Greenbacks used to light kitchen stove
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-03-09 08:55

Mistaking US bank notes for valueless paper money burned as offerings for dead people, an ignorant woman in Jixian County of Tianjin Municipality used some of them to light a stove, Beijing Star Daily reports.

She got the notes worth more than US$14,000 from her husband's younger brother Chen Li, who stole the money from a local attire company.

Chen was caught several days ago by local police, who found the bank notes in the woman's kitchen - she found the "ghost money" didn't easily light up so she left them there.

Woman wants money for losing sex rights

A woman in Baoji, Shaanxi Province, is demanding compensation from a telecom company for losing her right to have sex with her husband who became impotent in a work-related injury, reports Chinese Business View.

The husband, Huang, fell off from a telegraph pole when he was working for the company in North China's Shanxi Province in December 2000.

The court ordered the company to pay 26,000 yuan (US$3,100) but it only released 10,000 yuan (US$1,200).

Now, the woman put forward a claim for another 100,000 yuan (US$12,000).

Piqued man fakes own kidnap

A man in Guangzhou, who sparked a massive police manhunt to track down a "kidnap victim" was arrested on Monday, reports Information Times.

Huang dropped a cigarette box from a building with a message claiming he had been kidnapped by gunmen; and it was taken to police, which mobilized 60 men.

However, he remained silent and calm when police broke into the apartment - Huang was punished by the police a few days earlier for a minor offence; and this was his way of getting back.
Leaking pipe mistaken for spring for 27 years

A primary school in Taipei mistook water from a leaking pipe for a spring for 27 years and even received NT$8 million (US$240,000) in "government" funds for building a swamp around it for ecosystem education, reports China News Service.

Water, for some unknown reason, continued to be pumped into the disused pipe, which leaked 5 tons of water every day and cost the utility company about NT$300,000 (US$9,000).

Calling it a "beautiful mistake," Taipei mayor Ma Yingjeou decided last week to leave the leaking pipe as it is, and the water supply department agreed.

Men wear funeral costumes to collect debts

Three young men were seen collecting debts from a restaurant owner by wearing traditional Chinese funeral costumes and holding the internal organs of fowls at a restaurant in Taiwan recently, reports China News Service.

Representing an asset management company, the men cried as loudly as at funerals, which drove away some customers.

Police are investigating the case, which is seen as a new way of collecting debts.

Angry boyfriend beaten up by passer-by

A man in Haikou, Hainan Province, was beaten up by a passer-by last week after his girlfriend, who was trying to make up with him after a quarrel, called him a robber, reports Business and Tourism News.

Ye broke free from his girlfriend Chen after a quarrel when she tried to pull him back; she then shouted "robber" and a passer-by Li rushed in and beat him up.

The situation became even more confusing when Chen tried to stop Li; it was resolved when a policeman came by.