Society

China's consumer prices are expected to rise more than five percent in March on a lower comparison basis from a year ago and imported inflation, economists have said.

Shanghai-based Shenyin Wanguo Securities predicts the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a major gauge of inflation, to increase 5.3 percent in March, the highest in nearly two years, driven by rising food prices and a lower year-on-year comparison basis.

Food prices are likely to jump 12.3 percent from a year ago while the lower comparison basis would contribute 3.4 percent to the CPI rise, the company said in a report.

Weird China Traffic Post at Aipan twisting mountain road which is section of Xiangchuan Highway.

A suspected mental disease patient, a Chinese Girl, nudely climbed up a high voltage transmission tower which located at the crossing of Tanggu Dongjiang Road and The 9th Avenue, Tianjin, 12:00 31st Mar. 2011.

Songhuajiang Photo Shot in 2007

The program to reduce pollution between 2011 and 2015 will include emission targets for rural areas, Li Ganjie, vice-minister of environmental protection, said on Monday.

The country's vast rural areas, included in the program for the first time, are becoming more polluted than cities, he said.

"Pollution from agricultural sources already contributes to more than half of the country's total emissions," said Li. "It is high time that we addressed these problems."

But Li did not specify the contribution of rural areas in meeting these targets.