China Scene: North

Prison TV anchorwoman gets reduced sentence

A former young model who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for extorting money from two world champion table tennis players, including Zhang Yining, will spend 10 months less in lockup because she's worked hard as an anchorwoman at her prison's TV station.

Two years ago, she extorted more than one million yuan ($146,288) from her rich relatives and the world champions to buy a Porsche for her boyfriend. She was put behind bars in Beijing on her 19th birthday.