China Scene: South

Farmer finds success in empty wine bottles

A farmer in Yangxing county, Shandong province, has found success in empty wine bottles. His company is worth 5 million yuan ($714,286).

Ding Jianming began collecting empty wine bottles and selling them to support his family at 16, when he graduated from junior high school in 1983.

He set up a company in 1999, which collects bottles from 100 local farmers. Ding's company now employs more than 100 people.

(Qilu Evening News)

Local family tends to fallen martyr's tomb

Zhang Fangmin wept when he visited his cousin's grave in Jinan, Shandong province, on Tomb-Sweeping Day last week.

Zhang, from Zhejiang province, found local farmer Liu Yanbao tending his cousin's tomb as he and his family have done for the past six decades.

Zhang's cousin, Zhang Zhongxiao, died fighting the Kuomintang army in 1948 and was honored as a martyr.

He was buried in the Liu family's village and they agreed to sweep the martyr's tomb every year on Tomb-sweeping Day and during the Spring Festival.

(www.xinhuanet.com)

(China Daily 04/10/2008 page6)