Beyond the hype about ambitious women on their way to billionaire status, there are many struggling just to get by

The cover of this week's Newsweek proclaims Chinese women the "power sex", and promises to reveal the secret behind their "overwhelming ambition". Apparently Chinese women are far more successful than their western counterparts, with more female top politicians and executives in China than America and more billionaires on the Forbes rich list than anywhere else in the world.

It's more than a little galling, considering I'm a Chinese woman in Britain who has just graduated into unemployment and masses of student debt. I've got enough to deal with (not least sorting out my visa) without running up against the overinflated expectations the rest of the world has of me.

A lot is made of the famous Chinese work ethic: people maintain we're hardworking by nature. (Anybody who knew me at university might be tempted to argue otherwise.) But sweeping cultural generalisations tend to trip off the tongue easier than trying to wrap one's head round the slightly more complex socio-political reasons behind China's incredible growth. Chinese women aren't exempt: we're either wilting lotus blossoms, or ferocious dragon ladies who hold the purse strings to the household. The Newsweek feature, playing on the idea of the limitless ambition of Chinese women, isn't any different.

All things considered, being told that you're meant to be ambitious and successful is a pretty complimentary stereotype. But what is galling is the idea that Chinese women have moved into an age of limitless possibility, when that's far from the case. One of Mao's more famous maxims was that women hold up half the sky. In China, it's really only a few select women who do. It's easy to forget that more than half of the 1.3 billion people in China still live in deprived rural areas. Women in these places are far from high-achieving entrepreneurs. More often than not, they're just trying to survive. Women in China are more likely to kill themselves than those in the west, and those in the countryside are two to five times more likely to resort to suicide.

Those who move to the city don't usually fare better: with rural-urban migration and job competition at an all-time high, many women find themselves forced to enter prostitution to make ends meet. Crackdowns on prostitution are excessive and degrading: police in Dongguan recently forced two suspected prostitutes to parade through the streets, handcuffed and on a leash. Sexual discrimination remains common in the job market: advertisements sometimes state that places are only open to men. Those for women may include a minimum height requirement and a certain level of attractiveness (presumably to be determined at the employer's discretion). Last year, the once male-dominated People's Liberation Army opened up recruitment to women ? and included a Miss Universe-style talent segment as part of its interview process. Women sang, danced and even rapped to get a shot at their ideal job. Meanwhile, male candidates had to be content with the standard application process.

So yes, Chinese women may be ambitious ? it would be strange if they weren't, given the opportunities afforded by China's expanding economy. But their achievements are mitigated by the enormous disparity between the lives of a few urban, educated women and those of poor, desperate rural peasants. There is no secret to the success of Chinese women: for some women in China, there's barely any chance for success at all.

Scientists say desertification of the mountain grasslands of the Tibetan plateau is accelerating climate change

Like generations of Tibetan nomads before him, Phuntsok Dorje makes a living raising yaks and other livestock on the vast alpine grasslands that provide a thatch on the roof of the world.

But in recent years the vegetation around his home, the Tibetan plateau, has been destroyed by rising temperatures, excess livestock and plagues of insects and rodents.

The high-altitude meadows are rarely mentioned in discussions of global warming, but the changes to this ground have a profound impact on Tibetan politics and the world's ecological security.

For Phuntsok Dorje, the issue is more down to earth. He is used to dramatically shifting cloudscapes above his head, but it is the changes below his feet that make him uneasy.

"The grass used to be up to here," Phuntsok says, indicating a point on his leg a little below the knee. "Twenty years ago, we had to scythe it down. But now, well, you can see for yourself. It's so short it looks like moss."

The green prairie that used to surround his tent has become a brown desert. All that is left of the grasslands here are yellowing blotches on a stony surface riddled with rodent holes.

It is the same across much of this plateau, which encompasses an area a third of the size of the US.

Desertification

Scientists say the desertification of the mountain grasslands is accelerating climate change. Without its thatch the roof of the world is less able to absorb moisture and more likely to radiate heat.

Partly because of this the Tibetan mountains have warmed two to three times faster than the global average; the permafrost and glaciers of the "Third Pole" are melting.

To make matters worse, the towering Kunlun, Himalayan and Karakorum ranges that surround the plateau act as a chimney for water vapour ? which has a stronger greenhouse gas effect than carbon dioxide ? to be convected high into the stratosphere. Mixed with pollution, dust and black carbon (soot) from India and elsewhere, this spreads a brown cloud across swaths of the Eurasian landmass. When permafrost melts it can also release methane, another powerful greenhouse gas. Xiao Ziniu, the director general of the Beijing climate centre, says Tibet's climate is the most sensitive in Asia and influences the globe.

Grassland degradation is evident along the twisting mountain road from Yushu to Xining, which passes through the Three Rivers national park, the source of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers. Along some stretches the landscape is so barren it looks more like the Gobi desert than an alpine meadow.

Phuntsok Dorje (name has been changed) is among the last of the nomads scratching a living in one of the worst affected areas. "There used to be five families on this plain. Now we are the only one left and there is not enough grass even for us," he says. "It's getting drier and drier and there are more and more rats every year."

Until about 10 years ago the nearest town, Maduo, used to be the richest in Qinghai province thanks to herding, fishing and mining, but residents say their economy has dried up along with the nearby wetlands.

"This all used to be a lake. There wasn't a road here then. Even a Jeep couldn't have made it through," said a Tibetan guide, Dalang Jiri, as we drove through the area. By one estimate, 70% of the former rangeland is now desert.

"Maduo is now very poor. There is no way to make a living," said a Tibetan teacher who gave only one name, Angang. "The mines have closed and grasslands are destroyed. People just depend on the money they get from the government. They just sit on the kang [a raised, heated, floor] and wait for the next payment."

Many of the local people are former herders moved off the land under a controversial "ecological migration" scheme launched in 2003. The government in Beijing is in the advanced stages of relocating between 50% and 80% of the 2.25 million nomads on the Tibetan plateau. According to state media, this programme aims to restore the grasslands, prevent overgrazing and improve living standards.

The Tibetan government-in-exile says the scheme does little for the environment and is aimed at clearing the land for mineral extraction and moving potential supporters of the Dalai Lama into urban areas where they can be more easily controlled.

Qinghai is dotted with resettlement centres, many on the way to becoming ghettos. Nomads are paid an annual allowance ? of 3,000 yuan (about £300) to 8,000 yuan per household ? to give up herding for 10 years and be provided with housing. As in some native American reservations in the US and Canada, they have trouble finding jobs. Many end up either unemployed or recycling rubbish or collecting dung.

