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Indigenous villagers perform beneath the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in Lijiang, Yunnan province. Photo: EPA
YUNNAN
Visit for fresh air
Yunnan province's Lijiang and Xishuangbanna have been listed as two of the top 10 Chinese cities of choice for tourists keen to avoid air pollution, Yunnan.cn reports. The rankings, by Chinese tourism website Ctrip.com also include Sanya in Hainan, Xiamen in Fujian and Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan . Outside of China, top tourist destinations for avoiding the smog include Thailand, Cambodia, the Maldives, Japan and Austria.
Sacked over stampede
Seven officials in Kunming have been sacked to take responsibility for a school stampede last year that left six children dead and 26 injured, Xinhua reports. The sacked officials included a deputy district governor and a deputy director of Kunming's education bureau. The stampede took place on September 26 at a primary school in Panlong district.
FUJIAN
Fatal highway crash
Four people died and 24 were injured on Tuesday night after a bus overturned on a highway in Quanzhou , Xinhua reports. The coach, which was carrying 47 people, suddenly lost control on the road at about 11pm. Of those injured, four were in serious condition. The accident is being investigated.
Bribe-taker jailed
The director of the provincial electronics products quality supervision and inspection institute has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for cultivating a network of corruption, Mnw.cn reports. The Intermediate People's Court in Fuzhou found that he took about 480,000 yuan (HK$603,000) of bribes from several electronics producers between 2011 and 2013. In return, he helped them bribe officials from the provincial commissions for foreign trade and economy to grant funds to the firms.
GANSU
Smelly-water scare
People in Lanzhou emptied supermarket shelves of bottled water after a resident complained of a foul smell in tap water on Wednesday, Xinhua reports. The city government tried to quell fears by telling the public that the water quality was still normal, but residents swept up bottled water in shops nevertheless. The incident comes after pollutants, including benzene, ammonia and ethylene, leaked into the city's tap water multiple times last year.
'Prosecutor' prosecuted
An unemployed man in Lanzhou has been sentenced to four years and 10 months in jail for cheating two people of more than 160,000 yuan by posing as a prosecutor, the Lanzhou Morning Post reports. The man told his victims he could help their relatives who were in trouble with the law to get their sentences reduced.
GUANGDONG
First rare infection
A 40-year-old woman has been diagnosed with a rare bacterial infection that is the first of its kind in China and only the fourth such case worldwide, according to the University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Hospital, the Southern Metropolis News reports. She has been suffering from mycobacterium haemophilum, which affects the central nervous system and the skin, since September - which resulted in serious brain damage, paralysis of half of her body and a skin rash - but is recovering after treatment.
New 'kindness law'
Good Samaritans in Guangzhou can be awarded up to one million yuan under the city's new Good Samaritan law, the New Express reports. The law, which takes effect later this year, will pay Good Samaritans who suffer minor injuries from helping others up to 20,000 yuan. Those who are severely injured can get up to 400,000 yuan and those who lose their ability to work, up to 100,000 yuan. The families of those who sacrifice their own lives to save others will get a million yuan.
GUANGXI
Drug ring busted
Police in Guilin have busted a ring of illegal drug makers, arresting 10 people and seizing 1.2 tonnes of ketamine in the city's biggest such case, Xinhua reports. Police took apart two methamphetamine laboratories in a remote mountain area and seized 420kg of raw materials and four guns.
Precious porcelain … not
Thousands of porcelain pieces were uncovered at a highway construction site in Pubei county on Tuesday, drawing hundreds of village looters to the site, Gxnews.com.cn reports. Some villagers even began trading their loot on the spot at prices of between 500 and 2,000 yuan. The porcelain pieces were later found to have been produced in the 1960s and hence not worth as much as expected.
HUNAN
From cash to ash
A property contractor's wife accidentally burned to ashes the 100,000 yuan he was going to use to pay his employees, Voc.com.cn reports. The man had borrowed the money from his relatives and friends and the couple decided to hide the cash in the kitchen stove before the workers' pay was due. But the wife forgot about it and burned wood in the stove to prepare a meal. By the time she realised her mistake, it was too late.
