China Scene: North

Teen-aged kidnapper imprisoned for 9 years

A 17-year-old native of Heilongjiang province working in Beijing has been sentenced to nine years' imprisonment for kidnapping an 11-year-old boy and demanding a 200,000-yuan ($29,000) ransom, and breaking into a house.

Xiao Ming (an alias) and two other men put on masks last November before abducting and held a child for one night at an abandoned house. Xiao called the victim's father, who is boss of a supermarket, and demanded the ransom, threatening to cut off one of his son's fingers unless he delivered 49,000 yuan the next morning.