IOU threat lands student in trouble

A high-school student in Beijing faces legal proceedings for trying to extort money from his classmate by threatening to beat him, Beijing Times reports.

Song Jun, 18, spent 2,000 yuan (US$240) hiring goons to teach Wang Chao a lesson because the latter had annoyed him; and forced him to sign an IOU for 5,000 yuan (US$600) with Song as the creditor. When Song pressed Wang for repayment of the "debt,"Wang's parents reported to local police.

Wife catches retiree dating Net lover

The wife of a man in his 60s in Huludao, a coastal city in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, has caught him dating his web lover "and she now wants a divorce, China News Service reports.

After his retirement, Wang's children bought a home computer to help their father kill time on the Internet but in July, the man started dating a 30-year-old woman whom he "met"in cyber space.

His wife's suspicions were aroused by his increased expenses "Wang was buying cosmetics for his lover "and she caught him with her on Tuesday.

Well-travelled woman, 101, ends life's journey

A 101-year-old woman in Tahe County of Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, died on New Year's eve after travelling across half the country on a pedicab driven by her 74-year-old son, Xinhua News Agency reports.

Before they returned to Harbin in early December because of her illness, Wu Huizhen was taken around for more than 20,000 kilometres across dozens of provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions from May 2000 by Wang Yimin.

"I just wanted to take my mother to see outside world,"Wang said, adding she was disappointed by not setting foot in Tibet Autonomous Region.

Manhole covers just keep disappearing

About 6,000 manhole covers in Shijiazhuang, capital of North China's Hebei Province, were stolen last year"leading to economic losses and hidden perils for local residents, Xinhua News Agency reports.

The uncovered manholes became roadside traps swallowing careless pedestrians and bicycle-riders, many of whom were injured.

Officials from the local city management department said it has become a headache to guard against such theft although they had tried every means.

Undemocratic village head voted out of office

The villagers of Weinan Zhuang in the city of Xiaoyi of North China's Shanxi Province dismissed their village head from office in accordance with election procedures on Tuesday, China News Service reports.

Wei Shiwu was removed from his post by a landslide vote of 203 to 27 because he was accused of being undemocratic in village affairs.

The vote, supervised by governmental and congressional officials from Yangquanqu Town, was conducted among 234 eligible villagers with four being invalid.

Young woman wins lottery second time

Who says lucky lightning never strikes twice" A visit to her friends in Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning Province, netted a 21-year-old a second lottery win in several years.

Zhang from Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, won 25 million yuan (US$3 million) on Tuesday, some years after bagging 2 million yuan (US$243,000), Liaoshen Evening News reports.

After shopping at a local supermarket, Zhang and her friends tried their luck by buying some lottery tickets and she ended up harvesting the biggest prize.

Boy's feet bound to ward off bad luck

A superstitious grandmother in Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, bound her four-year-old grandson's feet with bandages on Monday to limit their growth and avoid bad luck, New Evening News reports.

The suffering boy called his mother on Monday morning and cried for her help, saying his grandmother was killing him.

When the mother rushed to her mother-in-law's home, she found her son's feet bound with layers of bandages "a fortune teller told the old woman that long toes would bring bad luck to the family.

(China Daily 01/08/2004 page4)