Deforestation plan falls on stony ground

More than 30 women from Weitang Village of Kangping County in Liaoning Province destroyed 15,000 trees just because they wanted to return the forest to farmland, due to growing grain prices, and some of them have been detained by police, Business Times reports.

The trees they destroyed were a part of shelter-forest located on the border of Liaoning and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which were built to prevent sandstorms coming to Shenyang, the provincial capital.

The land was turned into a forest two years ago.

Farmers were very supportive of this move at the time as they got economic compensation from the government and the price of grain was quite low.

Cycling in Marco Polo's footsteps

A group of Chinese cyclists has decided to follow in the footsteps of intrepid Italian Marco Polo by riding their bikes all the way from Beijing to Venice, reports China Youth Daily.

The cyclists will first ride along the ancient Silk Road and then pass through Pakistan, Turkey, Greece and Italy, organizers said.

The trip is the cyclists way of promoting the 2008 Beijing Olympics and fostering international friendship.

Polo (1254-1324) finished his overland trip from Venice to Beijing more than 720 years ago.

Police officers urged to reduce their weight

More than 100 police officers in Beijing are being told by their superiors to take exercise to cut their weight, Beijing Evening News reports.

Increasing numbers of police officers at the city's Xuanwu District have become fat in recent years. They are suffering from many health problems, due to a shortage of exercise.

The bureau bought fitness centre tickets for these officers and asked them to go there at least twice a week.

A policeman surnamed Wang who weighs nearly 100 kilograms said it was a good opportunity to lose some weight.

Street cleaners dice with death

Street cleaner Liu Lijun in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province, became the 20th sanitation worker to be injured or killed in traffic accidents this year, Liaoshen Evening News reports.

Cleaning the streets has become a dangerous job in Shenyang. Two sanitation workers have been killed in the accidents and 18 others were injured.

Senior wins compensation

An elderly man has received 5,000 yuan (US$600) in compensation from a friend who played a prank on him four years ago by calling crematorium workers to his home, Liaoshen Evening News reports.

When workers arrived the house of Li, 74, in 2001, they found that he was quite healthy.

It was later discovered that Yang, from Shenyang, Liaoning Province, called the crematorium, saying Li had died and wanted the crematorium to take the body away.

(China Daily 06/08/2004 page4)