Teens' travel plans foiled
A 13-year-old boy in Loudi stole 30,000 yuan from home on Tuesday to embark on his plan to travel around the world with three classmates, Voc.com.cn reports. The group stole an adult's ID card from an internet cafe and used it to buy train tickets to Guangzhou. But a policeman stopped them from boarding the long-distance train as they appeared suspicious without any luggage with them.
JILIN
Drunk driver's ploy
A man in Changchun barged into a restaurant and pretended he was its chef - all to avoid getting arrested for drink-driving, Xwh.cn reports. The man had stopped his car about 50 metres from a police alcohol checkpoint and entered the restaurant in a hurry. Police who noticed his strange behaviour followed him in to find him chopping vegetables in the kitchen. He insisted that he was the restaurant's chef but after being taken to the police station, admitted that he had been driving while drunk and tried to escape the alcohol test by pretending that he worked there.
Elderly woman hurt
A 90-year-old woman in Changchun was seriously injured after being attacked by her 53-year-old mentally ill son, Chinajilin.com.cn reports. The woman, who sustained injuries throughout her body including on both hands, face and ribs, said she had been caring for her son for many years but was now too old to do so.
SHANGHAI
Family tragedy
The bodies of a 53-year-old man and his wife were found hanging from a tree in a grove in Qingpu district on Wednesday after the man attacked his 11-year-old stepdaughter with a hammer, Dfdaily.com reports. The girl survived being repeatedly hammered on the head after undergoing an emergency operation yesterday. The incident reportedly took place after the couple had had a fight. Police are investigating.
Refuge for crisis
The municipal authorities will build 19 more emergency shelters this year to protect residents from natural disasters, Eastday.com reports. So far, 30 emergency shelters have been built since 2010. They can hold a total of 200,000 people in the event of disasters such as fires, floods or earthquakes.
Shanghai police are cracking down on people who use electric skate scooters on its busy roads. Photo: Eastday.com
SHANGHAI
Skate scooters banned
Shanghai police will crack down on people who use electric skate scooters on the roads, Eastday.com reports. The move comes after a 51-year-old man who was riding one such skate scooter on the road on Monday, died after he was hit by a taxi.
Killing for shelter
Police have arrested a 35-year-old tramp for stabbing a 46-year-old homeless man to death with a pocket knife, Jfdaily.com reports. It had been raining hard at about 1.30am on Tuesday, and the two men were fighting for the right to sleep at the entrance of a subway station.
GANSU
Smelly-water inquiry
Experts from the environmental protection ministry and Tsinghua University have arrived in Lanzhou to investigate the smelly tap water that sent residents into a bottled-water-buying frenzy, People.com.cn reports. The authorities promised to keep the public updated and to rid the water of the odour soon.
Old noodles
Lanzhou archaeologists say the history of the city's popular hand-pulled noodles may date as far back as 4,000 years, the Lanzhou Daily reports. Experts at the Lajia archaeological site on the Yellow River found evidence of the noodles that were about 4,000 years old. Lanzhou's hand-pulled noodles are one of China's most ubiquitous wheat products.
GUANGDONG
Gendered race
More than 35,000 women will take part in China's first women-only marathon on International Women's Day on Sunday, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reports. The volunteers for the China (Shenzhen) Women's Marathon's race events are all male, however. Runners who complete the course within the specified time will receive a unique silver necklace each. There are three categories - the full 42km marathon, a 21km stretch, and a 5.5km race.
Grants for cars
The Shenzhen government will subsidise buyers of private electric cars up to 60,000 yuan (HK$75,500) each, The Southern Metropolis News reports. The money will come from a 5-billion-yuan fund aimed at boosting the sales and use of new-energy vehicles. Additionally, taxi firms will get a 55,800-yuan subsidy for each regular vehicle that they replace with an electric taxi. They will also be granted more business licences for electric taxis.
