China Digest : 9th January 2015

[TrueColors]

Around the nation: money works wonders for stroke victim

Also slap paralyses student's face and son chained to stairs

PUBLISHED : Friday, 09 January, 2015, 12:59am
UPDATED : Friday, 09 January, 2015, 12:59am

A Shenzhen man who suffered a stroke in 2013 suddenly moved when a nurse asked him to grab a 100-yuan note. Photo: SCMP Pictures

BEIJING

iPhone thieves spend big

Three men stole 240 iPhone 6s from a warehouse in Haidian district by digging a hole through the wall, The Beijing News reports. One of the suspects had been a driver for a logistics company and was familiar with the warehouse and knew it was not guarded at night. The three broke into the building on December 13 and later sold the phones for 1.34 million yuan (HK$1.7 million), which they spent on cars, gold, gambling and paying debts. They were later arrested.

Fewer commuters

The capital has seen an average of 800,000 fewer subway passengers a day since fares were raised on December 28, The Mirror reports. Line No. 10, a circular route between the Third and Fourth Ring roads, has been most affected, losing about 340,000 passengers a day. Most of the decrease occurred in non-peak-hours, the report said.

GUANGDONG

Money works wonders

A man woke from his coma in Shenzhen after a nurse took out a 100-yuan banknote and waved it in his face, saying he could have it if he grasped it, the Nanfang Daily reports. The man suffered a stroke and collapsed at an internet cafe in August 2013, and remained unconscious for 200 days. Since then, he had opened his eyes but did not respond to stimuli. When the nurse tried enticing him with money, he reached out his hand and held onto the bank note. He still has trouble moving his arms, but is well enough to go home.

Licentious licence

A married woman had sex with a driving instructor five times in half a year because he promised her a fast-tracked driving licence, the Shenzhen Media Group reports. Her husband said that over the next few months, the woman would go for lessons lasting seven or eight hours. He confronted the instructor – who denied the affair – and the driving school, demanding 30,000 yuan in damages. Police are negotiating with both parties to settle the incident.

GUANGXI

Sinkhole swallows truck

A truck fell into a three-metre-deep sinkhole that suddenly appeared in a road in Guilin, Chinanews.com reports. Only the cab remained above ground, but the driver climbed out unharmed. Inspectors said a karst cave beneath the road might have caused the collapse.

Kidnap victim rescued

Police have rescued a man in Guigang from kidnappers who were demanding a ransom of 1.5 million yuan from a company in which he was a shareholder, Chinanews.com reports. The hostage was seized by three men on Sunday and had been kept in a cave. The kidnappers threatened to kill him if the police were alerted. The police freed the hostage on Tuesday and arrested the kidnappers.

HENAN

Son neglects mother

A woman has been living on the side of a road in Zhengzhou for four months waiting for her son to return from Shanghai, the Zhengzhou Evening News reports. The 73-year-old said she last saw her son at a nearby park. He had been working as an electrician in Shanghai, but did not want her to go to a home for the elderly, so asked her to wait for him. When he left to work in Shanghai a few years ago, she collected refuse to pay her rent.

Slapped student paralysed

A boarding school pupil in Xinyang was slapped so hard by his teacher that half his face was paralysed, the Dahe Daily reports. When the 10-year-old was discovered playing cards in the dormitory after hours on December 24, the teacher slapped him and his classmates while wearing a glove. When the boy returned home for the holidays, his mother noticed that one side of his face was slightly distorted. Doctors at a local hospital confirmed the nerves on the right side of his face were damaged. The principal paid 10,000 yuan for the boy’s treatment, and the teacher is no longer in charge of her class.

HUNAN

Wedding woes

A man’s elabourate plans to honour commitments to two women at the alter became spectacularly unstuck in Hengyang, People.com.cn reports. The first woman, his true love, waited for the groom for hours on her wedding day, only to receive a text message from him saying he couldn’t marry her that day because he had been arrested for fighting. The woman went to the hotel where they had planned to get married, only to find the groom marrying another woman. It turned out the man’s parents disapproved of the relationship and set their son up to marry the second woman. The man still loved the first woman, so he found two imposters to play his parents at a wedding with the woman he loved. He found out too late that both parties had scheduled the weddings at the same venue on the same day.

Comic relief

An anaesthesiologist at a hospital in Changsha drew cartoons to explain procedures to a deaf woman who was about to give birth by caesarean section, Rednet.cn reports. The 25-year-old anaesthesiologist started working at the hospital about six months ago. He said he drew a lot in his free time, and he used a short comic strip to show the woman lying in bed in the operating theatre, and what posture she would be in after receiving the anaesthetic. She was also instructed to relax, but let him know immediately if she felt nauseous, painful or dizzy. The mother successfully gave birth in the two-hour operation.

SHANDONG

Seeing red over wine bill

A man in Jinan paid 7,200 yuan for wine ordered by his blind date before realising that he was possibly being conned, the Qilu Evening News reports. The man, surnamed Zhang, said he was approached by the woman through an online dating site. On their first date in December, the woman brought him to a bar and ordered four bottles of red wine, before leaving the dinner in a hurry, claiming that she had to go back to her office to attend to some business. Zhang met a man outside the bar, who said he had a similar experience there before, and knew others who were cheated. The woman could not be reached for comment.

Love-struck girl dissuaded

A 15-year-old girl caught the train alone from Changsha to Qingdao to meet a boy she had met online but was stopped by the police, the Qilu Evening News reports. The girl’s parents found her missing on Sunday and learned from the railway authorities that she had taken a train to Qingdao. The police found her on the train and talked her out of her plan. Her parents brought her home.

SICHUAN

Trapped for a week

A woman who fell down a hole in Wanyuan survived for a week by licking water from the walls, the Chengdu Economic Daily reports. The 78-year-old was walking in a bamboo forest close to her home when she slipped into the hole and was knocked unconscious. She yelled for help but no one came. When she became thirsty, she licked the damp walls of the cave to survive. After seven days of searching, her son found her and took her to a hospital.

Son chained to stairs

A man chained his stepson to a stairwell in their residential building on Christmas Day because he said the boy spent all day at internet cafes instead of studying at school, the West China City Daily reports. A police officer found the boy and phoned his stepfather, who not only admitted to the act, but asked the police to lock the boy up. The parents refused to take him home, so firefighters had to cut him free.

YUNNAN

Elevator fee for pupils

A Kunming high rise building housing several canteens that serve lunch to primary school pupils started charging 5 yuan for use of its elevators, Chinanews.com reports. To avoid the fee, pupils must climb 22 floors. The property management office said the fees paid for maintenance of the elevators. It decided to suspend the charge until next semester.

Six die in accident

A truck in Puer fell more than 100 metres into a ravine, killing six people, China.com.cn reports. The truck broke apart on the way down, causing the victims to be thrown out.