The China Side

A man surnamed Wang who refused to pay his father’s living expenses has been jailed for 15 days in the city of Shaoguan, Guangdong Province.

He was also ordered to fulfill his obligations to look after his father after his release.

When Wang’s father took him to court earlier this year, the court ruled in favor of his father, but Wang ignored the ruling. The next step was jail.

Wang has the dubious distinction of being Shaoguan’s first person to be jailed for refusing to look after his father.

GuangZhou Daily

To cover for a drunken friend, a man claimed he was the driver at an accident. Unfortunately, he was also drunk.

At about 1 am on Wednesday, a taxi was hit from behind by a BMW on Tuen Mun Road in Hong Kong. The car was driven by a 33 year old man surnamed Ma.

Before the police arrived, his friend surnamed Wang arrived in his Mercedes Benz. When a police officer came to investigate, Wang claimed he was the driver even though the witnesses said otherwise.

The officer warned Wang, reeking of alcohol, of the seriousness of covering up a crime. Still, Wang insisted on taking the breathalyzer test. The result indicated his blood alcohol content (BAC) was triple the legal level.

Both Wang and Ma were arrested fro a drunk driving and perverting the course of justice.

Ming Pao

An inebriated Swiss tourist was arrested in Hong Kong after he forced his way into a mahjong club and smashed the furniture.

The 36-year-old man saw the mahjong club sign in Tsim Sha Tsui in the early morning hours of last Wednesday and mistook it for a nightclub. Despite the staff’s explanation, he refused to leave. He charged into the club, pulled an iron bar of the bathroom wall and started using it to smash furniture and windows.

He was arrested on vandalism charges.

Singtao Daily

Bipolar disorder is characterized by episodes of mania and depression.

The former phase becomes dominant in May and June in subtropical Taiwan, a psychiatrist at the department of health hospital in Taichung said yesterday.

Dr. Chen Chao-Cheng cited an example.

A public functionary, treated for bi-polar disorder for seven years, started speaking English when she made midnight phone calls, Dr. Chen said.

Her mania phase became dominant at the end of last month.

She couldn’t fall asleep, her husband complained. At midnight, she would pick up the telephone and call people at random.

The first words she said were always: “Hello - Nice to meet you.” Then she would continue to say “Well, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me” and wouldn’t let the man or woman at the end of the line talk. She hung up.

The China Post, Taiwan

Even many English-speaking travelers are puzzled when they read “Go Ahead 30M” on an sign in GuangZhou Baiyun International Airport.

The Chinese sign reads “30 meters ahead”. It is just one of the many incorrect English translations at the airport in the Guangdong provincial capital. The airport administration is planning to clean up its English translations.

GuangZhou Daily

A man in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, had surgery to reduce his breast size at the No.1 People’s hospital late last week.

Wang, 32, a manager of a local company, said he never dared to swim or wear light-weight shirts because of his big breasts.

Doctors said no medicines could help him, so the operation was scheduled. He apparently took excessive tonic or medicine or ate too much when he was a child, the doctors said.

Yangcheng Evening News

A company that assists people to end there relationship is enjoying brisk business in the city of of Zhongshan in Guangdong Province.

The firm was setup at the start of the year and currently employs more than 100 people.

It charges 150 yuan ($19US) to send out “trained staff” to help their clients meet their partners and persuade them to split up.

The company says its success rate for separations is 95 percent.

But the business has sparked fierce debate among locals with traditional values who see the practice as unethical.

Guanzhou Daily

A rooster was locked in chains for over a year in the city of Maoming, Guangdong Province, after it injured an elderly woman and a 6-year-old girl in December 2005.

The rooster turned violent a year and a half ago when it started attacking other roosters in the village of Maonan.

Its owner, Wei, locked the rooster in a courtyard after it attacked the woman and child.

Wei said he was yet to find out why his rooster had suddenly become so aggressive.

Maoming Daily