Taxi drivers protest new regulations

Hundreds of taxi drivers in northeast China's Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang province yesterday continued to stage sit-ins at local Party and government office buildings in protest over the local government's plan to reform the current taxi operating system.

Zhao Shiyuan, secretary general of Mudanjiang government, said the city government had to mobilize taxi drivers from neighboring cities to offer taxi services and help alleviate traffic pressure caused by the strike of local taxi drivers that began a week ago.

China shares a border with Russia via Mudanjiang, a tourist city and more than 300 km away from Harbin, the provincial capital. Mudanjiang has 2.8 million permanent residents and 2,705 taxis in service, most of which are privately run, said Zhao.