A former railway official in the central China's Hunan Province has been prosecuted for collaborating with ticket scalpers and making undeserved money.

Luo Zhongxing, a former manager of the railway station in the city of Huaihua, was suspected of reserving tickets for illegal dealers using his power.

A train ticket during the New Year holiday passenger rush has for years proven the hardest-won commodity in China. Scalpers, some of whom have special connections within the railway system, often buy up tickets, which they resell for twice as much.

Across China, the worst winter storm in five decades has urged governments to fight profiteering and maintain market order.

A restaurant in southwest China's Guizhou Province was fined 50,000 yuan (about US$7,000) on Saturday over an unauthorized price hike of one yuan for each helping of noodles.

The restaurant, located in downtown Guiyang, capital of the mountainous province that suffered snow, sleet and subsequent power and water shortages in the past three weeks, had raised the noodle price from six yuan to seven yuan without the approval of the local price bureau.

"The local price regulations ban businesses from raising prices in times of natural disasters," said Bi Jin, an official in charge of market supervision at the city's price bureau.

The winter weather crisis has hit 19 Chinese localities drives up costs of food, cooking oil, fuel and other necessities, but the worst is still not over according to the Central Meteorological Station on Saturday.

As bad weather threatens to last into the Chinese Year of Rat, the price bureau of the eastern Zhejiang Province said it has brushed off several supermarkets' request for price hikes.

"We insisted that prices for milk and instant noodles should remain stable now and during the Chinese New Year holiday," said head of the bureau Wang Jiahui.

Yet Wang foresees price hikes for most vegetables starting on Sunday as several greenhouses collapsed under the weight of snow and ice.

An unprecedented snowfall starting on Saturday left an average of 30 centimeters of snow in most parts of the province. In some areas, the fallen snow measured 60 cm.

At least 70 restaurants in Xi'an, capital of the northwestern Shaanxi Province, vowed on Saturday they would not raise prices for food, beverage and services during the week-long holiday starting on Wednesday.

The promise was well received among the residents, many of whom were planning to dine out during the holiday.

(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2008)