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HENAN
Son stranded at school
An eight-year-old boy has been stranded at a school in Linzhou since his father abandoned him in August, the Dahe News reports. The father took the boy to the primary school for registration in August and said he would return to pay the tuition, but has not been seen since. The father had custody of the boy after a divorce and his mother remarried into a poor family. The local civil affairs authority said they could only make the boy a ward if police proved his father was missing, but so far police say that is not legally the case.
Villagers block train
Six people were detained and 22 others faced "public security punishment" in Xixia county after they stood on train tracks to block a passenger train in a protest against their local government, Huashang Daily reports. Hundreds residents tried to petition the county government over a property dispute on Monday morning but got no response. More than 20 villagers then walked on to a railroad track and held up a train for 20 minutes.
ANHUI
Bicycle beat-up
The Fuyang government has denied it bought thousands of bicycles for nearly 10,000 yuan (HK$12,500) each, saying the funds covered all the expenses of a five-year public bicycle project, Xinhua reports. The city spent 65 million yuan on the project, which included the purchase of 6,500 bicycles to be rented to the public last year, leading to suspicions of corruption involving overpriced bikes. Officials said the money also included maintenance, setting up 7,800 stands at 200 bicycle stations, buying six bike transport vans and two maintenance vans, and wages for 90 management staff.
Personal data sold
An employee of a professional testing centre in Hefei has confessed to selling the personal information of 410,000 candidates, the Anhui Business News reports. Test candidates complained that they received unsolicited calls from vocational schools almost immediately after signing up for professional tests such as accountancy or architecture. The 31-year-old employee sold personal information for 1.4 yuan per person to training schools, pocketing 570,000 yuan.
BEIJING
Subway blitz
Beijing will dispatch inspectors to crack down on beggars, people handing out leaflets and fare evaders on the subway in May, the Beijing Morning Post reports. The subway operator said about 25,000 such people a day either bought the cheapest tickets or avoided paying altogether. The inspectors will be authorised to issue on-the-spot fines of between 50 yuan to 1,000 yuan for begging, 100 yuan to 10,000 yuan for handing out advertising leaflets, and 10 times the ticket price for fare evaders. No payout for hot pot
A court has rejected a woman's demand for 70,000 yuan in compensation after her young son ate a disinfection tablet at a hot pot restaurant, but warned the restaurant not to allow the mistake again, the Beijing Times reports. The woman took her two-year-old boy to a hot pot restaurant in March and found the boy vomiting in the middle of the meal. They then found the boy ate a disinfection tablet, used for sterilising eating utensils. The court said no compensation should be paid if the child showed no lasting effects after a series of checks and the restaurant paid the medical bills.
CHONGQING
Addictive dishes
A court in Hechuan district sentenced two restaurant owners to a year in jail, suspended for 18 months, and fined them 20,000 yuan for adding opium husks, a banned substance, to food to hook customers, Cqnews.net reports. The two ground the husks and sprinkled them on fish dishes. Growing opium is illegal in China, except for a single farm in Gansu that supplies medical morphine producers.
Airport upgrade
Chongqing Jiangbei Airport will open a third runway and a new 533,000 square metre terminal building in the first half of next year, the Chongqing Evening Post reports. The runway will raise annual capacity to 45 million passengers and 550,000 tonnes of cargo.
GUANGDONG
Vet kowtows
A 59-year-old vet in Foshan knelt down in front of the body of a dog that died a day after he performed an operation to sterilise the animal, the Southern Metropolis Daily reports. The vet insisted the owner should have told him the dog was 11 years old or he would never performed the surgery, while the owner said the vet should have told him of the risks of the operation. The owner insisted the vet kneel down to apologise to the dog and the vet obeyed, for fear of being beaten up by the owner. They settled later at a police station, with the vet apologising again to the owner, while the owner did not ask for compensation.
Bus hijacker charged
A man who was hallucinating on drugs when he hijacked a bus in Guangzhou in December has been formally arrested for endangering public safety, the Guangzhou Daily reports. The man had consumed ketamine and methamphetamine before boarding the bus and slashing seats with a knife. Passengers were able to leave the vehicle, but the driver was held by the man during a three-hour stand-off with police before being overpowered. Criminal suspects can be detained for 30 days, sometimes longer, for investigation, before being "formally arrested" when police believe they have sufficient evidence to press charges.
JIANGSU
Cracking cops
Jiangsu's public security department cracked all but two murder cases in the province last year, a rate of 99.6 per cent, Jschina.com.cn reports. Jiangsu has boasted of having the country's highest rates for 11 years, with no false convictions.
Ashes returned
Police detained two men in Donghai county for stealing a woman's ashes and demanding her family pay 200,000 yuan for their return, the Jiangnan Times reports. The ashes were stolen from her tomb last year. Last month her son received a text message demanding 200,000 yuan for the return of the ashes. Police traced the mobile phone to the two men.
SHAANXI
False sense of entitlement
A street community officer in Yanbao has been sacked for demanding 700 yuan from low-income families soon after they received 1,000 yuan allowances, Huashang Daily reports. A post appeared online on Monday claiming that the officer had gone to the homes of 15 families who had just received a 1,000 yuan allowance, and demanded - for no apparent reason - that they pay him 700 yuan. He was soon found out and sacked. The money was returned to the families.
Bathhouse arson foiled
A man in Xian has been jailed for two years for threatening to burn down a bathhouse after an argument, Huashang Daily reports. The man was drunk when he went to the bathhouse last year to demand that his membership be cancelled and refunded. He then bought a container of petrol and splashed it in the lobby, but was stopped by a relative and a staff member who grabbed a lighter from him.
ZHEJIANG
All in the family
A Ningbo woman has been prevented from marrying her nephew so her daughter could enrol at a Shanghai school, China.com.cn reports. Wedding registry staff became suspicious after finding out the couple had an age difference of 21 years and that the woman had divorced her husband only the day before. The woman said her daughter wanted to enrol at a school that required one parent to be a bachelor degree holder and own at least one property in the city. The woman divorced her husband to marry the nephew, who met the criteria.
Cashier checks out
A supermarket cashier in Ningbo has been arrested for embezzling 100,000 yuan after faking refunds for half a year, Zjol.com.cn reports. The supermarket did not require that goods be returned for refunds, so the cashier falsified receipts while pocketing the cash. Her plan came unstuck when the supermarket found records of refunds for goods that were no longer being sold. The woman gave herself up to police.


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China society

Around the nation: Abandoned boy, 8, stranded at school

An eight-year-old boy has been living at a primary school in Henan after he was abandoned by his father in August. Photo: SCMP Pictures

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Also: Fish with a dash of opium; woman divorces husband to marry nephew for sake of daughter's education


Around the nation: Abandoned boy, 8, stranded at school

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Also: Fish with a dash of opium; woman divorces husband to marry nephew for sake of daughter's education

Also: Fish with a dash of opium; woman divorces husband to marry nephew for sake of daughter's education