China Scene: North

Black bears pounce to fatally maul villager

Two black bears from a nature reserve in Kuandian County, Liaoning province, killed a 71-year-old villager as he and his son, surnamed Qu, picked herbs on a remote hill.

Working just 30 m away from his dad, Qu heard heavy breathing before the bears dashed from a bush where his father had been toiling.

Opting not to venture but instead to go for help, the son later discovered his dad unconscious after returning with police protection. Animal experts confirmed that the man was killed by two adult bears that had escaped from a reserve nearby and warned locals not to enter the area during the breeding season.

(Chinese Business Morning View)

Would-be carpenter cuts off thumb with electric saw

A budding carpenter from Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, was using an electric saw to cut timber for a table he was making when he suddenly lost control and cut his left thumb clean off.

Yu was never trained to do woodwork, family members said, but was so confident in his penchant for carpentry that he borrowed the saw to give it a go on Monday last week.

Fortunately, they rushed him and his severed thumb to a hospital, where doctors reattached it during a 3-hour operation.

(Heilongjiang Morning Post)

Failed double suicide bid lands husband in court

A man had to stand trial for attempted murder after he failed in a double suicide bid at a subway station in Beijing.

During a heated quarrel with his ex-wife about a common debt at the station on Jan 12, the man surnamed Xu suddenly grabbed her and jumped onto the tracks just as a train steamed towards them. Fortunately, the carriage pulled up in time stopping just a meter away. Even so, the woman was injured while being forced to jump down from the platform.

Xu was caught by police as he tried to escape and was prosecuted for willful murder last week.

(Beijing Times)

Brave kidney patient decides to donate organs

A 24-year-old patient suffering uremia in a village near Bei'an, a city of Heilongjiang province, asked local media to help him donate all his healthy organs to those in need after his death.

Hou Shenjun fell ill last August and has been degenerating ever since.

"The young man is dying from not having a kidney with Rh A-negative blood, a very rare blood type among Chinese, for his transplantation," doctors said.

After learning that last week, the patient decided to donate his healthy organs for future use by patients with the same rare blood type.

(Heilongjiang Morning Post)

(China Daily 05/13/2008 page6)