China Scene: Central

People come to hotel to see the kissing fish

Six affectionate tropical fish being raised in a big aquarium in a hotel in Hankou, Hubei, attract many curious visitors every day.

Besides frequently kissing one another, the tropical fish swim to the transparent glass wall and want to kiss the girls wearing colorful clothes who walk past. Oddly, they seem to swim away when male visitors come by.

Staff from the hotel, in the city's Jiang'an District, said it's interesting watching their hotel become a tourist attraction since the tropical fish arrived about a month ago.

(Chutian Metropolitan News)

'King of Iron Shoes' set for 2,008 km walk

And the Olympics stunts continue. Now a man in Liling, Hunan, will walk 2,008 kilometers wearing 56-kilogram iron shoes.

Zhang Zhenghui said his iron shoes represent the 56 nationalities in China.

Zhang, nicknamed "the King of the Iron Shoes", has appeared on television several times.

He started wearing the shoes to help cure a chronic disease in 1988.

He once wore a pair of iron shoes weighing 114 kilograms for a China Central Television program in 2003. And his iron shoes increased to 120 kilograms in 2004 and 123 kilograms in 2005.

(Xiaoxiang Morning Post)

Changsha spotted turtle may be only female left

A spotted turtle being raised at the Changsha Zoo in Hunan Province was recently determined by international zoologists to be a rare species.

The 100-year-old turtle might be the only female spotted turtle of the five still alive in the world. It is 80 centimeters long and 50centimeters wide, and weighs more than 40 kilograms.

The Huangpu River in East China was the turtle's home, but it has lived in the zoo in Hunan's capital for more than 50 years. The search is on for a male spouse to help save the rare species.

(Sanxiang Metropolis News)

'My marriage is at stake, doctor; put back old face'

A 60-year-old woman surnamed Chen, who looks younger in the wake of a series of cosmetic surgical procedures, returned to the hospital this week in Hankou, Hubei, to ask doctors to restore her original old appearance.

Chen's husband, surnamed Zhang, strongly opposed the cosmetic surgery and refused to talk to her for three days. Zhang wouldn't even let her leave home after the surgery.

Zhang is said to be worried that Chen would fall in love with someone else, as many local old men have begun inviting her to dance since the operations. To save her marriage, Chen had to concede.

(Chutian Jinbao News)

(China Daily 02/02/2007 page6)