CHINASCENE 6 THURSDAY MARCH 29, 2007 CHINA DAILY From widely read Rich shoe-shiner teaches Locals asked to name Chinese media entrepreneurial skills 1-month old elephant Doctoral student proves A shoe-polisher in Nanjing who once gained People in Xi’, capital of Northwest China’s local fame for earning more than 100,000 Province, have been asked to name EAST yuan ($12,821) in a year has taught his skill a baby elephant. The animal, a resident of deafness is no obstacle to 1,000 people, including laid-off workers the city’s Qinling Wild Animal Zoo, recently Woman is wedded to her and even a graduate student. celebrated its one-month birthday. The free river ferrying service The shoe-polisher, surnamed Guo, became baby elephant was the second to be born in A deaf girl studying at Fudan University teach her how to speak. And so after a household name in the city since his story Northwest China, where it is cold and hard for of Shanghai recently became the coun- four years of hard work, Zheng began appeared in local media. Every day, people elephants to breed. try’s fi rst hearing-impaired student to to speak. from across the country visit him and ask Xi’an Evening News pursue a doctorate degree. She did not study in special schools for to learn from him. With Guo’s help, many of Zheng Xuan, 26, can speak fl uently in the deaf but attended regular schools and them have returned home and started their Shaanxi police to chase both Chinese and English. She appears studied alongside ordinary children. own businesses. Among Guo’s apprentices so comfortable when speaking that most Relying only on her ability to read lips was a graduate student who wanted to start criminals into cyberspace people would be surprised to discover and a strong work ethic, Zheng proved a shoe-polishing business on campus. that she is deaf. herself to be an excellent student. She Nanjing Morning Post Police in Shaanxi, a province in Northwest China, Zheng, who is studying the linguistics enrolled at Wuhan University in 1998, will make full use of the Internet to help crack of sign language, is making history by where she earned a master’s degree in down on crime. specializing in this form of communica- Chinese literature six years later. Wang Rui, director of the provincial public tion, Xinmin Evening News reported. Zheng decided to return to her alma WEST security department, said Shaanxi would speed Her research is focussed on the ex- mater two years ago to continue her up the construction of police websites and pression of abstract concepts via sign studies. Panda droppings could increase their network bandwidth to 1,000 MB language. But her accomplishments are not con- in order to promote online investigations and “So long as it can express abstract fi ned to the classroom. Zheng is also the make for nice souvenirs fugitive-tracking. By the end of this year, more concepts, sign language can function head of a university dance troupe and a than 65 percent of local police will have their as a complete language and better serve member of the Hubei Disabled People’s The Research Base for Giant Panda own email addresses for handling cases. deaf and mute people,” Zheng said. Art Troupe, with which she regularly Breeding in the capital of Southwest China’s Chinese Business View “I have a dream to build a communica- performs. Sichuan Province has asked paper mills to tion bridge between people who can hear “I never think of myself as a person turn the endangered animals’ droppings into and deaf people.” with a defect. I just live a different life- souvenirs such as post cards and stickers. Zheng, a native of Wuhan in Hubei style,” Zheng said. “Disabled people just Because pandas eat bamboo, their NORTH Province, lost her hearing in a medical refl ect the diversity of human beings.” droppings do not smell bad. Pandas at accident when she was two years old. She has devoted herself to living a life A woman in a mountainous area of Jiangxi the research base produce more than 100 Man narrowly avoids She had a cold and was suffering from full of wonder and has also helped her Province has been ferrying her fellow villagers tons of droppings a year. Transforming the a high fever, so her mother brought her peers to do so. across a local river for free for the last 22 droppings into souvenirs would reduce an expensive mistake to hospital. The doctor gave her an injec- In her spare time, Zheng often works years. rubbish and increase tourism earnings, tion of kanamycin, an antibiotic that can for the welfare of disabled people. She The ferrywoman, Tang Guofeng, started her researchers said. A man recently discovered that he had left 13,000 cause deafness if used improperly. The also voluntarily teaches deaf children voluntary service in 1986, helping more than A zoo in Thailand has already used panda yuan ($1,670) in cash, a visa card with a limit of doctor gave her an adult dosage, destroy- how to speak. She has also helped create 100 people cross the river every day, even droppings to make souvenirs. 