Shanghai is running out of space to bury its dead. This isn't a new problem, but authorities there are under increasing pressure. They're calling on families to consider smaller cemeteries and non-traditional burial plots like shared memorial gardens.

They're also encouraging people to scatter their relatives' ashes at sea. But despite these new creative initiatives, the fact remains that space is rapidly disappearing, and the space that remains comes at a price.
A plot in a Shanghai graveyard ranges from between 3-thousand to almost 30-thousand dollars.

That's a price tag that's been rising at least 10 per cent year on year. And it's a cost that's hard to bear in a city where the average annual salary is between 3 and 4 thousand dollars.

There's some good news on the H1N1 front here in China. For the first time, the country has seen a decrease in the official number of H1N1 flu cases and deaths on the mainland. BON'S Sylvia Gunawan has more.

China's Ministry of Health says there was a 34 percent decline in the number of H1N1 flu cases on the mainland last week. The ministry confirmed around three thousand cases between December 28th and January third, down from about 44 hundred the previous week. But perhaps more significantly, the number of deaths was also down to 67 from almost a hundred the previous week.

Despite the good news, though, the ministry says members of the public should still be cautious and take measures to guard against the disease. Even though large outbreaks in schools in major cities are on the decline, it warns the epidemic is still spreading in more rural areas.

The installation of solar powered street lamps is especially well suited to the city of Lhasa as it enjoys an average of over 3-thousand hours of sunlight a year.

Each of the new solar street lamps costs about 14-hundred dollars,around the same as a conventional lamp. But the savings in terms of CO2 emissions are substantial. In fact the amount of a heat absorbed every minute by just 1 square inch of solar panel is equivalent to the emissions produced by burning six ounces of burning coal.

As we've reported here on BON millions of people in China's northern and western provinces have been affected by one of the worst winters in decade. But in the south of the country people are also suffering from the weather – not from snow.

More than 3 million people are facing water shortages as the worst drought in 50 years hit parts of south and southwest China. That's according to the country's meteorological department.

In Yunnan province – a popular destination for tourists coming to China – a staggering two million, nine hundred thousand people have been affected. And nearly one and a half MILLION sheep, goats and cattle are short of drinking water. Authorities' say half of the province's crops are simply wilting away.

If you thought national bike tours were only for Lance Armstrong, you’d be very wrong. In fact, at this very moment in China, a group of four thousand senior citizens are setting out to prove just how wrong you are.

A Picture - Worth A Thousand Words?
Smiles At Massacre Scene Cause Fury
Air Safety In China

The ten-thousand Chinese hectare white birch wood surrounding Altai wears golden clothing under the Fall sun, and the drifting and falling yellow leaves, like musical notes, play melodies of the changing season.

In what is feared to be China's largest marine oil spill, more than two-thousand firefighters, battled oil-induced flames on the water. At a the port of Dalian, in northeastern China, a few pipelines busted and caught fire.