China Chronicles August 25, 2012
- Typhoon Bolaven to affect E. China
TYPHOON Bolaven is expected to enter the East China Sea tomorrow bringing gales to eastern coastal areas, the meteorological authority forecast today.
Bolaven, the 15th tropical storm of the year, was located over the northwest Pacific Ocean at 5 am today, 1,250 km southeast of coastal Zhejiang Province. It was heading northwest at a speed of 15 to 20 km per hour, the National Meteorological Center said.
The year's 14th typhoon, Tembin, which stayed 200 km southeast of the coastal juncture area between Guangdong and Fujian provinces early today, will move southwest and linger in northeastern areas of the South China Sea over the next two days, the center said.
From Sunday to Monday, moderate and heavy rains are likely to hit the central and western parts of regions along the Yellow and Huaihe rivers, as well as southeastern part of north China, with some areas seeing rainstorms, it added.
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- Giant pandas celebrate birthday at Hangzhou Zoo
Giant pandas "Shu Yun" and "Ya Lin" enjoy a birthday cake made by local kids by using bamboo leaves and shoots, vegetables and fruits, at the Hangzhou Zoo in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, yesterday. Born in August 2008 in southwest China's Sichuan Province, "Shu Yun" and "Ya Lin" settled in Hangzhou in May 2011.
- 3 killed in bridge ramp collapse
CHINA'S work safety watchdog said the build quality of a bridge in northeast China must be in question after one of its ramps collapsed yesterday morning, less than a year after construction finished.
Four trucks were sent hurtling 30 meters to the ground, killing three people and injuring five others, when a 120-meter ramp at the multimillion-dollar Yangmingtan Bridge in Harbin tilted and crashed to the ground.
Three heavy trucks loaded with lime and another with feedstuff were on the section about 3.5 kilometers from the main body of the bridge when the accident happened, said Sun Qingde, deputy head of Harbin's construction committee.
"The bridge must have some problems as it collapsed (less than) a year after being constructed," Huang Yi, spokesman for the State Administration of Work Safety, told a press conference.
However, the authority was still investigating what was behind the accident and would publish its results as soon as it had any.
Truck passenger Liu Guodong, who suffered minor injuries, said: "I was dozing off in the truck when suddenly the truck rolled to the ground. It was so terrifying."
Three of the five people injured had serious problems which required surgery, doctors told Xinhua news agency.
They are being treated in the Harbin No. 1 People's Hospital.
Film aired by China Central Television showed wrecked trucks upside down with blood and broken glass all around.
By 1:30pm, apart from the collapsed ramp, the main body of the Yangmingtan Bridge and other ramps had been reopened to traffic, police said.
The trucks which crashed might have been overloaded, causing the collapse, Huang Yusheng, secretary general of the Harbin City government, told another press conference later yesterday.
He gave no further details but added: "It is a very complicated case and we cannot make a conclusion so fast."
He said the city government would "learn a lesson" and would be launching an overall inspection on all br! idges ac ross the city.
The Yangmingtan Bridge opened to traffic in November last year.
Spanning the Songhua River in Harbin, the eight-lane bridge is said to be the longest, at 15.42 kilometers, in northeast China.
Local media said it cost 1.88 billion yuan (US$296 million) to build. Construction took just 18 months, a record for the province, according to previous reports.
During construction last year, five workers were seriously injured when they fell 30 meters to the ground after a beam loosened and fell.
Built by the China Railway No. 1 Group Co Ltd, it is the third bridge to have been erected across the Songhua River in the past four years.
Yesterday's collapse was the sixth involving a major bridge in China since July last year.
Shoddy construction and over-loading was said to be the cause of the previous incidents.
- 24 injured in crash
TWENTY-FOUR tourists from the mainland's Guangdong Province were injured in a road accident in Taiwan's Chiayi City yesterday, the island's tourism authorities said.
One was seriously hurt, while the others suffered skin abrasions.
They were sent to four hospitals in the city for treatment, Taiwan's tourism bureau said.
The tourists were on board a coach with the Guangzhou-based travel agency CGZL when the accident occurred in a tunnel in Chiayi.
- Tembin sweeps across Taiwan
TYPHOON Tembin crossed over southern Taiwan yesterday morning, causing flooding and wind damage but largely sparing the island's heavily populated areas.
Flooding was 3 meters deep in the town of Hengchun in Pingtung County, and armored vehicles rescued several dozen people from their flooded homes. Television pictures showed empty buses overturned by raging waters and streets littered with uprooted trees and pieces of mangled furniture.
Rescuers were also deployed in Kaohsiung County to help villagers stranded by the overflowing Laonung River. Winds measuring close to 155 kilometers an hour toppled trees and blew out windows, but there were no reports of casualties.
The Taiwan authorities, mindful of a devastating typhoon that took 700 lives three years ago, had arranged evacuations from mountainous, landslide-prone areas ahead of Tembin and readied thousands of troops for rescue operations but, for the most part, the troops were not needed.
The typhoon made landfall about 5am and swooped over the island, returning to sea by late morning. Forecasters say it appears to be heading for China's mainland but warn it could return as a weaker storm to dump more rain.
