Citizens of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, can establish charity funds in their name by donating at least 10,000 RMB, today’s City Business News announces in its top headline. The city looks forward to “more ordinary citizens and families becoming ‘private philanthropists’.”
The front page has the feel of a community newsletter and features a variety of local-interest stories:
- “Average living space has increased by one room over the past five years”:
Statistics for the residential population show that in 2005, the average living space per capita was 31.75 square meters. This figure had risen to 43.76 square meters by last year. In other words, during the first four years of the 11th Five-Year Plan, the per-capita living space for Suzhou residents grew 12 square meters. Adding in this year’s growth, and on average, people gained an extra room!
- A woman found drowned in Xiao Shihu Park turns out to have been murdered by her husband and his lover.
- Today’s photo shows statues of boat trackers (纤夫) alongside the moat in Suzhou’s old town. Only one statue of a set of three still remains; the other two have been carried off, leaving only their feet behind.
- “A magnetic old storehouse”: one in a series of articles on repositioning the economy of the old town into a “creative Canglang District.”
The newspaper is also running a special section called “Happy Home Decoration Day” on the 14th; on the same day, it will sponsor a seminar on antique collecting.