China Digest, March 12, 2013

BEIJING

Subway overtakes Moscow

The city's 442-kilometre subway network became the world's busiest on Friday, overtaking Moscow, China News Service reports. A total of 10.27 million people rode the metro in Beijing that day. Late last year, when Beijing put four new lines into use, the average daily traffic was 7.5 million people. Among the city's 16 metro lines, Line 10 is the most crowded, with about 1.5 million passengers a day.

Winning ticket returned

A woman earning 2,000 yuan (HK$2,468) a month at a store selling lottery tickets in Tongzhou district returned a winning ticket worth 250,000 yuan to its owner, who left it at the store last month, the Beijing Morning Post reports. She saw that the ticket was a winner, and gave it to the man the next time he came in. He sent her a thank-you note and her boss gave her a 2,000-yuan bonus. She said she could not have lived with herself if she had cashed in the ticket.

GUANGDONG

Rush to sit college exam

About 727,000 high school graduates in the province have signed up to take the university entrance exam this summer - a 5.1 per cent increase from last year, the Nanfang Daily reports. The total is the second highest, after Henan , among all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

Woman 'kept as sex slave'

Police are searching for a man, in his 30s, suspected of kidnapping a woman and using her as a sex slave at his flat in Shenzhen's Longgang district, the Henan Business Daily reports. The woman escaped last month and told police she had been locked in a dog cage.

HENAN

Beds for bribes - survey

About 45 per cent of people who took an online survey said they believed medical facilities and related resources were unevenly distributed across the province, the Henan Business Daily reports. Many said the best doctors worked in big health centres where beds were so scarce that patients had to bribe officials to be admitted. The survey, which ended on Sunday, was conducted by the newspaper and Henan100.com but it was unclear how many people were polled.

Forest arsonist reprieved

A 74-year-old woman in Luoshan county, Xinyang , was sentenced to 18 months in jail, with a two-year reprieve, for accidentally causing a forest fire in April when she set off firecrackers during the Ching Ming (grave-sweeping) festival, the Henan Daily reports. Nearly nine hectares of forest burned. The court said the punishment was light because the woman was old and had confessed.

HUBEI

Farmer's lucky escape

A 57-year-old farmer is alive after drinking a bottle of diluted herbicide, which he confused for bronchitis medication, the Wuhan Evening News reports. The man, in Wuhan's Xinzhou district, did not realise his wife had put excess herbicide in a bottle and added water to get more use out of it. Doctors said he may have died if the poison had not been diluted.

'Wife-killer' surrenders

A 36-year-old farmer in Guangshui turned himself in to police on Friday and confessed to killing his wife, the Chutian Express reports. The couple were quarrelling when their 10-year-old son tried to calm them down. But the woman accidentally cut the boy with an axe she was holding. The enraged husband grabbed the axe and killed her. The boy was being treated for injuries and psychological damage.

JIANGSU

Men eye playgroup roles

About 1,200 male university students in Jiangsu are training to be kindergarten teachers and will graduate this summer, the Nanjing Daily reports, citing education officials. The goal is to have at least one male teacher in each of the more than 4,000 kindergartens over five years.

Bar offers free BMW rides

The owner of an internet bar in Nanjing's Jiangning district used a Lincoln Town Car and a BMW to pick up customers at universities in an effort to promote his business, the Modern Express reports. Pictures of the cars appeared on microblogs, and some students said they went to the bar only to get a free ride in a nice car.

NINGXIA

Micro-loans prove big hit

Since 2011, a total of 23,900 rural women have received 1.21 billion yuan in micro-loans to help them establish small businesses in the autonomous region, Nxnews.net reports. One woman said she earned 100,000 yuan in a year running a greenhouse. She has repaid her loan and requested another 50,000 yuan to expand.

New Year traffic increases

About 390,000 passengers went through Hedong Airport in the regional capital of Yinchuan during the Lunar New Year period. It was a 4 per cent increase from last year, Nxnews.net reports. Authorities said more flights had been added between Yinchuan and major cities, with prices lower.

SHANDONG

Mystic destroys wedding

A migrant worker in Qingdao called a local radio station on Sunday to say that her fiancé had cancelled their May 1 wedding because a fortune teller told his mother that the woman would bring bad luck to his family, Sdnews.com.cn reports. The woman said she was 10 weeks pregnant.

'Car angler' fined

A man was fined 200 yuan by highway police in Zibo on Saturday because he was caught sitting in his parked car on a reservoir bridge and fishing over the side, Chinanews.com reports. Police deducted half of his annual quota of points from his licence because he had failed to turn on the emergency lights or put up a warning sign.

SHANGHAI

Cherry blossom a big draw

Gucun Park, known for its 53.3 hectares of cherry blossoms, saw about three times as many visitors over the weekend, as the temperature spiked to 30 degrees Celsius, Eastday.com reports. There are 28 species of cherry blossoms at the park in Baoshan district.

Expired food exposed

Expired food was recently found being sold in nearly 20 convenience stores, owned by seven companies, in an exposé by the Shanghai Morning Post. The stores are frequented by white-collar workers.

ZHEJIANG

Man posed as lady to rob

A 38-year-old married man was arrested in the Xiaoshan district of Hangzhou last week for posing as a young woman in order to steal money from a 25-year-old man, Zjol.com.cn reports. The men met online and had multiple dates in hotels, with the victim unaware his date was a man, because they never had sex. In January, the older man stole 4,000 yuan from the victim's clothes as he bathed.

Tycoon's son in loan scam

The son of a tycoon in Shaoxing was jailed for 15 years and fined 300,000 yuan for defrauding 17 people of 5.34 million yuan, which he used to support his lavish lifestyle, Chinanews.com reports. The man persuaded friends to lend him the money between August 2011 and January 2012, by offering them high interest rates. He assumed his father would help him pay off the debt. The father refused.