Kites flying high
Photo by Wang Xieyun



On October 17th, the second Dazhou Cup Kite Festival was held near the International Seaside Hotel, which attracted thousands of on-lookers. It's part of a series activities celebrating the fourth Xiamen Daily Reader's Day.

Economics

Favorable terms for enterprises setting up headquarters in Xiamen
我市向企业总部下"聘礼"
The city government has recently drawn up the provisional regulations on domestic and overseas enterprises setting up regional headquarters in Xiamen in a bid to attract businesses to base their regional head office here in Xiamen. It's reported that the newly released regulations contain a series of favorable polices in terms of land use, finance, business registration, and personnel entry and exit.

USD 6 mln. worth of orders placed in 4 days
4天揽下600万美元订单
The four-day long 3rd Asian and African Handiwork Exposition && China Industrial Art and Folk Handicraft Exposition concluded on October 14 at Xiamen International Conference && Exhibition Center with fruitful results. Statistics showed that orders placed over the four-day period were worth nearly USD 6 million.

Dial 2232809 to report suspected IPR infringement
发现侵权请拨2232809
The city's Administration of Industry && Commerce appealed on October 14 to members of the local community to report any suspected infringement of intellectual property rights (IPR), including counterfeiting trademark and selling pirated copies of publications, by dialing 2232809, which is the first publicized government phone number to receive IPR related complaints.

Society

Enjoy Auto Car Rental offers Chinese driver's license application services for foreigners
盈众汽车租赁代办中国驾照
In an effort to provide better services to foreign nationals working in China, Enjoy Auto Car Rental Company has recently launched the new service of obtaining Chinese driver's license on behalf of foreign nationals. With this service, interested foreigners can follow the simple steps below to get a Chinese driver's license: bring your passport and original driver's license to the local administration of entry and exit for translation into Chinese; staff members from Enjoy Auto Car Rental Company will then take you, as well as your passport and driver's license translation, to the Vehicle Administration Office for a physical checkup and photo-taking (RMB 50 is payable for the physical checkup and photo-taking); those who have passed the physical checkup may proceed to any of the seven windows in the business hall of the office to set a date for a written test on traffic rules and regulations (each test costs RMB 30); successful test takers will be issued a Chinese driver's license. However, foreign applicants for a Chinese driver's license must have a China residence permit with one year or longer validity.

Drivers and passengers wearing no safety belts to face fines
不系安全带要受罚
In an effort to curb the rising number of traffic tragedies resulting from not wearing safety belts in cars and not wearing helmets on motorcycles, the city's traffic police have lately launched a special citywide rectification campaign. Effective on November 1, drivers and passengers in the front seat who wear no safety belts and motorcyclists and motorcycle riders who wear no helmets will be subjected to heavy fines.

Auspicious mobile phone number fetches RMB 125,000
靓号拍得12.5万元
In celebration of its fifth anniversary, Xiamen Mobile organized an auspicious mobile phone number auction on October 14. A total of 50 auspicious numbers were auctioned off, with the number 13779999999 fetching the highest bid at RMB 125,000; all of the other 49 numbers were sold out at prices ranging from RMB 5,000 to RMB 70,000. The auction attracted hundreds of bidders and the RMB 1.2 million raised from the auction, after a 10% withholding for donations to Hope Project, were converted into advanced payments for phone bills of the successful bidders.

Yinsheng strives to be appointed as sportswear provider for the Olympics
银升集团争当奥运服装特许供应商
Yinsheng Group Co., together with the Hangzhou Fukeda Co. Ltd., is negotiating with the Organizing Committee of the Beijing Olympics to become the appointed sportswear provider. The CEO of Yinsheng, Mr. Chen Weimin has twice visited Quanzhou and Xiamen exploring the garments industry in Fujian. As the clothing provider of multiple renowned brands, Yinsheng employs over 3,000 working staffs in Hong Kong, Guangdong and Fujian, and is also the clothing designer for many social celebrities.

Xiamen-Osaka air route opened
厦门可以飞大阪了
Xiamen-Osaka air route will be officially opened by Xiamen Airlines on November 8, which will enable local passengers to fly non-stop from Xiamen to Osaka. This will be the 4th regular international air route of Xiamen Airlines following its obtaining of the right to operate international flights in 1996 and its opening of air routes from Xiamen to Bangkok, Seoul, and Penang/Singapore. Xiamen Airlines says that the opening of the new air route is catering to the rising number of Fujian tourists to Japan and a move in anticipation of the opening of Fujian's tourism industry.

Local folks each spend 2.25 yuan per day on breakfast
厦门人每天2.25元吃早餐
A recent specialized survey by Gallup (Xiamen) Market Research Co., Ltd. shows that more than 50% of local residents are in the habit of having regular breakfasts and that on average they spend 2.25 yuan per day on breakfast.