Typhoon Muifa Weakens as It Moves Along Chinas East Coast|beijing travel

　　Typhoon Muifa, the ninth typhoon to hit China this year, is weakening as it moves towards the country's key northeastern ports after forcing the evacuation of 610,000 residents on its course along the affluent and densely-populated east coast, authorities said Sunday.

　　Muifa, bringing gusts up to 178 km per hour, is moving at 25 km per hour towards the Shandong Peninsula where it is expected to make landfall Monday morning near the port of Weihai before heading to the port of Dalian and nearby areas, national and local meteorological centers said.

　　Crews working on the off-shore platforms of Shengli Oilfield, China's key oil production base located near Weihai, started to evacuate Sunday.

　　The oilfield, operated by China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group), has 102 off-shore platforms which extract oil from 524 wells with a daily output of 8,000 tonnes, according to the Shengli Oilfield Administration.

　　If the rainfall brought by Muifa exceeds 100 millimeters, water in 50 out of about 140 large and medium-sized reservoirs in Shandong may overflow, said Du Changwen, head of the provincial water resources bureau.

　　In Qingdao, a famous coastal resort in Shangdong, all off-shore scenic spots and beaches will be closed and all water sports will be suspended from Sunday evening to Tuesday, according to the city's tourism authorities.

　　Muifa is expected to bring torrential downpours to Qingdao and gales up to 133 km per hour to nearby sea area on Monday, said the city's meteorological bureau.

　　Disaster relief teams were also called to standby in Dalian, a key industrial port in northeastern Liaoning Province.

　　In Beijing, an emergency meeting chaired by Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei, also deputy head of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, was held Sunday to arrange prevention measures.

　　The headquarters ordered two more provinces -- Jilin and Heilongjiang in the northeast, to beef up disaster relief efforts as the typhoon heads towards them. The province of Hebei, which is near Beijing, has reported rainfall caused by the typhoon.

　　More than 610,000 people were evacuated from dangerous areas in Shanghai and the provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang and Shandong, the country's disaster relief agency said. More than 62,700 vessels were ordered to dock.

　　In Shandong, the local weather forecast bureau said the typhoon might further weaken into a tropical storm when it lands, even so authorities continued to order about 20,000 fishing boats to lay anchor in harbors.

　　Maritime authorities on Sunday also requested vessels to either leave or stay clear from those parts of Shandong's coast most likely to be hit hardest by the typhoon.

　　Also in Shandong, 18 flights departing or arriving at Qingdao airport on the coast were canceled Sunday. Most of the canceled flights were headed for southern cities, such as Shanghai or Hangzhou.