China Scene: South
Quick-thinking boy applies fire safety skills
An 88-year-old woman surnamed Wang survived a fire on Thursday in Guangzhou's Yuexiu district thanks to her 11-year-old grandson, surnamed Xie.
The fire broke out when Wang and Xie were having dinner at about 7 pm.
Xie immediately gave his granny a wet towel to cover her face and led her away from the smoke.
The boy then went out onto the balcony, which is on the ninth floor, to call for help.
Firefighters rescued the stranded family within 10 minutes.
Xie said he had learned about what to do during a fire during a drill at school.
(Information Times)
Biggest-ever ivory bust nets massive tusk
Forestry police seized a 183-cm-long piece of ivory from a truck on the highway from Pingxiang to Nanning in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region early this week.
The ivory is believed to have been smuggled into Guangxi from abroad.
The truck contained 790 kg of ivory worth an estimated 36 million yuan ($5.14 million). The driver, a local resident, has been detained for further investigation.
It was the largest ivory smuggling case to have been cracked in the southern region.
(www.chinanews.com.cn)
Students conflicted about premarital sex
University students in the Guangdong provincial capital Guangzhou are conflicted in their attitude toward premarital sex, according to a recent survey.
Some 45.3 percent of those surveyed said they were open to premarital sex, with 56 percent keen to cohabit before marriage.
But 75 percent of the students did not approve of future partners who have had premarital sex.
Guangzhou Youth Dating Agency interviewed 1,300 students from eight local universities and colleges last month.
(Guangzhou Daily)
Big cassava root brings crowds to woman's garden
Fu Chunmei has been attracting curious onlookers to her home in Danzhou, Hainan province, ever since she unveiled a cassava that weighs more than 30 kg.
The cassava is 50 cm high and 30 cm wide and appears to be the biggest such plant ever cultivated in Hainan province.
Fu said she planted the cassava in her sugar cane field about a year ago.
The "king of cassava" has attracted not only relatives, friends and neighbors, but also experts in the past few days.
(Nanguo Metropolis Daily)
(China Daily 03/27/2008 page6)
