Around the nation: 70-year-old saves children from icy river
Also: Subsidies for centenarians; Jailed woman turned to heroin dealing to pay for drugs for cancer-stricken husband
PUBLISHED : Friday, 20 February, 2015, 8:45pm
UPDATED : Friday, 20 February, 2015, 8:45pm
Septuagenarian Zhuang Xuejie is the local hero in Dezhou, Shandong after he saved three children who fell through broken ice on a local river. Photo: SCMP Pictures
SHANDONG
Saviours in their 70s
Zhang Xuejie, who is in his 70s, saved three children who fell through ice while playing on a river near their home in Dezhou, Iqilu.com reports. An 11-year-old girl and her friend were skating on the ice when it cracked, and her nine-year-old brother fell into the four-metre-deep river while trying to save them. The man, who was passing by, waded into the water and pulled them out one at a time. Earlier this month, a man in his 70s, who was recovering from heart surgery, rescued a family of five in Zhoukou, Henan after their pedicab crashed into an ice-filled ditch.
Centenarian subsidies
The provincial government will provide 13.5 million yuan in subsidies this year to more than 5,000 residents aged at least 100, Xinhua reports. With the largest population of senior citizens in the country, Shandong has set aside 4.5 billion yuan for projects and insurance targeting the elderly this year, including a basic monthly pension of 85 yuan per person above retirement age, the provincial finance department said.
BEIJING
Fewer fireworks accidents
Fewer fireworks accidents were reported in Beijing on the Lunar New Year's Eve this year, Xinhua reports. From midnight on Wednesday until 1am on Thursday, there were 25 accidents and 22 injuries caused by fireworks, down 14 per cent and 24 per cent respectively from last year. About 83,000 boxes of fireworks were sold in Beijing on Wednesday, a fall of 34 per cent, and more than 10,000 boxes of illegal fireworks were confiscated.
Crowds flock to temples
Snowy weather failed to deter about 200,000 people from visiting fairs at two major temples in Beijing on the first day of the Lunar New Year, a traditional event, the Beijing Morning Post reports. Nearly 120,000 visitors flocked to Ditan Temple on Thursday, and more than 70,000 to Longtan Temple. The number of visitors was similar to last year, temple managers said.
GUANGDONG
'Children start blaze'
Children set off fireworks that ignited a blaze in a six-storey residential block in Shenzhen on Lunar New Year's Eve, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reports. The fire started on the building's fourth floor and soon spread to the floor above, engulfing several hundred square metres, authorities said. There were no casualties as both floors were empty at the time.
Rental car prices soar
Car rental prices in Shenzhen have surged about seven-fold since Lunar New Year's Eve as demand for vehicles soared during the festival, Southcn.com reports. Only a few cars were left at most car rental agency yards in the city, and the situation was not expected to improve until Monday, the fifth day of the new year, agents said. Prices for car washing also tripled to about 100 yuan.
GUANGXI
Official 'took huge bribes'
An official from the Liuzhou civil air defence office has been arrested for alleged corruption, the Beijing Times reports. In an announcement on Thursday, municipal prosecutors claimed that Cheng Dongqiao, the office's former director, took "a huge amount" of bribes. Cheng, 53, was put under investigation a month ago.
The innovation game
Corporations in Guangxi became more innovative last year, launching more than 3,000 new technologies and products, Guangxi Daily reports. Local industrial corporations applied for more than 7,700 patents last year, an increase of 28 per cent from the previous year. More the 800 have been approved.
HAINAN
Sanya tourist traffic jam
More than 100,000 cars converged on Sanya , the most popular tourist destination in the island province, as the Lunar New Year holiday started, the China News Service reports. Traffic took more than an hour to move 3km from a major highway exit on Thursday as visitors from across the country flocked to the famed winter tourist destination. Thousands of government workers and volunteers were called up to manage the flock of visitors.
Boat fire tragedy
A woman died and her husband was missing after their fishing boat caught fire and sank in Danzhou on Thursday, Hinews.cn reports. The fire started early in the morning and soon engulfed four other boats berthed alongside. The blaze took three hours to put out. More than 100 rescuers failed to find the missing man.
HEBEI
On the take for years
A Baoding vehicle administration official has been jailed for 10 years for taking more than 300,000 yuan (HK$380,000) in bribes the Beijing Times reports. Song Haiyan, 42, the deputy director of the administration, helped procure Beijing-registered car licence plates in return for cash and prepaid cards between 2007 and late 2012. She was detained in 2013 for selling government certificates.
15 cars collide in snow
Four vehicles caught fire and 10 passengers were trapped in other vehicles in a 15-vehicle pile-up on the snow-bound Beijing-Chengde highway yesterday, the China News Service reports. Chengde firefighters said no one was injured. The road was cleared in three hours. Hebei officials issued a yellow alarm, the second highest, for icy roads.
HUBEI
Chemical blast kills 5
Five people were killed in an explosion at a chemical plant in Zhijiang, Yichang on Thursday, Hubei Daily reports. Authorities said the temperature of a chemical mixture rose suddenly during a test run at a fertiliser production workshop. The blast erupted when the mixture overflowed.
Dealt drugs for ill husband
A woman in Tongcheng county, Xianning has been jailed for seven years and fined 5,000 yuan for dealing drugs, Xnnews.com.cn reports. The woman started buying heroin in early 2013 as a painkiller for her cancer-stricken husband, and began dealing to pay for the drug. She sold 5.6 grams of heroin more than 40 times to several users from March 2013 to May 2014, for a profit of 4,900 yuan, the county court heard.
ZHEJIANG
Five die in shop blast
Five people, including three children, died a blast at a fireworks shop in Yongkang on Thursday, Zjol.com reports. Authorities said the shop owner lit a sample for a customer and the sparks ignited a pile of fireworks in front of the shop. Three others were injured. Police detained the owner.
Taxi driver killed in crash
A taxi driver died and a passenger was injured after the vehicle mounted a footpath and struck a tree in Wenzhou on Wednesday, the Wenzhou Business News reports. Police are investigating the cause.
