China will increase financial aid to elderly citizens whose only child has died or become disabled, an official with the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) said on February 10.

Effective from the beginning of 2014, parents in urban areas who have lost their only son or daughter will be provided with 340 yuan ($56) each month while families living in rural regions will receive 170 yuan ($28), said NHFPC spokesman Yao Hongwen at a news conference.

Parents in urban and rural areas whose only children have become disabled will receive monthly allowances of 270 yuan ($44) and 150 yuan ($24), respectively, Yao said.

Improving Xinjiang

The government of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will continue to allocate large sums of money in 2014 toward enhancing locals' livelihoods, authorities announced.

A total of 61.66 billion yuan ($10.17 billion) will be handed out this year to help fund 150 projects covering employment, housing, healthcare, agriculture, and other fields, said Huang Wei, vice chairman of the regional government, on February 11.

More than 484 billion yuan ($80 billion) has been mobilized in similar programs over the past four years, according to official figures.

Excavated Remains

Remains of a 4,200-square-meter building on a hilltop in northwest China's Shaanxi Province are the largest ritual site from the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 B.C.) yet discovered on the Loess Plateau.

Located in Xinzhuang, Qingjian County on the west bank of the Yellow River, the late Shang site covers up to 100,000 square meters and is believed to reveal the relationship the ancient Chinese culture of the time had with nature.

A team led by the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archeology began their excavation work at the site in April 2013. Over 100 artifacts made of clay, bones, copper, wood and stone have been unearthed, and the earliest wooden floors seen on the plateau were also found.

The team's leader, Sun Zhanwei said that the thickness of each piece of floorboard was different, which would have created a flat surface on the rugged terrain.

Experts said two winding corridors surrounding the main building clearly demonstrate that the architecture had ritual significance.

City of Style

Shanghai surpassed Tokyo and Hong Kong to become Asia's most stylish city, a new survey has found.

According to research by Global Language Monitor, a U.S.-based data research firm that catalogs trends by tracking word usage, Shanghai is the reigning fashion capital of Asia, ranking 10th worldwide.

Asia is well-represented in the top 20, with Tokyo at No.11, Singapore at No.19 and Hong Kong at No.20. Beijing didn't make the top 55.