China Scene: South

Elderly snail an integral part of man's life

Yang Jinshen, a resident of Dongguan, Guangdong province, has been raising a snail as a pet for more than 11 years.

Yang picked up the snail in his hometown in Hubei province in 1997 when he was just 14 years old. The junior high school student then built a 1-sq-m home for his pet and played with it after school every day.

Yang then brought the snail to the city's Gaobu township when he and his wife moved to the Pearl River Delta city at the beginning of month.

His snail is now about the size of an adult's fist and usually extends its head from its shell at night.

Yang's snail has attracted the attention of local zoologists because of its old age. Most snails only live to be five or six.

(Southern Metropolis Daily)

Sightseer spends several hours stranded on cliff

Rescue workers came to the aid of a tourist surnamed Jia who had been stranded on a cliff in Yangsu, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, for three hours early this week.

Jia, 29, had come for sightseeing from Guangdong province. She climbed up the cliff near Zhongling mountain after being attracted by the beautiful scenery there.

However, she soon lost her way and dared not risk climbing down, so her friends called the fire department for help.

Firefighters came to her rescue by repelling down the cliff and pulling her up.

(Guilin Evening News)

(China Daily 04/15/2008 page6)