Around the nation: Holey fake condoms going for cheap in Beijing sex shops
Also, woman gets her money back from dating agency after "bad date", and newborn twins are treated to the breast milk of human kindness
PUBLISHED : Monday, 22 December, 2014, 10:16pm
UPDATED : Monday, 22 December, 2014, 10:17pm
People check out condoms on display at a fair. Some sex shops in Beijing are selling cheap counterfeit condoms that cost a fraction the price of real ones. Photo: AFP
BEIJING
Holey condoms
Sex shops in Beijing are selling cheap counterfeit condoms, The Beijing News reports. The fake condoms, which come in packaging almost identical to popular brands such as Durex, were bought from suppliers through mainland online shops. The condoms cost less than 20 per cent of the real ones, and some had a strong plastic smell and holes at the bottom.
Big investments
Beijing’s investment in research and development topped that of all mainland cities, hitting 6.1 per cent of its gross domestic product at the end of last year, Science and Technology Daily reports. Nearly 120 billion yuan (HK$151 billion) was spent on stimulating innovation in 2013, up almost 80 per cent from 2009.
GUANGDONG
Rumourmonger nabbed
A 22-year-old woman from Shanwei has been detained for starting a rumour on social media that 17 people had contracted HIV/Aids after visiting a local bar, the Southern Metropolis News reports. The bar owner said he lost more than half of his regular customers because of the rumour. After authorities stepped in and found no one infected, they traced the rumour to the woman, who said she had made up the story after getting drunk at the bar.
Bad date in Shenzhen
A 34-year-old Shenzhen woman who claimed to have been “mentally hurt” by a dating agency has been given a 16,000 yuan refund after she took her case to court, the Southern Metropolis News reports. The woman said she paid the agency 20,000 yuan for a half-year dating service, but wanted to end the contract after her “dating tutor” said her first date flopped because of her own problems and threatened to spread word about the failure if she insisted on a refund.
HENAN
Gecko catchers fined
Six men in Yanling county who together caught a total of 1,689 wild geckos have each been fined 2,000 yuan for illegal hunting, Dahe Daily reports. The group drove up to a village in Zhangqiao town at night in September and used home-made traps to capture the geckos, which they planned to sell. Wild geckos are protected on the mainland. All the captured geckos were released back into the wild.
Toddler’s bumpy ride
A three-year-old child from Zhengzhou started his father’s car after he was left alone in the stationary vehicle, Dahe Daily reports. The car slid downwards and hit a pedestrian, breaking several of the pedestrian’s bones. A court ruled that the father bore full responsibility for the incident, the report said.
HUBEI
Baby-seller jailed
A man in Zaoyang was sentenced to 10 years in jail and fined 10,000 yuan for selling three of his children, Chinanews.com reports. The man and his crippled, mentally disabled wife already have a six-year-old boy. In December 2011, he sold his twin newborn boys for 25,000 yuan. In 2012, he sold another newborn for 10,000 yuan. A court ruled that the children would be raised by the families they were sold to because their real parents were unable to care for them, the report said.
Milk of human kindness
A Wuhan woman who could not produce enough milk for her newborn twins has received donations of breast milk from more than 30 mothers over five months, Chutian Metropolis Daily reports. The twins were born six weeks premature and their first donor was a mother in the neighbouring hospital ward, who gave them 2 litres of milk, according to the report.
SHAANXI
Fugitive beggar caught
Xian police have caught a fugitive after he went to them to beg for food, Huashang Daily reports. The man said he had had his wallet and luggage stolen, but the police found that he looked familiar and later discovered he was a fugitive who fled Shanxi province after stealing more than 10,000 yuan. He was arrested while having his dinner at the police bureau.
Boy drives solo
A video of a boy driving an electric police car alone on a busy road in Xian has sparked online controversy, Huashang Daily reports. The 31-second clip posted on Weibo showed a boy, aged about 10, driving a six-seat car with police lights and insignia at about 40kmh. The car hit a three-wheel bike, a witness said. Traffic police said they were investigating the matter.
SHANGHAI
‘Missing’ student sorry
A Xiamen University graduate student in Shanghai has apologised following the institute’s public appeal for help to locate her after she lost contact with her family for 39 hours, Eastday.com reports. She had gone to look for a job in Shanghai but forgot to take her mobile charger and could not be contacted after her cell phone battery went dead. The university appealed for help on Weibo and her family flew to Shanghai to search for her.
Tomb-sweepers’ day out
Shanghai police have warned of traffic congestion as residents go tomb-sweeping over the winter solstice, Eastday.com reports. A total of 605,700 residents visited 54 cemeteries and halls where ashes are interred on Sunday – 63 per cent more than on Saturday, the force said. Police helicopters have been dispatched for air patrols.
SICHUAN
Baby’s cold shower
A Chengdu man who bathes his one-year-old son in cold water in winter to “strengthen” the boy has drawn criticism, Chengdu Economic Daily reports. The man, a street cleaner, would put the boy under a tap in a park once every few days, witnesses said. The man said the cold-water bath was his way of showing love to his son and it kept the boy strong and healthy. A doctor said the extreme method could harm an infant’s health.
Brother-in-law’s keeper
A woman in Yinshan county, Nanchong, has won the county’s public ethics award for taking good care of her mentally ill brother-in-law for 40 years, West China City Daily reports. The man has many siblings but none wanted to care for him after his parents died in the 1970s, so the woman persuaded her husband, the man’s elder brother, to take him in. Neighbours said she treated her brother-in-law very well and also paid for his medication.
ZHEJIANG
Doctor walks free
A doctor who killed one and injured four others in Ningbo has been released after being found to be suffering from a mental disorder, Qianjiang Evening News reports. The doctor, who headed a hospital’s ear, nose and throat department, hit a cyclist and four others after running a red light in October. Police said a psychiatric report concluded that the doctor bore no criminal responsibility because he suffered from a mental disorder.
Filial son buys flats
A filial man in Shaoxing bought his neighbours’ flats so that he could keep an elevator that he had installed for his mother who had had leg surgery, Qianjiang Evening News reports. The man spent at least 6 million yuan buying four of his neighbours’ flats above market price, after the neighbours demanded that the elevator be dismantled because it inconvenienced them.
