China Scene: West

Year of Pig babies facing shortage of caregivers

Chongqing's baby boom has led to an acute shortage of about 20,000 caregivers for new moms and their babies. It is reported that the number of births in the first half of this year was 29 percent higher than in the same period last year.

According to Qin, who works in an agency that helps young families find helpers, one reason for the baby boom is that many Chinese parents want their babies to be born in the Year of the Pig, which is considered an auspicious year in the Chinese calendar.

(Chongqing Evening News)

Court backs lawsuit on denial of conjugal rights

A couple in Nanhua, Yunnan, has won the province's first lawsuit against a company on the grounds of being denied their conjugal rights.

While installing electric wires for the company, Kong Chengcai, now 34, had a fall from a pole in February 2006 that left him paralyzed. As the company did not want to pay the costs of treatment, the couple took it to court last August. Kong demanded compensation for his injury while his wife Ah Zhen asked that she be compensated for losing the right to lead a proper married life.

Recently, the court awarded the couple 280,000 yuan ($36,842), ruling that the accident had led to Ah Zhen being denied her rights in marriage.

(Urban Times)

New rule has students rushing to find spouses

A match-making website recently saw 3,347 students from 58 universities and colleges in Shaanxi Province in Northwest China put out advertisements seeking life partners.

A website staffer Wang attributed this sudden rush for spouses to a regulation issued by the National Population and Family Planning Committee and the Ministry of Education on August 2. This states that no school can order a married student with a legitimate child to leave school.

"After the regulation was issued, 220,407 college students from all over the country logged on to our website," Wang said.

A student Zhao of the Xi'an Finance and Economy University, said she was looking for a partner who would love her and help her complete her schooling, as also help her get a good job after graduation.

(Sanqin Daily)

2 saved from car buried in soil toppled by truck

Two people were saved on Sunday from a car buried in soil in a traffic accident in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province.

At about 10:40 that morning, a truck filled with soil rolled over and the soil completely covered a car passing by. The people around immediately swung into action, shoveling away the soil, and within 20 minutes managed to pull out the two persons and send them to hospital.

(Xi'an Evening News)

Conductors help woman deliver on-board train

A makeshift maternity ward put together by train conductors helped a woman give birth on board a train, last Thursday.

Wu, 30, of Baoji, Shaanxi Province in Northwest China, boarded the train to Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province and after just half-an-hour began to have labor pains. The train conductors stepped in to play midwives and helped deliver Wu's son safely. When the train arrived at Zhengzhou Station an hour later, Wu and her new-born were sent to a local hospital for further treatment and are now doing well.

(Xi'an Evening News)

Xi'an police bust gang of bike, cycle thieves

Xi'an police busted a gang of thieves on Sunday, putting an end to a theft spree that saw more than 40 bikes and cycles stolen in the past 10 days.

The 11-member gang was found to be well-organized, with a clear division of labor and time slots. After careful investigations, police caught on to the pattern of thefts and arrested all.

( Xi'an Evening News)

(China Daily 08/23/2007 page6)