Dogs trained to listen up

China's first center for training hearing dogs for deaf people will be set up at Beijing Union University with financial support from Samsung, an official partner of the 2008 Paralympics, a spokesman for the firm said yesterday on the sidelines of the Games.

Park Keun-hee, president of Samsung China, said the company will donate 1.4 million yuan ($200,000) to establish the facility at the university, where more than 300 students with hearing problems are following courses in higher education.

He did not say when the center would open.