Around the nation: Beijing’s Palace Museum to limit visitors to 80,000 a day over security fears
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 28 January, 2015, 9:49pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 28 January, 2015, 9:53pm
More than 80,000 visitors went to Beijing's Palace Museum on 42 days last year. Photo: Xinhua
BEIJING
Museum limits visitors
The capital's Palace Museum will limit the number of daily visitors to 80,000, Xinhua reports. The museum said the restriction would help minimise security risks and damage to the building, but did not say when the limit would take effect. It said more than 80,000 visitors went to the museum on 42 days last year. Visitors will be encouraged to book advanced tickets online, which in the low season will cost only 20 yuan each.
Demand for 20m yuan refund
More than 380 tourists have called on Beijing tourism commission to help return’ deposits totalling about 20 million yuan (HK$25 million) taken by a travel agency, China Radio International reports. Before a trip to Dubai, a Beijing resident with the surname of Wang was told by the agency that he had to pay a large deposit in case of accidents in Dubai. The agency never returned his deposit although he returned safely. The commission has ordered the agency to return all the money and suspended its business.
GUANGDONG
Policeman’s ear bitten off
A policeman had part of his ear bitten off on January 4 after detaining a quarrelling couple, the New Express reports. As police tried to separate the feuding Foshan, couple at a local police station, the woman, named Liao, kicked the policeman, ripped his clothing, and bit off 2 centimetres of flesh from his ear, it said. She was held for obstructing official duties and her case sent to prosecutors. The injured policeman is undergoing treatment.
Expats’ health service call
Expatriates in Shenzhen have called for improvements in the city’s medical services to help make the city more habitable, the Shenzhen Daily reports. Poor sanitation, long queues, and bad English among medical staff were only some of the problems they faced when going to the doctor in Shenzhen, they said. Despite the city’s five-star hotels and luxury stores, it could never be a truly international city unless it improved its medical service for foreigners.
HENAN
Wanted: one kind daughter
A well-to-do elderly woman put up a “Wanted” poster for a daughter, the Henan Business Daily reports. The woman, 68, from Zhengzhou – a doctor and director of a local clinic – said that she owned four homes, but regretted that she and her ailing husband had never had children to share it with. So she put up posters saying she was looking for a kind, considerate, loyal, filial “daughter” under the age of 40. She said if her new “daughter” pleased her, then she might inherit her homes.
Congress turns austere
The usual red carpets, fresh flowers, and complimentary stationery were missing from this week’s meeting of the Henan people’s congress to emphasise the importance of the nation’s austerity campaign, news website hnr.cn reports. It said paper flowers were used instead of fresh flowers, and pencils and pens – traditionally placed on the tables – were no longer provided. Only a cup of tea and the meeting’s documents were provided.
HUNAN
Innocent man wins payout
A man from Loudi, wrongfully imprisoned for robbery for more than five years, has been awarded 460,000 yuan in damages, the Southern Metropolis Daily reports. He was found guilty of armed robbery by a district court and jailed for 10 1/2 years and fined 20,000 yuan. After a first appeal, his sentence was reduced to eight years. Later he appealed again and was declared innocent by the Loudi Intermediate People’s Court and released. He sued for damages, and won the settlement for his loss of freedom, the psychological damage he suffered, and the cost of his legal fees and health insurance. The man said he was neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and now simply wanted to get on with his life.
‘Cat’ burglars strike
Two burglars in Zhuzhou climbed 16 storeys using an outdoor water pipe to break into six flats, news website Rednet.cn reports. One resident woke up to find her laptop computer and wallet missing from her living room after the Sunday morning break-ins. After reporting the crime she found other flats, between the fourth and 16th floors, had been burgled, too. The caretaker said surveillance cameras showed two burglars climbed a tree to reach a platform on the side of the building before scaling the pipe.
SHAANXI
Kidnapped girl finds family
A 15-year girl found her parents nine years after being kidnapped and sold, Huashang Daily reports. The girl vanished outside her primary school in Xian in 2005, when her father arrived late to collect her. The family kept searching; in 2010, her father borrowed 200,000 yuan, after using up his savings, to drive halfway across the country. She was sold to a childless family for 10,000 yuan, but also kept searching online for her family. Someone in Chengdu saw her posts and alerted her family last year.
Speedy smash-and-grab
A robber in a black balaclava took only two minutes to steal gold jewellery worth 300,000 yuan from a shop in Dingbian county on Tuesday, Huashang Daily reports. He threatened staff with a knife, then grabbed the jewels after smashing glass cabinets before quickly escaping. Police are investigating.
SHANXI
‘Teacher’s assault’ inquiry
A teacher who grew angry when her nine-year-old Shanxi student forgot to finish his Chinese homework, allegedly injured him after kicking him in the groin, The Beijing News reports. The teacher has been suspended and placed under investigation, and has agreed to pay the boy’s hospital expenses, it said.
Pen artist’s on the ball
A Linfen artist’s finely detailed drawings of stone lion statues, landscapes and temples – all done with a blue ballpoint pen – have attracted huge praise online. The CCTV weibo page shared more than a dozen drawings, first posted on the artist’s weibo page. It said that since the lines could not be erased, it meant the artist had been unable to put a single stroke out of place.
SICHUAN
Feet-washing homework
Students at Sichuan Normal University’s College of Liberal Arts were asked to wash their parents’ feet as their homework over the winter break, Chengdu Economic Daily reports. An administrator, who thought of the assignment, said a father had told her about his daughter, who left for university and contacted him only for money. It had made her realise the need for students to respect their parents more.
Mother and son reunited
A man in Jianyang – taken away from his parents more than 30 years ago by the Family Planning Bureau because he was the second child born during the one-child policy – has traced his parents again, The Beijing News reports. His parents already had a three-year-old son when he was born in 1983. Although they borrowed money to pay the fine, officials said they were not allowed to keep him and took him away. The man, now 31, who was adopted by a childless couple, never gave up hope of finding his real parents. After launching appeals on TV, and issuing 50,000 leaflets, his mother spotted one of the leaflets, telephoned him and they have been reunited.
ZHEJIANG
Love-sick ‘kidnap’ claim
A love-sick teenager from Pujiang, told police her parents were kidnappers in an effort to stay with her former boyfriend, Xinhua reports. The girl, 17, surnamed Bao, refused to accept it when her 15-year-old boyfriend from Ningbo, broke up with her. After she continued to travel to see him to patch things up, he called the police. After Bao’s parents came to Ningbo to take her home, she screamed to passers-by she had been kidnapped, and they alerted police.
Millionaire’s body found
he body of a millionaire who vanished two years ago has finally been found – inside a cage at the bottom of Qianxia Lake, in Zhejiang province, the Beijing Times reports. The millionaire, named Zhang, of Inner Mongolia, took out a 26 million yuan loan from a man called Hu. He was unable to pay it back, and was kidnapped by Hu, who demanded his family provide a ransom of 50 million yuan. Although the family paid part of the money, Hu kept Zhang in captivity inside a cage, and later dropped it into the lake. Hu was arrested in March 2013 after going on the run and hiding in Bangkok.
