China Scene: East

It's too cold here; let's go, get some food now

Two 11-year-old boys in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, who police say stole food from a supermarket, were caught after they couldn't bear the temperature of the store's cold storage compartment.

The stealing incident happened around midnight last Wednesday. The boys admitted to police later that they hid, planning to steal in early morning after the store had closed.

But after three hours in cold storage, they kept shaking and decided to come out of hiding and steal some food before closing time, which betrayed them to security guards.

The boys had to undergo public security education due to their young age.

(Nanjing Morning Post)

Too poor to do it in 1939, Fujian couple finally wed

Hundreds of people attended the group wedding party last week in Quanzhou, Fujian, and one of the couples was special.

The groom, surnamed Chen, is 88. His wife, Wei, is 90. And they've been married for 68 years but had never had a wedding.

Chen was dressed in a Western-style suit, and Wei wore a Tang suit. They walked hand-in-hand on the red carpet and were easily the highlight of the wedding party. The poverty that prevented a wedding in 1939 was a source of guilt to Chen. At the party the two elders exchanged rings and drank from the nuptial cups, as all the other newlyweds did.

(The Straits Metropolis News)

Shandong worker wins judgment for overtime

A company in Yantai, Shandong, must pay a former female worker overtime after she sued and the court agreed.

The worker, surnamed Lin, worked overtime for 15 months after the unidentified company hired her in November 2004. Ever since then, she was asked to work overtime each day. When she sued, she said she had to work 11 hours every day and never had weekends off.

Lin asked the company to pay the compensation it owed her. The company refused and fired her in January 2006. She sought 14,000 yuan ($1,800), and the court recently decided the company should pay 12,000 yuan ($1,540).

(Qilu Evening News)

(China Daily 01/16/2007 page6)