China Scene: North

Bear orphans lucky to have run-in with army

Soldiers from Mohe, a county in Heilongjiang province, recently found two orphaned black bear cubs, a male and a female, and turned them over to a zoo in Harbin for loving care.

The soldiers found the little bears during a patrol, and after a thorough hunt for their parents in the surrounding forest, they decided that they had no choice but to take them back to their barracks.

They called experts for help because the two 40-day-old cubs were too young to live without a parent.

"We will release the cubs after teaching them how to survive on their own in the wild," a zookeeper said.

(www.xinhuanet.com)

Prisoner fashions his escape with aid of crane

Prison authorities in Baoding, Hebei province, are offering a 100,000 yuan ($14,100) reward for information leading to the arrest of a prisoner who escaped on Wednesday by driving off in a crane.

Xie Wanli, the 28-year-old prisoner, was working on the night shift at the prison and decided to make a break for it. He jumped into a crane in the prison yard, crashed through three gates and then ran off down the road.

Xie was sentenced to 18 years in prison back in 2005 for his role in a kidnapping. Police have turned to the public for help in tracking down the fugitive.

(www.chinanews.com.cn)

Robbery victim should find some new neighbors

A middle-aged woman surnamed Li overcame her neighbors' apathy by calling out fire as a robber attempted to make off with her handbag.

A robber stopped her in a dark stairway near her home in Changchun, Jilin province, last Wednesday and demanded she hand over her bag. She cried for help, but none of her neighbors responded. As she struggled with the robber, she decided to change tack and shouted out "fire!"

Hearing that, her neighbors poured from their apartments, fleeing for their lives. The flood of people scared the robber, who fled the scene. The woman then called police for help and they caught him in a nearby corridor.

(New Culture View)

Deliveryman's conscience trumps his sticky fingers

A Beijing resident surnamed Liu recovered a 1-carat diamond ring worth 250,000 yuan ($35,300) after the deliveryman who stole it was overcome with guilt and threw it away on a nearby street.

The worker, surnamed Zhang, snatched the ring from Liu's bedside table while delivering furniture to her bedroom on Saturday. However, he was so full of regret after leaving her home that he decided to ditch the ring.

Liu called police, who quickly caught up with the thief. Zhang led them back to where he threw away the ring, which was returned to Liu. Zhang was taken into custody for further questioning.

(Beijing Times)

Consequences of talking while driving driven home

A truck driver was sentenced to six months behind bars last Thursday for running over a cyclist in Beijing on Oct 25, 2007, while talking on his mobile phone.

After ending the call from his boss, Liu, the driver, noticed that something was wrong with the truck's left wheel. As he was inspecting his truck, a police officer showed up and told him that he had just killed a cyclist and was under arrest for hit-and-run.

"I was told that I had run over a cyclist and killed him immediately while talking to my boss on the phone," he said.

(Beijing Evening News)

(China Daily 03/21/2008 page6)