Planet China

The strangest stories from the Middle Kingdom...

Getting high
Mar 13, 2009 (WiC 6)

All around the world, people do some pretty silly things when they get drunk. The consequences can be damaging, but normally only to those doing the imbibing. But in China’s Henan province, a drunken villager caused a power blackout for his ...

Stupid song
Mar 6, 2009 (WiC 5)

Ever since its invention in 1955, couch potatoes have not been able to live without the remote control. But a burglar in China probably rues the day it was invented. The 25 year-old thief, surnamed Song, broke into a house in Sichuan province and ...

Skin deep
Feb 27, 2009 (WiC 4)

In South Korea, where plastic surgery is almost as common as kimchi, girls routinely destroy photos from their youth. They don’t want fiancés and future mother-in-laws to see how they used to look. In Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei ...

High born
Feb 20, 2009 (WiC 3)

Forget the Mile-High Club, Jiang Yulan has joined an even more exclusive group: she has given birth at 33,000 feet (or 6.2 miles above the nearest maternity ward). Jiang was on a flight back to Hunan when she went into labour. Ordinarily she ...

An unhealthy crime
Feb 13, 2009 (WiC 2)

The Beijing Times has reported that a farmer with acute anaemia committed armed robbery. The motive, however, was a little unusual. He wanted to take advantage of the free medical treatment he would receive in prison. The farmer held up and then ...

Pyjama parties
Feb 6, 2009 (WiC 1)

Shanghai has garnered an international reputation as one of the world’s most stylish cities. However, the city worries its image is being damaged by some of its citizens’ sartorial preference for nightwear. Indeed, Rixin neighbourhood ...

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