Across China: Henan

Rumormonger sentenced

Cao Quanwei, a 35-year-old farmer in Gongyi country of central China's Henan province, was sentenced to one year in jail by a local court on Monday for spreading earthquake rumors. He was accused of fabricating and spreading false messages of terror to the public.

The court heard that Cao, as a joke, sent a fake text message text to a close friend in the name of China Seismological Administration on Feb 14, alleging that there would be an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 in central Henan at 3 am the next day.