Mrs Liu from Guangzhou has been urged to have a second child by her mother-in-law. But upon hearing it’s bad luck to have a baby during the Year of the Ram, due to start next year on February 19, 2015, the mother-in-law tries to persuade Liu to conceive and bear a child during this calendar year, according to Nanfang Metropolis Daily.

The reason why babies born in the Year of the Ram are unlucky is because they are “fated to suffer”. A folklore saying goes: Nine rams out of ten are not completed; this means people born during the year of ram will have bad luck. Considering what type of future is in store for her child, Mrs Liu hesitates to have another baby.

RELATED: Guangdong’s New “Two-Child Policy” Off to a Rocky Start

Ye Chunsheng, Vice-President of the China Folklore Society and the Chinese department Professor of Sun Yat-sen University says the opinion doesn’t hold water at all. “I think people born in the year are very nice though,” he said.

Mrs Du, Director of Liwan District People’s Hospital, disagrees with superstitions regarding luck. “Based on the statistics we have now, the number of babies born next year doesn’t much difference.” In regards to women who may try to give birth prematurely to avoid giving birth to a child born during the Year of the Ram, Du said, “It’s very harmful to have a Caesarean one month earlier than the date of expectancy. It will not only cause massive bleeding, but also amniotic embolism; either case will be dangerous for mothers and babies.”

Hongn Kong fengshui expert Mak Lingling reassures people not to worry about babies born in the Year of the Ram. Mak said, “Rams stand for auspiciousness. Baby rams born in the morning are passive and conservative, but have good people skills. Afternoon baby rams are more active, while evening rams are too conservative and conventional but don’t like new environments.”

Photo: TX News

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After the storm left, a water well located in Nanting village near University Town started to reach temperatures of 45 degrees centigrade, Guangzhou Daily reported on April 7. Dug more than 20 years ago near Huang ancestral hall, the owners of the well had never experienced anything like this before… until now.

Mrs Huang had used water from the well to wash clothes and vegetables. Now when the sky becomes dark, white steam can be seen coming from the top of the well. “Now I can’t use it to water my growing vegetables, or else, they will die.” said Mrs Huang. [emphasis added]

According to experts from the Guangzhou earthquake administration, the temperature rise has to do with changes of local geological conditions. It apparently has nothing to do with malicious ghosts that live at the bottom of wells and crawl out of TVs at the end of scary movies.

The reasons to this phenomenon unclear, we’ll hedge our bets and say that getting to the bottom of this mystery will only land you in hot water.

Disclaimer: the Nanfang does not accept unsolicitated offers of creepy found footage recorded onto old VHS tapes. We apologize for the inconvenience.

With notes submitted by Charles Liu

Photo: theblingring

According to Zhanjiang Police, the 15 suspects are mainly from Baisha County, Leizhou; while the 16th suspect, who jumped to his death was from Shentang County. In total, 10 tigers were killed.

In recent years, tiger meat and tiger baijiu have become quite popular in Leizhou, and can fetch a hefty price. Although unconfirmed, it is suspected that the tigers were smuggled into China from Vietnam. Typically, smugglers find buyers for the meat or bones before they smuggle the tigers from Vietnam. Occasionally, they make the trip to Vietnam and then quickly flee after the sale is complete. Tigers are slaughtered in a variety of places to avoid being caught by the police: in the woods, banana fields, or houses.

Zhangjiang Evening Daily reported that some netizens have commented on Sina Weibo that [there should be] ”No buying, no slaughtering”, while some said, “I am speechless. They should be sent to jail.” Still others have asked, “How does anyone smuggle a tiger?”

The case is still under investigation.

In an interview, Meimeng CEO, Zhang Rui, explained that both men and women can join the service for free, however if the men wish to contact any of the interested women they are expected to pay a membership fee of between RMB40,000 and RMB100,000. If that wasn’t a steep enough price tag, in order to qualify, they must also possess assets in excess of RMB5 million, equal to the cost of a house. “We are a company established by married women. Helping people get married is a good deed.” she says.

Close to one hundred singles aged 24-50 attended the Shenzhen event. Speaking to the event’s success rate, Mrs Zhang explains, “if both parties like each other and decide to be boyfriend and girlfriend, it’s deemed a successful match. Our current rate of success is between 70% and 80%.”

In order to qualify, every woman is subject to three tests: a face and palmistry test, a lie detector test and an overall quality evaluation. Mrs Zhang stresses that “the lie detector test is to encourage every woman in attendance to be honest and open.” Women are also tested for health, character, unique talents, and voice. If they meet the requisite standards, they are allowed to join the club for free.

Meimeng claims its members are the best singles in the world, and their popular app is available only to pre-screened and approved members. Miss  Zhou, one of the participants, told the reporter, “I’m not sure if the process is reliable but I am hopeful. I am most concerned about men’s overall quality. Money is not critically important. The key point is that we have common interests and like each other at first sight.”

Miss Xu, also a post 80s from Sichuan, is working in finance. She likes handsome men, and is hoping to find an educated and outgoing partner. “I am looking for someone who shares the same values and interests.” Miss Long, a freelancer from Hunan agrees, “It’s important for both parties to feel right about each other.”

Good luck to all singles.

It all started on Tuesday (March 4) when a heavily inebriated man showed up at Chaozhou Hospital. A doctor tried to treat him, but the patient died from an alcohol overdose. The family, however, clearly believe the doctor didn’t do enough to save their relative, so they rounded up more than 100 people to protest at the hospital the following day, leaving the doctor distraught and in tears.

