China Scene: East

Man cycles four days to reach wife for child's birth

A Beichuan man drove his motorcycle all the way from Shanghai to his quake-hit hometown in Sichuan province to welcome the birth of his son.

Pan Qiang, a young migrant worker in Shanghai, lost contact with his pregnant wife in Beichuan when the earthquake struck on May 12. After four days of riding, he arrived in Beichuan, where he found his wife in nearby Anxian county.

Although Pan's wife's water broke on May 12, she was unable to find a proper hospital to deliver her baby because of the quake.

Pan took his wife to a medical team for help. They operated on his wife, who gave birth to a healthy boy on May 17.

(Oriental Morning Post)

Student saves shop assistant, catches robber

A high school student has saved the life of a shop assistant.

When Shanghai student Ren Tianjiao entered the store to buy coffee, he found a man holding a knife around the assistant's neck.

When the man saw Ren, he immediately fled the scene.

Ren chased after the man on his motorcycle and pressed him down to the ground before police came to arrest the man.

Police said the incident was the man's second robbery.

The police and Ren's school each rewarded him with 500 yuan ($72). But, Ren donated the 1,000 yuan to earthquake-hit regions in Sichuan.

(Xinmin Evening News)

Farmer saves deserted baby deer

Forty-one baby deer deserted by their mothers have had a fighting chance at life thanks to a deer farmer who has raised them over the past eight years.

Zhang Fengzhong works on a stretch of land in Jiangning district of Nanjing, Jiangsu province, which is home to over 1,000 deer.

Every year, between five and six baby deer are deserted by their mothers because they dislike their babies, or don't know how to take care of their offspring.

Over the years Zhang has learned how to intimately connect with the baby deer - they let Zhang stroke them and touch their noses.

(Modern Express)

(China Daily 06/06/2008 page6)