JIANGSU
Forgetful phone thief
A man has been sentenced to six months' jail for stealing an iPhone 4S at an internet café in Nanjing , Dsqq.cn reports. He had taken the phone from its owner after he fell asleep while playing an online game. When the owner woke and found his phone missing, he left the internet café and tried to borrow someone else's phone to make a police report. He came across the thief who, not recognising his victim, lent him the phone he had just stolen. Upon realising that it was his missing phone, the owner apprehended the thief and turned him in to police.
Medical 'miracle'
Suzhou doctors recently found two stones the size of chicken's eggs in the stomach of a woman in her 40s, Dsqq.com reports. They suspected that the stones were formed from her habit of eating large amounts of hawthorn, dates, persimmons and crab on an empty stomach. As the woman did not want to extract the stones via an operation, she was advised to drink cola to dissolve them. After three days of doing so, she was surprised when a check-up showed the stones were gone.
SHANDONG
Official quits over tigers
A Qingdao People's Congress deputy resigned and publicly apologised on Thursday for illegally breeding three Siberian tigers, Iqilu.com reports. He had kept the tigers in cages on the top floor of a building in Pingdu, but one escaped and fell to its death after being startled by Lunar New Year fireworks. The man was fined the maximum penalty of 3,000 yuan for raising wildlife without a permit.
Island rights for sale
The province is seeking buyers for rights to use its 557 desert islands, Nbd.com.cn reports. At a cost of up to 100 million yuan, buyers can use the islands for tourism and fishery among other uses for up to 50 years.
SICHUAN
Flights to Osaka
A direct flight linking Chengdu and Osaka in Japan will be launched on March 30, Scol.com.cn reports. The move comes amid an increasing wave of Chinese tourists flocking to the Japanese city as the Japanese government relaxes its visa policy and the yen falls against the renminbi. The 180-seat Airbus A320 will fly every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with its maiden flight priced at just 399 yuan.
Data-miner jailed
A man in Dazhou has been sentenced to a year's jail for illegally selling personal information, Scol.com.cn reports. The man had teamed up with a policeman from Guizhou province to sell data, such as people's addresses, phone numbers and car licence plate numbers, to others online from April 2013 to August last year. The personal information had been extracted by the officer from the police system. The crooked pair made 150,000 yuan from their illicit business, charging up to hundreds of yuan for each transaction.
TIBET
Temple restoration
Tibetan authorities will spend 10 million yuan to restore frescoes at Labrang Monastery, one of the six great temples of the Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, Xinhua reports. The restoration work on the temple that was founded in 1709 will take two years, beginning next month. Natural erosion over the past 300 years has left the frescoes in dire need of repair.
Mountain of waste
Tibet's mountain climbing management centre will charge Mount Everest climbers between US$100 (HK$776) and US$200 as an environmental protection fee, China News Service reports. Garbage and human waste has been piling up on the world's highest peak in recent years as more people attempt to conquer the mountain. More than 4,000 people have done so since 1953. Last year, 180 attempted the climb, with 120 reaching the top.
ZHEJIANG
Drunk driver held
Wenzhou police have arrested a drunk driver for running over a couple who had lain down in the middle of the road after a quarrel, the Qianjiang Evening News reports. The married couple, aged 19 and 35, had had a tiff on a busy road in Yongjia county. The woman laid down on the ground and the man soon followed suit. Other vehicles on the road swerved to avoid them, but the drunk driver, who was in a black BMW, ran over the pair. Police found later that his blood-alcohol level was four times the permitted limit. The couple were seriously injured in the accident.
Cattle crash
A semi-trailer carrying 28 cows overturned on a highway in Hangzhou on Thursday evening, causing the animals to run amok on the road and damage two nearby cars, Zjol.com.cn reports. The vehicle had lost control and crashed into the highway's guardrails before flipping over in the centre of the road. Two cars could not stop in time and ran into the cows who had escaped.
