China Digest

Xinhua News Agency

Published: 12:00am, 25 Aug 2012

Why you can trust SCMP

Three bachelors paid 50,000 yuan (HK$61,245) each to have a large billboard at a square in Haidian district boast why they would make ideal spouses, the reports. The advertisement comprised a photo of the three in suits along with short biographies. One man, 27, said he decided to join the stunt after a string of disappointing blind dates. The ad will stay up for a month.

The number of children attending kindergarten this year has risen by 23,000 over last year, the reported the Education Bureau as saying on Thursday. The government has approved a bill for an additional 1.2 billion yuan to support kindergarten education.

A deputy party secretary of Chunwan township committed suicide by leaping from the second floor of his office on Thursday over what authorities say was work-related stress, the reports. The man left a will in which he complained that his workload was too much to bear and he had decided to take his own life.

Service on the No5 railway line in Guangzhou was suspended for 30 minutes after a man climbed onto the tracks, Xinhua reports. The man scaled a protective fence near Zhongshanba Station at 6.47pm on Thursday. Railway controllers cut the power and removed him from the scene. He is in hospital being treated for a broken leg.

Two policemen in their early 20s were severely stabbed by two robbers in Shishi on Tuesday but managed to catch the pair despite their injuries, fjsen.com reports. The officers were admitted to a hospital in Quanzhou and were out of danger. The detainees are suspects in 23 robberies in Jinjiang and Shishi.

An eight-year-old girl was found hanged at her home in Xiangcheng on Wednesday, chinanews.com reports. Her parents were shocked when they stumbled in on the girl and reject any suggestion she killed herself. The windows and doors of their home were locked with no signs of illegal entry. Police are investigating the case.

Actual investment from Hong Kong in Hebei rose to US$2.45 billion yuan in the first seven months of the year, a 69 per cent increase against the same period last year, Xinhua quotes provincial authorities as saying. Actual investment from outside the mainland was up 37.6 per cent to US$3.8 billion.

The family of a woman who drowned her one-month-old son and then lied to police about his death are mystified about the woman's rationale for the killing, the reports. Wang Meili, 22, admitted earlier she drowned the baby on August 9 because he needed treatment she could not afford. The family said they boy had suffered from pneumonia but made a full recovery after treatment that cost them 10,000 yuan.

Twenty-four passengers were injured in a minor train collision at Jiamusi railway station, hlj.xinhuanet.com reports. The accident happened on Thursday night when one train was trying to link up with another and one of the drivers miscalculated the speed. Most of the injuries were slight and the passengers did not require hospital treatment. Officials are investigating.

The province's grain exports have increased 41.8 per cent over the past six months against a year ago, www.hljnews.cn reports. Officials said a total of 82, 000 tonnes of grain went to countries like South Korea, the United States and Russia.

A taxi driver was stabbed during a carjacking in Zhuzhou on Thursday, chinanews.com reports. The driver managed to call the police after being stabbed four times by the 35-year-old robber, who hit a truck and died while driving on the wrong side of the street. The case is under investigation.

After watching the latest Mission Impossible action film, a 14-year-old boy decided to move to the US and train to become a secret agent, the hunan.vo.com.cn reports. He left his home in Zhuzhou but ran into difficulties when authorities refused to issue him a passport. His parents are letting him remain in police custody for while to teach him a lesson.

A drink-driver died after a metal pole penetrated his skull when he rammed into bridge railings in Nanjing on Thursday, chinanews.com reports. A passenger in the car said she had tried to talk him out of drink-driving but he refused to listen. The case is under investigation.

A man saved a woman who tried to commit suicide by jumping into a river near Lion Hill in Nanjing on Thursday, the reports. She allegedly wanted to kill herself because her husband was seeking a divorce. After saving the woman, her rescuer slipped away from the scene unnoticed. One resident said the man was always kind-hearted and tried his best to help others.

Shandong police announced on Thursday that they have busted 274 gangs and demolished more than 6,800 shops involved in the production of illegal cooking and agricultural supplies since a campaign was launched last August, the reports. Police said they had solved 9,667 cases related to illegal production of foodstuffs such as "gutter oil" and illegal livestock additives.

Provincial officials have invested 180 million yuan in boosting cultural services so far this year, the reports. Of the total, 45 million yuan went to supporting public libraries, museums and cultural centres, while 30 million yuan was used to expand rural libraries and improve literacy levels among farmers, officials said. The remainder of the fund will be used for other cultural developments, such as renovating cinemas.

A couple arriving by train from Hong Kong were denied entry by authorities at a railway station because of their pet hamster, sh.eastday.com reports. Quarantine officials said dogs and cats were the only pets that animal-lovers were permitted to take onto the mainland. The couple was asked to have the hamster destroyed or board a return train. The man took the hamster back to Hong Kong.

Three men have been jailed for up to 11-1/2 years for swindling more than one million yuan through illegal gambling, sh.eastday.com reports the Shanghai No1 Intermediate People's Court as announcing on Thursday. The criminals used marks on playing cards and special contact lenses that allowed them to see the markings on the cards held by other gamblers.

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