Chinese zoo tries passing off dog as an 'African lion'

Officials at a Chinese zoo attempted to pass off this Tibetan mastiff as an African lion (AFP) The People’s Park of Luohe in the Chinese province Henan has an amazing “African lion” on exhibit for spectators. But the most amazing fact about this proud creature is that it’s actually a dog, not a lion.

As Agence France-Presse reports, the hoax was exposed when the dog, a Tibetan mastiff, started barking.

According to the state-run publication Beijing Youth Daily, a mother and son heard the unexpected sound coming from the alleged lion during a recent visit to the zoo.

The paper says the zoo has been replacing exotic species with substitutes, including placing two rodents in a snake’s cage, a white fox in a leopard’s den and a common dog in a wolf’s pen.

“The zoo is absolutely cheating us,” the visitor, Sharon Liu, told the paper. “They are trying to disguise the dogs as lions.”

Liu and other zoo visitors reportedly paid 15 yuan ($2.45) for the chance to see the dog and other substitute animals up close.

And this is far from the only case of animal impersonation in China. There have also been recent reports of Chinese zoo officials painting dogs black and white to make them look like pandas.

Liu Suya, chief of the zoo’s animal department, told the paper that the actual lion has been temporarily sent to a breeding facility.

"The wolf is somewhere else in the pen and the dog is a pet,” another zoo official told the Oriental Daily. “The African lions will be back. They went to another zoo to breed."

The zoo’s head also told the paper that the signs outside the African lion cage would be changed until the actual lion returns.

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Chinese man dismantles villa perched atop apartment block

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese property owner has started dismantling an elaborate villa built illegally, complete with a garden, on top of a Beijing apartment block after complaints from his neighbors and a government warning to tear it down.

Aerial photos of the structure, perched on the roof of the 26-story block, near a lake and a busy highway, have been circulating on the Internet for the past week, causing an outcry from the block's residents and amazement at the audacious flouting of planning rules and norms.

On Monday, authorities demanded that Zhang Biqing, the villa's builder, demolish it within 15 days, calling it an illegal structure after residents complained to the local government.

Zhang, a wealthy medicine practitioner who also owns a penthouse in the building, pledged to dismantle the 800-square-metre structure after he was informed of the risks to the public by police and urban management authorities, state news agency Xinhua said.

The brazen structure was the latest example of the blatant disregard for the law among the rich, a source of discontent among many Chinese.

Residents living in the block told Reuters Television on Tuesday they were worried about the extra weight accumulating above their heads.

"Perhaps originally it was designed to withstand a certain weight, but now he has added so many things, it's not a question of a blade of grass," said Wen Tingshu, who lives on the 22nd floor. "If it collapses, nobody knows how many casualties it would cause."

Chen Yu, an official from Beijing's Haidian district city administration and law enforcement bureau, said on Tuesday the authorities would demolish the villa if Zhang did not take action.

"If Beijing experiences bad or extreme weather, it could be blown down or hit by lightning," Chen told reporters. "More importantly, it has infringed the rights of other residents who disliked having a building constructed on their rooftop."

(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee and Sabrina Mao; Editing by Alison Williams)

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Chinese farmer gets 5 days in jail for his story on alien invasion

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold extended losses into a second session on Friday as strong U.S. data stoked uncertainty over the outlook for the Federal Reserve's massive bond-buying stimulus. A pull back in bond purchases would hurt gold, seen as a hedge against inflation. Bullion, down 17 percent for the year, has been hit by investor outflows in gold exchange traded funds and signs of softening demand in key buyers India and China. "There is uncertainty about the Fed tapering," said Brian Lan, managing director of Singapore-based dealer GoldSilver Central Pte Ltd. ...

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Abandoned Chinese baby rescued from toilet pipe

BEIJING (Reuters) - Firefighters in eastern China have rescued an abandoned newborn baby boy lodged in a sewage pipe directly beneath a toilet commode, state television reported, in a case which has sparked anger on social media sites.