Some feel cheated. "If I could go back to herding, I would. But the land has been taken by the state and the livestock has been sold off so we are stuck here. It's hopeless," said Shang Lashi, a resident at a resettlement centre in Yushu. "We were promised jobs. But there is no work. We live on the 3,000 yuan a year allowance, but the officials deduct money from that for the housing, which was supposed to be free."

Their situation was made worse by the earthquake that struck Yushu earlier this year, killing hundreds. People were crushed when their new concrete homes collapsed, a risk they would not have faced in their itinerant life on the grasslands. Many are once again living under canvas ? in disaster relief tents and without land or cattle.

In a sign of the sensitivity of the subject, the authorities declined to officially answer the Guardian's questions. Privately, officials said resettlement and other efforts to restore the grassland, including fencing off the worst areas, were worthwhile.

"The situation has improved slightly in the past five years. We are working on seven areas, planting trees and trying to restore the ecosystem around closed gold mines," said one environmental officer. The problem would not be solved in the short term. "This area is particularly fragile. Once the grasslands are destroyed, they rarely come back. It is very difficult to grow grass at high altitude."

The programme's effectiveness is questioned by others, including Wang Yongchen, founder of the Green Earth Volunteers NGO and a regular visitor to the plateau for 10 years. "Overgrazing was considered a possible cause of the grassland degradation, but things haven't improved since the herds were enclosed and the nomads moved. I think climate change and mining have had a bigger impact."

Assessing the programme is complicated by political tensions. In the past year, three prominent Tibetan environmental campaigners have been arrested after exposing corruption and flaws in wildlife conservation on the plateau.

Infestation

Another activist, who declined to give his name, said it was difficult to comment. "The situation is complicated. Some areas of grassland are getting better. Others are worse. There are so many factors involved."

A growing population of pika, gerbils, mice and other rodents is also blamed for degradation of the land because they burrow into the soil and eat grass roots.

Zoologists say this highlights how ecosystems can quickly move out of balance. Rodent numbers have increased dramatically in 10 years because their natural predators ? hawks, eagles and leopards ? have been hunted close to extinction. Belatedly, the authorities are trying to protect wildlife and attract birds of prey by erecting steel vantage points to replace felled trees.

There is widespread agreement that this climatically important region needs more study.

"People have not paid enough attention to the Tibetan plateau. They call it the Third Pole but actually it is more important than the Arctic or Antarctic because it is closer to human communities. This area needs a great deal more research," said Yang Yong, a Chinese explorer and environmental activist. "The changes to glaciers and grasslands are very fast. The desertification of the grassland is a very evident phenomenon on the plateau. It's a reaction by a sensitive ecosystem that will precede similar reactions elsewhere."

Phuntsok Dorje is unlikely to take part in any study. But he's seen enough to be pessimistic about the future. "The weather is changing. It used to rain a lot in the summer and snow in the winter. There was a strong contrast between the seasons, but not now. It's getting drier year after year. If it carries on like this I have no idea what I will do."

Additional reporting by Cui Zheng

? To order Jonathan Watts' book, When a Billion Chinese Jump, for £9.99 (rrp £14.99) call 0845 606 4232 or visit guardianbooks.co.uk.

Lawyer says writer exposed embezzlement and migrants' suffering during building of Sanmen dam on Yellow river

Chinese police have detained an author for almost a fortnight following the publication of his book about forced relocations in the 1950s, his daughter said.

Officers said they were holding Xie Chaoping, a former journalist, for "illegal business activities" after detaining him at his home in Beijing on 19 August, said Li Mo.

Li said her father had just paid for the publication of his book, The Great Migration, which is about the construction of the Sanmen dam on the Yellow river.

The book charts the struggles of hundreds of thousands of people relocated due to the project, and reportedly accuses authorities in Weinan, Shaanxi province, of embezzling money meant to compensate those affected.

The 55-year-old writer has been transferred to a detention house in Shaanxi. Li added: "The charge doesn't make sense. My father didn't do illegal business. They arrested him for the book. My father just wrote the truth. He didn't just make up things, everything in this book has evidence. He didn't think there was anything wrong with the book. It is quite a shock for him to get arrested."

Xie's lawyer, Zhou Ze, told the South China Morning Post he had been allowed to see his client, who seemed in reasonably good spirits. "Xie thinks he's being persecuted because he's disclosed embezzlement, local government wrongdoing, migrants' suffering and land disputes," said Zhou. "It is another case of abuse of public power to repress public scrutiny and a breach of freedom of publication."

He told another newspaper that even if the book had been printed without official approval, it was the responsibility of the publisher, not the author.

Li Wanmin, an activist who tipped off Xie about the story, said: "The book is an objective account of what has happened to immigrant peasants, a marginalised group among peasants." He said that some of the farmers had to move eight times and that many died of starvation during the great famine in the early 1960s.

Another campaigner for the relocated residents said he taken several thousand copies of the book to Weinan in June, but that officials confiscated them, saying they were cracking down on illegal publications.

According to a reporter at the Beijing News, Xie first tried to write about the corruption allegations in 2006, but officials told the magazine he worked for to suppress the report.

His wife said he then began to collect more material on the issue and decided to publish a book himself. Flash magazine, in Shaanxi province, agreed to publish his work as a supplement if he paid 50,000 yuan (£5,000).

David Bandurski, of the China media project at Hong Kong University, said that many historical episodes remained highly sensitive in China. But he added: "A lot of actions against individual publications or reporters are coming from entrenched local interests [rather than higher officials]. There are so many examples of history being tied in with local immediate interests. You don't have to stretch very far to see how this could be more than a case of remote history which could touch on [local] leaders."

According to the English language Global Times newspaper, Xie's lawyer said the corruption allegations in the book related to residents who were relocated again in 1985.

An official at the publicity department at the Weinan public security bureau told the newspaper that the investigation was continuing, adding: "I have as little information as you do."

The Guardian's phone calls to Weinan public security bureau rang unanswered.

Government says it hopes junk will be sunk by rules on new numbers, but critics fear more monitoring of citizens

China began requiring identification from anyone buying a new mobile phone number today in what it says is a bid to stamp out junk messages.

But critics say the move gives the government a new tool for monitoring its citizens.

The rules apply to everyone, including foreigners visiting the country for a short stay, the China Daily newspaper reported.

The paper said the regulation was "the latest campaign by the government to curb the global scourge of spam, pornographic messages and fraud on cellular phones".

Low-cost mobile phone sim cards are readily available in China, at convenience stores, newspaper stands and airport kiosks.

