China will move more swiftly in legislating a long-discussed property tax law, an official said on Thursday.

“It is a major task in China’s tax reform determined by policymakers, and the lawmaking process will be accelerated,” Lu Kehua, vice minister of housing and urban-rural development, said when answering questions on progress on the tax law during a press conference.

Related government agencies and legislators are carrying out work according to the plan, Lu added.

China has pushed forward the work for years, but progress has remained slow. A trial property tax has been introduced in Chongqing and Shanghai.

The law will fill the gap in taxing home ownership, as China’s current housing tax mechanism mainly taxes development and property sales.

Former vice mayor of Shanghai Ai Baojun on Thursday stood trial on charges of corruption at a court in the city of Zhangzhou, east China’s Fujian Province.

Prosecutors alleged that from 2002 to 2014, Ai, a former member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China Shanghai Municipal Committee, took advantage of various official positions to help agencies and individuals with business operations and development, among other offences.

Ai was said to have accepted bribes worth more than 43.2 million yuan (6.28 million U.S. dollars) either personally or through his family.

In addition, he was accused of taking advantage of his positions to embezzle public assets worth more than 7.5 million yuan from 2001 to 2009.

Ai pleaded guilty and expressed remorse.

More than 40 people, including Ai’s family, representatives of legislators and political advisors at national and local levels, as well as journalists and members of the public, were present at the open trial.

The verdict will be announced at a later date.

Days of snow and rain have made roads inaccessible and stranded 41 highway maintenance workers in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, local officials said Thursday.

The road under maintenance is in Pengdang township, Gongshan County. Although stranded, the workers are not in danger, said the publicity department of the county government.

Rescue is underway.

According to the “Guidelines on Drawing Up and Safeguarding Ecological Red Line,” the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, together with the regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, need to draw up a “red line” for ecological protection by the end of 2017, while other areas should come up with a “red line” before the end of 2018.

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt are under China’s two key development strategies, and the decision to draw up the ecological red lines are deemed complementary to the strategies.

The red lines are based on China’s administrative divisions, but will eventually ensure the completeness of the ecological system across the country.

Zhao Lingyi, a post-90 woman, introduces her cakes to a customer in her shop in Weihai in Shandong province, Dec 19, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

A survey carried out by China Central Television indicates that those born in the 1990s and those above 60 are more confident about their financial health, reported chinanews.com.

The China’s Economic Life Survey, sponsored by CCTV, the National Bureau of Statistics, China Post and National School of Development at Peking University, suggests new trends in income, expenditure, social security, and life quality of Chinese people.

This year’s survey shows that 16 percent of post-1990s and 13 percent of those aged above 60 are confident about their financial prospects.

According to previous surveys, the confidence in income in 2015 rebounded to the highest point in recent years.

In terms of investment, Chinese households are relatively risk averse, with 35 percent investing in nothing. The most popular financial products are insurances – nearly two in five people chose to spend on them.

The survey also shows that 46 percent of respondents prefer to spend on tourism, leading in various kinds of consumption choices.

More than half said they “are under much pressure from work, and have no time to exercise”. At the same time, 34 percent said they buy heath care products and services.

When it comes to attitudes toward the second-child policy, 24 percent of respondents said they do not plan to have another child in short term due to economic pressure.

The survey collects feedbacks from 100,000 Chinese households in 104 cities across the country by sending them post cards with questionnaires. This year, big data technology was applied in the survey.

The detailed information about the survey will be aired on CCTV next month.