China Scene: North

Good Samaritan makes a wrong call

Seeing a man standing atop a seven-story building in Shenyang, Liaoning, one night last week, a concerned resident feared a possible suicide and called police and firefighters.

When they rushed to the scene, the man had vanished.

The stranger, police found, was only up on the roof smoking and enjoying the cool air. He was scared away by the emergency response team.

(Liaoshen Evening News)

Forget poppies as cash crop

A farmer from Chifeng, a city in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was caught red-handed by police for illegally planting 57 poppy plants.

Acting on a tip-off, police broke into the farmer's courtyard and found the poppies hidden among high stem plants.

Wang was fined heavily and ordered to uproot all of the poppies. Under China's law, it is forbidden to grow poppies, the source of opium.

(www. xinhuanet.com)

Search continuing for two young rescuers

Two interns from a vocational senior middle school in Jinzhou, Liaoning, may have drowned after saving a 13-year-old boy from a rain-swollen river last Tuesday.

The boy, son of a cattle farmer, fell into a local river while fishing near where the interns were training in veterinary medicine.

Seeing the boy struggling for survival, Cheng Hao and Wang Xuefeng jumped into the water and pushed him toward a riverbank. The two were carried downstream and rescuers are still searching for their bodies.

(Chinese Business Morning News)

No surprise: cash stolen from car

A man from Shenyang, Liaoning, lost the 300,000 yuan ($38,461) he had just withdrawn from a bank after leaving it in his Jeep parked near his home. His car alarm went off shortly after he entered his home last Wednesday. When he rushed to the car, the cash was gone.

A policeman reasoned: "The car's owner must have been followed by a thief after with- drawing the money from the bank."

(www.cctv.com)

Killer fish makes waves in Liaoning

A "man-eating fish" was sold in a pet market in Dalian, Liaoning, last Friday.

The vendor said he had gotten the fish in Anshan, also in Liaoning. Many locals refused to buy the species, fearing it would kill other pet fish.

Experts said the species, a carnivorous fish introduced into China a decade ago as an exotic pet, sparked fear in cities after its introduction. Law-enforcement personnel were reportedly told to confiscate all the deadly fish and destroy them.

(Peninsula Morning Post)

Traveling dog loathe to leave bus

A stray dog was found to have taken a bus in Beijing last Tuesday.

"Passengers aboard the bus were only aware of the animal after the dog made some noise in a corner of our bus," a woman surnamed Song said. The dog was reluctant to get off the bus. "I was afraid to force it away because it might have bitten passengers," the woman conductor said.

(Beijing Times)

(China Daily 07/25/2007 page6)