Until now, they could be bought anonymously with cash and used straight away, as in the UK. But such a system makes it difficult to track down spammers.

The China Daily said Chinese mobile users receive an average of 43 text messages a week, 12 of which are spam.

The ID requirement is raising new privacy concerns and is likely to upset some customers unwilling to give out personal information for fear it will be resold, said Duncan Clark, managing director of BDA China, a technology market research firm.

Wang Songlian, research co-ordinator with the Hong Kong-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders, said the requirement fits a pattern of tightening government control over new communication technologies.

China censors internet content it deems politically sensitive and blocks many websites, including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Following ethnic riots in western China's Xinjiang, international phone and internet links to the region were suspended for months.

The new regulation will probably not affect Chinese dissidents, many of whom already have their phones closely monitored.

But it could help police track down ordinary people who take part in spontaneous protests, Wang said.

China has seen a growing number of protests sparked by labour disagreements, anger over pollution and other issues.

"I think the government has an eye on Iran where protests were fuelled by text messages and Twitter and they are doing this for social stability reasons," Wang said.

China has more than 800m mobile phone numbers already in use. The Global Times newspaper reported today that 320m of those were bought without real-name registration. The numbers will have to be reregistered by 2013 or could be suspended, the newspaper said.

China Unicom, one of the country's three major state-owned phone carriers, says on its website that the ministry of industry and information technology requires real-name registration for all new phone numbers starting today.

A company official said China Unicom would strictly implement the new rule.

"It will help reduce spam and fraudulent text messages, and also help us improve service to customers," Wen Baoqiu said.

China Mobile ? the world's biggest phone carrier in terms of numbers of subscribers ? would also comply with the directive, said a spokesman.

The ministry of industry and information technology did not respond to questions about the new rules.

At a Beijing newspaper stand where sim cards are sold, a 24-year-old officer worker said she supported the move.

"I hope it will help crack down on spam," Wu Xi said. "It won't be a problem if I have to show my ID."

Chen Haimin, the owner of a Beijing convenience store, said he was still selling cards without personal information and he was doubtful that the new scheme would tackle junk mail. "How do you know if people are even showing their real ID?" he said. "People who want to send spam can always come up with ideas to get around the regulations. Besides, it's not hard to get a fake ID."

Increasingly, America finds itself aligned with its old adversary in order to offset China's assertion of regional hegemony

The presence of the USS George Washington, a nuclear supercarrier, off Vietnam earlier this month signalled a deepening rapprochement between two former enemies in the face of an increasingly assertive China.

Coming 35 years after the end of the Vietnam war, the visit officially marked the 15th anniversary of normalisation of relations between the US and Vietnam. A group of high-ranking Vietnamese military officials was flown aboard the ship, along with other Vietnamese government dignitaries and the US ambassador to Vietnam, as both sides turned on the charm.

But the supercarrier's visit also sent a clear political message to China: the US also has a stake in what China thinks is its own backyard. A few days later, Admiral Robert Willard, the head of the US Pacific command, spelt out those interests during a visit to the Philippines when he told reporters that the US military opposed any use of force to settle territorial disputes in the south China sea.

China claims sovereignty over the entire 3.5m square-kilometre south China sea, dotted with disputed groups of islands that are also claimed in whole or in part by Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines. Chinese forces seized the western Paracel islands from Vietnam in 1974 and sank three Vietnamese navy ships in a 1988 sea battle.

More recently, China has arrested Vietnamese fishermen, issued threats against multinational oil companies operating in Vietnamese waters, ramped up naval exercises and established a submarine base on Hainan island. Also in dispute are the Spratly islands. The area straddles busy sea lanes and is estimated by China to hold oil and natural gas reserves of 17.7bn tonnes.

China upped the ante when it recently upgraded its claim to the south China sea to a "core interest", putting it on par with Beijing's claims over Taiwan and Tibet. Willard's comments reinforced remarks made last month by the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, that irked China. Clinton told a conference of south-east and east Asian ministers that the US had a "national interest" in seeing the territorial disputes resolved through a "collaborative diplomatic process by all claimants".

China's assertiveness is pushing the US and Vietnam closer, particularly on military matters. The two countries held their inaugural US-Vietnam defence policy dialogue in Hanoi on 19 August, seen as a turning point in relations between the two former enemies. Carl Thayer, professor of politics at the Australian defence force academy in Canberra, wrote in the Wall Street Journal:

"Clearly, recent Chinese military assertiveness in the western Pacific and the south China sea provides a stimulus for stepped-up US-Vietnam military cooperation. Both countries share an interest in preventing China or any other country from dominating seaborne trade routes and enforcing territorial claims through coercion. Vietnam sees the US presence as a hedge against China's rising military power."

Following on from their defence dialogue, the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, is to visit Vietnam in October, marking the fourth meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart in just two years and the two countries are to hold their first military-to-military talks will be held at the end of the year. The sale of arms, equipment and military technology is not on the cards at the moment, Thayer says, but he thinks it likely that Vietnam will lift its self-imposed restrictions and allow its military officers to undertake professional military education and training courses at staff colleges and other military institutions in the US.

It is not just military cooperation that is growing. The US is said to be negotiating a controversial agreement with Vietnam to provide nuclear fuel and technology ? without the usual constraints on enriching uranium to prevent proliferation.

Vietnamese officials stress that co-operation between the US and Vietnam "does not do any harm to any other countries", and China, so far, has spared Vietnam the kind of abrasive language it has directed at the US. But Vietnam will be all too aware that Chinese patience has limits ? the two fraternal communist countries fought a brief war in 1979, after falling out with each other over Cambodia.

"Vietnam is taking a leaf out of China's book in building up its diplomatic alliances across the board," says Kerry Brown, an Asia expert at Chatham House, the foreign affairs thinktank.

"Having a stronger link with the US will give the Chinese pause for thought, no matter what gestures they might make in asserting themselves in the region. They now know that America has delivered a view on this whole issue, and that means that they can't live in the pleasing world of vagueness that prevailed till then. The bottom line now is that whatever China does in the south China sea has just become that bit more sensitive, and will impact on its relations with the US. The Vietnamese can now exploit this. That is exactly what they intend to do."

As the US and Vietnam cozy up to each other militarily, defence cooperation between the US and China remains at a standstill. Beijing suspended military-to-military ties between the countries in January, in retaliation for US arms sales to Taiwan.

A Pentagon report issued a week ago heightened China's irritation with the US. The annual Pentagon report to congress on China's military said secrecy surrounding China's military buildup increased the potential for misunderstanding and conflict with other countries. It also said China was developing more advanced weapons systems and pursuing the construction of aircraft carriers and ballistic missiles capable of attacking targets more than 930 miles away.

