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SCMP Reporter

BEIJING
Shanty couple stay put
A couple in their 50s have refused to move from a 100 sq ft shanty in Xicheng district, the Beijing Morning Post reports. Their crudely built shelter sits on the pavement near a bus station, but the couple said they have nowhere else to live. A local aid centre said they would try to persuade them to leave.
Passenger compensated
A court has ordered a bus company to pay 19,000 yuan (HK$23,240) to a 25-year-old woman as compensation for dental injuries she suffered when a bus she was riding crashed into a truck in 2010, the Beijing Morning Post reports.
HAINAN
Banker jailed for 14 years
The former director of the Agricultural Development Bank of China's Danzhou branch has been jailed for 14 years for embezzling 79 million yuan, the Legal Daily reports. He turned himself in to police in 2009 in Guangdong province after nine days on the run.
Faulty brakes cost lives
Twenty people have been killed in accidents involving electric bicycles in Haikou this year, according to the municipal traffic police, the Hainan Special Zone News reports. An engineer who examines such bicycles involved in accidents said 80 per cent of them had bad brakes. But many people still ride even though they know their brakes need repairs.
HENAN
Son terrorises mother
A charity that helps single mothers in Zhengzhou said it received a call on Tuesday from a woman seeking psychological advice to help her cope with stress caused by her abusive 18-year-old son, the Henan Business Daily reports. She said the son would force her to give him money, and he sometimes beat her and threatened to kill her. The mother has rented another flat.
Basher 'not civil servant'
Propaganda authorities in Xinmi denied on Wednesday that a man seen in a widely circulating online video clip beating a female worker at a China Mobile branch was a civil servant, as many internet users claimed, the Henan Business Daily reports. Authorities said the man worked for a local company and had agreed to compensate the woman.
JIANGSU
Pupils crunch Apples
Some classes at 21 primary and middle schools in Nanjing have been dubbed "Apple classes", because students started using iPads in their lessons this semester, the Yangtse Evening Post reports. The tablet computers were provided free to the students by local companies. However, the students are still assigned handwritten homework and tests conducted on paper.
Mahjong delays dementia
Playing mahjong and the piano can help prevent the onset of Alzheimer's disease, according to a doctor at the Nanjing Brain Hospital ahead of today's World Alzheimer's Day, the Yangtse Evening Post reports. The doctor also refuted a popular belief that intellectuals are more likely to catch the degenerative disease, which is the most common form of dementia. Some 5 million Chinese are afflicted with the disease, about a fifth of the global total, and about 300,000 new patients are diagnosed each year.
LIAONING
Elderly without lifts
Elderly residents of an 18-storey building in Shenyang say that their elevators haven't worked for two weeks, Nen.com.cn reports. Most of the building's occupants are elderly who were relocated there after their homes were demolished. The property management company said the elevator manufacturer would send repairmen by this weekend.
What are grannies for?
A grandmother in Dalian was surprised when she recently received a package from her granddaughter, as it contained dirty clothes such as underwear and socks. The young woman started university life in Qingdao, Shandong, this month, and she wanted her grandmother to wash the clothes and mail them back to her, the City Express reports. The grandmother said the family had spoiled the girl, telling her she needed only to study. She had never done any housework.
SHAANXI
Briton feeds homeless
For seven years, a 46-year-old British man has been distributing free steamed buns and porridge to homeless people in Lianhu district, Xian, in the afternoon every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the Huashang Daily reports. The man, a former electrical engineer in his home country, said he had spent about 700,000 yuan on the charitable activity. He doesn't set any requirements for receiving the food.
Steep company fines
Starting next month, companies who fail to pay migrant workers on time must pay them 25 per cent more within an unspecified period, according to the provincial government, Xinhuanet.com reports. If companies fail to pay within the due period, they may be fined two to five times the total money owed, on top of the 25 per cent.
SHANGHAI
From Xinjiang by bike
A 20-year-old man rode his bicycle for 44 days, covering 5,010 kilometres, from his hometown in the western autonomous region of Xinjiang to Shanghai, where he recently started college life at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, the Shanghai Morning Post reports. Li Kaichao said he kept the trip a secret from his family, so they wouldn't worry, and he paid for it by asking his classmates to give him their textbooks, which he sold to younger students at his high school.
Wi-fi for Pudong buses
Passengers on buses running on two routes in Pudong district are now able to access free Wi-fi, and the city plans to equip all of its 4,000 buses with wireless internet within three years, Eastday.com reports. However, few residents in the city were aware of the service. Some buses in Beijing and Guangzhou already offer Wi-fi access.
ZHEJIANG
Man admits killing family
A man suspected of killing four of his family members in Henan two months ago was caught by plain-clothes police in Hangzhou on Tuesday, Zjol.com.cn reports. Police said he admitted to the stabbing deaths of his wife, his two-year-old adopted daughter and his parents-in-law, saying he did it because his wife was cruel and forced him to give her all the money from his paycheck. Police in Henan had offered a 20,000-yuan reward for information about the man's whereabouts. A resident in Hangzhou called police after seeing the man.
Father's death suspicious
The body of a man, found tied to two large stones, was pulled by a fisherman from a river in Yuyao on Tuesday, Zjol.com.cn reports. The 35-year-old man was the father of three children and had been missing for several days. An investigation into the death was underway, and police said they were looking for a man who lived near the family and hadn't been heard from since Tuesday.


China Digest, September 21, 2012

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