There are frequent reports in Chinese media of babies being abandoned, often shortly after birth, a problem attributed variously to young mothers unaware they were pregnant, the birth of an unwanted girl in a society which puts greater value on boys or China's strict family planning rules.

In the latest case the infant was found in the sewage pipe in a residential building in Jinhua in the wealthy coastal province of Zhejiang on Saturday afternoon after residents reported the sound of a baby crying, state television said late on Monday.

Firefighters had to remove the pipe and take it to a nearby hospital, where doctors carefully cut around it to rescue the baby boy inside, the report said.

The child is in a stable condition and the police are looking for his parents, state television added.

The case has been widely discussed on China's Twitter-like service Sina Weibo due to the graphic nature of the footage, with calls for the parents to be severely punished.

"The parents who did this have hearts even filthier than that sewage pipe," wrote one user.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Sally Huang; Editing by Michael Perry)

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Chinese wonder why their tourists behave so badly

By Li Hui and Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - From faking marriage certificates to get honeymoon discounts in the Maldives to letting children defecate on the floor of a Taiwan airport, Chinese tourists have recently found themselves at the center of controversy and anger.

Thanks to microblogging sites in China, accounts of tourists behaving badly spread like wildfire across the country, provoking disgust, ire and soul-searching.

While in the past such reports might have been dismissed as attacks on the good nature of Chinese travelers, people in the world's second-largest economy are starting to ask why their countrymen and women are so badly behaved.

"Objectively speaking, our tourists have relatively low-civilized characters," said Liu Simin, researcher with the Tourism Research Centre of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"Overseas travel is a new luxury, Chinese who can afford it compare with each other and want to show off," Liu said. "Many Chinese tourists are just going abroad, and are often inexperienced and unfamiliar with overseas rules and norms."

When a story broke recently that a 15-year-old Chinese boy had scratched his name into a 3,500-year-old temple in Egypt's Luxor, the furor was such that questions were even asked about it at a Foreign Ministry news briefing.

"There are more and more Chinese tourists travelling to other countries in recent years," ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Monday.

"We hope that this tourism will improve friendship with foreign countries and we also hope that Chinese tourists will abide by local laws and regulations and behave themselves."

Other incidents have attracted similar anger, including that of a mother who let her children defecate on the floor of Kaohsiung airport in Taiwan, just meters (feet) from a toilet. She did put newspaper down first.

Embarrassment over the behavior of some Chinese tourists has reached the highest levels of government, which has tried to project an image of a benign and cultured emerging power whose growing wealth can only benefit the world.

"TERRIBLE RACKET"

This month, Vice Premier Wang Yang admonished the "uncivilized behavior" of certain Chinese tourists, in remarks widely reported by state media and reflecting concern about how the increasingly image-conscious country is seen overseas.

"They make a terrible racket in public places, scrawl their names on tourist sites, ignore red lights when crossing the road and spit everywhere. This damages our national image and has a terrible effect," Wang said.

The central government has reissued guidelines on its main website on what it considers acceptable behavior for tourists, including dressing properly, queuing up and not shouting.

To be sure, the influx of newly wealthy Chinese travelling around world has bought economic benefits widely welcomed in many countries, and many tourists are well-behaved and respectful.

More than 83 million Chinese tourists travelled overseas last year, and Chinese expenditure on travel abroad reached $102 billion in 2012, the highest in the world according to the U.N. World Tourism Organization.

By 2020, about 200 million Chinese are expected to take an overseas holiday every year.

Criticism of bad behavior has in the past been leveled at American, Japanese and Taiwanese tourists, when they were also enjoying new wealth and going abroad for the first time.

Eventually, experts say, the criticism will fade.

"Travelling is a learning experience for tourists," said Wang Wanfei, a tourism professor at Zhejiang University. "They learn how to absorb local culture in the process, and get rid of their bad tourist behavior."

(Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Jon Stewart's humor a hit with millions of envious Chinese

By Jane Lee

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Humor may not always translate well, but Jon Stewart is picking up millions of fans in China, where his gloves-off political satire is refreshing for many in a country where such criticism is a rarity - especially when directed at their own leaders.

