were infected by HIV through their mothers, and most have lost one or both parents and have no source of income, he said.

The Chinese Foundation for Prevention of STDs and AIDS has agreed to provide financial assistance so the students can finish their college studies, he said.

Each will get 12,000 yuan ($1,800) to cover tuition for two semesters annually, plus 1,500 yuan per month for living expenses, he said.

Yuan Jizheng, deputy director of the foundation’s general office, said the foundation plans to donate about 1.5 million yuan to the school to help the 15 students throughout their college studies.

“The monthly living subsidies include rent, as teachers from the school told us most of the students will not choose to live in dorms provided by the colleges because of privacy concerns, and they are planning to rent a room off campus,” she said.

“Each student has received 3,000 yuan in subsidies from the local government, but most of them have given the money to their parents, if they are alive, or to support other guardians, as their families are generally very poor,” she said.

Guo believes that the students will choose not to tell others about their HIV condition while in college, but fears the secret may eventually leak out, because the students have to take medication.

“They will likely face many difficulties in their school life and afterward, as people with HIV are still discriminated against in many places, although things have become better in recent years,” Guo said.

“If you meet them, you will realize that all of them are actually optimistic and keep a positive attitude,” he said. “They will not transmit the disease to anyone. I hope society can be more understanding of them.”

A headcount completed two weeks after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck southwest China has confirmed all 340 wild giant pandas in the quake zone are unharmed.

Eleven nature reserves — of which ten are dedicated to protecting giant pandas, golden monkeys and their habitats — were affected by the earthquake which struck Jiuzhaigou County in Sichuan Province, on Aug. 8, local government officials said.

The 340 pandas account for 31 percent of the wild panda population in China, they said.

The earthquake triggered landslides in the mountainous region. Official figures show that 24 people were killed, while hundreds were injured.

Bin Junyi, deputy head of Sichuan provincial forestry bureau, said although the pandas survived the quake, their habitat sustained severe damage.

The natural recovery of the panda habitat will take a long time, he said.

Giant pandas live mainly in the mountains of Sichuan and neighboring Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. Their survival is being threatened by habitat loss and very low birthrates.

At least nine people have been killed and one remains missing as the strongest typhoon of the year hit south China Wednesday.

Typhoon Hato made landfall in the city of Zhuhai in Guangdong Province at noon Wednesday, bringing winds of up to 160 kph to the mouth of the Pearl River and heavy rain to nearby regions, the local meteorological bureau said.

When the typhoon swept past Macao, a wall brought down by strong winds killed a man. Another person died after falling from the 11th floor of a building, and a third after being hit by a truck, according to Macao health authorities, which confirmed two more deaths and 153 injuries late Wednesday night.

There was a brief blackout in Macao but power resumed at 2 p.m.

In Guangdong, four people have died and one remains unaccounted for. The government has evacuated 26,817 people to temporary shelters. About 664 hectares of farmland has been damaged.

Power transmission facilities suffered heavy loss, disrupting electricity supply to 1.91 million households.

About half of the households had power back by late Wednesday.

In Zhuhai, a ship which lost control amid gales and high tides hit a pier of a major bridge, causing the bridge surface to tilt. The bridge, part of a coastal highway, remains cordoned off.

Alerts for landslides, flooding, and other geological disasters have been issued.

“Compared to other typhoons, Hato moved fast, quickly grew more powerful and caused massive amounts of rainfall,” said Wu Zhifang, chief weather forecaster at Guangdong meteorological bureau.

Meteorologists had earlier warned of unusually high flooding as the typhoon came during high tides.

Hundreds of thousands of residents in low-lying areas, workers on coastal fish farms, and tourists have been transferred to safer places.

In one of the hardest-hit areas, 19 villages near the town of Guanghai, Taishan city, were flooded, according to local resident Xie Yongbin. Power was cut off. However, no casualties have been reported as the evacuation started early.

In Zhuhai, trees and billboards have been blown down. At a wharf, boats were pushed onto shore while vehicles on the roads were floated.

But floodwater has begun to recede.

Huang Xin, an employee of a fishing gear shop at the wharf, said the shop’s gate and windows were broken by huge tides. Boats, though being moored, were damaged.

Across the province, classes and work were suspended in many cities on Wednesday. Several expressways were closed and train services halted.

At least six ships on the mouth of the Pearl River have reported emergencies. Maritime rescue workers saved 118 crew members, according to the Ministry of Transportation.

Hato is forecast to move northwest and enter Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region by dawn Thursday. As the typhoon moves further inland its strength is expected to drop.

In Guangxi, more than 15,000 workers at the local power grid were put on standby while precautions have been taken to minimize the damage caused by potential flooding and landslides.

More than 11,860 fishing boats have been moored.

U.S.-born panda Bao Bao celebrated her fourth birthday in southwest China’s Sichuan Province Wednesday.

Staff with the Dujiangyan base of the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Panda prepared a 50-kilogram birthday cake made from bamboo, carrots, steamed buns and apples.

Bao Bao (Treasure) was born on Aug. 23, 2013 at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington D.C., the second panda born there.

Her parents Mei Xiang and Tian Tian moved to the American zoo in 2000 under a cooperation agreement between China and the United States. According to the agreement, panda cubs born in the United States to parents on loan from China must be returned to China so that they can enter breeding programs.

Bao Bao arrived in Chengdu on Feb. 22 this year before being quarantined for a month.

More than 100 tourists and staff gathered for Bao Bao’s birthday party. American tourist Charlin, who watched the live transmission of Bao Bao’s birth four years ago, traveled to Sichuan from Virginia to attend the party.

“I hope she is healthy and happy here,” she said.

Bao Bao’s carer Zou Wenyong said that when Bao Bao first returned to China, she was still living on American time and was excited late at night and early morning.

“She liked biscuits from the United States and was insensitive to my instructions when she returned. After six months of training, she is accustomed to life here,” Zou said.

“At the beginning, Bao Bao wouldn’t eat steamed buns, so I had to cut the buns into thin slices and dip them into honey, a lot of honey. I had to get her used to the Chinese diet,” he said. “Then I started to cut the buns into bigger chunks and reduce the amount of honey. Now she can eat 1,200 grams a day.”

The panda has put on eight kilograms since her return.

The panda breeding center has similar collaborations with 12 zoos in 10 countries.