Here is the translated news excerpt from Xinhua Net:

On Jun 26^th, 4 primary school students swept away by a torrent when they linked arms by holding hands, rescuing one of their classmates. Xiao Shuai (alias) was one of the witnesses at the scene. That day, he and other 8 classmates rode bicycles to play at the beach of Lao Bi River. They were all six grade students at the local Chen Tai Primary School.

Some of them went into the shallow water, “But suddenly I heard someone shouted loudly for help, I turned back and found one of us was drowning in the deep water” said Xiao Shuai. Four boys nearby, Tai Dong, Zhang Yihu, Wen Peng and Zhang Keao held each others’ hands and went for the drowning boy, but none of them knew how to swim. Xiao Shuai continued, “They tried to reach him step by step, but finally they all fell into the deep water.” After that, Another 4 boys on shore hurried to continue the hand in hand rescuing.

……

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Han hanged himself, leaving behind his wife and young daughters

In the time when the prices of everything are sky-rocketing up in China, the recent plummeting price of vegetable seems rather abnormal and it is destructive to many vegetable farmers, most of whom are the low income population. A farmer from Shan Dong province hanged himself in desperation, leaving behind his wife and two young daughters.

Han Jin, the 39 year-old farmer, was an introvert and an honest, hard working person. Last year, he was told poultry farming was a lucrative business. So he built a shed and bought some sheep with the 10 thousand yuan he borrowed. Han was anticipating earning the money for his children’s tuition. Unfortunately, the sheep were infected with epidemic disease. Instead of earning any money, the poor farmer family lost the 10,000 yuan overnight. Yet it never rains but it pours. This year, he planted cabbage in his 6 mou (around 1/3 hectares) farm land (the main source of the family’s income). But when the cabbage is ready to enter the market, its price drops to less than 0.1 yuan per 500g.

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Using iPad to order food attracts young people

Last Sunday afternoon, when Mr. Meng and his girlfriend dined out at a new restaurant in Heng Bao Plaza (in Guangzhou), they were astonished by their “MENU”- an IPAD! After ordering the dishes, they continued to play games and see websites online till they finish their meal. Mr. Meng is not the only one who likes the creativity. Actually, many people come to the restaurant to have a meal only to experience this new kind of ordering method. So that’s why some people regard it as hype.

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By Chen Tingting, China News of Shanghai, 16^th, April, Translated by Jenny Jiang

Pan Jie, 25-year-old white-collar died from overwork at Price Waterhouse Coopers in China

Pan Jie, an energetic young lady, graduated from Shanghai Jiaotong University with a master’s degree, had been an envy of many. She had a well-paid job at one of the four famous auditing companies, Price Waterhouse Coopers in China, 25 years old with a bright future. But, the delicate flower withered overnight. She died suddenly from viral encephalitis on 10^th, April.

Although the reason of her death has been reported as simple viral encephalitis, it has become a heated topic among people. Many netizens couldn’t accept this simple reason, but suspected that fatigue after the continuous overwork and delay in treatment of the disease caused her death.

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This is a scene from the movie " If you are the one（非诚勿扰）" : "Li Xiangshan is diagnosed with incurable disease, his good friend Qin Fen helps him to die with dignity. Qin pushes Li in the wheelchair to the bow of a boat. When Li pats Qin’s hand, Qin gets the message, goes back into the cabin and leaves Li there. Later, Li drops himself in the sea to end his life.

In the movie, Qin helps his good friend with his wish of "euthanasia" and everybody ends happy. But an old man from Jiangxi province, who in real life helped his good friend "die with dignity" finds himself in a great trouble when he’s accused of murder.

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From Netease:

50km long Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge cost over 70 billion Hong Kong Dollars. Now the construction was suspended by an elderly woman. Maybe it cannot be completed in 2016 on schedule.

The elderly woman was Zhu Qihua. She thought that Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge was not assessed on the impact of ozone, sulfur dioxide and suspended particles, which was unreasonable and illegal. She applied for a judicial review of the environmental assessment report of Hong Kong last year. On 18^th, Hong Kong High Court declared the environmental assessment report by Hong Kong Environmental Protection Administration in 2009 invalid. Hong Kong Environmental Protection Administration said they would study the ruling and consult legal advice for the next move.

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From Netease | translated by Jue | Edited by Key

Jialun Teaching Point of Jiutian Primary School in Duan County (Yao autonomous county) lies in the deep mountains. It takes at least 4 hours to go out there and return. There used to be a well equipped primary school before March, 2007, but the school building was torn down because it was dilapidated and the new school was not finished yet. Therefore, Jiutian Primary School has to rent a “classroom” with walls that leak air from a villager at the price of 100 yuan each semester. One teacher had been teaching 3 classes of total 19 students there for 4 years.