A recent segment on North Korea scored over 4 million views on microblogger Sina Weibo, and even stodgy state broadcaster CCTV has used Stewart's "The Daily Show" in a report, though they wouldn't let a Chinese version of him near their cameras.

Recent popular sequences have included one in which Stewart lampooned the Chinese hackers who hacked into the New York Times computer system earlier this year, wondering if that was the best they could do.

But far from squelching Stewart, CCTV even used one of his sequences on Guantanamo Bay to criticize Obama in a regular broadcast - a move widely derided by netizens.

In China, however, such criticism tends not to be welcomed by the government. Dissident artist Ai Weiwei, who regularly criticizes the government for what he sees as its flouting of the rule of law and human rights, was detained for 81 days in 2011, sparking an international outcry.

"There's nothing like political satire here," said David Moses, who studies and writes about Chinese humor.

Though the exact timing of Stewart's entrance to China is unclear, many have been watching him for four or five years, mainly through the Internet and Weibo.

"Being a journalist, you have to find out the truth," said Mao Moyu, a Shanghai journalism student who got hooked on Stewart four years ago.

"If there's ... something that hurts the public interest you have to stand out, no matter how sharp the thing is. You have to stand out and say that's not right."

Part of Stewart's popularity is that he seems cool to young people in love with all things foreign, but a thirst for satire that is not afraid to show its face contributes too, Moses said.

The closest thing that exists in China is coded references and puns that tweak official pronouncements or sound like obscenities.

"That's just shooting a finger at the government. But this is full-fledged jokes and routines about North Korea or about China and trade...It's just what they wish they could do here," Moses said.

Free translations into Chinese by Stewart's fans have boosted his popularity. In fact, one - known as Gu Da Bai Hua - now even has his own fan base.

China's thirst for foreign satire is so great that Stewart is not the only popular U.S. comic. Some Chinese say they prefer rival television satirist Stephen Colbert - although humor may not be the only issue at stake.

"I think I like Stephen Colbert's pronunciation more because it's much clearer for me," said Shanghai student Peng Cheng.

(Editing by Elaine Lies and Michael Perry)

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Chinese businessman pays record price for Belgian racing pigeon

Nearly four months ago, Oklahoma Senators Tom Coburn and James Inhofe both voted against H.R.152, the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act that eventually sent $50.5 billion in relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy. And in the flurry of last night's devastation in Moore, Oklahoma. it was impossible not to forget that fact, knowing the federal government would soon rally to the cause.

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Chinese dissident urges U.S. to ensure family's fair treatment

By Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng called on the United States on Friday to ensure his family in China would be treated fairly, saying his imprisoned nephew was not receiving proper medical care from Chinese authorities, whom he accused of "hooligan tactics."

Chen, who made international headlines last year when he escaped house arrest and spent 20 hours on the run before finding refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, said his nephew was suffering from appendicitis and being treated only by a fellow inmate who had received some medical training.

"He's not being given proper medical treatment or being taken to a medical facility outside the jail," Chen told Reuters in an interview, speaking through an interpreter.

Chen, who was born blind and taught himself law, said China was using "ruffian, hooligan tactics to try and scare me into silence."

He said his relatives had been increasingly harassed by Chinese authorities since mid-April, around the anniversary of his escape from 19 months of harsh house arrest in eastern Shandong province.

He said he was "extremely happy and very grateful" to learn of the State Department's announcement on Thursday that Secretary of State John Kerry would raise the case of his nephew, Chen Kegui, with China. He said he had not been contacted by anyone at the department about the plan.

Kerry tried calling Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to discuss Chen's imprisoned nephew, but Wang was not available, the State Department said on Friday.

Chen's nephew was charged after using knives to fend off local officials who burst into his home the day after Chen's escape was discovered. He was sentenced to more than three years in jail in November after a trial Washington described as "deeply flawed."

