Society

The Chinese believe corruption is the biggest problem hurting the nation's image, a recent survey has found.

A poll conducted by the Horizon Research Consultancy Group showed nearly 60 percent of the respondents took corruption among government officials as the biggest blot on China's image, to be followed by counterfeit and shoddy goods, and pollution, the China Daily reported Wednesday.

Altogether 1,350 people in five major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, joined the telephone survey in mid-December.

News that the wife of Yao Ming, the Houston Rockets' All-Star center, is pregnant has sent netizens rushing to predict Baby Yao's height and gender in the hopes that the child will someday lead the national basketball team.

Zhang Chi, spokesman of the Shanghai Sharks, confirmed that Yao and Ye Li, a former player on the Chinese women's national basketball team, are expecting their first child. The Sharks were recently purchased by Yao.

"The couple appreciate the public's concerns (about the expected baby)," said Zhang. "But to give Ye some space and peace of mind, the couple thinks it's inconvenient to provide any further information."

A report on Sina.com said Ye, who is 1.90 m in height, is expected to give birth sometime around May or June. But whether Ye will deliver the baby in the United States or in Shanghai is unknown.

People prepare materials for rescuing miners at the Lisheng Coal Mine in Tanjiashan Town of Xiangtan County, central-south China's Hunan Province, Jan. 5, 2010. Twenty-seven miners were trapped after a fire happened inside the coal mine on Jan. 5.

The death toll has climbed to 18 in Tuesday's coal mine fire in central China's Hunan Province, with nine more bodies retrieved early Wednesday.

Rescue work continued Wednesday to search for survivors, as at least nine more miners were believed to be trapped at the Lisheng Coal Mine in Tanjiashan Town of Xiangtan County.

Energy giant PetroChina Co Ltd has pulled out of a $40 billion deal to buy natural gas from a project off Australia, but Chinese analysts and officials Tuesday tried to play down the impact on the Chinese market or bilateral relations.

Australia's second largest oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum Ltd informed Australia's stock exchange on Monday that an early stage agreement for the Browse Basin liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off Western Australia state had not been settled by a Dec 31 deadline and had now lapsed.

Under the September 2007 agreement, PetroChina would have potentially bought up to 3.3 million tons of LNG per year for up to 20 years.

At the time, it was one of Australia's largest export deals worth an estimated A$45 billion ($40 billion).

"I don't think it will hurt the domestic market. The growth momentum in China's natural gas market will continue," Dong Xiucheng, professor at China University of Petroleum, said Tuesday.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said she was not aware of the specifics of the issue, but stressed that the economies of China and Australia are complementary, and promoting trade and investment serves the common interest of both countries.

PetroChina said last night that a delay in the development of the Browse project was the major reason behind the lapse of the deal.

Some analysts also said it was probably because PetroChina had become dissatisfied with the cost in the two years since the deal was signed.

The lapse of the deal means that the terms, including price, for a large chunk of Browse Basin gas are once again fully open to negotiation.

"The deal was good at the time, but in the past two years, things have been changing rapidly," said Peter Kopetz, energy analyst with Western Australia-based State One Stockbroking.

Natural gas prices peaked in the middle of 2008, but have been on a decline since then, tumbling more than 50 percent.

PetroChina would probably look for other sources of gas, said Yang Wei, an oil industry analyst at Guotai Junan Securities in Shanghai.

"I think it's probably because the price is not right. It's too high," he said.

Woodside and PetroChina "have agreed to keep each other informed of progress in their respective LNG export and import projects," Yvonne Ball, the Australian company's spokeswoman, told China Daily Tuesday.

China is a leading LNG importer, but the country should diversify its import sources to find more sustainable supplies, analysts said.