200,000 yuan ($25,800), a camera and a mobile ing her hearing. several websites for deaf people. when it is raining or windy. Tang’s life has Chengdu Daily phone on the train he just exited. He chased the Zheng’s family did not give up hope Thanks to the Internet, Zheng can been touched by tragedy. Her husband died of train in a taxi while reporting the case to railway that she might one day hear again. Her communicate with deaf people across a disease a few years after they were married, Suicide proves a harder police, who helped him retrieve his belongings. parents bought her the most expensive the world and share her experiences leaving behind four young children. Over Yong had taken the K307 train from hearing aids and consulted countless with her peers. the years many of her fellow villagers have prospect than expected and got off in his hometown of Sanming, in East hearing experts. Her grandmother quit suggested that she marry again. However, China’s Fujian Province, only to fi nd that he had her job to better take care of her and China Daily Tang said she would not consider getting Zhang Wei assumed suicide would be the forgotten his belongings. He reported the case married unless a bridge were built over the easy way out. to the local train police station and the taxi took river, freeing her of her obligation to help ferry Zhang, a migrant worker in Xi’an, capital him to the next station, where police handed people across. of Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, everything over. Jianghuai Morning Post decided to kill himself after his girlfriend Southeast China Express left him because of an argument. Last Life lesson: banknotes Thursday, Zhang lit a gas tank on fi re, which Billionaire fails to mend subsequently exploded and caused a fi re and mold do not mix at his rented home. Zhang’s neighbors saw spirit with hermit attempt the fi re and put it out, saving Zhang in the A resident in Jiaxing, Zhejiang, lost half of the process. A billionaire from Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang 57,000 yuan ($7,308) he had hid under a Local police said Zhang had done harm to Province, who had left his company and lived as a bathtub due to mold. A local bank would only public security. hermit for 20 days in Beijing after announcing he redeem 28,100 yuan ($3,602) last Thursday. Sanqin Daily would renounce his assets has changed his mind The man, surnamed Wu, had packed his and headed back home. savings with nylon and hid them under a Loyal dog plays pack Li Baoyu, owner of the Heilongjiang Overseas bathtub fi ve years ago, thinking it would be Group, said being in the public spotlight had inconvenient to deposit the money at the mule for elderly owner made him realize that he needed to shoulder the bank. Last Sunday, Wu decided he would responsibility of running the company he founded spend the money and took the package out. in 1996. He had previously told his managers to He was shocked to see that it was broken, the either continue running the company or sell it. He money stuck together and caked in mold. Wu said he would abandon all his belongings, saying put the banknotes in the microwave to dry he “felt tired in body and mind, and wanted to live them out, but to his dismay, the bills could not a fl at life.” be separated. He turned to a local bank for China Business News help on Sunday. Three staff members worked for three hours and managed to salvage 390 Man makes a big splash banknotes worth a combined 28,100 yuan. Zheng Xua practices a dance routine at Fudan Universtiy. Yong Rong www.zjol.com.cn with water-effi cient toilet Newspaper thief drives A 72-year-old man from a Beijing community organized an individual water-saving exhibition River that runs through the city’s center. be a case of car-napping. The van, a Toyota man to act of kindness last Thursday, World Water Day, in a bid to raise Offi cials hope the 28-kilometer Changsha Hiace, is popular model among local transport the public’s awareness of the benefi ts of effi cient Section of the Xiangjiang River will become a companies. A resident of Qingdao, Shandong, became so water-use. beautiful scenic corridor that attracts many tourists Rather than stealing and trying to re-sell exasperated with whoever was stealing his Ma Xuemin demonstrated his water-saving after it is completed within the next two years. All this model of van, car thieves often seek daily newspaper that he offered to buy a one- toilet bowl, which uses wastewater produced by the buildings along both sides of the river will be ransom from transport companies that need year subscription for the culprit on Sunday. daily life to fl ush away waste. reconstructed and re-decorated, while trees and the vehicles for their daily business, said an The resident, surnamed Qing, has lived It took him more than four years to refi t his fl owers will be on the slopes of the surrounding insurance consultant. in his apartment for six years and has good lavatory