China Scene: North

Little girl survives 9-story fall from apartment

A 9-year-old girl fell nine stories in Benxi, a city of Liaoning province, after being left home alone on Saturday.

She ended up hitting a flower garden and was suspended above ground for half an hour before neighbors heard her cries and called the fire department.

Her parents burst into tears when they found that she was not injured.

Firefighters reminded parents living in high buildings not to leave their kids alone at home with the windows open.

(Chinese Business Morning Post)

Net surfer takes refuge from hallucinations in toilet

After surfing the Internet for several hours, a 21-year-old man from Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province, hallucinated that he was in an isolated room on an island, surrounded by a group of knife-wielding gangsters, so he hid in a toilet cried for help.

He called police later that night but forgot to tell them where the "room" was. Later, a highly experienced cop found him inside the toilet at a roadside Internet cafe.

"He was trembling with fear when we took him out of the toilet," a police officer said. "Later, we learned that he had stayed at the cafe for more than 10 hours until his emotions got out of control and he sought refuge in the toilet."

(Yanzhao Evening News)

River proves a dangerous escape route for burglar

A thief almost drowned in a river in Baodi district, Tianjin municipality, while fleeing a villager's home following a burglary.

Seeing the chief leaving his house on Monday, Li, the owner, called police and chased after him. To evade his pursuers, the thief jumped into the river.

To his dismay, the water was so deep and cold that he nearly froze to death. As he was taken from the water, he could not help trembling with fear. Police recovered the 5,000 yuan ($714) he had stolen from Li's home.

(Daily Update)

Suicidal student shows willpower on trip home

A college graduate from Changchun, Jilin province, was so depressed after failing to find a job that he made 10 attempts to jump off the train on his trip home.

Seeing the student about to jump off the train from Guangzhou to Changchun, Du Jiang, the conductor, subdued him with two other attendants.

That did not stop the student to make repeated attempts at jumping.

To stop him, Du and his fellow attendants monitored the boy for 38 hours without sleeping until they handed him over to his parents at Changchun railway station.

(East Asia Economy and Trade News)

(China Daily 04/15/2008 page6)