The protest out front of the hospital has gone viral on Sina Weibo, and comments are pouring in. Here are a few highlights:

“First, check to see if there’s a medical accident. If not, these protesters should be severely punished. My parents are doctors. I often see them running out to the hospital at night to save people’s lives. The protest will definitely hurt the doctor, maybe even damage him psychologically.”

“What? It lasted for half of hour? Even the police are controlled by this family?”

“Surely, not all doctors are good, but we are hoping that they all have a heart to save people’s lives. Everyone faces diseases and eventually die, this family should be reasonable and face it.”

“I have to admit, being doctor is a dangerous career at present.”

On Monday morning, Liang Wenhui, a graduate student from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, posted 3,000 letters to individual deputies of the National People’s Congress (NPC) calling for same-sex marriage to receive legal recognition. It’s not the first time he’s gone to such lengths, either; last year he wrote 100 deputies but didn’t get any response. That’s why he increased the number this year, Guangzhou Daily reports.

The 3,000 letters were written by students at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou. Liang claims same-sex couples have experienced a lot of discrimination when it comes to receiving medical and health services, social welfare, and rights related to the disposal of property, commercial insurance, hukou and the purchase of a home.

Twenty-two students spent five and half hours to put the letters in the envelopes, pile them into four big boxes and take them to the post office.

Liang was profiled last year by the Nanfang Metropolis Daily as one of Guangdong’s most prominent gay activists. He is from Yangjiang, in the west of Guangdong, and realized he was different from other boys at a young age. He says he has suffered a great deal of stress by having his lifestyle stigmatized.

Liang founded Chinese Gay-Straight Alliance, a public welfare organization to support LGBT people in 2011, and presides over general courses related to alternative lifestyles in his university. Liang started spreading his ideas and beliefs on homosexuality to teachers, classmates and friends on IDAHO, or International Day Against Homophobia, on May 17, 2011. He said, “The social environment surrounding homosexuality won’t see any change if nobody stands out and everyone stays silent.”

If you are interested to know more about Liang’s organization, you can keep an eye on his Weibo.

Home page image from eChinaCities

Rentals have become more and more popular in recent years, but one case hasn’t worked out quite as well as planned. A man surnamed Li had spent years living in Fuzhou, in Fujian Province, earning a living. But under pressure from his family to get married, he hired a girl named Miss Zhang, who returned to his hometown of Changle with him during the Chinese New Year Holiday, according to reports.

Upon arriving, his parents were ecstatic that their son had finally met a girl — so ecstatic that they handed her an envelope containing RMB20 thousand as a gift.

After leaving Changle, Mr Li asked for the RMB20 thousand back, and Miss Zhang insisted it was hers to keep. The two bickered over it to the point the police were called to settle the dispute. The good news for Mr Li? Miss Zhang was finally ordered to return the sum.

Miss Zhang did manage to keep the agreed upon fee for her service, however. That was RMB5 thousand.

Yuexiu Group’s partnership with Chong Hing Bank marks the first time a non-financial institution has purchased a Hong Kong bank in the past 27 years. It will be an historic opportunity for Chong Hing, too, as Hong Kong and Guangzhou develop more closely together. Yuexiu said Chong Hing will maintain its steady business in Hong Kong while utilizing its connection with Yuexiu to speed up its business in Mainland China.

If you’ve been to Hong Kong, you’ve no doubt seen Chong Hing’s branches around the city. It has been around for 60 years and has the lowest default rates of any bank in the territory. Guangzhou’s government backs the investment and has granted Yuexiu RMB4 billion in loans.

The Jiangcun Poultry Wholesale Market is the biggest and busiest market in Southern China and most of the stalls were closed when a reporter visited on the 14th. Mr. Qin, who sells live ducks, said the closure is impacting everyone in the poultry business. “The closure is probably costing me RMB50 to RMB60 thousand. Although the market is closed, I still need to pay the rent, electricity and water.

“I can’t earn any money in these two weeks. Moreover, I will be worrying about losing my old customers. At the same time last year, ducks sold for RMB5 or RMB6 per jin [a unit of measurement in China], now it’s only RMB2 or RMB3 per jin. We sold more than 1.000 ducks, but now we sell 500 at most.”

Jiang Yongquan, a manager at Jiangcun, said the market has 140 stalls and sales are down by about 50% compared to last year.

Unfortunately these live poultry businesses will probably be suffering for a while yet. Beijing Business Daily reported on February 11 that the poultry industry has suffered direct losses of RMB20 billion so far as a result of bird flu. With the disease continuing to spread, there’s no word on when confidence will return to the market.

Home page photo credit: China Daily

According to a notice issued by Shenzhen Health and Family Planning Commission, smoking will be banned in all public government offices, meeting rooms of state organs, nurseries, kindergartens, schools, hospitals, libraries, archives, exhibition halls, science and technological museums, art galleries and other exhibition places, theatres, cinemas, parks, banks, shopping malls, hotels, restaurant, elevators (finally!) and exhibition centres.

While it might seem like common sense to ban smoking in places like kindergartens and nurseries, Shenzhen does plan to take this a step further in the future. The regulations point out that smoking will be “limited” in other venues such as bars and cafés, but not until 2016.

Home page photo credit: The Guardian