Chinese publications have drawn much attention from overseas publishers during the ongoing Beijing International Book Fair, with many rights deals already being signed.

The Beijing International Book Fair is now in its 24th year. More than 2,500 exhibitors from 89 countries and regions are taking part in the fair, with overseas exhibitors accounting for 58 percent.

Around 40,000 books from over 300 major Chinese publishers are on display for overseas publishers and libraries. At the fair last year and the year before, the number of copyright trade agreements signed between Chinese and foreign companies exceeded 4,000 each year.

At this year’s fair, Chinese publishers are continuing their efforts to market their books both in paper and digital form.

“Keywords to understand China: the Belt and Road Initiative,” published by New World Press, has secured deals to publish in eight different languages.

The English version of Chinese novelist Jia Pingwa’s “Happy Dreams” will be published by Amazon both in paper and digital.

“We hope to introduce more wonderful Chinese books to more foreign readers, building a bridge connecting Chinese and Western cultures,” said Bruce Aitken, general manager of Amazon Reading China.

Tsinghua University Press agreed to cooperate with Royal Collions Publishing Group, working on the English translation of a series of cartoon books to introduce Chinese tales to children around the world.

The book fair is being held at the New China International Exhibition Center from Aug. 23 to 27.

China upgraded its warning for Typhoon Parkhar to the second highest level Saturday afternoon, as it was estimated to make landfall in coastal areas of Guangdong Province Sunday.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued an orange alert for Typhoon Parkhar on 6 p.m., after issuing a yellow alert Friday evening.

At 5 p.m. Saturday, the eye of Parkhar was above the South China Sea some 670 km away from Taishan, Guangdong, packing winds of up to 23 meters per second, the NMC said in a statement.

The NMC forecast it would move northwestward to make landfall near the cities of Shenzhen and Yangjiang in Guangdong Sunday, and then move west to Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region while losing strength.

The agency forecast Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and Fujian provinces will see torrential rain in the coming day.

China has a four-tier color-coded system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for “firm adherence to the right direction in the reform of mass organizations.”

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in an instruction to a symposium on mass organization reform.

The work on mass organizations is an important component of the undertakings of the CPC, and mass organization reform is an important part of overall reform, Xi said.

Xi asked the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee to enhance guidance on the reform work, with a reform office under CPC Central Committee overseeing the implementation of the reform plan.

Party committees at all levels should take responsibilities to push forward the reform of mass organizations, by steering the direction of the reform, studying the current situation and tackling difficulties to improve the work of mass organizations and their services, Xi said.

Beijing’s food safety watchdog has begun a two-week sanitation inspection of the city’s restaurants.

This came after two Beijing branches of a popular hotpot chain were exposed to have operated in unhygienic conditions. Videos taken by hidden cameras showed rats infested the kitchen, a dishwasher was caked with oily food residue, and a worker tried to fix sewage clog with a soup ladle.

The Sichuan Province-based Haidilao hot pot has admitted its management faults in a frank public statement issued Friday, apologizing for the scandal.

In recent years, Haidilao took major Chinese cities by storm by its signature spicy Sichuanese hot pot and excellent service. According to its website, Haidilao is operating in about 60 Chinese cities and has expanded to Los Angeles, Singapore, Seoul, and Tokyo,

Beijing Food and Drug Administration said the inspection will target both restaurant chains and canteen suppliers. Business licenses, dishwashers, sanitation equipment, measures to keep off pests and diseases are the focus of the inspection.

The watchdog said it has also ordered Haidilao to open its kitchens to the public in a month and report the overhaul measures. The chain’s sanitation ratings will be downgraded.

Haidilao, meanwhile, promised to ensure all its restaurants both in China and abroad maintain good sanitation standards.

Beijing plans to replace coal with clean energy sources in 700 villages on its surrounding flatlands within the year. This would eliminate coal burning from seven of the city’s districts including Chaoyang, Haidian, Fengtai, Shijingshan, Daxing, Tongzhou and Fangshan, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Rural Affairs.

As of November 2016, Beijing had replaced coal with clean energy sources for 227,000 rural households in 663 villages, surpassing the target number by 43 percent. Of these households, 198,000 in 574 villages were fitted with electrical energy and 29,000 in 89 villages were provided with natural gas replacements.

In addition, Beijing will also promote clean energy use in 1,400 village committees and public areas as well as in agricultural facilities covering 790,000 square meters.

Air-source heat pumps, ground-source heat pumps and storage electric heaters are currently the three most common electricity-powered heating sources in Beijing. To ensure quality standard, the National Quality Surveillance and Testing Center of Air Conditioning Equipment is responsible for sample testing and giving feedbacks to districts, if there were any problem. Three hundred sets of equipment have been tested so far.

This year Beijing has launched the coal-to-power switch in nine rural towns and three sub-districts, benefiting 46,269 households. After open tendering and field visits, the capital city has selected 23 manufacturers of air-source heat pumps and 11 energy storage companies to contribute to the transition.