A man won 55 first prizes from 60 lottery tickets purchased in a recent promotional campaign, but the host store has said it can only afford to pay 10 per cent of the prize money, reports Beijing Morning News.

Zhang, of Yanqing, bought 20 cases of Luzhou spirits from the Xiadu Trade Centre earning him 60 lottery tickets in an ongoing promotion.

To Zhang's great surprise, 55 of the tickets were first prize winners totalling awards in excess of 100,000 yuan (US$12,000).

The store, however, said it could only give Zhang around 10,000 yuan (US$1,200), explaining that printing mistakes had been made on the tickets as later discovered at the printers'.

The disappointed Zhang took the matter to court, saying he was willing to relinquish claim to half of the prize money at most. But the store insisted that it still could not afford to pay so much without affecting employee salaries.

Brawl erupts over hair in food

Three customers sued a restaurant on July 19 for injuries received during a quarrel over a hair in a dish of food. They are demanding 87,007 yuan (US$10,500) in compensation, reports Beijing Star Daily.

Liu, Dai and Peng, who dined in the restaurant on May 11, came across a hair in the food they ordered.

While they were complaining to a manager, they also began quarrelling with a waiter who denied their claims.

The waiter then punched each of them hard in the stomach. Liu suffered a broken nose and a fractured rib in the scuffle.

Daughter sues mother obstructing marriage

A daughter sued her mother on Monday for depriving her of the right to marry by holding onto her residential certificate, a document she needs for marriage registration, reports Beijing Legal Times.

The plaintiff, a waitress at a large Beijing hotel, had always been the apple of her mother's eye.

But she disagreed with her mother, who had great expectations for her daughter's future, over the criteria for her Mr Right.

Already strongly opposed to her daughter's most recent boyfriend, the mother refused to hand over the residential certificate after learning that the lovers intended to tie the knot.

Man keeps blackmail in the family

A desperate gambler was arrested last Thursday for twice abducting his son to blackmail his ex-wife and his own mother for a total of 660,000 yuan (US$79,900), reports Beijing Youth Daily.

Kang Chengyu abducted his son, who lives with Kang's mother and his former spouse, a month after his wife divorced him because of his gambling addiction last November.

He demanded 60,000 yuan (US$7,200) for the release of the child and received the money from his ex-wife the next day.

But the greedy father enticed his son away from home again last Wednesday.

He then threatened to kill the child if his ex-wife and mother did not pay him 600,000 yuan (US$72,700).

Kang's mother reported the incident to police who caught Kang within 24 hours.

Woman pleads insanity in hurting niece

"I thought I was tossing out a pillow," Zhang Liwei said in court where she appeared Tuesday on charges of throwing her niece from a sixth-floor flat, Beijing Times reports.

The 49-year-old Zhang, who has mental problems, moved in with her brother's family in Beijing in 1998.

She dropped her niece from a window on the sixth floor on May 25, then cut her own wrists in a suicide attempt but was stopped.

The 12-year-old child narrowly escaped death, though she was badly injured. She was left blind in the right eye.

Showing the judge medical records of her history of mental illness, Zhang attributed her actions to her disordered mental state at the time of her alleged crime and asked for mercy. But the public prosecutor argued that Zhang was fully aware and in control of her behaviour during the incident.

The court has not yet ruled on the case.

Eggs made of sand and mud

A supermarket discovered that some eggs it had purchased contained no yolks or whites but were made of sand and mud instead, reports Beijing Times.

The Meilianmei supermarket fell short of eggs after a recent promotional campaign caused them to sell out.

Yang, the store's purchasing agent, called on a local wholesaler surnamed Kang to deliver 10 cases of eggs after the store's usual supplier was unable to meet his demand.

To his great surprise, Yang found that many eggs in the cases were "man-made" - filled with sand and sealed with mud - while he was inspecting them.

Kang later explained that he had bought the "eggs" from someone in northeastern China and was not responsible for their production.

Luckily, none of the eggs was sold to the public, said Yang.

Dispute over dead, pregnant dog

Is an award-winning pregnant dog worth 80,000 yuan (US$9,700) or a mere 500 yuan (US$60)? That is the question facing a judge with the Xicheng District People's Court.

Yin sued a minibus driver for running over and killing her dog on July 20.

Yin was strolling with her pet through a residential development in Wenxing East Road when a speeding minibus suddenly turned round a nearby corner and ran over the dog. Yin demanded 60,000 yuan (US$7,260) for the loss of her beloved pet and 20,000 yuan (US$2,400) for mental anguish from the driver.

According to Yin, her pedigree dog had won an award and was pregnant at the time of death, facts which, she argued, greatly added to its value. The driver, however, was only willing to pay 500 yuan at most, reports Beijing Morning News.