Trending across China

What do Chinese women think of their body shapes? Yao Ming, Prince William and David Beckham call for an end to ivory and rhino horn sales, and a woman cheats millionaires out of more than 360 million yuan - it's all trending across China.

2013? EXHAUSTED!

A survey shows the keyword to describe the year 2013 for most the of Chinese people is "EXHAUSTED" and other top listed words include "plain," "busy" and "board." "Grey" is the color to symbolize 2013 for 54% of the respondents. Psychologists said the "exhausted" Chinese people are at the edge of the lost values and aims due to the increasing uncertainties in daily life. But people in Yunnan, the capital of Southwest China's nature-rich province, said they are "happy" and "satisfactory."

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Sampling corruption

A senior official of the meat factory affiliated with China Oil & Foodstuffs Corp. (COFCO) received a severe reprimand for bribing in the name of sending new product samples to officials of COFCO. Jiang Guojin, general manager of the factory, gave out product packages as Mid-Autumn Festival gifts with a value of 53,788 yuan ($8,843) and the bribe takers were reported to have returned the gifts.

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Body management

Only thirty percent of Chinese women are proud of their body shapes, and more than 50 percent mistakenly regard weight losing as their life-time goal to rebuild an admirable figure, a survey by the Family Culture Research Center of All-China Women's Federation showed.

While experts cautioned about the potentially dangerous weight loss, they pointed out that a healthy and graceful figure can only be gained through a healthy diet, regular work-outs and fit shape wear.

The survey has also showed Chinese women do not know much about their own bodies, with only 34.8 percent knowing the measurements of their busts, waists and hips. (Beijing Youth Daily)

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Luxurious marriage

Ninety-nine rolls of un-cut banknotes as a wedding gift from a bride's parents in Tianjin have stunned Internet users, with many commenting it's such an eye opener as they have never seen so many currencies, including some rare foreign notes, at one time.

Insiders said the dowry also include property purchases in Tianjin and Beijing and luxury cars.

Nine is an auspicious number meaning "long lasting" in Chinese and is often used in weddings. (www.ce.cn)

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Mulberry gloves heat

The same type of Mulberry gloves British Prime Minister David Cameron sent to China's first lady Peng Liyuan during his visit to China this week have sold so well they are nearly out of stock in Beijing stores, Legal Evening News reported.

The latest data from the online retailer Taobao.com shows an ever increasing viral search for "Mulberry gloves" in the past three days. The online sales of the gloves are predicted to see a sharp rise in the week to come.

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Giant call

Retired Chinese basketball player Yao Ming appeals to the public to stop buying ivory and rhino horn products at the debut of a video advocating the protection of elephants in Shanghai on Friday.

The video featured Yao, Britain's Prince William and soccer star David Beckham. Yao is the ambassador of WildAid, an international conservation organization.

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Woman ensnared at least 8 millionaires

A woman accused of cheating millionaires out of more than 360 million yuan ($59 million) with her German boyfriend is being prosecuted in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, cnr.cn reported.

Born to a middle-class family in Shanghai, the woman started her career in a bank before turning to fraud, the authorities said.

As many as eight millionaires fell victim to the woman, surnamed Zheng, and her boyfriend, identified as Robert, who claimed to be an heir of a German family with wealth in the hundreds of millions of euros.

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Two housing programs unified

China will combine two subsidized housing programs — low-rent and public rental — and manage them together as "public rental housing".

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said on Friday that housing authorities were to merge low-rent projects into public rental housing next year.

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