LAIYUAN, China (Reuters)- China’s Great Wall is falling victim to development as legal and illegal mines tear vast chunks out of the hills below the landmark, conservationists warn.

Voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, the 6,400 km (4,000 mile) wall snakes its way across 11 Chinese provinces and draws millions of tourists every year, mostly to restored sections near the capital, Beijing.

Away from the tourist trail, however, some parts of the wall are being allowed to crumble away.

About 200 km (124 miles) southwest of Beijing, in rural Laiyuan county in Hebei province, dozens of small mines are threatening the stability of the centuries-old wall as prospectors dig for copper, iron, molybdenum and nickel, state news agency Xinhua reported. Some mines have excavated within 100 meters of the wall.

But since many of these mines have legal permits, there is nothing conservationists can do, said Dong Yaohui, Vice Chairman of the Great Wall Society.

“The exploitation of the mineral resources falls under the jurisdiction of the Land Resources Bureau, so if the bureau issues mining permits to the mining companies, they can legally extract the mineral resources within areas designated in the contract,” Dong said.

“But in this process the Land Resources Bureau does not take into consideration the Great Wall as a factor, or consult the opinion of the Department of Cultural Heritage as there is no rule requiring a consultation as such. So this creates the mess in organization.”

Beijing (Reuters) – Black bean sauce noodles and other delicacies served at one Beijing eatery are being snapped up by customers eager to order the dishes eaten by U.S. President Joe Biden on a recent visit, a meal dubbed “noodle diplomacy.”

Biden and his entourage ordered five bowls of black bean sauce noodles, 10 steamed buns, smashed cucumber salad, mountain yam salad, shredded potatoes and Coca Cola at Yao’s Chao Gan restaurant for lunch last Thursday, racking up a tab of 79 yuan ($12.40).

Staff at the small restaurant said the number of customers ordering the noodles has risen by four times since then, with many coming in to order what they call the “Biden Set” even if it is not on the menu — though owner Yao Yan plans to include it soon.

“U.S. Vice President Joe Biden came to my restaurant for lunch just like an ordinary customer, and we treated him like an everyday guest who came from far away,” she told Reuters Television.

“We didn’t give him any discounts or special offers.”

On a recent day all seats were full in the simple restaurant, where diners sit on backless chairs and eat from plain white dishes. A line snaked through the room, with hungry customers eyeing other treats such as fried spring rolls.

Economic concerns dominated Biden’s visit last week, with the two nations turning their backs on a range of thorny problems including human rights and trade in favor of showing shared confidence and co-operation in the face of a jittery global economy.

By Tyra Dempster

BEIJING (Reuters Life!) – The school day has ended but class is not yet over for students heading for their local community center and a very different sort of classroom — one built from shipping containers.

The children, who are from China’s “floating population” of migrant workers, don’t hold Beijing residency, which means they do not have the right to access free education at public schools.

Migrant families who have settled in Beijing are now so permanent that city officials tolerate, but do not certify, about 260 private schools dotted around the capital specifically to serve migrant children. These schools are also often located on marginal land earmarked for other projects, and can be subject to sudden demolition.

This was why Compassion for Migrant Children’s Education has decided on the unusual solution of shipping containers for their latest community center, located in a grimy northeastern Beijing suburb called Heiqiao, where it runs after-school programs for children of migrant workers.

“In the event that we need to move because of urban development, we can just pick up these containers and move with the families,” said Yin Chia, the NGO’s Australian-Chinese manager.

“These classrooms, they are built out of shipping containers, they are completely renovated.”

TIANJIN, China, July 1 (Reuters) – A strike at a Japanese-owned electronics factory in north China crippled production on Thursday, extending the industrial unrest that has put manufacturers at odds with increasingly assertive workers.

Employees at the Tianjin Mitsumi Electric Co. factory continued a stoppage that began on Tuesday.

Handmade banners with workers’ demands hung from the factory gate and about 30 workers gathered near an entrance in rain, cheering reporters outside. The factory is owned by Tokyo-listed Mitsumi Electric (6767.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a maker of electronics components.

“Human traffickers are not welcome” read one banner at the factory gate. “We want a pay rise” and “We want fair treatment” said other banners, some several metres long.

Mitsumi Electric said the factory, with over 3,300 employees, had stopped production because “some of its employees demanded higher wages and improved benefits”. The company said it was talking with the striking workers, and the “impact of the stoppage is limited at this point.” ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^ TAKE A LOOK-China labour in the spotlight [ID:nSGE65103V] For a graph on China’s averages wages, click here ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^ The factory is the latest high-profile target in slow-burning but persistent labour unrest that has hit foreign-owned companies, often left vulnerable by their position in complex supply chains and by a tightening labour market.

Over past weeks, striking workers have demanded higher wages from car parts makers and other manufacturers, especially Japanese auto parts companies with operations in the south.

Workers, many of them migrants from poor villages, say their wages have not kept up with rising prices or the profits reaped by companies using China as a low-cost production base.

BEIJING (Reuters) – A severe winter has left 4.5 million dead animals in stockyards across the Mongolian steppes, and many poor herders face the loss of all their property just before the important breeding season.

About a tenth of Mongolia’s livestock may have perished, as deep snows cut off access to grazing and fodder.

The damage to the rural economy could increase demands on Mongolia’s already-stretched national budget, which relies on mining revenues to meet spending commitments.

The Red Cross launched an emergency appeal for 1 million Swiss francs to assist Mongolian herders, after it estimated that 4.5 million livestock have died in the country since December.

“The numbers of livestock that have perished have gone up very, very quickly and dramatically now to about 4 million which is roughly a tenth of the whole livestock population,” Francis Markus, communications director for the Red Cross’ East Asia delegation, said in Beijing after returning from Mongolia.

“This means that thousands of families, mostly coming from the poorest and most vulnerable layers of the herder population, have lost their entire flocks of animals and have been left in a very, very distraught and very, very desperate state.”

Roughly one-quarter of Mongolia’s 3 million people are nomads, while others also raise livestock in fixed settlements. Many go deeply in debt to buy and raise their herds, in hopes of making the money back by selling wool, meat and skins.

BEIJING, Jan 28 (Reuters) – China will send its largest ever Winter Olympic delegation to Vancouver for next month’s Games although they have modest expectations compared to their all-conquering Summer counterparts.

Both gold medallists from Turin four years ago, women’s short track speed skater Wang Meng and men’s freestyle skier Han Xiaopeng, have recovered from injuries to take their places among the 91 Chinese competitors for the Feb. 12-28 Games.

China topped the medals table with 51 golds at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games, but the country is much weaker in winter sports and officials have targeted just matching their haul of two golds, four silvers and five bronzes from Turin.

“We started taking part in winter sports much later and we face great obstacles … generally speaking we are below the level of the summer sports,” Zhao Yinggang, secretary general of the delegation, told a news conference on Thursday.

“We are working hard on narrowing the gap between China’s winter and summer sports.”

“We should win no fewer medal than last Games, and try to improve from last time,” added Zhao, who will be one of 91 officials and coaches accompanying the athletes.

Han will lead a strong Chinese challenge in both men’s and women’s freestyle skiing aerials, while Wang, three strong figure skating pairs teams, women’s snowboarders and the women’s curling team are all strong medal hopes.