China reacted angrily to the report, saying that it was not "not beneficial to the improvement and development of Sino-US military ties".

Composer Pete Wyer 'dismayed' at action by British Council and English National Ballet

A British composer says he is "deeply disappointed and dismayed" by the British Council's decision to cancel a performance of his ballet in China because it was dedicated to the people of Tibet.

Pete Wyer's The Far Shore was created for the Shanghai Expo and was to be premiered next week as the highlight of the event's "UK National Day".

But the British Council and English National Ballet cancelled the performance after learning of the dedication, saying in a joint statement that it was inappropriate to go ahead because the piece had become "a political vehicle".

China experts said they appeared to be pre-empting complaints from the Chinese government, which is highly sensitive to criticism of its rule in Tibet.

Wyer wrote on the score that the piece was loosely inspired by the folk tale which inspired Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, adding: "It is a story of truth triumphing over deception and darker forces. It is dedicated to the people of Tibet, for speaking the truth, protecting their cultural identity despite the dangers they face."

The score would not have gone to China because the music for the performance was recorded in London. It is understood that the British Council and ENB were unaware of the dedication until the Times contacted them.

"I'm deeply disappointed, and particularly dismayed about the impact on the choreographer, Van Le Ngoc, and the dancers," Wyer said. "It is incorrect to categorise the ballet as a political vehicle. The dedication was a small personal gesture and nothing to do with politics. It is standard artistic practice for a composer or artist to dedicate their work to whoever or whatever they like. In this case I dedicated the work to the Tibetan people and their culture ? a culture that is appreciated by many Chinese people in China, too."

He added: "I am an artist, and not an activist. But like many artists, I am concerned about serious issues and causes, and express that through my music."

Wyer said he had long been interested in Buddhism and in Tibetan and Chinese religious culture, developing his interest in Tibet after attending one of the Dalai Lama's teaching sessions and meeting a nun imprisoned for shouting out her support for the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. He is currently writing an opera inspired by her; an aria from the work was previewed at the Royal Opera House in May.

Professor Robert Barnett, an expert on Tibet at Columbia University, described the decision to axe the ballet as "a special feature of the way people handle Chinese diplomacy ? a pre-emptive tribute where you make concessions before they are asked, in case they are asked ? we don't see that with other powers."

He said that Chinese diplomats understood that different countries had different values, adding: "Presumably the correct thing is to go to China and say 'We are very sorry if this upsets you. We didn't know it was going to happen but we are not able to do anything about it because British values are that we can't affect the private views of an artist.'"

It is understood the Chinese authorities had no knowledge of the dedication.

Mark Pritchard MP, vice-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on China and secretary of the APPG for Tibet, argued that Chinese leaders' "habitual over-sensitivity on freedom of speech" had led to the cancellation. "It appears the Chinese authorities have, in effect, forced the British Council to cancel this impressive ballet over what were clearly personal remarks," he said.

Wyer said he hoped the ballet will be performed elsewhere. ENB, which owns the choreography rights, declined to comment.

The organisations' joint statement said: "[We] very much regret that The Far Shore, a cultural collaboration between English National Ballet and Shanghai Ballet, has become a political vehicle. We therefore believe it is not appropriate for this performance to go ahead. The British Council is a non-political organisation that runs a range of cultural relations programmes in China to build and strengthen long-term cultural, academic and economic ties between the two countries."

The ENB and Shanghai Ballet will instead perform a new work, The Weight of Love, to Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring.

Liao Meizhi one of many wrongly detained in psychiatric institutions for clashing with local bureaucrats, say researchers

They snatched Liao Meizhi on her birthday, dragging her off the street and into a dirty blue van as others held back her husband.

It was only two months later, when a stranger knocked on the door, that her family learned where she had been taken. The man said he had just been discharged from a nearby mental hospital ? and that Liao was being held there against her will. Her husband insists she has no psychiatric problems.

More than six months after she was seized, her family says she remains incarcerated in the nondescript building with thick steel doors just outside her hometown of Qianjiang, in China's central Hubei province.

Researchers believe she is among a growing number of people wrongly detained in psychiatric institutions after clashing with local officials. One activist has compiled a database of more than 500 such cases.

Some victims have been held for a decade. Those freed describe being forcibly treated ? with electro-convulsive therapy and powerful anti-psychotic drugs ? for health problems they never had.

"In the last few years you have been seeing more and more cases involving petitioners and whistle blowers ? 'the awkward squad' ? [often when] the authorities have tried other punishments or sanctions to make them stop and nothing else has worked," said Robin Munro, author of China's Psychiatric Inquisition and a research associate at SOAS law school. "Finally they really try to scare them to hell by putting them in mental hospitals."

There is historical precedent: from the 60s to the 80s, some types of dissidence were regarded as evidence of mental illness and therefore "treatable" via incarceration. "[But] from the late 80s it has been 100% expediency, designed to punish or silence someone ? or both. It's incredibly easy to do and extremely convenient," said Munro.

Liao had tussled with local officials for nine years over her father-in-law's pension. In the last three she travelled to Beijing four times to raise her family's grievance with central government. Each time, local authorities seized and returned her. Her husband Yang Chunguang said she was sent to black jails ? unofficial detention houses ? and beaten. His photos show huge, livid bruises upon Liao's arms and legs. After one such incident, he said, he agreed to admit her to the Qianjiang mental hospital because officials threatened to harm her otherwise. A doctor diagnosed Liao's "paranoia", with the admission form citing "delusions of persecution". The evidence: she "believed she had been attacked; petitioned for [many] years".

Liao was released two days later. Soon she was petitioning again.

The family thought it had finally resolved its dispute this winter. But in January four thugs launched a serious assault on Liao as she shopped in a local market.

The couple were convinced it was related to the row and went to authorities to complain as soon as Liao had recovered. As they left the government offices, around a dozen men snatched her. Her husband believes he recognised two of her assailants from the health department. But the office denied involvement and police refused to register his complaint.

Even when Yang learnt of Liao's incarceration, the Yanshi mental hospital denied it was holding her. It took six visits before it allowed him to see her, for around 15 minutes.

His normally loquacious wife, who had been an actor and singer in her youth, was subdued. "Her whole face and head were swollen, probably from crying too much," he said. "She said 'I didn't think I would end up here'. They treated her like a prisoner."

He has not seen her since that visit in April. "She is the cornerstone of the family. I want her back, soon, so we can go back to normal life," he said.

