China Digest, March 8, 2013

A man in Huainan has been detained for stealing 26 urns, containing the remains of young women, from a public cemetery since last autumn, Anhuinews.com reports.

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Published: 12:00am, 8 Mar 2013

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A man in Huainan has been detained for stealing 26 urns, containing the remains of young women, from a public cemetery since last autumn, Anhuinews.com reports. The man told police he took the women's remains because he had felt lonely since his wife died of an illness three years ago. The man, whose age was not given, was caught as he tried to steal a 27th urn. All of the urns and their contents were recovered.

A grave robber received a three-year jail sentence in Huaining county, Anqing , on Wednesday for stealing and selling several antiques from an ancient tomb, the reports. The man and three accomplices robbed the estimated 2,000-year-old tomb in July 2007 and took six bronze artefacts. He turned himself in to police in late 2011, and the accomplices were caught. All of the items were recovered.

A five-year-old boy is back with his parents after being rescued on Wednesday when police caught a 53-year-old woman trying to sell the child at a bus station in Nanping , more than 430 kilometres from where the boy was kidnapped on February 27, Jxnews.com.cn reports. He is home in Nanchang city, Jiangxi .

A 19-year-old man was reunited with his biological parents in Fuqing on Wednesday - 15 years after being kidnapped from his parents and sold to a villager in Shunchang county, Nanping, about 230 kilometres away, Fjsen.com reports. Police who caught the child trafficker last month were able to track down the family who bought the four-year-old boy in 1998.

An agile 30-year-old man has been arrested for robbing 13 Shenzhen apartments in one night, by scaling a residential building by hand and entering through windows, Shenzhen Television reports. The thefts occurred shortly after media reported last month that a 29-year-old man in Xiamen , Fujian , was arrested for robbing 65 flats the same way.

The Shenzhen Consumer Council will release a free app for mobile devices on March 15, and consumers will be able to use it to lodge complaints and request assistance from the council, the reports. Replies will be sent through the app, which will also be useful for finding shops and restaurants with good reviews.

A speeding police car killed one person and injured three others when it slammed into the back of a taxi in Xinyang on Tuesday night, Dahe.cn reports. The man driving the police car was reportedly drunk, but police refused to say whether he was a police officer. A father died in the accident, and his six-year-old daughter and wife remained in intensive care at hospital, along with the taxi driver.

Villagers in rural areas who are suffering from bone cancer or haemophilia are now eligible to receive up to 300,000 yuan (HK$3.5 million) in aid from the provincial government to help them seek better medical care, Dahe.cn reports. Distribution of the aid began this month, and patients may be reimbursed up to 80 per cent of their medical expenses.

The Xiaoxiang Film Group threatened a lawsuit yesterday against the for reporting that its latest movie, , had no box office appeal in Nanjing , the reports. On the contrary, the company said, the biopic about a revolutionary widely known for his selflessness was seen by 261 people in the city of 8.1 million people on Monday and Tuesday, tallying more than 7,200 yuan in box office receipts.

The average age of farmers in the province has reached 58.6 years, raising concerns that too few young people are opting for a farmer's life as demand rises for produce and other farmed goods, the reports. The provincial government said it was reviewing practical measures to address the issue, without giving further details.

Two people died and 10 others were injured on Wednesday morning when a gas explosion destroyed the top floor of a four-storey residential building in Changchun , the reports. The cause of the blast was unclear, but it occurred in one flat and the building's roof collapsed. All residents were evacuated.

There are more than 2.16 million people in Jilin who are members of officially registered NGOs and charitable organisations, or about 8 per cent of the provincial population, Chinajilin.com.cn reports. Authorities released the figures to commemorate annual Lei Feng Day on Tuesday, as it encourages people to be selfless.

There will be 150 new free Wi-Fi hot spots set up in Shanghai this year, bringing the total to 450, in an effort to make the city more technologically appealing, the reports. But the iShanghai service limits access to just two hours a day for each computer or mobile device.

A total of 39 people died in more than 4,400 fires in the city last year, the reports. More than 80 per cent of the fires occurred in buildings older than 20 years.

More than 2,000 suspected drug dealers were arrested in 1,929 busts related to drug trafficking across the autonomous region last year, and more than 2.2 tonnes of narcotics were seized, Tsnews.cn reports. A total of 46 cases involved cross-border drug gangs, and 48 involved smuggling drugs by train and air.

More than 7,600 university graduates have been recruited into village-level government positions across Xinjiang since 2008, in a push to ensure that at least one official in each village is a university graduate, Tsnews.cn reports. Those who work in villages for two years or more may be eligible for promotion to senior civil service posts at higher levels of government.

Children are scolded for being naughty, but a mother in Jinhua city took an unorthodox approach when her 10-year-old son stole 39 yuan from her - she forced the boy to turn himself in to police, the reports. Wucheng district officers chose not to open a case file, but they heard the boy out to help teach him a lesson.

Authorities of Qingtian county, Lishui , have launched an investigation into the death of a three-year-old girl at a local kindergarten, Zjol.com.cn reports. Rumours have swirled online that the girl died from being abused by kindergarten staff on March 2, but the school's officials said the girl fell ill and was sent to hospital.

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