The impact of Tembin in the heavily populated areas of northern Taiwan was extremely limited. Businesses and schools in Taipei were operating normally, and flights at the city's two airports were unaffected.
- Six held for molesting women at water carnival
SIX youngsters, some of them underage, have been detained for allegedly molesting and sexually assaulting several women during a water carnival held in Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County in south China's Hainan Province.
Taking advantage of the celebrations on Thursday morning, a group of youth was seen fondling women's breasts and pushing women to the ground to sexually assault them, netizens claimed.
Online pictures showed crowds, dripping wet, gathering on the town square and playing with water. Dozens of men were seen surrounding a young girl, whose garments were torn off and who was crying and tightly holding on to her boyfriend.
Six of the men were caught yesterday morning while the others were still at large, Xinhua news agency said.
The local publicity department admitted that an incident of a sexual nature had taken place but didn't confirm the number of victims while arguing that the online allegations were an "exaggeration of the truth." Police investigation is ongoing, Xinhua said.
A netizen called Baochengxiaotao said he "heard many women screaming" after the carnival began at 8:30am. "I have since learned that it always happens every year at the water festival," he added.
The news went viral online, triggering a public outcry.
"It's so disgusting! What's wrong with today's society," a netizen called Wendy Yaozanjin asked. "Does the rapid economic development just result in loss of morals and humanity? We, the young people, should think deeply about how we should behave."
Some preferred to blame the girls for the incident, claiming they wore too little. "These girls should learn how to protect themselves since they know they will get wet," a netizen called Alice204 said.
- 5 cops jailed for torturing farmer to admit murder
FIVE police officers in a rural county in central China's Henan Province have been jailed for torturing a farmer into admitting murder and causing him to spend 11 years in jail.
Zhao Zuohai, a farmer in Zhecheng County, was acquitted last May after the man he was convicted of killing turned up alive.
Prosecutors said Zhao had been tortured for 33 days before he made his confession. He was beaten with a club and had a pistol put in his mouth.
The officers would not let him sleep and set off firecrackers over his head.
After his release from prison, six officers, who had all been promoted for "cracking" the murder case in 1999, were investigated and indicted.
Longting District People's Court in Kaifeng City sentenced Wang Songlin and Guo Shouhai to two years in prison and imposed jail terms of 12 to 18 months on Ding Zhongqiu, Luo Mingzhu, and Zhou Minghan.
Si Chongxing, the former police squad deputy chief in Zhecheng County, was found not guilty.
The officers have appealed the court ruling and a second trial is being held at Kaifeng Intermediate People's Court.
In May 1999, police dug out a headless body from a well. They believed the man to be Zhao Zhenxiang, who had gone missing in October 1997 after a fight with Zhao Zuohai over a woman they were both romantically linked to.
Zhao Zuohai was found guilty and sentenced to death based on his confession and a DNA test which was said to have confirmed that the body was Zhao Zhenxiang's. Later, his jail term was commuted to 29 years.
While Zhao Zuohai was in Henan's No. 1 Prison, his wife remarried and three of his four children were adopted by strangers.
In fact, it was Zhao Zhenxiang who almost killed Zhao Zuohai. In the brawl he brandished a knife and cut Zhao Zuohai on the head. He fled the village fearing he had killed Zhao Zuohai. He returned on April 30, 2010.
Zhao Zuohai was awarded 650,000 yuan (US$102,238) in compensation for his wrongful conviction and jail.
! He has a lready spent a considerable part of it on his eldest son's marriage.
- Six held for molesting women at water carnival
SIX youngsters, some of them underage, have been detained for allegedly molesting and sexually assaulting several women during a water carnival held in Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County in south China's Hainan Province.
Taking advantage of the celebrations on Thursday morning, a group of youth was seen fondling women's breasts and pushing women to the ground to sexually assault them, netizens claimed.
Online pictures showed crowds, dripping wet, gathering on the town square and playing with water. Dozens of men were seen surrounding a young girl, whose garments were torn off and who was crying and tightly holding on to her boyfriend.
Six of the men were caught yesterday morning while the others were still at large, Xinhua news agency said.
The local publicity department admitted that an incident of a sexual nature had taken place but didn't confirm the number of victims while arguing that the online allegations were an "exaggeration of the truth." Police investigation is ongoing, Xinhua said.
A netizen called Baochengxiaotao said he "heard many women screaming" after the carnival began at 8:30am. "I have since learned that it always happens every year at the water festival," he added.
The news went viral online, triggering a public outcry.
"It's so disgusting! What's wrong with today's society," a netizen called Wendy Yaozanjin asked. "Does the rapid economic development just result in loss of morals and humanity? We, the young people, should think deeply about how we should behave."
Some preferred to blame the girls for the incident, claiming they wore too little. "These girls should learn how to protect themselves since they know they will get wet," a netizen called Alice204 said.
- 5 cops jailed for torturing farmer to admit murder
FIVE police officers in a rural county in central China's Henan Province have been jailed for torturing a farmer into admitting murder and causing him to spend 11 years in jail.
