China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) has promised severe punishments for economic crimes that affect interests of lots of people, including illegally absorbing public deposits and fundraising fraud.

It also urged procuratorates to give more priority to the prevention of financial risks, cracking down on crimes such as money laundering and underground banking, and take an active part in Internet financial risk management, according to an SPP statement.

The SPP also pledged to strengthen work against manipulation and insider trading in securities and futures markets, and in supervision of property markets.

High-profile cases of financial crimes have been reported in China in the past years, including the illegal fund-raising activity of Ezubao and the case of Xu Xiang, general manager of a Shanghai-based investment company indicted for allegedly manipulating the securities market.

In 2016, 304 department-level officials from central government bodies received disciplinary punishment, according to disciplinary authorities.

Among the 304 officials, 126 were punished for violating the “eight-point” guidelines against bureaucracy and extravagance, according to a work conference on disciplinary work of central government bodies.

In 2016, discipline inspection authorities dealt with over 22,500 tip-offs concerning disciplinary violations of central state agencies’ officials, four times that of the previous year.

Chinese police solved 83,000 cases of telecom and Internet fraud in 2016, up 49.6 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

The ministry noted that the number of cases has dropped significantly since last September.

The increase in telecom and Internet fraud has been contained, the ministry said in a statement, adding that economic losses caused by telecom and Internet fraud in 2016 decreased by 10.9 percent year on year.

Last year, Chinese police dispatched work teams to several countries, including Kenya, Laos, Malaysia, Cambodia and Spain, and took back 561 telecom fraud suspects, the ministry said.

In 2016, police nationwide busted nearly 7,700 telecom fraud rings.

According to the ministry, Chinese police have successfully stopped bank transfers to 73,000 fraud accounts and recovered 1.13 billion yuan (around 164.8 million U.S. dollars) since June 2016 when banks and police nationwide began cooperation to respond to telecom fraud.

A new human H7N9 avian flu case was reported in central China’s Hunan Province Sunday, the 20th in the province this year.

The 69-year-old female patient, surnamed Zou, was diagnosed in Changsha city, the provincial capital. She had contact with poultry before falling ill and is in a critical condition, according to the provincial center for disease control and prevention.

This is the second H7N9 case in Changsha. Five of the the 20 patients in Hunan died from the virus.

H7N9 is a bird flu strain first reported to have infected humans in China in March 2013. It is most likely to strike in winter and spring.

Traditional Spring Festival celebrations include firecrackers, family reunions and temple fairs, but today it might be worth adding cinema to the list.

Chinese cinemas posted a record of 3.347 billion yuan (about 487 million U.S. dollars) in ticket sales during the seven-day holiday, from Jan. 27 to Feb. 2, according to industry figures.

China’s box office sales also set a single-day record on Jan. 28, the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, at 805 million yuan.

The strong figures came after China registered weak growth in box office sales in 2016, when 45.712 billion yuan was reported, or a 3.73 percent annual growth.

HOT MARKET

As cinemas sprout up nationwide, with the number of screens exceeding 40,000, going to the movies has become a popular holiday pastime.

Full cinemas were found in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, but also in smaller cities across the country.

Wu Xiaoqi, 26, chose to spend half a day with her cousins in a cinema near her home in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality when the holiday was drawing to its end.

“We were hanging out and then decided to see a movie since it was a good way to kill time,” said Wu, who works in Beijing.

After watching “Kung-Fu Yoga,” an action starring Jackie Chan, they decided to stay at the cinema.

“We had a lot of spare time then and my cousins were interested in the story of ‘Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back,’ so we stayed in the theater to watch it,” Wu said.

Directed by Hark Tsui and partly scripted by Stephen Chow, the fantasy-action tells the story of a monk bringing his three disciples to the west, a story immortalized in the Chinese classic novel “Journey to the West.”

Both movies were popular across the country. “Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back” took 1.153 billion yuan over the seven days, topping the holiday box office, while “Kung-Fu Yoga,” earned 870 million yuan.

Though vastly different films, they share two things in common: comedy elements and famous stars.

“The holiday is an important battleground for the Chinese film market,” said Rao Shuguang, secretary-general of the China Film Association. “Due to stiff competition, films screened during this period are more likely to be blockbusters.”

MORE TO IMPROVE

Led by domestic blockbusters, homemade films took the lion’s share of holiday earnings.

However, despite strong ticket sales, worries over the quality of domestic productions persist.

Influential entertainment website douban.com, rated both “Kung-Fu Yoga” and “Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back” as less than 6 out of 10.

Some observers were also worried about the lack of imagination in domestic productions, complaining that the classic “Journey to the West,” had been made several times before.

Observers have said that the film market could face a setback after its short term successes, and that filmmakers should focus on making high-quality films to guarantee the healthy market development.

Yin Hong, a professor at Tsinghua University, said filmmakers should not just be satisfied with targeting box office earnings, but that they also needed to improve the quality of their content.

He said that in order to match ticket sales with favorable reviews, domestic films should make progress in a changing society.