Trending: Treasures at auction to save temple

Students detained for arms smuggling

Five college students have been detained for smuggling weapons in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, chinanews.com reported on Tuesday.

The five students purchased 41 air pistols and more than 3,000 bullets in Hong Kong and brought the arms to Shenzhen after a trafficker surnamed Zhang promised them lucrative pay. The weapons were then sold to online buyers. The students can make 550 yuan to 1,200 yuan ($90-195) for smuggling a gun, said the prosecutor.

Related: China executes two South Koreans for smuggling drugs from DPRK

Virtual girlfriend service a new hit online

At online shopping platform taobao.com, a virtual girlfriend service has been rolled out in many stores and well-received among love-seekers, xkb.com.cn reported on Tuesday.

Online stores offer whatever type of "girlfriend" men can dream of. The virtual girlfriends build a "relationship" with their customers and provide comfort to their lonely hearts by chatting on instant messaging tool WeChat. The service which costs 20 yuan ($3.26) a day has drawn many clients with one of the service providers receiving 50 orders one day.

Related: Mom pulls the plug on 'virtual girlfriend'

Guard sentenced after suspect breaks away

A guard was sentenced to six months in prison after a suspect escaped under his nose, Southern Metropolis Daily reported on Tuesday.

The female suspect on medical parole ran away from hospital while the guard who was supposed to keep watch on her was sleeping in a hotel nearby. The guard said he freed the suspect from handcuffs to allow her to take medicine and left the ward because it was inconvenient to sleep with the female suspect in the room.

Related: 3 Chinese inmates kill guard, break out of jail

Treasures at auction to save temple

The abbot of an old temple that had fallen into disrepair put his treasures up for auction to fund renovations, reported chinanews.com on Monday.

The rebuilding of Huanglong Temple, an 800-year-old monastery in Jianshui of Yunnan province, was estimated to cost 400 million yuan ($65 million). To raise the money, the abbot of the temple decided to sell his precious Buddha beads, jades and paintings, among which is a 300-meter-long painting, 500 Arhats, which was sold at 60 million yuan ($9.7 million).

Related: Shaolin Temple sues govt for delayed ticket earnings