Do you ever worry about how your checked luggage is treated when you fly? If so, you should be even more worried.

Footage of a cargo handler at Guangzhou airport who threw boxes on the conveyor belt haphazardly (missing more than half of the time), and stopped to answer his phone, has gone viral in China.  He went about his work so inefficiently that it took more than twice as long as necessary.  The video has now been posted by such influential media as Guangzhou Daily and Southern Metropolis Daily.

The four minutes of footage, which is accompanied by highly critical running commentary given by the passenger, has been viewed over 700,000 times on Sina Video and is also on YouTube and 56.

Netizens’ reactions ranged from shame to amusement. One Chinese netizen said: “The shameful Chinese race. But don’t just blame this guy. Blame the system of management at Chinese airports and blame the culture of service.” Another called for the immediate sacking of the guy. Another said, with a laughing emoticon: “Cheap labour, you get what you pay for.”

A 7 day-old infant is in the intensive care unit of Guangzhou Development District Hospital after a nurse accidentally fed her rice wine on June 6, Jiangsu Satellite Television reports.

According to a Miss Huang who was in the hospital at the time, the baby’s whole body went red.

Although it hasn’t yet been confirmed exactly which nurse was responsible, the baby’s father, Mr. Chen, demanded that heads roll. “I fear my daughter will suffer long-term brain damage,” said Chen.

A representative of the hospital surnamed Chen said an internal investigation would be conducted and the hospital would take due responsibility.

The Jiangsu television anchorman indulged in an angry monologue, berating the hospital and the staff for allowing alcohol onto the premises and failing to issue a full apology for the mishap.

One netizen claimed that the smell of rice wine is so strong that this was either done deliberately or done while drunk. Another suggested that the parents forgot to bribe the hospital when the baby was born.

*Note: Initially, we mistakenly said it was a “seven-year old infant.” In fact it was a seven-day old infant. This has now been corrected.

Sven Goran Eriksson, who in 2010 claimed that the £2 million (US$3.1 million) he was paid to coach the Ivory Coast soccer team for one World Cup was not that much, has just landed a job as coach of Guangzhou R & F, the Independent reports.

Sven Goran-Eriksson

Eriksson, who according to this year’s Sunday Times rich list is worth US$24.9 million, was the highest paid coach in the world when he was England manager from 2001-2006. He led the England team to three quarter-final exits (which was about par) and since then he has held a number of roles for brief periods and on most occasions received a 7-figure pay off upon being dismissed.

Eriksson built his reputation in the 1980s and 1990s, coaching with great distinction in Sweden, Portugal and Italy and becoming the only manager to lead teams in three countries to league and cup doubles.

But since being fired as England coach, he has had no major successes. His roles with Manchester City, Mexico, Ivory Coast and others were all short-lived but highly lucrative for the Swede.

Channel 4 reported that all but one of those jobs involved a hefty pay-off:

For Sven there’s always the consolation of another pay-off. He was reportedly paid £3million when the FA ended his England contract. His Manchester City career ended in a £2million pay-off, we’re told – and similarly brief periods as national coach for Mexico and then Ivory Coast reportedly ended in seven-figure compensation payments.

The same is said to have happened when he left Leicester City in 2011.

Despite resembling Mr Burns from the Simpsons, he has also been at the centre of sex scandals with such glamorous women as Faria Alam and Ulrika Jonsson.

But Eriksson isn’t all about money and tabloid sex storms. In 2010 he was described by Ray Trew, owner of Notts county (England’s oldest soccer club), as an “absolute gentleman” for rejecting US$3.7 million in unpaid wages that he was entitled to upon leaving.

Guangzhou R & F, which was founded in 1994, is the latest Chinese club after Guangzhou Evergrande and Shanghai Shenhua to try to increase its global stature by acquiring a big name from the European game. The amount of money being poured into the sport in China does not appear to be helping the men’s national team just yet as it had failed to qualify for next year’s World Cup as long ago as 2011.

The softly-spoken Swede is sometimes an enigma, sometimes a headache, but never a bore.

Huang Yizi, a barefoot midwife who lived one of the most extraordinary lives of the twentieth century, passed away in Guangzhou on May 23, Guangzhou Daily reports. She was 99 years old.

Huang Yizi in the 1960s.

As well as delivering around 3,200 babies as a barefoot midwife, that is a midwife who travels from village to village to deliver babies, Huang was the only deputy of the third National People’s Congress of eastern Guangdong from 1964 to 1974. She attended the National Day rostrum ceremony with Chairman Mao throughout the 1960s and was invited to attend a state banquet with Zhou Enlai.

Born into a peasant family in Xingning in Guangdong in January 1914, Huang did not even have a name until she was well into her adulthood. Her family name was Huang and she was the second child in her family, so she was named Huang Er. After she grew up, the villagers called her Huang Erjie. When she was identified as cadre material, she was named Huang Yizi because that is what the Hakka name Huang Erjie sounds like in Mandarin.

Despite her illiteracy, she impressed with her contagious enthusiasm. Huang joined the Communist Party in 1952 and was assigned to be trained in modern midwifery. When she had completed her training, she would go from village to village with her toolkit delivering babies. At that time the infant mortality rate was very high. But after completing 80 successful deliveries, Huang’s reputation had been established.

Liu Duoxin, Huang’s second son, told the newspaper about some of his childhood memories. “Often, villagers would knock on our door in the middle of the night. If their knocking didn’t wake us up, then the dog’s barking would.” Liu went on to say that her mother would get up and help the villagers, whatever the weather.

Huang in her dotage.

“Back then, the country roads were so rough that they would have to light a torch to make their way to where the pregnant women waited,” said Liu.

By the time she retired in the early 1990s, Huang had helped deliver 3200 babies. According to Liu, Huang often worked for free. Most of the time, she just got one or two Mao to cover the cost of medical instruments. Sometimes, she would bring rice for the patients’ families because everybody was poor at that time.

From 1958 to 1982, Huang served as Director of the Women’s Unit in Nibo Commune and Deputy Secretary of the Party branch among other roles. According to Liu Huanbin, Huang’s eldest son, she was so respected that she would sometimes be called in to help settle domestic disputes.

*Note. Initially we said Huang was born in Xining in Qinghai Province. Actually, she was born in Xingning in Guangdong Province.