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A junior of Xi’an Conservatory of Music, Yao Jiaxin, who murdered a woman and fled away, was sentenced to death on 22th April, 2011. The crime happened around midnight on 20th October last year when Yao drove his Chevrolet and hit Zhang Miao, a young mother lived in the local village. Instead of taking her to the hospital, Yao stabbed her 8 times in the chest for the fear that Zhang had seen his car’s license plate and would recognize him.

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From Netease | translated by Julie | edited by Key

“Is it true or some kind of publicity stunt that the qualification for a job as tea-picking worker is being a virgin with C cup breasts?” The shocking job ad of Henan Gushi Xijiuhua Mountain Development Company had triggered heated discussion among netizens. However, the recruiter responded that it was indeed true due to “inherited customs.”

The daily wage of a full-time tea-picking worker is 500 Yuan

On April 14, a talent recruitment website of Xinyang posted an ad that Henan Gushi Xijiuhua Scenic Mountain Development Co., Ltd. was to recruit female full-time Kouchun (mouth and lip) tea picking workers who were supposed to have never had any sexual experience with at least C cup breasts. What’s more, the body of the candidate is not allowed to have any scars and injuries or other marks.

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From Netease:

Recently netizens of Wenzhou noticed a yellow sign appeared in the local KTV (karaoke clubs). The sign listed 37 songs that are now banned from playing at these places by the provincial authority. The 37 prohibited songs included popular titles like Su Rui’s “qian shou” 牵手 (Hold hands), Richie Ren’s Xiaoxue (snow) and Bobby Chen’s One night in Beijing.

The sign says “Prohibited songs announcement, according to regulation of the Provincial Department of Culture, the following 37 songs are banned from playing, sorry for the inconvenience…” Reporter interviewed Wenzhou culture law enforcement unit, they admitted the news were true but refused to explain the reason of the ban.

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From QQ:

On 15^th March, around 11 am on the highway from Beijing to Harbin, a black Mercedes overtook a truck loaded with dogs, trying to stop the truck. When Mr. Hao, the driver of the truck pulled over, Mr. An, driver in the Mercedes got off the car and accused him of selling stolen dogs. Police were called in and Mr. An also informed the case to an animal protection organization. By 10pm, more than 300 volunteers and citizens hurried to the scene, including celebrities, like Chinese famous actress Sun Li.

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From Sohu:

Food safety has increasingly become a concern in China with a series of incidents exposed by media concerning contamination and the illegal use of prohibited ingredients and additives in foodstuffs. The list of unsafe foodstuffs in the country seems growing non-stop… Lately, Mantou (steamed-wheat bread), staple diet in many regions of the country, is on the list after a Shanghai media exposed a brand of Mantou long sold in some supermarket is found to be actually made in a dirty workshop with many unexpected ingredients.

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From QQ:

"医托" – Yituo are people who make a profit by decoying patients into go to illegal clinic or buying medicine. Usually the Yituo scam is an organized crime. One person pretends to be the victim of a certain disease and others as his family. They approach patients in the hospital, then after gaining the patient’s trust, proceed to recommend the patient to go to certain doctor or buy certain medicine. The Yituo gets the commission from the doctor or the producer of the medicine. Yituo has been a long-time problem in China. There have been many reasons for it to be so rampant. Health department’s inaction is believed to be part of the reasons.

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From Netease:

In Dahua Ethnic Yao Autonomous County, due to suspicion of his wife having an affair, a man cruelly tattooed the word “degrading” (下贱: xiajian: degrading, cheap, lowly…) on her face. On April 3, Zhennan local police station cracked this disfigurement case, arrested the suspect and seized piercer, bandage, towel and other tools used in the crime.

1. Basic details of the case

Disfiguring his wife just for preventing her from having extramarital affairs

36-year-old Wei Shengxiong married the victim Xiaowei in 2006 and had they two sons together. Since 2008, Wei Shengxiong has always been suspicious of his wife having affairs, two of them often fought because of it, but the problem remained unsolved. In the morning of March 30, Wei Shengxiong again argued with Wei at home. However this fight caused Wei’s great resentment towards his wife, he decided to disfigure Xiaowei. One, is to release his anger, second to make her ugly so she will no longer be loved by other men, as to prevent her from having affairs.

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On Oct 23^rd, 2010, Yao Jiaxin, a college junior in Xi’an Conservatory of Music hit a 26 year-old woman with his car. When he noticed the victim was taking down his license plate number, he got out of the car, took out a knife and stabbed her 8 times to death. Li Meijin is professor of criminology in Chinese People’s Public Security University and she’s a regular guest in some of the country’s news programs. This time, she also gave her analysis and commented on this controversial murder case but caused an even wider dispute.

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