China Scene: North

Sow trauma claim thrown out in court

A farmer's 18,000 yuan ($2,565) compensation claim against his neighbor was dismissed by a Beijing court on Tuesday due to lack of evidence.

The farmer, surnamed Li, claimed that two of his pregnant sows miscarried at his property in the Shunyi district on June 18, 2006, because of damage to the pigpen by his neighbor.

Li said Zhang, his neighbor, demolished an adjoining wall and damaged the pigpen. He claims the noise and destruction traumatized his pregnant sows and caused them to miscarry.

He also claims the sows are no longer able to bear piglets as a result of the incident, causing him losses of at least 10,000 yuan over the past two years.

(Beijing Times)

Island life suits patients, waterfowl

A group of 32 cancer patients are spending their days feeding waterfowl on a small island on the Sorghum, the longest river in Northeast China.

The group began feeding up to 1,000 waterfowl on the island, where a rehabilitation center was built for them, last year, Li Yan, who runs the center, said on Wednesday.

"We look after the waterfowl every morning and keep watch over them. It's a paradise for us to ease our pain and regain self-confidence," Fang Guizhi, a patient, said.

(news.sohu.com)

Blaze of glory leads to arson charges

A migrant worker surnamed Li from Beijing's Shunyi district was arrested on Tuesday for setting a fire on March 14, 2007, in connection with a failed suicide attempt that ended up claiming the lives of 22 cypresses instead.

After being teased by his coworkers, Li fell into a depression and climbed up hill to end it all. His plan was to set fire to the grass on the hill and then jump into the flames.

However, the fire quickly became an uncontrollable blaze, and Li was so scared that he fled into the night. Police eventually caught up with him, and he is now facing arson charges.

(Beijing Times)

Wife saves spouse from drunken error in judgment

A countrywoman surnamed Zhang called police after her husband went out after he had been drinking. In response to her call, police hurried to a road in Bayannur, a city in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and headed him off.

On Tuesday, Zhang's husband thanked the police for helping him, and they told him that his wife was the one to whom he owed his gratitude.

He said he had gone out drinking with his friends earlier in the day and was lucky that his wife saw him before he headed out.

(www.xinhuanet.com)

A pack a day keeps smoking tortoise calm

A pet tortoise in Yongji, a county in Jilin province, is hooked on cigarettes.

The tortoise took up smoking three years ago when its owner, surnamed Yun, offered it a drag of his cigarette.

"Since then, my tortoise seems to be agitated when I smoke nearby - until I offer it a cigarette," Yun said.

"The tortoise can smoke a cigarette in four minutes - just like a human," a witness said on Wednesday.

(City Evening News)

Light sleeper no longer fears heart attack threat

Lin Lin, an energetic 32-year-old worker from Dalian, Liaoning province, has earned the nickname "superwoman" for limiting her sleep to no more than three hours a night for the past two years.

Her sleeping habits started changing around the time she turned 30. One of her friends warned her that she would suffer from high blood pressure or have a heart attack if she continued like that.

Frightened by the prospect of an early death, Lin consulted a doctor on Wednesday and was told that there was nothing wrong with her health.

"She naturally sleeps less than other people and can enjoy a healthy life by following her own biological clock," a doctor surnamed Zhang said.

(New Business View)

(China Daily 04/03/2008 page6)