On Thursday, Xinhua said that rainfall along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze was down 40 percent to 60 percent from the average, with the totals being lower than at any time since 1951.

A floating bottle game once popular in Europe during the Middle Ages is prevalent among young people in China, but the bottle is floating on the Internet rather than the sea, xinhuanet.com reported.

Just yesterday Xinhua published a highly optimistic article on conditions in Beijing 50 days before the Olympics.

Some companies in China have given employees "creative" things as year-end bonuses this year, most of which are cheap or free, xinhuanet.com reported.

A gadget dubbed Doudou (see photo, L) was named one of the mascots of Shanghai Expo's Space Home Pavilion, xinhuanet reported.