China Scene: North

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-20 07:44

Beggars can indeed be choosers in Tianjin

Soon after relief authorities helped beggars return home for the Spring Festival, many of them came back to Tianjin municipality, and continued to beg.

Others refused to go to the local relief stations for accommodation before they were sent home again because they can earn as much as 100 yuan ($14.6) a day by begging on the streets, reports say.

Some say that a begging family of three could earn as much as 60,000 yuan a year on the streets. Citizens were urged not to give money to the beggars.

(Metro Express)

Jobless man impersonates underworld boss to extort

A jobless man from Hebei province who pretended to be an underworld boss in order to extort money from people was recently arrested.

The man, surnamed Liu, managed to collect 80,000 yuan ($11,700) from 52 people in 17 municipalities and provinces throughout the country.

Liu's extortion racket was discovered last November when he tried to extort money from Jiang, a Beijing Railway Bureau employee.

The police traced his accounts to Chengde, his hometown in Hebei province, and caught him as he was using an ATM machine to withdraw money.

Liu admitted that he bought 1,000 pieces of personal information about other people four months ago and used the information to extort money.

(Beijing Times)

Man learns he isn't the father, 16 years later

A Beijing man is asking for 100,000 yuan ($14,600) in compensation from his ex-wife after he learned that he isn't the father of the boy they've raised for 16 years.

Zhang and Li got married in 1991 and the boy was born a year later. Since then, she often refused to sleep together with her husband.

Later on, he came to discover that the boy had no resemblance to him and had a paternity test, which proved that he was not the boy's biological father.

He divorced her and brought her to court to get compensation for mental injury. A court in Beijing ruled that the woman must pay.

(Beijing Times)

Woman's memory loss strains family life

A 31-year-old woman from Yingkou, Liaoning province, is struggling to regain three years of memory loss which she lost after an accident.

The woman cannot remember her husband and two children even though she recovered from serious physical injuries .

After the accident, Xu fell briefly into a coma, in 2004.

Her husband, who has been caring for her, was surprised when she tried to attack him with a knife after he tried to get intimate with her.

She apparently has no recollection of their life together between 2004 to 2007, and family photos of them together hasn't helped.

(Information Times)

Earthquake volunteer marries Sichuan farmer

A volunteer from Tianjin municipality who went to help earthquake victims in Jiangyou county, Sichuan province, plans to leave her heart there.

The woman fell in love with a local farmer and they rang wedding bells on Saturday.

Their love story was chronicled in local papers with some asking why a big city bride, who refused to give her real name, would want to marry the poor farmer.

"Instead of showing off our wedding, as many expected, I'd like to express my love to him by fully preparing for our wedding myself," she said. She paid for the wedding dress, the rings, wedding photos and a 20-table wedding banquet at a local time-honored hotel.

(Daily Update)

Faulty elevator drags boy two stories up

A 16-year-old boy got the scare of a lifetime when he was dragged two stories up with his legs stuck in the elevator door.

He entered the elevator on the 22nd floor of an apartment building last Tuesday. Before the door opened completely, the elevator began to climb rapidly, and he was unable to escape.

Firefighters were called to pry open the door and he was rushed to a hospital in Changchun, Jilin province, where he was treated for serious tissue damage.

The boy's parents and other tenants said the building's management office operated the lift for months without the proper inspection.

(New Cultural View)

Impatient man kills crying 2-year-old boy

A man in Huadian, Jilin province, threw his girlfriend's crying 2-year-old son so hard on the bed that the child died immediately.

The man, frustrated he couldn't spend time with the woman, threw the boy twice on the bed. The boy kept coughing and crying in the early morning hours last Tuesday because of a cold. His girlfriend was comforting the boy in her arms when he snatched him and threw him twice on the bed.

Cops took him into custody after which the man tried to commit suicide.

(New Cultural View)

(China Daily 01/20/2009 page6)