Beijing - An explosion at a chemical plant has left 16 people dead and six missing in south-western China's Guangxi region, the State Administration of Work Safety said on Wednesday.

A series of explosions and a fire also injured 57 workers at the Guangwei Chemical Company on Tuesday, state media said.

The fire spread over 10,000 square metres and forced the evacuation of 11,500 local residents in Guangxi's Yizhou city, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Beijing - A leading Chinese dissident was released from prison on Tuesday after serving 16 years of a 20-year sentence, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said.

Hu Shigen, 53, was arrested in May 1992 as he and other democracy activists were planning to distribute leaflets by remote-controlled planes in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

The stunt was planned to coincide with the third anniversary of the ruling Communist Party's military crackdown on protesters on June 4, 1989.

Hu had also helped to found the China Liberal Democratic Party and the China Free Trade Union.

New Delhi, Aug 26 : Family members and secret lovers of corrupt Chinese officials too could face trial if the draft of the Criminal Law''s seventh amendment is passed.

Spouses and children of and/or people who have "intimate relations" with corrupt officials could be jailed for more than seven years if they are found guilty of taking advantage of such officials'' positions to get bribes or make money illegally.

The draft was submitted to the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, the country''s top legislature, for the first reading on Monday, the China Daily reported.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong's population is ageing rapidly because of low birth rates and the reluctance of young mainland Chinese to migrate to the city, a news report said Tuesday.

As China becomes more prosperous, the proportion of young people coming to Hong Kong, population 6.9 million, has fallen from 30 per cent in 2002 to less than 25 per cent in 2008, the South China Morning Post reported.

While mainland Chinese used to scramble to relocate to wealthy Hong Kong, a daily quota of 150 migrants has been met only once in the past five years, the newspaper said.