A fire that engulfed a commercial-residential building in central China has caused hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property damage.
Economic loss resulting from a fire in downtown Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, has been estimated at nearly 300 thousand dollars. Local officials say 12 businesses were affected by the blaze, but an investigation into the structure found the building is not in danger of collapse.
Since September 2007, a scheme backed by the German government has brought the very best in German technology to second-tier cities around China. The fifth exhibition of the series recently kicked off in Wuhan in central China and Mark Dreyer was there to check it out.
The city of Wuhan has ploughed hundreds of millions of dollars into an effort to clean up its lakes and waterways. But so far this investment hasn't saved the city's fish, which are are continuing to die in their thousands as a result of the pollution. BON's Tom Spender has more.
Wuhan, a provincial capital on the banks of the Yangtze River, is famed for its lakes and its steamed freshwater fish, a local delicacy.
But sights such as this – hundreds of belly-up fish corpses floating on the city's lakes – could make people lose their appetite for such dishes.
Pollution has made the city's lakes lethally poisonous for the marine life they once nurtured.
This body of water – the South Lake – is covered with dead fish washing up against the leafy shores, the decomposing flesh emitting a foul stench.
Such mass dying is nothing new here. It has occurred several times a year since 2004. In May this year, the waters became so degraded that 22,000 pounds of dead fish covered the lake. The same thing happened last year in Wuhan's East Lake, touted as an area of natural beauty and a great venue for recreation.
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