China Scene: West

Cancer-stricken student gets help from friends

Wang Jianquan, an intern who suffers from leukemia, has received much encouragement from his 114 classmates in his fight against the disease.

Wang recently graduated from medical college and works as intern at a hospital in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province. Wang was ill when the heavy snowstorms hit the region this winter, but he still worked hard as the hospital struggled to care for the many casualties.

When Wang's classmates heard about his diagnosis, they decided to look after him around the clock, giving him good care and encouraging him to fight against the disease.

(Guizhou Commercial Daily)

Millionaire says thanks by building schools

Liu Wenbiao, an entrepreneur in Lintong district, Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, donated 600,000 yuan ($85,700) to a middle school in his hometown on Monday to improve the school's teaching facilities and build a new building.

"Education is the base for our country's development, and I should do something to help after becoming rich," he said.

In recent years, Liu has donated more than 1.1 million yuan to build three schools in mountainous areas in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region and Shandong and Shanxi provinces.

(Xi'an Evening News)

A wild badger was released into the wild on Sunday after visiting an apartment building in Wanzhou district, Chongqing municipality.

A resident surnamed Liu noticed some strange footprints outside his apartment on the 23rd floor late last month and after a careful examination determined that there was a wild animal living on the roof of the building. On Saturday evening, Liu and his neighbors caught the animal and called a forest expert, who told them it was a badger.

Badgers are under second-class protection in the province.

(Chongqing Morning News)

Firefighters deploy song skills to soothe stuck boy

To calm the nerves of a stranded boy, firefighters sang songs to him as they plucked him from a dark tunnel.

On Monday evening, Xiao Tao, a third-grade student in Chongqing municipality, decided to explore a tunnel with two of his friends, but about 40 m in, Xiao Tao fell into a 4-m deep hollow. His friends ran home and called their parents.

Firefighters came to pull the boy out, but the work was complicated by how narrow the tunnel was. To make sure Xiao Tao kept his cool, the firefighters sang to him.

After a 30-minute effort, the firefighters succeeded in pulling the boy out, and doctors said he was only slightly injured.

(Chongqing Times)

Inventor takes to the water in special sled

Zhang Yaping, 56, a resident of Chongqing municipality, recently crossed the Jialing River aboard a special waterskiing sled that he invented.

He said he read an article about waterskiing on the Internet in June 2004 and decided to design a waterskiing sled of his own. After hundreds of experiments, he made a prototype in May 2005, and got a State patent last February. Zhang's sled is made of two pieces of bamboo covered with parcel resin and glass fibers. The sled is 3.1 m long, 1.1 m wide and weighs 40 kg.

(Chongqing Commercial Daily)

Couple makes history with 90th anniversary

Zhang Jincai, 106, and Lu Shurong, 102, a couple in Daxuetang village, Sichuan province, held a ceremony to celebrate their 90th wedding anniversary on Sunday.

The couple got married on April 6, 1918, and their family now has five generations, comprising 118 people. The couple has been married longer than the Guinness world record of 86 years and four months, and their combined age of 208 years old makes them the most aged couple in China.

(Chengdu Commercial Daily)

(China Daily 04/15/2008 page6)