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’an, capital of Northwest China’s local fame for earning more than 100,000 Shaanxi 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 Chengdu 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 Li Yong had taken the K307 train from Beijing 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.