Danjiangkou Reservoir is the starting point of the South-North Water Diversion Project.

Waste collector, 85, donates 1m yuan to needy; Shanghai officials pounce on bouncy castles; Man buys minivan with loose change

Published: 5:43am, 27 Oct 2014

Beijing municipality will invest 500 million yuan (HK$632 million) yearly between 2014 and 2020 to support the economic development of 16 cities and counties in Hubei and Henan in compensation for their contributions to the south-to-north water diversion project, Xinhua reports. The middle route of the project will start flowing to Beijing late this month, with 9.5 billion cubic metres of water a year pumped from Danjiangkou reservoir in Hubei to Henan and Hebei provinces and then to the capital.

A man in his 40s was jailed for life at the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court for beating his 70-year-old father to death in February while drunk, the reports. Several neighbours said the jobless man had abused the old man for years and deserved a severe sentence.

The people's court in Luohu district, Shenzhen, has jailed two defendants in the first peer-to-peer lending fraud case tried on the mainland, reports. Eastern Investment declared bankruptcy in September after being in operation for just four months. The company had raised 126 million yuan from 1,200 investors by promising yearly interest of up to 24 per cent, but had only paid back 74.7 million yuan. The defendants were given jail sentences of between two to three years, the report said.

Foshan police busted seven members of a gang that sold fake Chanel bags across China through the mobile social networking platform WeChat, the reports. The group sold more than 40,000 fake bags, worth more than 100 million yuan, since 2013.

A man, 30, has been jailed for four years for setting fire to a bus in Changsha in July, reports. The jobless man ignited mosquito-repellent on the bus on July 11. Two passengers were injured fleeing the bus. The man said he was inspired by a similar bus incident in Hangzhou on July 5 that injured 32 people.

An 85-year-old waste collector in Changde has donated more than one million yuan to people in need over the past 30 years, the news website Voc.com.cn reports. The man was party head of Huolianpo township in the 1980s. He began to collecting scrap in 1985 after he retired.

A woman in Liaocheng who was suspected of sticking 16 needles into her 11-month-old niece committed suicide by taking poison on Friday, Fawan.com.cn reports. The child is in a Beijing hospital for treatment after her parents found several needles in her legs and belly early this month. She will need several operations to remove the needles.

A total of 9,500 free parking places have been made available in Qingdao from this month for local drivers on 98 roads across the city, the reports. The parking spaces will be free at all times, day and night, including weekends. The city's transport authorities said they would try to locate more public spaces for free parking to solve the city's parking shortage.

City authorities are drafting new regulations for operators of amusement facilities at public venues following two accidents involving bouncy castles early this month, Shanghai Television reports. On October 5, 13 children and an adult were hurt when a bouncy castle was blown over in high winds outside a shopping centre in Yangpu district. A week later, a three-year-old girl was hurt when another of the lightweight inflatable structures in Qingpu district was blown over, the report said.

Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman's giant rubber duck attracted more than 70,000 visitors on Saturday when it went on display in Jingtian Lake in Century Park, Eastday.com reports. The giant duck, which has already appeared in Hangzhou, Hong Kong and Beijing, will stay on the lake until November 23.

The 15th Western China International Fair, which promotes inland provinces and regions, opened in Chengdu on Thursday and will run until November 3, Newssc.org reports. The annual fair had become an important platform to boost cooperation and exchanges with other Asian nations, organisers said. Last year, it attracted more than 60,000 visitors from 106 countries, securing 462 investment projects worth 563 billion yuan.

A Chendgu man bought a 27,000 yuan minivan, paying cash for it using half-yuan banknotes, the reports. The man, a flour wholesaler, said buying the car was a good way to use up the small change from his business.

Eleven injured miners and the bodies of 16 who died in a cave-in on Friday night a colliery near Urumqi have been retrieved, Xinhua reports. The cave-in happened just before 11pm when 33 workers were underground. Six were unharmed. The cause of the blast is being investigated.

Foreign tourists will be able to visit the Kanas scenic area free of charge from November 15 until March 31, the news website Ts.cn reports. The authorities hope to attract more tourists to northwest Xinjiang in the low season. The glacial Kanas Lake, one of the most beautiful in China, is located in a valley in the Altai Mountains near the borders of Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia.

A multi-provincial police task force arrested 134 suspected drug traffickers across the province between October 14 and Friday, Xinhua reports. More than 500 police from seven provinces confiscated more than 137kg of drugs during the operations. Teams spread out to five locations in the province: Kunming , Yuxi , Lincang , Honghe and Chuxiong , the report said.

A ban on fishing for shrimp and whitebait on Dianchi Lake has been lifted from October 9 until November 7, Yunnan.cn reports. All other species, including water plants, will be off-limits. Rearing of ducks and geese nearby has been banned to help tackle pollution of the large waterway located at 1,885m above sea level . Fishermen said shrimp and whitebait catches had fallen sharply this year, compared with last year.

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