Headlines

Today marks the annual World Carfree Day. Chengdu, which hosted the country's first observance of the event in 2001, put into place traffic controls in certain areas, including around Tianfu Square. But in direct opposition to that was the Friday opening of Chengdu's 12th International Motor Show, displaying over 500 models of domestic and international luxury vehicles. Chengdu's auto market has grown by 20 percent annually, and with now over 2 million private vehicles on its streets, the city sits behind only Beijing and Shanghai in terms of automobile-ownership rates.
China News and China Daily

Nine were killed, four seriously injured, and another 91 hospitalized after a bombing Tuesday night in residential area in Yibin's Cuiping District. No reports have been made of arrests, and investigators are looking into the exact cause of the explosion.
Sichuan Online

And also in Yibin, four children were injured when a grenade they were playing with exploded on Wednesday in Guanghui Village, Pingshan County. Three of the four sustained serious injuries, and the last was lightly wounded. The police are investigating this case.
Chengdu Commercial Daily

A 5.1-magnitude earthquake hit the border of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces Saturday afternoon at 4:54 p.m. In Sichuan, Qingchuan County was rocked. So far there have been no reports of casualties.
China Daily

A 13-year-old boy in Huisuo Gardens in Chengdu's Wuhou District was injured Thursday morning after the elevator he was in fell from the 11th to the 10th floor. The patient underwent a splenectomy as a result. He stated that a power failure might have caused the accident.
Chengdu Commercial Daily

Ramp-up to National Day
Luzhou gymnast and three-time Olympic gold medalist Zou Kai (邹凯) won Sichuan's first medal of 11th National Games of China Sunday night. Zou received the medal for his performance in the individual floor exercise. Since then, Sichuan has pulled in another 22 medals, 9 of which are gold, bringing the province into the eighth position in the medal counts.
Chengdu Commercial Daily

Foreigners will be banned from traveling to Tibet, starting September 24 and effective through October 8, according to various travel agencies.
AFP

You might have noticed national flags waving from nearly every building throughout the city. The decorating started this week, and everyone's getting into the spirit, including the owner of a historic, 1970s-era Hongqi which made an attention-grabbing appearance on Thursday so that its owner could buy it some flags. Hongqi (红旗) is the luxury-car series of China's First Automobile Works Group, Co.
Chengdu Commercial Daily

Construction and Development
Southwest China's first high-speed trains (Hexiehao 和谐号) will make their inaugural run on Monday. Traveling up to 200 kilometers per hour, they will cut the trip between Chengdu and Chongqing to a mere 119 minutes. Seven trains will depart daily from each location between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; tickets start at 98 RMB.
Chengdu Commercial Daily

With next year's planned makeover of the North Railway Station, Renmin Bei Lu will be extended past the Third Ring Road to Beixin Gandao (北新干道). The new kilometer-length section of Renmin Bei Lu will dip underground from the First Ring Road through the current North Railway Station.
Chengdu Commercial Daily

Yulin Xi Jie is undergoing renovation. By the end of the month, it will have new granite tiling and will be lined with flower boxes and benches.
Chengdu Commercial Daily

Society and Culture
Want to win 10,000 RMB? From next month, diners and other customers in Chengdu will receive a new kind of receipt that offers them the chance to win cash prizes. Customers are urged to request receipts for all transactions to help encourage accurate financial reporting among local businesses.
Chengdu Commercial Daily

Across the nation, a record 410,000 future lawyers and judges sat for the two-day national judicial exam last weekend. In Chengdu, the exam was held at the Vocational and Technical College, where administrators utilized electric sensors to ensure takers did not use electronic assistance on the exam.
China Daily

Five Jiange county officials have been removed from their posts for gambling—by playing mahjong—while on duty. They were caught at a teahouse on September 9 with more than RMB120,000 at stake. Officials are expressly prohibited from playing mahjong while on duty or gambling with it in public. Nonetheless, a handful of Sichuanese officials have been fired for the offense over the past few years.
China Daily

