• Authority watchful to avert risk of Zika virus

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  China may be at risk of being affected by the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which is spreading in the Americas, but the possibility of it spreading here is low as there are fewer mosquitoes in winter and spring, the country's top health authority said on Friday.

• Kipp's Picks: Swimful Record Release, Dim Sum Disco, Neon Zoo, and Natural Flavor

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  This is the time of year when things slow down a bit to make way for the madness that is Chinese New Year, the biggest migration of human beings on the face of the planet. But the funny thing is, the party circuit in Beijing never actually comes to a complete standstill. There is still plenty to choose from this weekend with dance parties up the wazoo to unleash your freak on the unsuspecting public.

• Foreigners find tickets to ride on nation's railways are hard to buy

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  Faced with the language barrier and cultural divide, foreigners are finding it hard this year to buy rail tickets in China ahead of Spring Festival.

• Big data reveals Spring Festival travel rush patterns

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  Big data on travel patterns shows that while many people are leaving metropolises for family reunions during the Spring Festival travel rush this year, some will be traveling in the reverse direction for the same reason.

• Foreigners Dubious of China's Newly Announced “Ease of Entry” Procedures

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  Word on the street: it's becoming more difficult for foreigners to get employment visas in Beijing. Several years ago, China implemented and began enforcing new requirements that foreigners have at least two years of work experience outside the country before becoming eligible for a work permit here, along with requiring that such visas be applied for in the applicant's home country. This cut off a prime source of talent for a significant number of both domestic and international firms: foreigners who were studying at local universities and thus tended to possess the Mandarin-language skills that many coming straight from abroad do not have.

• Smoother, faster ride home for Spring Festival

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  BEIJING - High-speed trains with comfort, Starbucks coffee onboard, free WIFI in stations, and phone apps for ticket purchase. As the Spring Festival travel rush kicked off on Sunday, hundreds of millions of Chinese found that their journeys for holiday homecomings have become much smoother and faster.

• Shanghai sees twelvefold increase in 'green cards'

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  Under loosened visa policies in effect since July to attract more foreign talent to Shanghai, 12 times more expats have obtained permanent residence cards in the past five months than during the same period last year.

• First direct flight links Xinjiang, southeastern Asia

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  URUMQI -- The first direct flight linking northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and a southeastern Asian country, has been launched, sources with the Urumqi international airport announced.

• New law to stamp out domestic violence

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  Courts would be required to hear requests for protection by victims of domestic violence and to make a determination within 48 hours, under China's first draft law covering domestic violence.

• Smoking rate holds steady despite reduction efforts

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  The Chinese Adult Tobacco Use Survey 2015 by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, found that 27 percent of adults smoked in 2010, the same as now, but the absolute number of smokers has climbed. The total smoking population in China is now 316 million, up 15 million since 2010.