But Liu Feiyue of Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch, who monitors such cases, warned that the effects of incarceration are lasting. "Many victims suffer long term depression and struggle after their release. When they return to society, they experience discrimination," he said.

Munro fears that pressure to curb other forms of arbitrary detention has led some officials to turn to psychiatric institutions, where they face few awkward questions. China does not have a mental health law; there are no admission hearings and no rights to legal counsel or a second opinion.

Piecemeal regulations stipulate that admission requires a psychiatric evaluation showing individuals are a risk to themselves or others and the approval of their legal guardians ? almost always close relatives ? or police officers who believe they have committed or will commit a crime.

Even these inadequate criteria are frequently ignored, say researchers.

"Hospitals get orders from higher government bodies to take patients. Then they will prefer not to do tests," said Liu.

Asked about Liao, the head nurse at Yanshi mental hospital said she could not comment due to patient confidentiality and hung up. The city's police did not respond to faxed questions.

An employee at Qianjiang health department, who did not give her name, said: "Yes, we took her because she is mentally ill."

But following further questions, she claimed: "We didn't take her. We don't know anything."

With no time limit on detention, and no appeals, hospitals need not release patients until or unless they choose.

"There is not much to be done about it," said Huang Xuetao, a Shenzhen-based lawyer who has acted for several detainees.

Without legal means of resolution, he appeals to whoever ordered detention and asks the media for help. "Sometimes it works," he said. "Sometimes it makes it worse."

Human rights groups and Chinese media have documented numerous cases of psychiatric detention being abused.

Earlier this year the Southern Daily reported that Xu Lindong of Luohe in Henan province spent six years in a mental hospital for petitioning and helping other petitioners. Xu told Reuters that he was forced to take drugs and was given electric shocks.

Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch reported that Wang Suiling from Nanyang in from Henan province had been forcibly detained seven times, given injections and forced to swallow pills after petitioning over a fraud case.

Last year the Chinese Human Rights Defenders network reported that two sisters from Yunxi in Hebei province, Jin Hanyan and Jin Hanqin, were forcibly held in a mental hospital after petitioning.

They were released in April this year.

In 2008 the Beijing News reported that at least 18 people were bringing complaints against authorities after being held in a mental hospital in Xintai, Shandong province against their will.

North Korea news agency hints Kim Jong-il will use Workers party assembly to confirm third son, Kim Jong-un, as next leader

North Korea's state news agency heightened speculation that Kim Jong-il is preparing to anoint his youngest son as his heir as it confirmed the leader's five-day visit to China.

Its reporting on the trip quoted repeated references to the next generation of leaders and described Kim Jong-il's visits to sites associated with his father, Kim Il-sung, the North's founder.

The 68-year-old Kim Jong-il's trip had been widely reported, but as usual Chinese and North Korean state media did not announce it until after he returned to Pyongyang.

He had visited China only a few months ago and his latest trip came days ahead of a Workers party assembly, which some analysts think will be used to indicate that he wants his third son, Kim Jong-un, to follow him as leader.

It will be the first major gathering of its kind for 30 years. The last was used to signal that Kim Jong-il had been chosen as successor, naming him to a senior position in the party. He took power when his father died 14 years later, in 1994.

Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, told Associated Press: "His purpose is to increase economic and diplomatic assistance from China for his succession process, which is more urgent than before. This is the centre of his concern."

China is North Korea's chief ally, providing desperately needed aid and energy, making its approval essential.

Kim Jong-il met Hu Jintao in Changchun for talks and a banquet, with China Central Television showing footage of the North Korean leader embracing the Chinese president.

Dr Leonid Petrov, an expert on Korea at the University of Sydney, said Russian sources told him that Kim Jong-un was present on the previous visit to China, but that it was not clear if he had taken part this time. He added that there was precedent for him travelling under a false name.

"It would be logical for him to be on this trip because they visited historic places related to the dynastic lineage," Petrov said. "It probably looked very much like a part of a succession [process] where the links between members of the dynasty would be especially emphasised before the real transition takes place."

Petrov said the previous trip was thought to have ended badly, perhaps explaining why China did not invite Kim to Beijing, but that this time had been "strikingly different".

Professor Wei Zhijiang, an expert on regional relations at Zhongshan university, said he believed Kim's prime reason for the trip was to introduce his successor to Chinese leaders ahead of the party assembly.

But he added that North Korea's leader also wanted to seek security support from China, continue discussions about the tensions on the peninsula and examine China's economic development in the hope of emulating it. "Korea is facing both regional and international pressures. It is urgent," he added.

North Korea's KCNA news agency reported that Hu had said it was the responsibility of both countries "to advance the friendship along with the times and convey it down through generations to come".

In response, said the agency, Kim told him: "With the international situation remaining complicated, it is our important historical mission to hand over to the rising generation the baton of the traditional friendship."

But neither country's media mentioned Kim Jong-un, despite earlier rumours that he had accompanied his father to China. In South Korea Seoul's Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted a diplomatic source in Beijing as saying his name was not on the official list of those present at a meeting with the Chinese president.

Chinese state media focused on Kim's remarks that he hoped for an early resumption of the six-party aid-for-denuclearisation talks. He made similar comments on his previous trip. Washington and Seoul have indicated that the six-party talks cannot resume until the sinking of South Korea's Cheonan warship has been resolved. The North denies involvement in the incident, in which 46 South Korean sailors died.

The US announced yesterday that it was expanding sanctions against North Korea, partly in response to the sinking. The treasury department said President Barack Obama had authorised action against four North Korean individuals, three companies and five government agencies.

South Korea welcomed the announcement of the American sanctions. But in a gesture of conciliation, it offered the North 10bn won (£5.4m) to help recovery from devastating floods ? the first major aid it has offered since the Cheonan incident earlier this year.

The not-for-profit trust behind the world's biggest on-line encyclopedia, Wikipedia, is none too thrilled at a constant assumption that it has something to do with the controversial whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. Just for the record, it does not.

Sue Gardner, a former journalist for Canada's CBC broadcasting network, is executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation which runs Wikipedia and a host of smaller projects such as Wiktionary, Wikiquotes and Wikibooks. In an interview in New York today, she told me she doesn't really think that WikiLeaks qualifies for the prefix "wiki" which, to her way of thinking, implies a process of collaborative editing.

"It's not us," Gardner said of WikiLeaks. "It's not even really rooted in a wiki - the work they do is quite different from ours."

She continued: "It's not a collaboratively created product - it's not fundamentally collaborative in nature. It's more of a classic leaking project. It used to be a brown manila envelope on your doorstep at three o'clock in the morning. Now it's a leak on the internet."

