China Scene: South

Renaming of village spells trouble

More than 50 villagers in Wenchang County of Hainan Province have failed to get their new identity cards after their village was renamed to include a rare Chinese character by a local fortune teller early this year, to improve the village's prosperity.

The local public security department's computer system was unable to find and print the character ya for the village's address. Many villagers have not been able to get marriage certificates and are facing difficulties while seeking jobs, traveling and dealing in property.

(Nanguo Metropolitan News)

Prostatitis risk high among officials

More than 55 percent of senior male officials have been diagnosed with prostatitis in South China's Guangdong Province.

The findings came from the health examination of 8,199 county-level or higher officials between 2005 and 2006, according to Liao Xinbo, deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Health.

Another 34 percent are suffering from high blood pressure while 17 percent have fatty liver disease.

Work pressures and heavy dinners have been identified as the main contributory factors in prostatitis.

(Southern Metropolitan News)

(China Daily 08/21/2007 page6)