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ANHUI
Boy in shower upset
A young mother who took her five-year-old son into a public shower in Huangshan got an angry reception from other women, including one who posted photos of the woman and her naked son online, the Anhui News reports. When confronted, the mother said: “If you’re not happy with a boy in here, don’t come in here.” The photos sparked a lively online discussion about public shower etiquette. 
Transgender jailed
Famed transgender personality Chen Meiling has been sentenced to three years in jail for extortion and fraud, the Star News reports. Chen, an Anhui native, was born a man and had an arranged marriage at the age of 22. At 28, he disappeared and had a sex-change operation that made headlines. Between 2011 and last year, Chen had several relationships with men whom she met online and claimed to be pregnant, extorting up to 11,000 yuan (HK$13,900) for “abortion money”.
BEIJING
Bad impersonations
Municipal prosecutors in Beijing are seeing more cases of people impersonating government officials or relatives of officials to get money or sex, the Beijing Times reports. The People’s Procuratorate of Chaoyang district reported 47 such cases from 2011 to last year, nine of which involved people pretending to be military officials. In one case, a man bought a fake army uniform and credentials for himself, passed himself off as an officer online, had sex with two women numerous times and scammed them for money. 
Rail tickets sold out
Nearly all train tickets from Beijing to major cities like Chengdu, Guangzhou and Wuhan for the first day of the Lunar New Year sold out in minutes, The Beijing News reports. This year, passengers can buy tickets 60 days in advance and tickets went on sale at 8am Sunday. For example, the cheaper “hard seat” and “hard sleeper” classes from Beijing to Chengdu sold out in less than three minutes. Travellers made an estimated 3.6 billion trips during Lunar New Year this year, the report said. 
GUANGZHOU
Suicide bid kills bystander
A man who attempted suicide by jumping off a building survived but struck and killed another man on his way down, the Southern Metropolis News reports. On Friday, a shop owner heard a thump and saw two men lying on the pavement outside her store. The man who jumped was clutching his waist and screaming for help, the shop owner said. 
Plenty to chew on
This year’s week-long Guangzhou International Food Festival attracted more than 2 million visitors and clocked up sales of almost 200 million yuan the Yangcheng Evening News reports. The festival, which ran from November 28 to Sunday in Panyu district, had 202 booths selling a large range of local food and snacks.
FUJIAN
Student leaps to death
A female student at the Fujian Vocational College of Bioengineering jumped to her death on Sunday, Xinhua reports. The woman was an engineering management student due to graduate in May. Shocked friends said the tragedy was totally out of character. Police say there were no suspicious circumstances.
Villages end marriage ban
Eight villages in the province have abolished a prohibition on marriages within the group of communities, Zjol.com.cn reports. The provision was abolished at the end of November and had been in place for more than 400 years. The provision had left many young people in love who weren’t allowed to marry.
HENAN
Vocal judged removed
A judge in Luohe has been disciplined and removed from his post after complaining about political interference in one of his cases, the Beijing Times reports. The judge found a man guilty of not repaying a debt of 1.25 million yuan last July, but the defendant appealed. In September, the judge told reporters that the man was a relative of top provincial officials, and that the head of the courts pressured him about the case. The court released a statement on Sunday saying the judge was drunk when he commented on the case, causing “serious detrimental effects”. 
Tanker blast kills 2
A tanker loaded with diesel oil crashed in Luoyang, causing a fire that killed two people and injured another, the Henan Business Daily reports. The truck lost control on a hill and rolled, leaking fuel that exploded. The blaze damaged houses and destroyed construction equipment worth 3 million yuan.
LIAONING
Pupil’s head slammed
A teacher smashed the head of a second-grade pupil against a wall as a punishment for speaking in class, People’s Daily online reports. Seven-year-old Xiao Dan suffered severe headaches but was too afraid to complain about her teacher until the following day. Doctors found she suffered internal bleeding, and drained 165ml of blood from a haematoma in her head, and said she may have long-term brain development problems. The teacher was suspended and the school has agreed to pay 60,000 yuan to the parents. 
Dancing on the ceiling
The Liaoning “Snow World” winter-themed attraction as opened its doors to the “upside down house”, Xinhua.net.com reports. All furnishings in the room are inverted and fixed on the ceiling to create a feeling of defying gravity.
SHANGHAI
Tycoon village head
A former head of a village near Wenzhou who accumulated 132 residential properties in Shanghai has been identified in the nationwide anti-corruption crackdown, Zjol.com.cn reports. The property holdings of the 60-year-old man were revealed when he was sued for failing to repay a loan. The man owns many small flats in Songjiang district, which were mortgaged for more than 70 million yuan. 
3D printer for space
The Shanghai Academy of Space Flight Technology, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology, has developed a 3D printer for use in space, Xinhua reports. Senior engineer Wang Lianfeng said the printer used a double laser and could print objects up to 250mm long, high and wide.
ZHEJIANG
Worker uses his head
A 41-year-old labourer in Cixi became an internet sensation after he was spotted riding a motor scooter balancing a 600g bag of cement and a dog on his head, the Today Morning Express reports. He developed his unusual skills while working at a factory where the stairwells were too narrow to carry anything except on his head. Pictures posted online show him training by head-butting a punching bag, carrying bags of cement on his head and watching TV upside down.
Beggars belief
Photos taken by a reporter have caught out an able-bodied man disguised as a double amputee while begging for coins on the streets of Wenling, China Daily reports. The beggar appears to have no legs, and moves about on a wooden board with four wheels. The man, when asked if he was going through hard times, yelled at the reporter to stop disrupting his business. After he finished begging, he crawled to another street, put his tattered clothes in a bag and caught a bus home.
 


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China society

Around the Nation: Run on rail tickets

Passengers share a crowded train carriage travelling from Ningbo to Chengdu at Lunar New Year in January. Photo: Reuters


News

China Insider

A young mother who took her five-year-old son into a public shower in Huangshan got an angry reception from other women, including one who posted photos of the woman and her naked son online, the Anhui News reports.