Gardner was careful to avoid criticism of WikiLeaks' mysterious, iconoclastic founder, Julian Assange, who has been bitterly criticised by the US government for releasing a cache of Afghan war logs, which were initially shown to newspapers including The Guardian and the New York Times. But Gardner complained that even her mother thought WikiLeaks was part of the Wikimedia Foundation.

"My mother asked me if I ran WikiLeaks. I told her I did not," said Gardner.

While WikiLeaks fights to stay a step ahead of the CIA, Wikipedia, which has grown to a treasure trove of 10m articles in 250 languages since its creation by Jimmy Wales a decade ago, has ambitions of its own. Fresh from strategic review to produce a five-year plan, the Wikimedia Foundation plans to open an office in Bangalore in the spring with a view to using India as a kicking-off point for the growth of the online encyclopedia in developing countries.

"Wikipedia has become this super-popular, really great, huge encyclopedia - the biggest collection of knowledge in human history. But it's really been most successful in rich countries," says Gardner, who accepts that in developed nations, people have more access to laptop computers and more leisure time to spend contributing to collaborative Wikipedia entries.

The trust is initially dedicating a modest $200,000 of its $20m annual budget to local-language expansion of Wikipedia initially in India, with Brazil to follow, then an as yet unchosen country in the Middle East or North Africa. Gardner is heading to Dubai in December to scout out opportunities.

It may not be calm waters all the way. As Google has found in China, and as the Blackberry maker Research in Motion has discovered in India and the United Arab Emirates, different governments have varying interpretations of just how freely and anonymously information should be exchanged on the internet. Gardner insists that there won't be any concessions to state censorship where Wikipedia is concerned.

"Our stance is that we won't compromise. We haven't, for example, made any concessions to the Chinese government and we were blocked there up to the [2008 Beijing] Olympics. As a result, our share is still very, very small in China."

She says Wikipedia will "play a long game", pushing back against any intervention even if that means being blocked in certain parts of the world. And, she adds, Wikipedia is adept at spotting agenda-driven edits of its entries - three of the most contentious, intensively policed articles on its site are of George W Bush, Jesus and Britney Spears.

? Update on Tuesday August 31 2010: WikiLeaks's founder, Julian Assange, has emailed in response to Gardner's remarks simply to say that "wiki" was around a long time before "Wikipedia".

? Also, the Wikimedia Foundation has been in touch to clarify that it hasn't definitively settled on Bangalore as the location for its new office - although it will be somewhere in India.

How can the fashion house think it is acceptable to make such a nakedly racist ad campaign?

Given the history of Orientalism in western sartorial practice, is it any surprise that Christian Dior's latest ad campaign, "Shanghai Dreamers" shot by Chinese artist, Quentin Shih, features a series of photos where a strikingly-styled white model clad in Dior couture towers over rows of digitally reproduced Chinese women and men dressed in cultural revolution drag? And no, your eyes have not deceived you ? the Chinese people in the background literally all look the same.

Of course, fashion has always blithely forged ahead with little concern for blatant cultural appropriation (see: the past 20 years of Galliano's fashion career) or cultural appropriateness (see: images of colonial and imperialist splendour in the return of plantation chic and harem chic.) But can and should they continue to get away with it?

Earlier this month, China's economy surpassed that of Japan's to become the second largest in the world. LVMH, the company that owns Dior and Louis Vuitton, among other brands, and the world's largest maker of luxury goods, recently reported a 53% rise in half-year profits, with a 21% sales gain in the Asian markets.

In considering Asian consumers, it would be wise to have fewer fashion moments like Karl Lagerfield's admission last December: "I haven't left the hotel since I arrived in Shanghai, not that there is much of it left over," made before debuting a short video he directed, in which a fictionalised Coco Chanel visits the Shanghai of her dreams. It is precisely nothing more than a dream, because in what other reality could 1960s Chinese labour camp workers possibly be played by Danish supermodel Freja Beha and Lagerfeld's French muse Baptiste Giabiconi? In one scene, Lara Stone as Coco Chanel informs the two actors that "the Chinese invented quilting", followed by one of the Chinese labourers lamenting: "I much prefer to have blue jeans." The message couldn't be clearer ? the Chinese are ignorant of their own history, desire to imitate the west, and need a cultured European to educate them.

My reading of the Chanel film might seem hyperbolic until you take stock of the similarities between images in fashion portraying China and Chinese people as inscrutable, ignorant, backward, jejune, and robotic, and the rhetoric employed by pundits who are predicting the Chinese do not know how to handle their growth and will inevitably crash and burn if they don't change course. The west is both transfixed and utterly horrified by China's rapid development, and the fashion world, as much as it would like to see itself as the final frontier for nonconformity, is no different.

Whatever you think of China's human rights record, economic policies, politics, culture, or social conditions, old-school racism just can't fly. The mainstream media needs to put pressure on Dior to apologise for its embarrassing Shanghai Dreamers campaign. But they have been silent, with the exception of Art Info, who focused most of their critique on the photographer, Quentin Shih. Shih, a native Chinese artist, born in 1975, has gone on the record to say that the ad campaign was entirely his idea and that he meant no he meant no offence.

Rather, Dior and Galliano should know better than to commission these photographs for their Shanghai storefront, should have sent Chinese models for Shih to shoot, and should understand that the modern Chinese Dior customer will not recognise herself or himself in these photographs.

If fantasy is part of the appeal of fashion, then wouldn't it be worthwhile for Dior, Chanel, and other couture houses to figure out how Chinese people fantasise and see themselves? Surely, the vision does not include wearing a Mao suit, carrying a migrant's work bag, and dressing exactly like everyone else. Just as with their economy, which they have lately proved themselves as competent as any other nation at managing, it's possible that Chinese consumers have more nous than the likes of Dior give them credit for.

About 80,000 people take to Hong Kong streets in honour of eight people killed in Manila bus hijacking

An estimated 80,000 Hong Kongers marched today in honour of eight people killed in a bus hijacking in Manila, attacking the Philippine government for botching the rescue operation and demanding justice for the dead.

Former police officer Rolando Mendoza commandeered a Philippine tourist bus last week, hoping to reverse his recent dismissal from the force, on what he said were bogus robbery and extortion charges. In the ensuing 12-hour standoff, which was broadcast live on television, several children and elderly hostages were released, but eight tourists were killed, and a police sniper shot and killed Mendoza.

The bloody ending stunned Hong Kongers, who blasted Manila police for what they called an amateurish rescue attempt.

