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Zhejiang

Students get farm time for spree

Three high school students from Hangzhou have been told to work on a local farm as part of their punishment for vandalizing a farmer's field of watermelons. The trio have also been ordered to pay for the damage. They carried out the act of vandalism on May 19 as they passed the watermelon farm on their way home from school. The boys said they were just having fun but their spree damaged around half of the farmer's stock of almost-ripe melons. Police said they explained to the students the error of their ways and suggested they actually work on the farm to experience the farmer's hard life.