Conked-out python rescued from flood
A rare 4-metre-long python weighing 40 kilograms was found stranded in a narrow rice paddy near a mountainous village of Menglia of Yunnan Province one day last week following a mountain torrent.
Police and locals rescued the big, dazed snake from a piece of land covering less than 6 square metres, and sent it to a wildlife rescue centre for a health checkup.
The python, a species under top State protection, might be around 100 years old, according to an expert who hoped it could be set free soon after a programme of care and rehabilitation in the centre.
Chuncheng Evening News
Woman forsakes her beautiful face
A young woman from Chongqing sought plastic surgery to make her face less attractive recently, after being crossed in love.
The 23-year-old woman's sweetheart left her weeks ago to stay with another woman. Although the two had been in love for six years, her ex-boyfriend feared that her too-beautiful face might lure many other men and thus he didn't feel safe staying with her.
She came to hate all men after being courted by many others, prompting her desire for the surgery. But the doctors refused to co-operate, saying she had a mental disorder and needed to seek help from psychotherapists.
Chongqing Times
Tourist's panda experience ends with bitten finger
A giant panda attacked an American tourist who had been feeding it in the Wolong Giant Panda Protection Centre in Sichuan Province last week.
Lisa was caught off guard when the panda suddenly bit her, taking off the tip of her right thumb. Staffers drove away the troublemaking animal, and Lisa was rushed to hospital.
The giant panda is a huge animal that may become excited by a stranger trying to approach it, experts say. They warn tourists not to approach pandas without permission.
West China Metropolis News
Man crawls for art, gets mixed reviews
An art graduate in Chongqing Municipality crawled for 3 kilometres along a bustling street last Wednesday in a piece of performance art and to protest against the "money worship" he alleged to be at the centre of art today.
It took seven hours for him to cover the distance, and the performance alarmed the public.
Some admired his courage, while others viewed the act simply as a way of blowing his own horn. One sociologist even described his behaviour as self-torture.
Chongqing Business News
Bride won't give up on comatose husband-to-be
A bride from Bixian County of Sichuan Province has been telling love stories to her sweetheart for more than a week since a traffic accident left him in a coma.
In this way, she hopes her husband-to-be might come back to himself one day.
Days ago, the bridegroom suffered a serious head injury on his way to their wedding ceremony and he seems to have no hope of recovering soon, doctors say.
Chengdu Evening News
(China Daily 10/24/2006 page5)
