China Digest, October 27, 2012

Anhui

Workers crushed to death

Three workers were crushed to death in Anqing on Wednesday morning following the collapse of a steel support structure inside an underground tunnel being built along Tuoshan Road, Xinhua reports. Construction work at the site has been suspended pending an investigation by the city government.

Commerce boss removed

The director of Huainan's Industry and Commerce Bureau, Wan Deyu, has been removed from his post for making private businesses in the city cover the cost of a "study trip" to Taiwan by government officials who were part of a delegation that he led to the island in August, The Beijing News reports. The bureau, via a local private business association, charged an unspecified number of private business executives 5,400 yuan (HK$6,650) each for their places on the business promotion tour - 1,000 yuan more than the tour operator actually charged. The surplus was used to fund a parallel sight-seeing tour by 38 bureau officials.

Guangdong

Father jailed for rape

A migrant worker in Dongguan has been jailed for nine years for repeatedly raping his daughter over the course of nearly four years, the Yangcheng Evening News reports. The man, 47, first raped his daughter in March 2008, when she was 17. She had an abortion after falling pregnant to her father whe she was aged 20.

17.6b yuan spent on poor

Poverty relief authorities in Guangdong spent 17.6 billion yuan in relief funds in the three years to the end of September to help more than 1.45 million people out of poverty, Xinhua reports. The provincial government defines a poor family as one with a per capita annual income of less than 2,500 yuan.

Guizhou

Flat spree stokes fears

A businessman from Chongqing has bought 616 units in an upmarket serviced apartment complex in Guiyang , the provincial capital, stoking fears that real estate speculators are making a comeback in some second- and third-tier mainland cities, the National Business Daily reports.

Projects get 126b yuan

State-owned China Power Investment Corporation (CPIC) says it plans to invest more than 126 billion yuan in a basket of energy-related projects in Guizhou , the Guizhou Daily reports.

Henan

Wholesalers to be moved

Zhengzhou's city government says some 155 wholesale markets will have to move out of overcrowded inner-city areas in the next three years to address potential fire hazards, Xinhua reports. The city government has earmarked 100 million yuan a year for the programme.

Fears over bridge cracks

At least three cracks up to seven centimetres wide have been found on a ramp section of the Zijingshan Bridge, a flyover in central Zhengzhou, causing residents to worry about its safety, the Dahe.cn news portal reports. A City Administration Bureau official said there was nothing to worry about in the short term and attributed the cracks to subsidence resulting from the construction of a nearby subway line.

Hubei

Spying drivers rewarded

Twenty-three drivers in Wuhan were given 100 yuan rewards on Thursday for providing police with video clips showing other drivers throwing rubbish out of their car windows, the Wuhan Evening News reports.

Acid attacker jailed

The Wuchang District People's Court has jailed a 55-year Wuhan woman for six years and ordered her to pay 198,000 yuan in compensations after she doused a girl, 13, living in the same building with sulphuric acid on December 27 because the girl and her mother were walking noisily on the floor above her, the Chutian Metropolis Daily reports. The girl remains in hospital with scars covering a third of her body.

Hunan

Fishermen change jobs

The provincial government has persuaded 4,100 fishermen to take up new work since 2009 as part of efforts to protect Yangtze River dolphins in Dongting Lake near Yueyang , the Hunan Daily reports. The species is increasingly endangered by deteriorating water quality, heavier shipping traffic and a sharp drop in food supplies.

Prostitute ring arrested

Police in Hengyang's Zhengxiang district have arrested nine youths linked to a prostitution ring which has been operating in the city for more than a year, the Voc.com.cn news portal reports. The ringleader, a 15-year old girl, said she began operating an escort service to support herself and her boyfriend.

Jiangsu

Hostage-taker shot dead

Suzhou police shot dead a 30-year-old man who took a female cleaner hostage at a residential building in the city's hi-tech district on Thursday, the Oriental Morning Post reports. Police fired a shot to free the woman after they failed to negotiate her release during a two-hour stand-off with the man.

Hurt student has surgery

A Nanjing university student underwent major surgery after her jaw was pierced by a pointed steel bar when she tried to scale a metal fence around the Nanjing University of Technology campus before midnight on Wednesday, the Modern Express reports. She was rushed to hospital with a part of the metal bar sticking out of her mouth.

Shaanxi

Judge sacked for accident

Foping County People's Court's acting chief judge has been removed from his post after running over two police assistants in August and then fleeing the scene of the accident, the Xian Evening News reports. The Communist Party disciplinary watchdog in Hanzhong , which administers Foping county, said he was dismissed for using a public vehicle without approval.

Direct elections for towns

Weinan's party committee says it will select two or three townships under its jurisdiction for a pilot project featuring direct elections for township party secretaries, the Beijing Times reports. The city's party authorities say they want a third of county-level and lower-level officials to be chosen through elections in the next three to five years.

Shanghai

Driver held for fake plates

A Huangpu district Land Rover driver has been detained for 15 days and fined 5,000 yuan for using a counterfeit licence plate to dodge surveillance cameras, the Oriental Morning Post reports.

Drink-driver actor bailed

Actor Wang Zhiwen was released on 300 yuan bail yesterday after he was caught driving under the influence of alcohol along Hongxu Road in the city's Changning district early yesterday, the 21.cn news portal reports. Police said Wang would not be charged with drink-driving as the alcohol level in his blood only reached 8 milligrams per 100 millilitres, but his driver's licence would be suspended for a month.