China Scene: South

Giant bangs his own drum in search for job

A 2.23-m-tall man called Kang Jianhua has been attracting onlookers by beating a bronze gong in an effort to be employed, in Huaqiangbei Road, a busy street in Shenzhen special economic zone, Guangdong province, last Tuesday.

Kang, 43, who was once a basketball player, said he was desperate to work after retiring early from an automobile company in Chongqing municipality, last October.

Kang said because he was so big he had more daily expenses, including buying oversized clothes and shoes. He said he even has to pay double on buses because he takes up more space.

Kang has a pension but this is just a couple of hundred yuan a month.

(Yangcheng Evening News)

Hongkongers marrying later, having fewer children

Hong Kong special administrative region's birth rate has been decreasing over the past 25 years.

Even so, the number of residents in the city grew to 6.86 million last year, from 5.18 million in 1981. Its average annual population growth rate was 1.1 per cent over the past 25 years.

An average of 1,000 women gave birth to 1,933 children in 1981. But an average of 1,000 women delivered just 984 babies in 2006. The city's average age is currently 39.6, compared with 26.3 in 1981.

The average age to get married was 27 and 24, respectively, for men and women in 1981. This was 31 and 28, in 2006.

(www.chinanews.com.cn)

Xingnin residents asked to jump to it

A Xingning community committee is planning to break the rope skipping record next week in Nanning, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The current record was created by a primary school in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, last June. Twenty people skipped a rope, together, 500 times.

The Xingning committee is hoping 88 residents will skip together. In addition to breaking the record the idea is to raise health and exercise awareness, as well as welcoming the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

(Nanning Evening News)

Digging deep for biggest dipper

One person has bid more than 2,000 yuan ($274) on the Internet to be the first to ride on the world's biggest roller coaster in Guangzhou's Chimeloong Gaiety Park.

The roller coaster, which opened to the public yesterday, has attracted wide attention. The initial bid was set at 111 yuan and gradually went up to 2,420 yuan.

The dipper is more than 80 m high and 1 km long. It has three cars, capable of carrying 10 people at a time. The top speed is 120 kph and the ride takes 3 minutes, 40 seconds.

Construction of the entertainment facility costs more than 200 million yuan.

(www.chinanews.com.cn)

(China Daily 01/23/2008 page6)