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ANHUI
Daughter finally found
An elderly couple in Bengbu have finally been reunited with their daughter who was kidnapped 30 years ago, the Xinan Evening News reports. The girl was only four when she was taken by a homeless hawker whom the couple had briefly taken in at their cafe. The parents sold their house and the business to search for the girl across Anhui, Shandong, Henan and Jiangsu. On Sunday, police in Jiangsu phoned the couple to tell them their daughter had been found.
Rats eat woman’s eyes
Rats have been blamed after an elderly woman was found dead with her eyes missing in a nursing home in Huangshan on December 30, People.com.cn reports. An autopsy concluded that her eyes had been eaten by rodents, which other patients and volunteers said infested the facility. The nursing home said it would place traps and keep cats to deal with the vermin.
 
CHONGQING
Balloon airport hazard
Aviation authorities in the metropolis said more than a hundred balloons were blown over the airport on New Year’s Day, forcing several planes to delay their landings, the Chongqing Evening News reports. The balloons were released by partygoers on New Year’s Eve. Airport authorities said balloons were found every year, but strong winds had blown a greater number than usual over the airfield this year.
Taxi blitz launched
Traffic authorities and police have launched a crackdown on unlicensed taxis that will last until the middle of March, the Chongqing Morning News reports. The crackdown will focus on areas around the train station and the airport, the report said. Thirty-one unlicensed taxis were discovered on the first day of the campaign. Drivers face fines of between 30,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan (HK$38,000 to HK$126,000).
 
GUANGDONG
Cabbies fined
Twenty-five taxi drivers in Shenzhen were fined 1,000 yuan each for refusing fares, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reports. The city’s Transport Commission recently staged a crackdown on airport taxis that refused to take passengers to nearby destinations by pretending they did not know the way. Drivers were told to use GPS devices or ask for directions from their companies.
A penny saved …
A bus company owner in Dongguan has paid for a new car with 85,000 one-yuan coins, the Southern Metropolis News reports. The owner bought the car on Tuesday with 17 sacks of coins that weighed half a tonne in total. Five workers at the shop spent one hour to count 10,000 of them. The owner said he once bought a car with 300,000 yuan in coins, and also used them to buy petrol.
FUJIAN
Deranged man in park
A mentally ill man was found dancing in a park in Fuqing and flaunting thousands of yuan in cash, Fjsen.com reports. The man waved bundles of 100-yuan banknotes in his hands and had another bundle tied around his neck, attracting a large crowd of onlookers. Police took him back to the station, deposited the cash into his bank account and contacted his family.
Catching the worm
A woman, 56, regurgitated a 20cm tapeworm after being admitted to a hospital in Xiamen with abdominal pain, Fjsen.com reports. The woman said she frequently suffered stomach pain and had been treated several times in hospital, without success. A course of deworming pills worked on this occasion. The woman’s son said that she often ate raw home-grown vegetables that were not properly washed.
 
HENAN
Drunk gets into tight spot
A drunk man in Luoyang attempted to squeeze through a gap between two walls to get home, but ended up getting stuck for two hours, Dahe.cn reports. The passage was barely more than 10cm wide and too narrow for rescuers to use equipment. A slim firefighter took off his jacket to reach the man, who was unhurt.
ID cards pile up 
A lost and found company in Zhengzhou has accumulated nearly 10,000 identity cards, but has no idea what to do with them, China News Service reports. The manager said the company handed over 8,500 identity cards to the police several years ago, but now the Public Security Bureau would no longer take them. He said the cards posed a security risk, as swindlers had expressed an interest in buying them. Some had even threatened to break into the company to get them.
 
JIANGSU
Garden planted in road
A roadside strip of land in Wuxi was temporarily turned into a vegetable plot by nearby residents, the Modern Express reports. The garden, which stretched for about 1km and covered more than 2,000 square metres, was planted with carrots, pumpkins, cabbages and other vegetables. A man even used a public rubbish bin to store soil to fertilise the plants. Urban management officers later cleared the plot.
Drunks dragged off plane
Two drunken passengers were taken off a plane in Nantong for quarrelling loudly before departure, the Beijing Evening News reports. The two men, in their 40s and 50s, boarded the Beijing-bound plane on Sunday evening and soon began yelling at each other. Other passengers and flight attendants tried to stop them, but to no avail. Police were called to remove them after the flight was delayed.
 
SICHUAN
Offering starts blaze
A 98-year-old woman in Liangshan prefecture burned 9,000 yuan in cash as offerings to her deceased husband, starting a fire that severely damaged her home, Newssc.org reports. The woman, who has a brain disorder, started burning the banknotes on the bed. The fire spread from the sheets to the whole house. Firefighters pulled the woman to safety and put out the blaze in an hour. She was not hurt.
Rush to work sparks brawl
A man running late for work beat up a woman ticket inspector at a bus station in Nanchong, ewssc.org reports. The 30-year-old school teacher arrived at the station at about 9am. To avoid a long queue at the ticket entrance, he tried another entrance where he attempted to persuade the inspector to let him pass, but was refused. He then struck her in the face. Security guards took him to a police station where he was detained for two days.
 
ZHEJIANG
Mother kills newborn
A young mother killed her new-born daughter and dumped her in a rubbish bin in a village near Taizhou, Zjol.com.cn reports. The mother, 21, was arrested several hours after a cleaner found the dead infant the next morning. The mother admitted killing her baby, born early on Monday, following a dispute with her boyfriend. Police are investigating.
Pious thieves
A group of thieves drove from Ningbo to Zhoushan to burgle houses at night and climb Mount Putuo to worship the Buddha in the daytime, Chinanews.com reports. The five men arrived in Zhoushan on December 23 with a hired driver. They broke into 11 houses in two nights, and paid a visit to the famous Buddhist temple to burn incense and pray. The five were arrested.
 


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Around the nation: Parents reunited with daughter 30 years after she was kidnapped

An ageing couple in Anhui were reunited with their daughter, second from right, this week after she was kidnapped 30 years ago, aged four. PHOTO: SCMP Pictures

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China Insider

Also: Rats eat woman’s eyes; pious thieves burgle by night, pray by day