Provincewide, 17 government officials—among them, party and public security chiefs—have been found to have ties to criminal gangs since 2006. In Le Shan a pair of officials took a total of 472,000 RMB in bribes to cover up a criminal gang's murder. And in Yuanyang town, another pair took bribes to protect illegal gold miners. The latter pair have been sentenced to prison. Sichuan police launched a crackdown on gang activity in 2006 and have since caught 832 individuals and confiscated 150 million RMB.
China Daily

Did you hear the sirens on Friday afternoon? Every September 19, Chengdu joins other cities across the nation in sounding air-raid alarms in observance of the anniversary of the pre-World War II Mukden Incident, in which the Japanese invaded Manchuria and began their occupation of China. The sounding of the sirens also serves as an exercise of the Air Defense Warning System.
Chengdu Commercial Daily

On Friday, Jianyang citizen Huang Renyi (黄仁义), who has crossed China three times by bike, made a 500-kilometer cycling journey in 22 hours and 54 minutes, successfully breaking his previous record of 24 hours.
Chengdu Commercial Daily

Chengdu artist Xu Liaoyuan's furniture exhibition opened Sunday at his private gallery, the XLY MOMA in San Shengxiang. The luxury furniture will be sold during the exhibition, with one piece costing as much as 2 million RMB.
Chengdu Commercial Daily

Since the launch of this year's "09 'Ice' Breaker" operation, authorities have discovered 2429 cases of people manufacturing, selling, or in possession of so-called "new drugs," including 155 kg of methamphetamines, .36 kg of ecstasy, and 72.92 kg of ketamine. To date, drug use has been reported in each of Sichuan's 21 cities and prefectures, and 36 manufacturing sites have been shut down, and 797.2 kg of raw materials seized.
Sichuan Online

Odd news
Road workers in Baoxiang spotted a young panda trapped on a hill last Saturday and lent the national treasure a helping hand. One worker was injured during the rescue, but told media, "I don't care much for the injury. It's worth saving a panda."
China Daily

Since last Monday, thousands of fishing enthusiasts in Langzhong's Nanbu County have been rushing to the Jialing River after 50,000 kilograms of catfish escaped from their cages. And Nanbu County's entire stock of bait has reportedly been sold out.
Chengdu Commercial Daily

Residents of Huahaoyuan Compound block 5 near Shuangxing Dadao heard a loud bang early Friday morning. It turned out the noise was caused by an exploding toilet. (Yum.) The shock damaged washrooms in several flats, and investigators determined the explosion was due to one of the residents' illegal storage of chemicals in the building.
Chengdu Commercial Daily

—Researched by Marvin Tan

Police in Jintang County (northwest of Chengdu proper) staged a practice drill in preparation for National Day security last Friday. The drill involved a fake explosive that was planted at the local middle school. And to be sure the drill was as authentic as possible, neither the students of the school nor their families were notified that it was just a drill.

The scene:

On Friday morning, a suspicious red bag was found on a second-floor bathroom of the Jintang County Middle School.

At 10:30 a.m., the area was cordoned off, and six fire engines, an ambulance, and 100 police had arrived at the scene. At 10:47, county PSB head Gang Xiao commanded over the school's loudspeakers, "All students on the first floor, evacuate immediately to the playground," and so on until, by 10:55, all of the school's nearly 6,400 students and teachers had been evacuated.

Those ironic caption writers at Sichuan News captioned this photo of terrified students understandably running for their lives "Students evacuate from the building in an orderly manner."

Curious onlookers flocked to see what was going on, but they were immediately turned away by police patrolling the area.

At 10:59, a group of seven explosives experts examined the bag and pronounced, "This thing will not explode."

From Sichuan Online:



Finally, after the drill was completed, the police announced to the crowd that it was only a drill, which evidently prompted a big public sigh of relief. Almost like an April Fool's Day prank half a year early. Wasn't there some fable about a boy and a wolf?

Oh, and by the way, in case you were wondering, the Chengdu Police have officially announced that no large-scale assemblies will be tolerated in the days leading up to the National Day. So don't even think about it.

Images: Sichuan News