China Scene: West

Yunnan man exercises his right to sue

Fan Tao, a 44-year-old resident of Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, feels he has been wronged by nearly every local government organ - including the medical insurance center, social security administration, public security bureau, and traffic enforcement team.

Rather than suffer these perceived injustices silently, Fan has over three years helped bring to court more than 50 lawsuits against the local government.

Many of these cases he has lost. However, his stamina, if not his success rate, has earned him the nickname "king of lawsuits" among locals.

(www.shxb.net)

Brazilian tourists blown off course by Xinjiang winds

In the vast deserts of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the wind is often relentless.

Last Tuesday two Brazilian tourists and their guide attempted to drive through a fierce gale in the region's Turpan prefecture.

The howling gusts blew straight through their car's windshield and carried off some of their supplies.

Local traffic police received an emergency report, and successfully saved the stranded motorists.

Now the Brazilians are continuing their roadtrip across western China.

(www.tianshannet.com)

Chongqing municipality, the most populous urban area in western China, is a famously vast, grey landscape. Here, one local developer recently tried to lure new homeowners by billing a new real estate complex as "a garden with mountain and water."

In reality, that "garden" was simply a single tree in the courtyard.

When angry residents threatened to abandon their contracts, the developer reluctantly agreed to plant additional greenery.

(Chongqing Times)

If govt buys bags, will locals use them?

The government of one district of Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province, worried that residents might not follow new laws intended to limit the use of plastic bags. The laws are part of a nationwide pollution-control effort.

So the government bought 340,000 cloth bags - at a cost of 700,000 yuan ($100,000) - and shipped them to residents free of charge. Now officials are waiting to see whether locals will actually use them.

(Lanzhou Morning News)

Kidnapping victim talks her way out of trouble

Liu Mei, a restaurant owner in Chongqing municipality, was kidnapped last December by two men.

The kidnappers, named Li Cheng and Shi Ping, demanded that her husband pay one million yuan ($142,857) for her release.

While one man telephoned the husband, Liu successfully persuaded the second man to surrender himself at the local police station.

The first kidnapper, Li, was arrested in March by local police and sentenced to 11 years in prison. His partner, who had turned himself in voluntarily, received a five-year sentence.

(Chongqing Commercial Daily)

(China Daily 06/11/2008 page6)