"Everyone saw how the Philippine government mishandled the situation before TV cameras and the chaos in the country. As a Chinese person, I need to demand justice," 49-year-old worker Andy Wong said at Sunday's protest.

Manila's police chief has taken leave and four leaders of the assault team were relieved pending an investigation. Officials have said the firearms used by 200 police commandos will be tested to see if any of the hostages were hit by police gunfire.

Philippine presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma said that his country respects the right of Hong Kongers to express their sentiments. He promised to announce the results of a "comprehensive, fair and accurate" investigation in three weeks.

Local Philippine activists organised an interfaith service in memory of the victims earlier on Sunday, where they lit eight candles ? one for each victim.

"We ask the Hong Kong people who are watching not to blame us for what happened because we also did not want this kind of thing to happen," migrant worker Elma Oliva said.

Survivor Lee Ying-chuen, who along with her mother escaped with light injuries, said in an article in Ming Pao Daily News the tourists thought about subduing Mendoza, but never acted because he seemed friendly and promised to release his hostages.

"If we didn't wait for the police rescue operation and acted decisively, there might have been a different outcome. But the horrible thing is there are no 'ifs' in history," Lee wrote.

The prime minister has revealed leadership concerns that the demands of the economy may require a new political model

What to make of comments by the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, during a recent visit to Shenzhen when he called ? remarkably for such a senior official ? for "political reform" and a loosening of the "excessive political control" of the Communist party itself?

There's the symbolism of his visit to Shenzhen, the same place where Deng Xioaping triggered the country's economic reforms. But it's Wen's words themselves that have triggered so much interest. "If there is no guarantee of reform of the political system, then results obtained from the reform of the economic system may be lost, and the goal of modernisation cannot be achieved," Wen was quoted as saying.

In a system which concluded after the fall of communism in the Soviet Union and east Europe that it should guard against unleashing similarly unpredictable consequences, the prime minister has touched on awkward issues. The question remains, however, precisely what weight should be attached to the remarks of a man near the end of his time in the politburo, who has made reformist noises in the past but never really delivered.

"Did Wen go off message?" was the question asked by the Wall Street Journal, while the Economist queried whether it could really be believed. They are doubts that remain to be resolved, but what does seem clear is that a fear appears to be emerging among some in the party that the world's second largest economy might require a different political settlement for entirely pragmatic economic reasons: the concern that the current system might be a hindrance rather than a help to China's economic growth. Wen's comments ? taken at face value ? would appear to mark a change in the formula that has governed China since Deng inaugurated his economic reforms: that political reform should play second fiddle to that on the economic front.

What is true, too, is that his comments already have created some room for calls for a "new generation of reformers" in some state-controlled media, while others have carefully avoided parsing his remarks. Watch this space.

With the state now actively financing Christianity, China could well become the largest Christian country in the world

Ever since Deng Xiaoping's relaxation of the Chinese Communist party's (CCP) suppression of religious practice in the late 1970s, Christianity has flourished in China. This has been an unexpected phenomenon, as it has been a story largely unheralded by the western media. While figures are patchy, it is estimated that the Christian missionaries (of whom the first were the Nestorians as far back as the Tang dynasty in the seventh century) that were expelled from the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 left behind about half a million people baptised ? the majority of whom were Catholics. Today, estimates of Christians range between 40 million and 100 million.

Mao Zedong's cultural revolution banned all forms of religious expression, driving Christians underground into "house churches". After the cultural revolution, realising the potential dangers of such uncontrolled practices, the CCP reinstated the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and formed the China Christian Council as the formal registered organisations of Chinese Protestants, as well as the Catholic equivalent ? the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. The latter, critically, has no formal links with the Vatican, in large part due to CCP fears of western meddling.

During this period, house churches boomed in popularity. As the New York Times correspondent Nicholas Kristof noted, initially popular among the peasantry, Christianity's reach has extended towards the cities and the wealthy and intellectual Chinese over the last decade.

The reasons for this boom are twofold. The first is that the Chinese have found Christianity to be a stabilising belief system amid a dramatically changing socioeconomic landscape, which had its previous religious traditions crushed by Maoism and its values questioned after Tiananmen Square. And, secondly, with its obvious western heritage, the rise of Christianity may be linked to a subconscious attack on the norms and values espoused by the PRC ? rather like South Korea in the 1980s.

However what is most surprising is the CCP's recent policy of actively funding and supporting state-sponsored Christian belief in China, as reported by the BBC earlier this week. According to the director general for the state administration for religious affairs, Wang Zuo An, this is due to the CCP's belief "that it should respect and protect religious belief".

This state-sponsored investment includes building Protestant and Catholic seminaries, funding academic studies into the role of religion in China, and donating land and part-financing the construction of the largest state-sanctioned church in China (for an expected 5,000 worshippers). According to Wang, there are now around 23m official Protestants in China (members of the TSPM), and that "Christianity is enjoying its best period of growth in China".

Yet this all sits rather uneasily with a state that does not allow Christians to be members of the Communist party and whose police, the Public Security Bureau, still frequently break up house church meetings (though with considerable inconsistency from province to province). According to the US group, China Aid Association, from 2005 to 2006, 1,958 Chinese Christians were arrested by the state.

The likelihood is that this policy of "accommodation" is a result of the CCP's past experiences with underground religious organisations and its acknowledgement of the potential economic prosperity that Christianity can bring. In the first instance, it would appear that conscious of the disastrously counterproductive suppression of the "spiritual movement" Falun Gong in the 1990s, the CCP believes that the threat caused by unregistered house churches is best neutralised by bringing Christianity under the auspices of the state.

While the majority of house churches do not appear to have a political agenda (though a small number of revolutionary cults have appeared in rural areas), any violent suppression of Christian groups risks provoking the ire of the west, in particular the US. Second, the recommendations of the prominent Chinese economist, Zhao Xiao, that market economies benefit from active religious groups seem to have been adopted by the CCP leadership. Perhaps eying the benefits that a strong, state-approved Christian voluntary sector could bring to China, in late 2007 President Hu Jintao announced "the knowledge of religious people must be harnessed to build a prosperous society".

On its current trajectory and with state backing, as the former Time magazine Beijing chief David Aikman notes, within three decades there may be nearly 400 million Christians in China. The future of Christianity may well lie in the east.

Visit triggers speculation that ailing dictator may be preparing to hand over power to his youngest son, Kim Jong-un

North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il, prompted speculation that he will soon anoint a successor by making an unexpected trip today to the country's main ally, China.

The ailing dictator, who reportedly suffered a stroke two years ago, crossed the border in his armoured train and visited the Chinese school where his father, the former president Kim Il-sung, began taking an interest in communism.

