China Scene: West

Surrogate parents gather to help migrants' kids

Fifteen acting parents met with their "kids" on Sunday in Zunyi, Guizhou province, kicking off a project to help migrant workers adjust to life in the city.

The fifteen volunteers were recruited by a residential community to take care of migrant workers' children.

"More and more rural children are coming into urban areas with their parents. However, these children don't get as much care as they need because their parents are so busy with work. In this project, the volunteers help the children with their studies and personal lives to give them a better environment in which to grow," Mei Benqin, director of the residential community, said.

(Guizhou Metropolis Daily)

Text messages prove soothing balm for sick girl

Wang Jiankang, a farmer in Dianjiang county, Chongqing municipality, has encouraged his seven-year-old daughter to fight against leukemia by reading text messages to her.

Wang is too poor to afford medical treatment for his daughter. Local media reported the family's story, unleashing a flood of donations from across the county. Altogether, Wang collected some 180,000 yuan ($25,700) to help pay for a stem cell transplant. In order to encourage his daughter to bravely face the operation, Wang read 380 text messages from supporters to her.

(Chongqing Commercial Daily)

Half-blind student grateful for stranger's cornea

Ismayil Tursun, an 18-year-old high school student from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, was moved when he received a stranger's cornea.

The boy, a student at a high school in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, suffered from an eye disease that left him blind in his right eye. The Shenzhen Eye Hospital learned about his story and helped him look for a cornea.

"My cousin, Hu Jieliang, was 20 and he fell from a high building accidentally and died. We hoped to do something for society and decided to donate his cornea," Xiao Zhiping, one of Hu's relatives, said.

The hospital also donated 12,000 yuan ($1,700) for the operation, which took place on Friday.

(www.tianshannet.com)

Police and firefighters spent five hours searching for a boy who was thought to have fallen down into a well - but turned up hiding behind the sofa at home.

At about 9:30 on Sunday, police in Yanliang district Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, received a call from a resident saying that his eight-year-old son had fallen into a deep well. Police and firefighters surrounded the well, which is 70 cm in diameter and 30 m deep. However, after hours of searching, they failed to find anyone. The parents eventually found the boy hiding at home.

"I made some mistakes and was criticized by my parents. I was upset, so I ran outside to play. When I came back home I found policemen and firefighters were looking for me, so I hid under the sofa because I was afraid," the boy said.

(Xi'an Evening News)

(China Daily 04/25/2008 page6)