Heavy rain will sweep parts of southwest and south China in the coming three days, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said Tuesday.

Rainstorms will hit parts of Chongqing Municipality and the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong from Wednesday to Friday, with thunderstorms or hailstones in some areas, according to the NMC.

It also forecast downpours in the southeastern part of Tibet Autonomous Region from Tuesday to Wednesday under the influence of cyclone Mora.

The NMC warned of risks of urban waterlogging, mountain torrents and landslides in those regions.

From Saturday to next Wednesday, heavy rain will also be seen in the eastern part of northwest China as well as regions along the lower reaches of the Yellow River, the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River, according to the NMC.

Cultural relics protection and archaeological work have been launched in the Xiongan New Area, a new economic zone near Beijing, the provincial government of Hebei said.

The archaeological team consists of several groups from the provincial, city and county levels and archaeologists from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the National Museum, the Palace Museum and the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage.

The three counties of Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin in the area have a long history and are rich in cultural relics. The third national archaeological survey showed a total of 189 immovable cultural relics in the area.

According to the work plan, the archaeologists will complete 200 square kilometers of field investigation by July and produce a report by August for review and deliberation. A final report will be finished by the end of March, 2018.

Drought has affected 2.67 million hectares of farmland in China due to lack of rainfall in the country’s north and northeast, according to latest official statistics.

As of May 27, 120,000 people and 500,000 livestock faced shortage of drinking water as a result of the drought, said Chen Lei, minister of water resources, at a video conference of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

Authorities have dispatched 15 work teams to help heavily-affected regions, said Chen, who is also deputy head of the headquarters.

About 5.5 million people have joined the fight against drought, drilling wells or working on pumping stations to irrigate over 4 million hectares of farmland, according to the minister.

He demanded priority be given to ensuring drinking water safety for rural and urban residents.

Chinese children were rehearsing one of their programs, Passion for Opera, in Beijing on May 30, for an activity named “Dreams of the Future in B&R Young Hearts -Celebrating International Children’s Day” to be held on May 31 by Beijing-based not-for-profit organization China Soong Ching Ling Foundation. [By Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn]

Children from the Belt and Road countries will celebrate the upcoming International Children’s Day in Beijing on May 31.

An activity named “Dreams of the Future in B&R Young Hearts -Celebrating International Children’s Day” will be held by Beijing-based not-for-profit organization China Soong Ching Ling Foundation.

The activity will be attended by about 650 children from 38 countries along the Belt and Road who are currently in Beijing. China-based diplomats from Belt and Road countries and representatives from international organizations such as Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Association of Southeast Asian Nations will also attend the celebration activity.

Children will participate in a series of programs on the morning of May 31, including singing, painting exhibition, robots performance and gifts exchange.

The celebration is intended to promote the consensus reached at the recently concluded Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and facilitate people-to-people exchange among different countries.

Guangzhou’s petrol-powered buses will soon be a thing of the past. Starting this year, the southern Chinese city will begin replacing the thousands of public buses with greener, more energy-efficient vehicles.

According to the new plan, all buses that use petrol and diesel will be replaced with pure electric buses by 2020, meaning Guangzhou will have about 30,000 new energy public vehicles including buses and taxies by 2020.

To attract individual consumers of electric cars, Guangzhou also plans to lower electric vehicles prices, reduce maintenance costs and build more charging stations. More than 120,000 individual electric cars are expected to be on the streets in the city by 2020.

According to the new measures, the number of parking spaces with electric car chargers is no less than 30 percent of the total parking seats in new office buildings, shopping malls and restaurants. The city plans 100,000 charging piles by 2020.

Guangzhou is now seeking public opinions on the plan.