The second trip to China in less than three months is unusual for Kim, who rarely leaves his home. Coming before a rare meeting of the North Korean Workers' party in Pyongyang, analysts said the visit might be aimed at laying the groundwork for a transfer of power to his third son, Kim Jong-un.

After recent floods in North Korea, Kim may be seeking more aid from his country's main benefactor, and discussing steps to resume six-party nuclear talks.

As with previous trips, neither government has commented on reports that Kim has crossed the border, but teachers at Yuwen middle school in Jilin province confirmed they had received a 20-minute visit. "He definitely came over," a physical education teacher who would give only his surname, Zhao, told the Associated Press. "But I'm not sure if his son was with him or what time he came."

According to South Korean media, Kim may be travelling with his son to consult with Chinese officials on plans to extend the world's only communist dynasty.

Analysts said Kim's reported trip to Beijing was probably connected to next month's party assembly, the first of its kind for more than 30 years. At the last such meeting, in 1980, the party confirmed Kim Jong-il's status as heir apparent to his father, Kim Il-sung, although he did not become leader until his father's death in 1994.

"There is so much circumstantial evidence pointing to the succession issue," said Daniel Pinkston, a North Korea expert with the International Crisis Group in Seoul. He said there were also signs that the North Koreans were looking for "cash aid and assistance".

"If the succession is being accelerated, then of course Kim has an incentive to address the economic problems and other issues which will be helpful for his son in the transition to taking power," he added.

The visit comes a day after the former US president Jimmy Carter arrived in Pyongyang to seek the release of an American who has been sentenced to eight years in prison for entering North Korea illegally.

There was no word today on the progress of Carter's mission, although reports suggested he would return to the US with Aijalon Gomes, a 31-year-old English teacher and Christian missionary.

Carter, who arrived yesterday on a private jet, accompanied by his wife, Rosalynn, is also expected to use the visit to engage in unofficial diplomacy with the regime, although the Obama administration has been quick to stress that he is on a private humanitarian visit.

"It's a mission to secure the release of Mr Gomes," said a US state department spokesman, Mark Toner. "But we don't want to jeopardise the prospects for Mr Gomes to be returned home by discussing any of the details."

Gomes, who had been teaching English in South Korea, crossed the border from China to North Korea in January. He is thought to have wanted to help Robert Park, a friend and fellow Christian who had entered North Korea illegally on Christmas Day. Park, who said he had wanted to draw attention to human rights abuses in the north, was expelled six weeks later.

Carter made his last trip to North Korea in 1994, and is credited with defusing a nuclear crisis after talks with the regime's then leader, Kim Il-sung.

Relations between Pyongyang and Washington have deteriorated since North Korea conducted its second nuclear test last year, a move that prompted tougher UN sanctions.

Tensions rose again earlier this year when international investigators said a North Korean torpedo had sunk the Cheonan, a South Korean warship, killing 46 sailors. The US responded by expanding sanctions designed to cut off funds to the regime's elite.

Washington refuses to negotiate with North Korea until it apologises for sinking the Cheonan. Pyongyang, meanwhile, has indicated it will return to nuclear talks ? which also involve South Korea, China, Russia and Japan ? in return for aid and the conclusion of a formal peace treaty with the US.

Airline decided last year to halt night flights at Yichun where 42 passengers died in crash, China's first major air disaster for five years

At least one airline had questioned the safety of night landings at the relatively new airport in north-east China where a passenger jet overshot the runway and burst into flames while trying to land on a fog-shrouded runway, killing 42 people and injuring a further 54.

The Henan Airlines plane crashed late last night local time in a grassy area near the Lindu airport at Yichun, in Heilongjiang province. Survivors among the 96 passengers and crew described scenes of horror, with luggage falling from overhead lockers and passengers having to escape the flames through holes torn in the fuselage.

It was China's first major commercial air disaster in nearly six years. The plane's two black boxes were recovered on Wednesday, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It is still not known what caused the accident.

Vice-Prime Minister Zhang Dejiang visited the crash scene today to help set up an investigation team. State television reported a preliminary inquiry found the aeroplane did not catch fire or explode in the air and that there were no signs of sabotage.

The new airport in Yichun, a city of about 1 million people 100 miles from the Russian border, sits in a forested valley and has operated for one year.

China Southern Airlines decided last August to avoid night flights in and out of Yichun, switching its daily flight from Harbin to the daytime. A technical notice cited concerns about the airport's surrounding terrain, runway lighting, and wind and weather conditions.

"Principally, there should be no night flights at Yichun airport," said the notice from China Southern's Heilongjiang branch that was posted online.

An employee with the branch's technical office confirmed the notice's authenticity. He declined to give his name because he was not authorised to talk to the media, but said China Southern decided to cancel night flights at Yichun "for safety concerns". He said: "We're cautious."

The crash and resultant fire were so severe that little of the fuselage remained, although the charred tail was still largely intact.

China Central Television said eight of the victims were found 65 to 100ft (about 20 to 30 metres) from the wreckage in a muddy field.

Xinhua said officials had reported 43 dead because one body was torn apart in the crash and had been counted as two. It said the pilot, Qi Quanjun, survived but was badly injured and cannot speak.

One survivor told Xinhua that there was strong turbulence just after an announcement that the plane was about to land.

"There were four or five bad [jolts] and luggage in the overhead bin was raining down," he was quoted as saying. "Everyone panicked. Those sitting in the back began rushing to the front of the cabin.

"There was smog, which I knew was toxic. I held my breath and ran until I saw a burning hole on one side of the cabin. I crawled out and ran at least 100 metres to ensure I was safe."

One of the dead was a Chinese person with a foreign passport, according to Xinhua. It did not give the nationality. It also said a passenger from Taiwan was injured.

Five of those on board were children, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said, and at least one, an eight-year-old boy, survived. Ji Yifan told Xinhua he was saved by another passenger.

"Someone dragged me to the emergency exit door and threw me out before I realised what was going on," the boy was quoted as saying.

Ji told Xinhua that the evacuation slide, which was on fire, broke as he was sliding down. "I fell to the ground. Again someone dragged me aside," he said from his hospital bed.

A staff member at Shenzhen Airlines, the parent company of Henan Airlines, said the dead included a married couple, Lu Lu and Zhou Haobin, who worked together as flight attendants.

"They always fly together. They said that was so that they could go home togethe."

The Brazilian-made Embraer E-190 jet had taken off from the Heilongjiang capital of Harbin shortly before 9pm (1pm GMT) and crashed a little more than an hour later.