China Scene: West

Kidnapping scheme offers poor cover for part-time job

It took police in Fuyuan county, Yunnan province, exactly one hour to find a boy who said he had been kidnapped.

Liu, 15, a middle school student in the county's Chibi village who wanted to work instead of going to school, asked a classmate surnamed Xu to call his parents on Friday to say he had been kidnapped. Liu's parents called the police, who visited the village and talked with Xu for a few minutes. It quickly became clear that there had been no kidnapping and found Liu in a villager's house.

"I wanted to leave school for work and I knew that my parents would not agree with me," Liu told police.

(www.shxb.net)

Russian fad eases businessman's visit

Joshua Kucera, a businessman from Russia, felt very comfortable during a visit to Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, because many people understood him when he spoke Russian.

The Russian language has become popular in the city on the back of international trade and business links between the region and neighboring Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in recent years. According to a local international business expert, more college students are learning Russian rather than English, and the students who are good at Russian can get jobs easily.

(Elite Reference)

Centenarian woman revels in lifespan improvements

Amai Ciren, the oldest woman in the Tibet autonomous region, celebrated her 117th birthday on Sunday.

Local government officials joined villagers in her hometown in Linzhou county to celebrate the occasion. Some local businesses also donated money to her.

Amai Ciren was born on March 16, 1891. She has four children, of whom only her second daughter, Yangjin, 69, is still alive.

The improvements in living conditions and healthcare have extended lifespans in Tibet. According to statistics, the average lifespan in Tibet has increased to 67 years from 35.5 years in 1959. There are now more centenarians than ever.

(www.xinhuanet.com)

9-year-old to run from Tibet to Shanghai

Zhang Huimin, a 9-year-old girl from Hainan province, plans to jog from Tibet to Shanghai.

"We are doing some preparations and will start the trip in early April. We will start out from the Friendship Bridge along the China-Nepal Highway in Tibet, and we will run 50 km a day. Assuming that weather conditions could be difficult on the plateau, Zhang Huimin will stop any time she feels uncomfortable," Zhang Jianmin, the girl's father, said.

The girl ran 800 km around Hainan Island in January 2007, and some 4,000 km from Hainan to Beijing in August 2007. The Tibet trek will be her third major trip.

(www.hinews.cn)

Star-crossed lovers' death pact disrupted by innkeeper

Two young lovers were so overcome by their romantic troubles that they decided to kill themselves, but the woman survived.

On Friday, the owner of a village inn discovered that some of his guests were in serious condition and called police in Xishan county, Yunnan province.

It soon became clear that the young couple had been poisoned. Doctors brought the woman back to consciousness, and she told police that she and the man, who had died, were lovers and decided to take their lives because their parents did not recognize their love.

The woman is in stable condition.

(www.clzg.cn)

Two rare red-billed blue magpies were spotted by a farmer recently in Northwest China's Baoji, Shaanxi province.

Local farmer Zhao Qi saw the two birds flying over his farmland and reported the sighting to the local forest bureau.

After monitoring the area, forest officials said the birds were red-billed blue magpies, which usually live in China's eastern, southeastern and central regions.

The birds are under State-level protection.

(Xi'an Evening News)

(China Daily 03/20/2008 page6)