Taxi drivers in eastern China strike over rising fuel costs

BEIJING Aug 1 (Reuters) - More than 1,000 taxi drivers in the Chinese tourist city of Hangzhou in eastern Zhejiang province went on strike on Monday to protest about rising gasoline prices and congested roads, state media reported.

The strike marked the latest protest in China's transportation industry. Truck drivers at a container port in the financial hub of Shanghai staged a strike in May to highlight accelerating inflation.

In early April, China increased retail diesel and gasoline prices by 5 to 5.5 percent to new recoprd highs.

Local police and traffic regulators in Hangzhou were talking with drivers about their complaints, the official Xinhua news agency said, without elaborating.

Drivers say it is increasingly difficult to make money picking up fares and they still have to submit the bulk of their earnings to taxi companies, according to online reports.

(Reporting by Sally Huang and Ken Wills; Editing by Ed Lane)