North China Plain

A strong explosion rocked the port city of Tianjin in northern China on Wednesday night, shattering windows and sending dust dozens of metres into the air, Xinhua reported.

At least 50 people have been admitted to hospital to be treated for injuries, China's state news agency said.

No fatalities have been reported so far.

China will carry out a groundbreaking trial program that may allow farmers to sell land, a senior official said March 4, a step towards liberalizing rural real estate transactions currently monopolized by the government.

China on Wednesday imposed smothering security in central Beijing on the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, a bloody watershed in history that remains taboo in the communist nation.    
   

China has opened its first environmental court, as the country is struggling to cope with the impact its rapid industrialization has had on nature.

The court in the southern province of Fujian will be able to make use of a new environmental law giving more powers to persecute polluters from January 1, 2015.