Torrential rain from Thursday to Friday has left two people dead and another missing in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, authorities said Saturday.

More than 108,000 residents of the districts of Hechuan, Beibei, Yubei and Tongliang were affected, with over 1,300 of them evacuated, the municipal flood control and disaster relief headquarters said in a statement.

More than 100 houses were destroyed and 5,200 hectares of crops were damaged, said the statement.

The municipal weather center issued a yellow alert for heavy rain 11 p.m. Friday, forecasting over 50 mm of rainfall on average in many parts of the municipality on Saturday.

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

BEIJING, June 10 (Xinhua) — The Chinese central government has appointed Xie Feng as commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, replacing Song Zhe, according to a decision announced on Saturday.

In 2016, Beijing’s population was 21.7 million, and the number of permanent residents in the six urban districts fell by 3 percent year on year. [Photo/Xinhua]

Beijing has made progress in cooperation with its neighbors and will act to restrict population growth.

Beijing officials met with the press on Friday to review progress made over the last three years in the integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province.

Liu Bozheng, deputy director of the office overseeing the integration, said Beijing will meet its annual targets of restricting population growth and moving non-capital functions away from the city.

This year, Beijing will continue to relocate wholesale markets, factories, universities and hospitals to suburban areas and Hebei, he said.

In 2016, Beijing’s population was 21.7 million, and the number of permanent residents in the six urban districts fell by 3 percent year on year, said Liu.

“The changes are unprecedented. Before, the mode of growth was to congregate resources, but now we must delegate and move out resources to achieve more planned and sustainable development,” he said.

From 2013 to 2016, Beijing closed 1,341 general manufacturing and polluting enterprises. This year, 372 manufacturers have already been relocated, 74.4 percent of the annual target.

Manufacturing and agriculture dropped by 72.75 percent and 26.42 percent, while, industries like finance, culture and technology grew as much as 22 percent.

“Industrial restructuring is the key. It is like pealing away the outer layers of a cabbage, and cooking its core, which is of better quality,” said Liu, with Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform.

This year, a total of 255 construction projects will get underway in Tongzhou, the subsidiary administrative center.

“We invited some of the world’s top designers to build Tongzhou, which covers 155 square kilometers,” said Liu.

By the end of this year, several government buildings will be finished and staff be ready to move.

Liu said Beijing will support Xiongan New Area. “Whatever Xiongan needs, Beijing will provide its support. The two wings of Tongzhou and Xiongan will develop in tandem,” said Liu.

A number of online accounts have been shut down this week for posting vulgar content, according to the Beijing cyberspace administration.

The administration on Wednesday urged major online platforms to enforce the shutdowns to contribute to a healthier online environment. The platforms with closed accounts include the Twitter-like social media service Weibo, and WeChat, an instant messaging app.

Most of the banned accounts posted entertainment industry gossip, while some were owned by famous paparazzi. The administration accused them of vulgarity and invading the piracy of celebrities among other issues.

The shutdowns were enabled by the country’s new cyber security law that was passed in November 2016 at the bimonthly session of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee after a third reading, and went into effect on June 1.

The administration released another statement Thursday, calling on the public to report vulgar content on the Internet to provide a safer online environment for teenagers, with summer vacation approaching.

According to the statement, as of Thursday, a total of 11,798 pieces of vulgar content have been removed by the center for illegal and harmful online content in Beijing in 2017.

The shutdown has aroused mixed reactions from the Internet users, with some applauding the action.

“I cannot stand the constant invasion of celebrities’ privacy, and some of the gossip is completely made up,” said “Weierxiaojie” on Weibo. “It’s so good to know that it has finally been taken down.”

Others were concerned about the potential concealment of misconduct in the entertainment industry. “Now it is ‘safer’ for celebrities to misbehave,” said Weibo user “jilongfei”.

Users also pointed out many more accounts posting vulgar content have not yet been shut down, asking for further action to clean up the online environment.

China has explored numerous means, including information disclosure and lawmaking, to tackle the increasing commercialization in places of worship across the country.

New forms of infringement of religious rights and interests have sprung up, making it more urgent to protect and promote these rights, said Jiang Jianyong, deputy head of the State Administration for Religious Affairs.

Jiang made the remarks at a meeting of the Buddhist Association of China (BAC) held in the city of Changsha in central China’s Hunan Province this week, with delegates from 14 provinces and municipalities in attendance.

According to some delegates, companies and individuals in some regions are increasingly exploiting Buddhism for commercial interests under the guise of Buddhist cultural parks or theme parks, and even eliciting donations to support false applications for world heritage status.

Some religious figures have illegally accumulated wealth using Buddhism as a cover to rent out temples for commercial use.

A prominent monk in the Hunan city of Hengyang arbitrarily approved a 5-million-yuan (730,000 U.S. dollars) procurement of 18 pine trees from Japan, said Huai Hui, secretary-general of the provincial Buddhist association

Another monk in the city of Loudi, also in Hunan, raised over 8 million yuan in the name of temple construction, which was actually for personal use, he added.

“Some ancient temples have been encompassed by so-called ‘cultural parks’, with non-religious buildings constructed around them for commercial use,” said Sheng Hui, deputy director of the BAC.

A number of “fake Buddhists” have been carrying out illegal religious activities, extorting money and luring followers, harming the reputation of the religion.

A living-Buddha authentication database was launched last year to confirm the identity of living Buddhas. With roots traceable to the 13th century AD, the reincarnation of Buddhas is a unique inheritance system within Tibetan Buddhism. The BAC has issued certificates to living Buddhas since 2010.

“To protect religious rights and uphold dignity, Buddhist associations across China have been asked to tighten their management of personnel and strictly prohibit any commercial activities,” Sheng said.