BEIJING - China has ordered a noodle shop named after Islamic militant Osama bin Laden to change its name and has reprimanded its owner for unhealthy business practices.

The noodle house in China's northwestern province of Gansu - home to many Muslims - was ordered to scrap the sign 'Bin Laden Beef Noodles', a ploy to attract attention and curious customers, according to the Workers Daily.

The sign went up soon after two commercial jetliners slammed into the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, it said.

It is not the first time beef noodle joints in the city of Lanzhou have been reprimanded for sensitive sales tactics.

After the 1991 Gulf War, a different shop flaunted the sign 'Saddam Beef Noodles', greatly boosting its sales, the paper said.

In a separate case underscoring China's sensitivity over business titles, the Beijing authorities shut down a restaurant named after late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, according to Saturday's edition of the Beijing evening news.

Two cats - one black and one white - which had flanked the entrance to 'Deng's family restaurant' were no more despite widespread evidence of what his well-worn phrase "It doesn't matter if the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice" has brought to modern China.

Deng, who also coined the phrase "to get rich is glorious", launched market reforms in Communist China two decades ago, flinging the co§untry's doors open to foreign investment and tourists.

Businesses in China were not allowed to adopt the names of political leaders, the paper said, although exceptions appear to have been made.

The Mao Family restaurant in Beijing, which claims to serve the preferred dishes of former Communist Party head Mao Zedong, was still open for business on Sunday.