Chen said, "There's not enough power behind closed-door diplomacy," and that the United States needed "to strengthen their criticism of the Chinese government,"

"What I mean is at the moment the methods that the U.S. government may be using to bring up these matters with the Chinese government is clearly not enough, it's too weak. What they need to do is strengthen their criticism of the Chinese government."

Chen came to prominence by campaigning for farmers and disabled citizens and exposing forced abortions before he was placed under house arrest.

Chen's older brother, Chen Guangfu, said this week that local authorities had harassed him repeatedly since mid-April by throwing rocks, bottles and dead poultry at his home in a village in Shandong province in retaliation for what they believed were Chen's plans to visit Taiwan and Tibet.

Chen said on Friday he planned to visit supporters in Taiwan next month but had no plans to visit Tibet. He spoke with Reuters after giving a speech at the launch of a report into Chinese censorship by PEN International, an association of writers that advocates for freedom of expression.

Chen, who lives in New York with his wife and is studying law at New York University, said he hoped to return to China.

"Part of the issue is, if I go back, will I be able to leave at any time?" he said.

(Editing by Paul Thomasch and Peter Cooney)

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Chinese Bowl found at garage sale fetches over $ 2.2 million at auction

By Clare Hutchison London (Reuters)-ten dresses worn by Princess Diana ended, including a velvet, Midnight-blue dress that famously danced with John Travolta at the White House in 1985, recovered more than $ 1.2 million at an auction in London on Tuesday. The creation of Victor Edelstein worn at the gala dinner of the United States was the top lot of the sale, held by fashion specialist Kerry Taylor auctions, sell for $ 362,470, within pre-sale estimates. ...

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Chinese millionaire fights with thin air pollution

BEIJING (Reuters)-two weeks China's foulest air pollution in memory has rekindled a tongue-in-cheek campaign by a billionaire with a streak of showmanship that is selling canned fresh air.

Chen Guangbiao, who made his fortune in the recycling sector and is a high-profile philanthropist, on Wednesday handed out cans of soda pop-air size, presumably from distant regions of pristine China like Xinjiang Northwest of Taiwan, southeast coast.

"I mean mayors, county chiefs and heads of major corporations: not only pursue GDP growth, not chase higher profits at the expense of our children and grandchildren and at the cost of sacrificing our ecological environment," said Chen.

China's air quality is watched closely because it fluctuates dramatically from day to day, but in recent weeks has recorded so far in unhealthy area.

Air pollution is measured in terms of PM2, .5 or particulate matter 2.5 microns in diameter, which are absorbed by the lungs and can cause lung diseases and heart. The World Health Organization recommends .5 levels of PM2 20 daily and says that levels above 300 are serious health hazards.

Beijing's air quality often surges over a 500 level and 12 January rose to 755, the highest in memory.

Go out, walk for about 20 minutes, and my throat hurts and I feel dizzy, Chen told Reuters in an interview on a busy Beijing sidewalk.

He handed out green and orange cans of "fresh air" with a caricature of himself on them saying, "Chen Guangbiao is a good man."

"Being a good person, have a good heart, doing good things," reads a message along the bottom of each can.

The 44 year old entrepreneur, whose wealth is estimated at $ 740 million according to Hurun rich list last year China's humanists, is an exuberant and relentless self promoter.

He is something of a celebrity in China, with more than 4 million followers on Sina Weibo, microblogging platform like Twitter more popular in China.

He admits that his effort to canned air is the tongue in cheek, but says it is a way to awaken people about the importance of environmental protection. The campaign is enticing bewilderment but also acclaim by the media and by people desperate to escape from the smog.

"Air in Beijing really needs to improve, then we need a good man like him to appear," said a resident surnamed Hu 21-year-old. "It reminds people to use less fuel and do what they can for the air of Beijing".

Air cans were free on Wednesdays, but usually sell for 5 yuan (80 cents) with proceeds going to poor regions of China and places of historical importance and revolutionary.

Sales, which had been moderate, are taken off after the recent streak of bad air days, with 8 million cans sold in the last 10 days, Chen said.

(Written by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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