China Digest, January 30, 2013

CHONGQING

Plan for carbon emissions

A carbon emission trading platform is expected to be established in the municipality by the end of the year, at a cost of 2.86 million yuan (HK$3.52 million), in an effort to reduce carbon emissions, the Chongqing Economic Times reports. Regulators will create carbon emission allowances and credits for companies to use or sell, thereby encouraging them to reduce emissions. Chongqing hopes to reduce the total carbon emissions from local factories by 17 per cent by 2015, compared with the 2010 level.

Fine for karaoke attack

A 23-year-old woman in Jiangbei district has been fined 120,000 yuan for throwing a microphone at her older cousin's stomach during a karaoke session in June, rupturing his spleen, the Chongqing Economic Times reports. There were eight people in the room, but the woman refused to let anyone else sing. When pressed by her cousin, she threw the microphone at him. She was sentenced to three years in jail, with a five-year reprieve.

FUJIAN

Father hit son's classmate

A man in Putian was recently fined 40,000 yuan and sentenced to nine months in jail, with an 18-month reprieve, for punching his son's primary school classmate, the Strait City Daily reports. The son was beaten up by a classmate in September. The next day, the father confronted the classmate, who denied the fight. The father punched the boy's face, breaking a bone near his mouth.

Abbot held over deaths

An abbot at a Buddhist temple in Zhangpu county, Zhangzhou , has been arrested for reckless driving that resulted in the deaths of a three-year-old girl and her 14-year-old brother this month, Chinanews.com reports. The siblings were on a motorcycle with two other people, who were injured. The accident occurred as the abbot was using his mobile phone while changing lanes.

GANSU

Jail for making explosives

A farmer in Jiuquan was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in jail for making and hoarding explosives, the Western Economic Daily reports. Police raided his home in July after receiving a tip from other villagers. Officers seized 7kg of TNT, homemade explosives and a non-lethal gun. The man told police that he planned on using the items to threaten a fellow villager who ran off with the farmer's wife.

'Caring' man kills wife

A Lanzhou man was recently sentenced to five years in jail for killing his wife by pushing her off a Yellow River dyke in April 2011, the Gansu Daily reports. The wife had spinal arthritis and her husband said that she told him she wanted to die to end the suffering. The court said that it had given the man a relatively lenient sentence because he had been such a caring husband for many years.

HUNAN

Help for loss of only child

The provincial government will take more steps towards helping couples who lose their only child, according to a work report delivered at the provincial People's Congress on Saturday, Voc.com.cn reports. About 10,000 couples in Hunan have lost their only child, and a delegate to the congress said elderly homes should be built for those people, while another delegate said the couples should be given more subsidies and be subjected to fewer restrictions in adopting children.

Nurse sold drugs illegally

A nurse in Shaoyang has been sentenced to two years in jail and fined 10,000 yuan for selling psychotropic drugs, the Legal Daily reports. The drugs are intended to be used to treat psychiatric patients, but the woman in her 50s sold them to abusers of hard drugs. However, the scheme to boost her salary earned her just 300 yuan.

JIANGSU

Worker failed to save thief

In a highly controversial case, a construction worker is being prosecuted in Lianshui county, Huaian , for chasing a thief who stole the worker's clothes and then not saving the thief from drowning after he jumped into a river to escape, the Yangtse Evening Post reports. The thief stole clothes from a construction site several times before being spotted in August. Workers chased him and he jumped into a 20-metre-wide river. The closest construction worker in pursuit, who said he couldn't swim, is being charged in connection with causing the thief's death through carelessness.

Hotels lose star ratings

A review of 196 hotels in the province last year has resulted in the hotel-certification committee completely revoking the star status of four four-star hotels, 15 three-star hotels and five two-star hotels, the Xinhua Daily reports. Another four-star hotel and 11 three-star hotels were told to make changes within a set time period to keep their stars.

SHANGHAI

Chiang Mai lures tourists

Chiang Mai in Thailand is the top overseas destination for residents for the Lunar New Year holiday, the Shanghai Youth Daily reports. Tour agencies said bookings have increased tenfold from last year. They attribute the surge largely to the popularity of a new Chinese film called Lost in Thailand. Hong Kong and Taiwan are the other top destinations.

Crackdown nets criminals

Over the past five years, Shanghai prosecutors have brought 6,274 people to court for financial crimes, 886 for illegal actions related to the shipping industry and 2,050 for violations of intellectual property rights, according to the city's chief prosecutor, Eastday.com reports. Authorities have stepped up crackdowns to bolster Shanghai's status as a financial and shipping centre.

SICHUAN

Software to stop truancy

Sichuan University students may be less likely to play truant next semester when cameras equipped with facial-recognition software are installed in classrooms, Longhoo.net reports. A computer science professor at the university invented the system, which checks whether a person who answers a roll call is who he claims to be. In the past, some students have asked classmates to answer when attendance is taken because teachers don't remember every face.

Jail for thieving reporter

A magazine journalist who covers judicial affairs in Nanchong has been sentenced to 4½ years in jail and fined 5,000 yuan for committing nine thefts while on assignment, the Chengdu Economic Daily reports. The 39-year-old journalist stole items worth a combined 7,000 yuan from prosecutors, police and transport authorities, in a spree that started early last year. The reporter said he was trying to pay for medical treatment for his mother and his son.

ZHEJIANG

Campaign against scam

Hangzhou police kicked off a campaign on Monday to educate the public about phone scams, Zjol.com.cn reports. More than 1,400 volunteers have been mobilised to help educate fellow residents about the crimes. The most common phone fraud involves people being asked to remit a fee in exchange for later receiving a much larger reward, which never comes. Police said 248 such scams had been reported in the city this month, and 82 per cent of the victims used ATMs to transfer the money. Volunteers will stand near ATMs and distribute educational flyers.

24 new leprosy cases

There were 24 new cases of leprosy recorded in the province last year, bringing the total number of people diagnosed with the infectious disease to 16,471 in Zhejiang over the past 50 years, Zjol.com.cn reports. About 6,400 people have been cured and are still alive. The majority of new patients in Zhejiang are migrant workers from the nation's southwest regions.