Men to take up maid's job

Look out ladies, the men are moving in - at least in Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province, where it appears they are happy to work as maids.

According to the Daily Business, the men say they can cook and clean as well as women, and are also good at taking care of children and the aged.

Some men have called a housemaid employment hotline in the city, applying for such jobs.

A local surnamed Fan, in his 50s, called saying he did all of his family's housework and could complete all daily chores well in three and a half hours.

Restaurant covers child's medical bill

The father of a two-year-old was incensed after finding his child had eaten rat poison at a birthday party.

The gathering was held at a restaurant in Shanghai.

The incident took place last month as Zhang saw his son pick what appeared to be peanuts off the carpet and eat them.

When asked by Zhang, people at the restaurant later said it was rat poison.

The child was taken to hospital for emergency treatment, where there were no complications.

During the court case, it was ruled that both Zhang and the restaurant had a responsibility to the child.

But the restaurant offered to pay for the child's medical bill.

Transsexual follower pessimistic about future

Determined to have a sex change and having recently lost his job, Jiang Lili is worried about how he will pay for his operation and whether there will be anybody willing to marry him after he becomes a she, reports Yantai Evening News.

Jiang lost his job in his hometown, Zhaoyuan of Shandong Province, after going to a hospital in Yantai, in the same province, to ask about having a sex change.

He said he would pay anything to become a woman.

But Jiang was not completely optimistic about the change. "After the operation I will have to live alone because nobody will want to marry me. Especially not now everybody knows about me from the newspapers," he said.

Tsunami sends waves to reservoir

Farmers around the Qingshandian Reservoir in Lin'an of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, were shocked to see big whirlpools and waves of over one metre high forming in a reservoir on a windless day in December, reports Daily Business.

After 9 am on December 26, farmer Mao Jinchao looked into the reservoir and saw the waves.

There was also a whirlpool which let out loud noises near the bank of the reservoir.

The phenomena lasted for about an hour. Farmers thought there was a big earthquake coming. Some thought it was a water monster who had been disturbed by nearby construction work.

Seismologists in Hangzhou later confirmed it was because of the earthquake under the Indian Ocean.

Teenager leads nation's biggest gang

A 16-year-old, who is said to be the kingpin of China's biggest ever gang in terms of members, was detained recently, reports City Express.

It is claimed the gang - known as Wujiebang (the fifth street gang) - had committed more than 200 crimes, such as kidnapping, rape and theft, since April 2003.

More than 160 people were believed involved and about half of them were younger than 18.

After a year-long investigation, police say they have rounded up more than half of the gang.

Saddam's portrait to be trademarked

Lin Muliang, a businessman from Wenzhou who already owns 2,000 trademarks, has applied to register a CG (computer graphic) drawing of Saddam Hussein as a brand, reports Today Morning Express.

Amazingly, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce has accepted the application of the processed image.

Lin had also attempted to register the portrait of Osama Bin Laden two years ago, but later gave up because his face was too thin and long. He thought Saddam had the perfect face to be trademarked.

If successful, Lin will be able sell it for US$25 million, the same amount offered by the United States for the head of Saddam.

(China Daily 01/11/2005 page4)