short story
A mainland reporter was attacked by vendors of fake cosmetic products while working on an expose of them. The Huizhou Evening News says that after receiving readers' letters complaining about the fakes, sold at a local night market, the reporter decided to write a story. When he confronted traders selling the illegal products he was attacked and stabbed in the arm. Security personnel from nearby shops refused to help, and when he staggered into a computer centre asking for assistance its staff pushed him out and slammed the door. Five days later the attackers were caught; the reporter recovered.
state subsidy An old Guangzhou man has lost the chance to become a multi-millionaire by donating valuable collectibles to the state, says Apple Daily. Ding Keng, 76, has spent his life collecting antiques, some worth millions of yuan. But in recent years he has been giving his collection to the state instead of his sons and daughters. Ding, born in Hainan province, has donated more than 600 antiques to a museum in Qiongshan, and another 300 pieces to a college for use in history lessons. Despite his generosity, he is worried that media reports may attract burglars to his house.
frothy bouquet A Shanghai gang has been caught using washing power to make fake wine, the Jinling Evening News reports. After a tip-off, the police raided a factory and found 40,000 fake bottles of the mainland's 10 most popular brands, 20 cartons of rice wine and 3,000 bottles of soy sauce and vinegar. There was evidence that washing powder had been used as an ingredient. According to official figures, the goods would have sold for about 300,000 yuan.
jailhouse shock A Beijing prison officer was jailed for 12 years after receiving 120,000 yuan in bribes, says Blue Sky Weekly. Six years ago he exchanged a 500 yuan watch for a 3,000 yuan Japanese video recorder with the family of a prisoner seeking special treatment, and from then on received expensive clothes, mobile phones, pagers and cash from prisoners' families. He saw the chance to make big money when a prisoner needed approval for medical treatment: the prison officer obtained 100,000 yuan from his family for filing his application. But the application was rejected and the prisoner's family demanded their money back. When the prison officer failed to return it the family reported him to the authorities.
flagged down Cars are a symbol of rank for Chinese politicians, just as the order of leaders' names in the People's Daily is. According to Apple Daily, only a few state leaders like President Jiang Zemin use Red Flag cars, known as the 'Chinese Rolls-Royces'. In 1994 the Government decided all leaders should use domestic cars. But because Red Flags use too much petrol, Chinese-German built Audis have become more popular with officials. Provincial leaders are entitled to Audi 100s, while Premier Zhu Rongji and his deputies can ride in Audi 200s. No restrictions have been imposed on members of the National People's Congress, and when the body holds a meeting more than 90 per cent of the cars outside Beijing's Great Hall of the People are imported models by Mercedes-Benz, Lincoln and Cadillac.
