Photo: Floods in China's northeastern province of Heilongjiang
Source: Sina

August 29, 2013
Translated by Luo Shuqi and Pang Lei

Most news websites this morning were leading with details of the first day of a trial involving the teenage son of two well-known military singers who is one of the men accused of gang raping a woman in a Beijing hotel earlier this year.

Another story that is getting a lot of coverage relates to the arrest of Chinese-American Xue Charles Bi-Chuen (薛必群), better known by his Weibo user name Xuemanzi (薛蠻子). Xue was detained on suspicion of engaging the services of prostitutes last Friday. Clips aired on state broadcaster China Central Televison (CCTV) of his arrest and interviews with police are being linked to widely.

Keep reading below for translated digests of some of the other stories being reported by mainland Chinese media outlets today.

Senior Central Officials Indicate Property Tax Will Expand to Other Cities
Beijing News
Both Xu Shaoshi (徐紹史), the director of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and Lou Jiwei (樓繼偉), China's Finance Minister, mentioned the central governments intention to expand a property tax that's currently being levied in Chongqing and Shanghai to other areas of the country in their recent reports to the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress. Ever since the tax began operating in 2011, rumors that it would be applied in other cities and regions have continously been reported in the Chinese press. The EO recently reported that Hangzhou would be the third city to introduce the tax.
Original article: [Chinese]

Chinese Consumers Spent 1.3 Trillion Yuan Online in 2012
Beijing News
Chinese consumers are estimated to have spent 1.3 trillion yuan shopping online last year and the country is expected to surpass the US to become the largest e-commerce market in the world this year, according to a research report released by management consultancy firm Bain & Company yesterday.  
Original article: [Chinese]

China Mobile Releases First 4G Smartphone
Beijing News
Yesterday, China Mobile and Samsung Company co-hosted a press conference to release the first 4G cell phone for the China market. According to the information provided by China Mobile, the download speed can reach as high as 80Mb per second, ten times the speed of a 3G phone.
Original article: [Chinese]

List of China's Top 500 Private Enterprises Published Today
China Business News
This morning, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (全國工商聯(lián)) published a list of China's top 500 private enterprises. Electrical goods retailer Suning, computing company Lenovo and telecommunications giant Huawei were the top 3 companies on the list. The total revenue of the 500 companies on the list in 2012 came to over 10 trillion yuan.
Original article: [Chinese]