Zhao Zuohai, a farmer in Zhecheng County, was acquitted last May after the man he was convicted of killing turned up alive.
Prosecutors said Zhao had been tortured for 33 days before he made his confession. He was beaten with a club and had a pistol put in his mouth.
The officers would not let him sleep and set off firecrackers over his head.
After his release from prison, six officers, who had all been promoted for "cracking" the murder case in 1999, were investigated and indicted.
Longting District People's Court in Kaifeng City sentenced Wang Songlin and Guo Shouhai to two years in prison and imposed jail terms of 12 to 18 months on Ding Zhongqiu, Luo Mingzhu, and Zhou Minghan.
Si Chongxing, the former police squad deputy chief in Zhecheng County, was found not guilty.
The officers have appealed the court ruling and a second trial is being held at Kaifeng Intermediate People's Court.
In May 1999, police dug out a headless body from a well. They believed the man to be Zhao Zhenxiang, who had gone missing in October 1997 after a fight with Zhao Zuohai over a woman they were both romantically linked to.
Zhao Zuohai was found guilty and sentenced to death based on his confession and a DNA test which was said to have confirmed that the body was Zhao Zhenxiang's. Later, his jail term was commuted to 29 years.
While Zhao Zuohai was in Henan's No. 1 Prison, his wife remarried and three of his four children were adopted by strangers.
In fact, it was Zhao Zhenxiang who almost killed Zhao Zuohai. In the brawl he brandished a knife and cut Zhao Zuohai on the head. He fled the village fearing he had killed Zhao Zuohai. He returned on April 30, 2010.
Zhao Zuohai was awarded 650,000 yuan (US$102,238) in compensation for his wrongful conviction and jail.
! He has a lready spent a considerable part of it on his eldest son's marriage.
- Syringe sting rattles cab rider
A 37-YEAR-OLD Beijing man was scared to death after he was accidentally pricked by a needle of a suspected HIV-tainted syringe left behind in a local taxi.
Xu Tian was riding in the taxi on Tuesday night when he felt a sting in his left knee and found a syringe sticking out of the magazine rack behind the car's front seat.
The cabbie surnamed Gong found thick liquid inside the syringe and immediately drove Xu to a hospital but it couldn't identify the liquid, The Beijing News reported yesterday.
The Chaoyang District Disease Prevention and Control Center later launched a test and suspected that the syringe may have been contaminated by the AIDS-causing virus. Xu was told to see doctors at Beijing Ditan Hospital on Wednesday.
A preliminary blood test showed Xu wasn't infected with the fatal virus but he was told to wait another three months to completely rule out a potential HIV infection.
Gong said he had no clue about the syringe user. "I got four set of passengers after 6pm and three women sat in the rear seat, but I didn't notice any of them placing anything in the rack," he insisted.
Xu said he had spent 2,500 yuan (US$393.5) on medicines to curb the spread of the virus inside his body and he felt like vomiting after taking the pills.
Lun Wenhui, a doctor at Beijing Ditan Hospital, said the suspected virus normally dies in dry conditions and since Xu took the medicines within 24 hours, he should be safe.
However, Xu is still depressed because his girlfriend wants to break up with him after hearing about the needle incident.
- Syringe sting rattles cab rider
A 37-YEAR-OLD Beijing man was scared to death after he was accidentally pricked by a needle of a suspected HIV-tainted syringe left behind in a local taxi.
Xu Tian was riding in the taxi on Tuesday night when he felt a sting in his left knee and found a syringe sticking out of the magazine rack behind the car's front seat.
The cabbie surnamed Gong found thick liquid inside the syringe and immediately drove Xu to a hospital but it couldn't identify the liquid, The Beijing News reported yesterday.
The Chaoyang District Disease Prevention and Control Center later launched a test and suspected that the syringe may have been contaminated by the AIDS-causing virus. Xu was told to see doctors at Beijing Ditan Hospital on Wednesday.
A preliminary blood test showed Xu wasn't infected with the fatal virus but he was told to wait another three months to completely rule out a potential HIV infection.
Gong said he had no clue about the syringe user. "I got four set of passengers after 6pm and three women sat in the rear seat, but I didn't notice any of them placing anything in the rack," he insisted.
Xu said he had spent 2,500 yuan (US$393.5) on medicines to curb the spread of the virus inside his body and he felt like vomiting after taking the pills.
Lun Wenhui, a doctor at Beijing Ditan Hospital, said the suspected virus normally dies in dry conditions and since Xu took the medicines within 24 hours, he should be safe.
However, Xu is still depressed because his girlfriend wants to break up with him after hearing about the needle incident.
- Ancient Beliefs
- 24 mainland tourists injured in Taiwan road accident
Twenty-four tourists from the mainland's Guangdong Province were injured today in a road accident in Chiayi City, Taiwan, according to the island's tourism authorities.
One was seriously injured, while the others suffered skin abrasions. They were sent to four hospitals in the city for treatment, said Taiwan's tourism bureau.
The tourists were on board a coach with the Guangzhou-based travel agency CGZL when the accident occurred in the city district of Chiayi.
Department principals with the city arrived at the hospitals to help the injured, the bureau said.
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