No cabs were seen running in Sanya, a major tourist city in south China's island province of Hainan, on Monday.

More than 200 taxi drivers began to gather in front of the municipal government building at about 6 a.m., demanding intervention on issues including high monthly taxi rental fees and unlicensed cabs on the streets.

Chen Chao, deputy secretary general of the government, and a senior official of the local traffic administration, arrived at the scene earlier in the day for talks, but none of the drivers was willing to sit at the the negotiation table as a representative.

The situation of the sit-in strike remained in order until the afternoon, when a working cab passed, which triggered drivers to stop it from running.

One of the drivers suddenly fainted and was sent to hospital.

Police detained about ten drivers involved in the turbulence that lasted for a few minutes. The crowd dispersed at about 4 p.m. shortly after.

There are about 1,200 licensed cabs running in the city, owned by six companies, taxi drivers said.

However, some of the companies ignored the municipal government policy that cuts down drivers' monthly fees to the taxi firms from 7,200 yuan (1,054 U.S. dollars) to an average 5,300 yuan as of Jan. 1, said a driver who only offered his surname as Zhang.

In addition, a large number of fee-dodging unlicensed cabs were operating rampantly across the city, further cutting into their earnings.

The drivers also called for permission to set up their own organizations to protect their interests.

Deputy Director of Sanya Traffic Bureau Yi Zhijun said his administration held a meeting with representatives from taxi companies and drivers between Nov. 6 to 9, and the companies agreed to return fees to the drivers after new rental contracts were signed in line with the new policy.

Apparently, the decision did not reach drivers in time because of communication problems, said Yi.

More than 100 flight passengers finally got onboard shuttle buses after being stranded for hours at the airport as cabs were out of service.

"I never realized that it's so inconvenient without a taxi. I had to transfer several times to buses today," said a native of Sanya, who only identified himself as Yin.

The strike took place days after taxi drivers in China's fourth largest city Chongqing stopped work last Monday and Tuesday in protest over similar problems.

The government of Chongqing was taking measures, including cracking down on unlicensed cabs, to appease drivers angered by high fees, competition with illegal taxis, high fines for traffic violations and the unfair division of fares between drivers and taxi companies.

(Xinhua News Agency November 10, 2008)