RAIN DISASTER: Rescuers try to dig out victims of a deadly landslide triggered by torrential rains in Shuangshang Village, Cangwu County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on June 16 (HUANG XIAOBANG)

Flood Relief

China's disaster-relief authorities launched a level III emergency response plan to help the victims of floods that occurred on June 14.

A statement on the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters (SFDH) website said, the office dispatched a work team to south China's Hunan Province to oversee relief work.

Three other teams were dispatched on June 14 to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and southeast China's Fujian Province after heavy rains fell in these regions.

In the worst hit regions, flooding and landslides triggered by the heavy rain killed at least 42 people as of June 16 while 49 others are still missing.

In Xinjiang, more than 200 households were evacuated after a dam breach on June 14, said the SFDH.

A Popular Destination

Beijing hosted a record high 1.86 million overseas visitors in the first five months of this year, up 23.7 percent from a year earlier, the municipal statistics bureau said on June 12.

The number includes 1.58 million foreign visitors, up 27.1 percent, and 284,000 tourists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, up 7.3 percent.

The Chinese capital received 472,000 overseas tourists in May alone, up 29.7 percent from a year earlier.

The United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) were the top three tourist sources in May, the bureau said.

In May, Beijing hosted 69,000 U.S. tourists, 53,000 Japanese tourists and 51,000 ROK tourists.

3-D Dinosaur Footprints

A China-U.S. science expedition recently discovered a number of rare, three-dimensional dinosaur footprints while investigating and researching dinosaur footprints in Lianhuabao Village, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

Experts with the team said the discovery will help in the understanding of how dinosaurs walked.

The footprints, which were discovered in 2003, are the largest from the cretaceous period. There are more than 300 dinosaur footprints, including concave and convex ones, distributed in an area of 140 square meters and they belong to the Ankylosaurus, Anatosaurus and Theropoda.

During their research, the experts found that some well-preserved convex dinosaur footprints have three toes, with mound-shaped metatarsal prints at the heel and a hoof-shaped claw prints at each toe. The footprints are a half-meter long. The study shows that these footprints are really 3-D dinosaur footprints that belong to the Hadrosaurus.

Xing Lida, an expert with the science expedition, explained that "there probably was a mud pit where the 3-D dinosaur footprints were found."

"When the Hadrosaurus walked there, it left traces," he added. "Afterwards, the pit was filled and formed a mold. Then, we found the interesting footprints."

"We can even clearly see the change of the Hadrosaurus' toes, from splaying to closing together," he said.