Guangzhou Communist Party leader Wan Qingliang is being investigated for corruption, a party disciplinary commission has said.
Wan Qingliang, 50, is suspected of “serious disciplinary violations”, a term generally used to indicate corruption.
Guangzhou’s party boss Wan Qingliang is suspected of serious disciplinary violations (photo Reuters)
He is regarded as the city’s top official, ranked above the mayor.
Tens of thousands of officials have been arrested since President Xi Jinping began an anti-corruption campaign in 2012.
Xi Jinping has warned that the party’s very survival is threatened by corruption and has vowed to root out every corrupt official, whether “tigers” or “flies”.
A central government audit recently uncovered 314 serious disciplinary violations, up from 175 serious cases revealed the year before.
Correspondents say that before the investigation Wan Qingliang had been seen as a rising star in the Communist Party, developing a reputation for frugality while serving as Guangzhou’s youngest ever mayor.
Guangzhou is China’s sixth largest city and capital of the economically significant Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong.
Armed police patrol vehicles have been deployed in Beijing following three attacks at transport hubs around the country.
The 150 vehicles are tasked with “countering street terrorism and fighting severe violence”, state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Petrol purchases would also be tightened, with buyers required to register with police, reports said.
Armed police patrol vehicles have been deployed in Beijing following three attacks at transport hubs around the country
The move follows station attacks in Kunming, Urumqi and Guangzhou, and comes before the Tiananmen anniversary.
Xinhua agency said the armed police patrols would be stationed at major road junctions and manned by at least nine police officers and other assistants.
They would cover an area of 1.8 miles and would be required to respond within three minutes, Xinhua added.
Meanwhile, those buying petrol would have to explain their intentions in a move that aimed to prevent the use of gasoline “to create disturbances”, People’s Daily newspaper said.
The security upgrade comes amid heightened concern over security after the three station attacks.
March’s group knife attack in Kunming left 29 people dead and more than 100 wounded. A similar attack in Urumqi in April left three people dead and almost 80 injured.
Chinese authorities have blamed both attacks on separatists from the Muslim Uighur minority group, which lives in Xinjiang.
It is not yet clear what sparked an attack last week at Guangzhou station in which six people were hurt. One man is reported to be in custody.
In October 2013, meanwhile, five people died and dozens were injured after a car drove into a crowd near Tiananmen Square and burst into flames.
Officials said three of those who died – the occupants of the car – came from the Uighur minority group.
The Uighurs, who are ethnically Turkic Muslims, say that large-scale Han Chinese immigration into Xinjiang has eroded their traditional culture and accuse Beijing of oppressive control.
The boost in security in Beijing also comes three weeks ahead of the 25th anniversary of the crackdown on anti-government protesters at Tiananmen Square.
Several well-known activists, including journalist Gao Yu, have been detained ahead of the anniversary.
Hitachi has announced it will install an elevator capable of reaching speeds of 45mph (72km/h) into a skyscraper in Guangzhou, southern China.
The world’s fastest elevator would take 43 seconds to go from the first to 95th floor in the Guangzhou CTF Financial Centre, the company said.
The skyscraper is scheduled to be completed in 2016.
Currently, the Taipei 101 building in Taiwan holds the record for fastest elevator – it can travel up to 60.6km/h.
Hitachi promised a “comfortable ride” even at high speeds in the new elevator.
The world’s fastest elevator would take 43 seconds to go from the first to 95th floor in the Guangzhou CTF Financial Centre
The elevators would prevent ear blockages, Hitachi said, by artificially altering air pressure in the car.
Hitachi said guiding “rollers” that adapted to warping caused by wind pressure would mean the ride remained smooth.
And brakes able to resist extreme heat would activate in the “unlikely” event of a malfunction.
The building will have in total 95 elevators, two of which will be operate at the ultra-high speed.
Twenty-eight “double-decker” elevators will also be installed into the building.
The Guangzhou CTF Financial Centre will house office, hotel and residential space.
If the Hitachi elevator performs as well as the company has said, it will comfortably top the global chart for fastest elevator.
Today’s record is held in Taiwan, where passengers in the Taipei 101 building are flung from the fifth to the 89th floor in 37 seconds, a speed of 1,010m (3,313ft) per minute.
The Yokohama Landmark Tower in Japan moves its passengers at 750m per minute, while the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, has a lift that moves at 600m per minute.
London’s Shard, the tallest building in Western Europe, has elevators that move at 360m per minute.
[youtube tVXkpOBzj1c 650]