with two pipes to collect waste water in a mountains. And the riverbanks will become dotted The burned van had been stolen on Saturday. relations with his neighbors. However, one A dog in Guiyang, capital of Southwest China’s specially designed tank. The system, he said, could with tourism and leisure sites. Police said the thieves had decided to “kill the day during Spring Festival, Qing found that Guizhou Province, became the center of save at least one ton of tap water a month. Changsha Evening News hostage” after failing to get a ransom. his mailbox had been forced open and the attention on a busy commercial street recently Beijing Morning Post Oriental Daily newspaper in it was gone. Qing did not think after it carried a heavy load of groceries for its Extremely tall man could that anything was amiss and fi xed the mailbox owner. Credit card fraud devolves immediately. Yang Yisheng, a 60-year-old pensioner, have been a contender However, the next day he discovered that lives on the Shachong Road. Last Saturday, CENTRAL into old-fashioned theft his mailbox had been smashed open once he went with his pet dog to a farm produce Zhang Liang, a 2.40-meter-tall man from a rural again. The situation has repeated several market about 4 kilometers from his home to City plans to beautify village in Province, said he would A 20-year-old Australian man was arrested times. With no other solutions in mind, Qing buy his daily necessities. have become a basketball superstar like Yao Ming, by Macao police for trying to use forged credit left a message on the mailbox saying he The duo attracted curious looks as the dog its riparian resources China’s top player, if he had not strained his left foot cards and then running away with 25,000 would buy the newspaper for the thief if it dragged a cart containing 10 kilograms of daily years ago during practice. patacas ($3,205) worth of clothes after being really meant that much to him or her. necessities for its owner all the way home. The Changsha city government plans to build a The accident crushed his dreams of rising to the caught. www.qingdaonews.com China News Service scenic corridor along the section of the Xiangjiang top. Since then, he has had to make a living doing With another foreign young man, the odd jobs. He has been growing at a rate of over 10 Australian selected 12 items of clothing at a centimeters a year since he was six years old, and boutique on March 21. After producing three is now 0.04 centimeters taller than Bao Xishun, the different credit cards that were all rejected, the ONTHESCENE world’s tallest living man, according to Guinness two men offered a fourth. Already suspicious, World Records. He is currently working for a the shop assistant called the credit card center company in Yongji, Jilin, as a special entertainer. He and discovered that the cards had been forged. hopes he can use his extraordinary stature to carve Having been discovered, the pair grabbed the Models strut their out a career for himself in show business. clothes and ran off. stuff at an event New Culture News The Australian was caught on Saturday and to mark the Inter- the police are looking for his partner. Police national Fashion Effort to pin prostitution said the credit card forgery racket is recruiting Week, which opened foreigners to use forged cards because shop last Wednesday in rap on dad backfi res assistants tend to trust foreign tourists. Beijing. The fashion Macao Daily show featured color- A man surnamed Li was detained by police after ful costumes inspired he falsely claimed his father had visited a prostitute Hongkongers cause their by butterfl ies, cats, in Taikang County, Henan Province, over the goats, fi sh and weekend. own health problems lizards. Li’s 70-year-old father took his son to court because Li, who runs a restaurant, had refused to Lack of exercise, smoking, binge drinking, a pay for his father’s daily living expenses early this poor diet and a high BMI (Body Mass Index) Sheng Jiapeng year. The court ruled in favor of Li’s father. —these are the top fi ve risk factors leading to But Li still refused to hand over the money after chronic disease, but 90 percent of Hongkongers losing the lawsuit. Instead, Li went to a local police are guilty of at least one of these infractions, substation and reported that his father had visited according to a study by the Department of a prostitute. After launching an investigation, Li was Health. detained for attempting to fi le a false report. The study of 2,000 Hong Kong people aged Jinri Anbao News between 18 and 64 last year found that only 9.5 percent of the people queried were totally free of the fi ve risk factors. Men (5.1 percent) fared worse than women (13.2 percent). SOUTH The most prevalent problem was insuffi cient intake of fruits and vegetables, Car-napping gone wrong with 77.6 percent not eating the fi ve portions recommended by doctors. ends in fi ery demise Ming Pao

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