Traditional Chongyang Festival Celebrated Today

Today (October 7th) is the traditional Chongyang Festival, in which Chinese people will traditionally go climbing in the mountains to drink chrysanthemum wine. The Festival falls on the ninth day of the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, so it is also known as the Double Ninth Festival. Last night, Guangzhou's Baiyun Mountain received large numbers of climbers, who believed that hiking higher in the mountains assured promotions or a higher position in society. However, as of midnight, less than 60,000 citizens had climbed the mountain, only half compared to last year. 

Earthquake Jolts Area near Lhasa, Killing at least 9

Rescue Headquarters confirmed this morning that at least nine people were killed yesterday (October 6) in a strong earthquake that jolted a county near Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Rescuers arrived at Yangyi Village, the worst-hit site in Gedar Township of Damxung County, late Monday night after repairing the road also paralyzed in the 6.6-magnitude tremor. At least 147 houses in Yangyi and villages in a neighboring county have collapsed. According to an earlier report, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake shock northwest China Sunday night. So far, no casualties have been reported.

Customized Number Plates Hits on Road

Starting yesterday (October 6), car owners can design and choose their number plates for their new cars, instead of selecting the number through a random computer lottery. Although customized number plates are widely welcomed by car owners, crowds have not yet been seen in the registration offices. Our journalist Zhang Keng has more details.

At the registration office in Fangcun, Mr. Zhong easily obtained his favorite number U168N. He explained:

"UN is the abbreviation for United Nation. I just want to be unique, nothing special. "

Over 1000 Guangzhou citizens have booked to register their number plates today, less than the maximum handling capacity of 1355. Section head of the registration office Zheng Yongxing said that popular numbers like a series of four 1s or 7s have been chosen. He advised drivers to think of something different.