Results for regional trade: 218

Beijing has decided to reduce taxation on home buying, do away with property stamp tax, and cut the mortgage rates by as deep as 30 percent, in a concerted package of new policies to stave off a housing sector slump.

China's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission House, says house prices in Beijing in September dropped a fraction of a percent from the previous month, the first decline since 2005.

Construction of two new subways, Lines 7 and 14, will start here late this year, according to an official from the Municipal Committee of Communications.

With the meltdown of global financial markets impacting economies around the world, Chinese financial experts said Beijing is well positioned to secure its place as a global financial hub.

Beijing's planned second airport could be built in neighboring Tianjin City or Hebei Province, an official told the Beijing Evening News.

North China's Tianjin Municipality will add three railways in 2008, transforming it into a comprehensive modern transportation center.

Tianjin's municipal government plans to develop the city's Yujiapu area into a world-class financial innovation center in the next five to 10 years.

Tianjin Port Co. may miss its growth target next year as a global economic slowdown damps demand for Chinese-made goods overseas. "The first half of next year is going to be the most difficult period,'' Chairman Yu Rumin said on 27 September, "Container traffic related to exports will be hurt the most.''

Located at the entrance to the Bohai Bay from the Haihe River, Tianjin Port is one of the world's best artificial harbors.

Binhai international airport in Tianjin is to build a new runway for test flights of the Airbus A320.