Society

China Scene: Urinals in ladies' toilets

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-31 10:02

Central

Urinals in ladies' toilets - govt acts considerate

Don't be surprised if you enter a women's toilet in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, and bump into urinals.

The move, which has been piloted in the city's Tianxin district, aims to make life easier for women who have toddler boys.

According to random interviews conducted by the district government, mothers are more likely to take their sons to the ladies' room if the father is not around.

The squat toilets for women are separated from the urinals with doors to avoid embarrassment, a local public sanitation official said.

Tianxin district officials are also planning to add female urination devices in busy public restrooms to supplement the squat toilets, which can at times fall short.

(The Morning Herald)

 

South

47-day infant is region's youngest eye donor

A 47-day-old girl donated her corneas in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region following her death last week, becoming the youngest in the region to do so.

Li Maomao, born on July 9, had been suffering from various pediatric diseases and had remained in the intensive care unit since birth.

Being a charity worker for years, Li's mother decided to donate her daughter's corneas after doctors told her the infant was not going to survive too long.

At about 8 am on Aug 24, Li stopped breathing. Her mother held her dead baby tight and kissed her again and again as she continued howling.

An hour and a half later, Li's corneas were donated.

According to statistics provided by the Red Cross Society of China, some 5 million visually impaired people in the country are waiting for donated corneas.

(Nanguo Morning Post)

Text message advertising coffins angers residents

Residents of Foshan in Guangdong province are enraged at a text message that advertises customized coffins.

The text message reads: "We specialize in making coffins to suit your style. And if you buy a big one, we'll give you a smaller one free."

When furious receivers called the number back to give the company a piece of their mind, they found that the sender was a victim of a prank.

The owner of the phone number said he was sick and tired of complaint calls and text messages from all over the country, and added that he has no clue how his number was being used to send out that text message.

He said that he is mulling reporting the matter to the police.

(Guangzhou Daily)

Man who fought back fish thieves sentenced

The owner of a fishery in Guangdong province's Xinxing county was recently handed down a three-year sentence with a three-year reprieve for causing the death of two men who were trying to steal his fish.

The court also ordered the accused, surnamed Tan, to pay the deceased's families a total of 250,000 yuan ($36,764).

Tan had caught the three men trying to steal his fish red-handed and toppled their boat with a bamboo pole on Nov 30, 2009.

One of the three swam to shore while the other two drowned. The Luoding People's Court was convinced that Tan did not try to save them and found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Tan has appealed to a higher court.

(Nanfang Daily)

 

East

Ferrari owner's kidnappers nabbed within 24 hours

Two men who kidnapped a Ferrari owner and demanded a ransom of 10 million yuan ($1.47 million) were arrested in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, last week.

The mother of the victim found her son's red Ferrari in the middle of a road leading to their house on Aug 23. The door of the super-expensive car was wide open and her son's slippers were on the road.

She rushed back to her house and phoned the police, just minutes before the abductors called with their ransom demand.

The police immediately swung into action and found the suspects, surnamed Chen and Yu, early next morning.

The suspects told the police that they were deep in debt after a failed business venture and brainstormed the idea to kidnap a rich man for ransom.

(Qianjiang Evening News)

88-year-old scrap collector sponsors 100 poor children

An 88-year-old scrap collector in Zhaoyuan, Shandong province, has sponsored the education of some 100 impoverished school dropouts over the past decade.

Liu survives on leftover vegetables he finds in the market.

Till now, he has spent 30,000 yuan ($4,400) to send some 100 kids back to school.

One of the kids said: "Without grandpa Liu, I would never have dared to dream."

(China National Radio)

Miser kills and buries injured wife to save money

A man who had reported his wife missing in March recently confessed to killing her and burying her body near their house in Xiamen, Fujian province, "to save money that would be required for her treatment".

During a quarrel on March 18, the accused, surnamed Lin, pushed his wife, who hit her head on the doorpost. Seeing her bleed profusely, Lin admittedly hit her on the head with a hammer until she was dead.

"She was injured so seriously that it would cost a lot to treat her. I thought I'd rather save the money for our children," Lin told the police.

Lin buried his wife's body beside a road 500 meters from their house. The body has been recovered.

Lin said he refused to tell the police of his wife's death initially so that he could save the money that would be spent on her funeral.

(Southeast Morning Post)

 

North

Pedicab driver injured in car chase gets compensation

The urban administration office in Shuozhou, Shanxi province, was last week ordered to compensate a pedicab driver who was injured while trying to out-drive a chasing chengguan car.

On July 18, the pedicab driver, Yang Jun, was operating on a road on which three-wheeled vehicles were banned.

Chengguan officials spotted Yang's vehicle and came after him in their car.

In a bid to lose the car on his tail, Yang tried to take a sudden turn when his electric vehicle turned over. He was severely injured in the accident.

After the driver of the chengguan car took full blame for the accident, his office was ordered to pay Yang 28,000 yuan ($4,120) as compensation, besides shouldering the cost of his medical treatment.

(Shanxi Evening News)

Officials fired for getting 'massage' in work hours

Three government officials in Xinzhou, Shanxi province, were fired for visiting massage parlors during office hours.

During a random investigation on Aug 20, Xinzhou's disciplinary body found 22 government vehicles parked outside entertainment venues like "foot massage" parlors and bathhouses.

It was found that six of the 22 cars were driven to the venues for personal purposes.

Following the probe, three officials were removed from their posts, and three others, including two drivers and an official, who went to one of the venues to pick up his wife, were given administrative punishments.

The officials who were fired, include Party secretary of Xinfu district Bai Wei, director of the city's work safety emergency center Qu Jinzhang and director of the city's grain bank Zhang Gengsheng.

(Shanxi Daily)

A day after being robbed, woman bumps into culprit

A woman who got robbed of her handbag bumped into the thief on a street in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, the next day and had him arrested.

The woman was on her way home when a thief snatched her bag and ran away, but not before she got a good look at his face.

The next day, she was out on a walk when she spotted the robber walk into an Internet caf near her house.

She phoned the police and the accused, along with an accomplice, was arrested.

The suspects said they took to robbing women to pay off their credit card bills.

(Life Daily)

Proud of having driven a smoke-free cab for 24 years

A taxi driver in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, has successfully driven his "smoke-free cab" for 24 years.

Zou says he does not stop his taxi for people who are smoking and asks those who light up in his vehicle to get off.

He says there are no benefits of smoking, adding none of his family members smoke.

A number of Harbin residents believe the concept of smoke-free taxis should be pushed across the city.

(Harbin Daily)

 

West

Three couples held for looting bus passengers

Chongqing police recently arrested three couples who are suspected of being part of a gang that steals from passengers on buses.

One of the six suspects, surnamed Long, said that his accomplices got intimate in crowded buses to divert the victims' attention while he stole from them.

After receiving a number of similar complaints, the police tracked the suspects to a hotel where they were busy sharing the spoils.

(Chongqing Evening News)

Restaurateur mints money from south Indian bread

A south Indian has not only brought a piece of home with him to Chongqing, he is also minting money from it.

Shakti Kumar, a native of Chennai, came to Chongqing in 2005 and soon opened an Indian food stall on Foreigners Street, a popular hangout featuring western architecture and foreign food stalls.

Five years down, Kumar has brought his entire family to Chongqing and they run as many as four stalls on the same street.

Kumar has only one thing to thank - roti canai (pronounced "chennai"), a type of flatbread, made with dough, egg, flour and water.

Kumar says roti canai is so popular among the locals who eat at his stall that usually people have to stand in line for it.

Kumar plans to become a permanent resident in Chongqing.

(Chongqing Evening News)