China Scene: North

Health care is top concern of one-child families

Nearly 65 percent of single-child families in Beijing see medical services as the biggest issue in their lives today rather than pension, employment, education or housing, a survey by the Jiusan Society said.

The single-child allowance from the government (10 yuan, or $1.28, per week) hardly helps solve these problems, a report by Jiusan Society, one of China's non-Communist parties, said last week.

Though most single-child families lead better lives, their children's medical coverage, education and employment still remain major issues. There are 1.45 million single children under the age of 18, and the number of those who are between 19 and 30 is 2.5 million.

(China News Service)

Dropout sues university for record 700,000 yuan

A dropout of China Agricultural University in Beijing sued the school last week for a record 700,000 yuan ($90,000) including mental anguish he experienced for having to share a toilet with 13 other students.

A court in the Haidian District accepted the case last Friday. The student, surnamed Wang, had to quit school two years ago due to his symptoms of malnutrition, urgency of urination and a related mental condition, which were diagnosed by three hospitals.

All his symptoms was caused by sharing a toilet with 13 other students in a dorm from 2002 to 2004, Wang claimed.

(Beijing News)

2-week-old abandoned girl has cataracts removed

An ophthalmic hospital in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province, gave a free cataract removal to a 14-day-old abandoned baby girl, the youngest one ever to undergo such surgery in China.

Although it took only 12 minutes for experts to complete the operation on January 23, it was not easy for them to do it successfully for such a little baby. A patient at a local hospital picked up the baby last December along with a piece of paper with her birth date written on it within her clothing. She was sent to an orphanage, where doctors diagnosed her with congenital cataracts and pupil seclusion.

(Business Times)

Free pet 'chamber pots' distributed in Beijing

Up to 120 free "portable chamber pots" designed for dogs, the first of their type in Beijing, were handed out to dog owners in a residential area on January 23 as a way to keep public places clean and maintain a good image for the capital.

The pots will enable keepers to collect the droppings their pets leave on the streets and in parks. Authorities hoped such pots could become popular soon throughout the city's more than 6,400 communities to ensure a much better environment for residents.

(China News Service)

Couples want to wed before 'year of widow'

About 8,000 loving couples from Changchun, capital of Jilin Province, have been booking hotels and limousines for wedding ceremonies before Spring Festival, which starts on February 18, to avoid the "year of the widow" next year in the lunar calendar.

The couples had to prearrange their wedding ceremonies before the festival because their parents believed that it would be bad fortune for them to tie the knot after the festival.

As a result, all the big dining halls in the city's luxury hotels and limousines were reserved for wedding ceremonies before the festival.

Of course, prices were raised for such services, as well.

(East Asia Economy and Trade News)

Morality speech brings return of speaker's coat

A suspected thief in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, took a speech on vicious behavior by a professor to heart.

Xu, a professor at a key university in Hunan Province, was invited to make a speech at Nanjing Library on controlling emotions and cultivating morality last week. After the speech his coat, which carried a cellphone worth more than 5,000 yuan ($617) and some personal documents, was gone.

Library security video showed a middle-aged man had stolen it after the speech while excited audience members surrounded Xu.

Two hours later, Xu received a call from the library saying his coat was returned by a man who introduced himself as a person enlightened by Xu's speech.

(Nanjing Daily)

Passport is so clean, no one can read it

A Shanghai man was almost rejected from re-entering the country at Pudong International Airport last Wednesday after he, with a passion for cleanliness, presented his passport, which had been deteriorated by disinfectants.

The passport-inspecting machine sounded an alarm when the man, surnamed Wang, passed through the immigration inspection point after returning from Thailand. Wang said that he had sprayed disinfectants on it to clean it, a habit he developed after the outbreak of SARS in 2003.

After having his identification confirmed, Wang was allowed to enter.

(Xinwen Morning Post)

More elderly seeking nip here, tuck there

Plastic surgery hospitals in Nanjing, Jiangsu, have seen an increasing number of elderly visitors in recent years as people today have had more open and positive attitudes toward the practice.

A woman surnamed Zhu, in her 70s, had a face-lift last week before a visit to her son abroad. Zhu said in doing this she wished to give friends of his son a good impression. According to statistics released by the plastic surgery department of a local reputable hospital, about 10 percent of its visitors are people over 60, among whom the oldest man was 75 and the oldest woman 85. They mainly ask for surgery to tighten the skin on the face and smooth eye wrinkles.

(www.xinhuanet.com)

Online loan appeal vows repayment plus 5%

A university student in Nanjing, Jiangsu, who is asking for loans online to help his mother, who has leukemia, promises to repay every fen with 5 percent interest.

In his appeal, the student, surnamed Wu, said his mother was in hospital in Suzhou, Jiangsu, and the only way to rescue her is to have a bone marrow transplant, which will cost 500,000 yuan ($64,290), a staggering sum for her impoverished family.

Wu reported that he had received about 70,000 yuan ($9,000) so far from warm-hearted netizens.

(www.xmnet.com)

(China Daily 01/30/2007 page6)