A Chinese man called Mr Xu, swore to God that he didn't owe $100 to his neighbour Mr Huang. In the time it has taken you to read
this a lightning bolt struck down Mr Xu. Mr Huang remembered the debt
well, Xu borrowed the money for a friend's marriage gift, Will and Guy
have discovered.
In desperation Mr Huang said that if Xu dared to swear to god that he
did not owe the money, then he would waive the dept. Xu foolishly took
up the challenge, and made the oath in front of a crowd of neighbours in
Fuqing city, China. Less than a minute after Xu made his oath, he was
struck down by lightning.
Xu was quickly taken to hospital where doctors confirmed he had
indeed been injured by lightning. While he is expected to make a full
recovery, it is hoped that Xu will learn from this parable and settle his debt honourably.
Bangbang, which literally means "stick" in Chinese, is the nickname
used for the farmers turned porters in Chongqing, Southwest China's
largest city. Will and Guy have heard that they do the hardest, most
tiring, dirtiest and most dangerous jobs in the city yet receive the
lowest wages. The Mayor Wang Hongju said, when suggesting a more amiable
and apt name for the porters last month.
Nobody knows exactly how many bangbangs live in the city, which has a
population of 30 million; but they seem to be everywhere and help make
life convenient for many local people.
Possibly the word Bangbang could smack of prejudice against the
workers we think. The debate has been going on since the mayor made his
comment. Locals call all migrant rural workers in the city bangbangs,
and the name seems to have has stuck with those who do the most
gruelling jobs, but are often cheated.
Many residents ask the bangbangs to do chores but then do not pay
what they promised. The porters get angry, but there is nothing much
that they can do.
They say the path of love never runs smooth, and never a truer phrase
was spoken after two male giant pandas got into a fight over a mate in
Changqing State Natural Reserve in Shaanxi Province, we have learned.
The panda that came worse off was found on recently and sent to a local
wildlife rescue centre. After a thorough examination, vets estimated
that the fight had occurred some 3 weeks before.
To add to his problems, the panda fell from a height leaving him
paralysed in the lower half of his body. He was sent to another hospital
for further treatment.
Wei Pengli, from the rescue centre told Will and Guy that giant
pandas often fight for the attention females.
A woman fainted when a dog fell down from the top of a building and
struck her as she sat drinking tea in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China,
last week we have learned.
The dog, weighing about 5 kgs, had been left alone on the rooftop by
its owner for a "breath of fresh air." Needless to say it unexpectedly
fell over the edge and plummeted towards the ground where it hit the tea
drinker. Its owner has agreed to pay the medical fees for the shocked
woman, who had to be hospitalised.
A visitor to a zoo, who was worse for wear from drinking too much
alcohol, was badly injured trying to hand feed a caged bear. The rather
silly man from Shandong Province was freed from the bear's grasp after
keepers rushed to help.
Zoo officials indicated to Will and Guy that the man's actions
foolish in the extreme. He had apparently ignored warning signs
instructing him not to feed the animals or reach into their cages.
'If you ignore the safety warnings, you must take full responsibility
for the consequences,' a zoo official told us. You couldn't make it up.
Seagulls by Lie Zi
A young man who lived by the sea loved seagulls. Every morning at
daybreak he would go to the seaside and play with the gulls. Hundreds of
gulls would come to him and not fly away.
His father said, 'I heard that seagulls like to play with you. Catch a
few for me so that I can play with them too.' The next morning when the father went to the seaside the seagulls swooped
about in the skies but none came down to him.
The message of this parable is that one may try, but unable to, hide
one's inner thoughts. Even birds and animals can sense one's true feelings.
A man who lost his axe suspected his neighbour's son of stealing it. To
him, as he observed the boy, the way the lad walked, the expression on his
face, the manner of his speech - in fact everything about his appearance and
behaviour betrayed that he had stolen the axe.
Not long afterwards the man found his axe while digging in his cellar.
When he saw his neighbour's son again, nothing about the boy's behaviour nor
appearance seemed to suggest that he had stolen the axe.
The farther dragons travel from their home in China, the more toes
they lose. Fortunately, Will and Guy have discovered, when wandering
dragons return home to China, all their missing toes grow back.
Since most dragons would prefer to keep all their toes, all the time,
few dragons ever wander very far from home.
Explanation: In addition to China, Korea and
Japan use dragons in their art. Fortunately, it's easy to tell the
difference just count the dragon's toes.
Chinese dragons have five toes.
Korean dragons have four toes.
Japanese dragons have three toes.
¤¤
Huang Fu and the Bottle of Wine Parable
Huang Fu was a very rich man who was deliberately tough on his
farmhand, Hop. Huang Fu gave Hop a bottle and said, 'Buy me a bottle of
wine.'
Hop, the poor farmhand enquired, 'How can I buy you wine with no
money at all?' Huang Fu replied disdainfully, 'Anyone can buy wine
with money. It takes real skill to buy wine without money.'
Time elapsed and Hop eventually returned farmhand returned with the
empty bottle. He handed the bottle to Huang Fu and murmured, 'Enjoy the
wine, please.'
Staring at the empty bottle with some dismay, Huang asked, 'There is
no wine, how can I enjoy this?'
Hop replied to Huang Fu, with a straight face, 'Anyone can enjoy wine
if there is some. It takes real skill to enjoy wine when there is
none.'
Huang Fu made a choking sound but was unable to utter a word.
A Chinese Woman Involved in a Car Crash - Because She Let Her Dog
Drive
The accident happened in the city of Hohhot, capital of north China's
Inner Mongolia region, Xinhua news agency has reported. The woman, named
only as Li, decided to let her dog drive when she noticed how he was of
crouching on the wheel. She let the dog steer while she operated the
accelerator and the brake. The experiment resulted almost immediately in
a collision with another car.
A hen in China has produced a soft-shelled egg in the shape of a
figure eight. Will and Guy have obtained a photograph of this strange
phenomena:
Mrs Dong, of Shijiazhuang, northern China's Hebei province, first
suspected something unusual when she heard the hen making unusual noises
one night. 'I had never heard anything like it before. When I approached
she stopped making the noise but as soon as I left she started again,'
she said. 'The next morning, I was so surprised to find the weird-shaped
egg in the hen's cage.'
Mrs Dong has decided not to sell or eat the egg but is keeping it,
preserved in a box, because it is so unusual.
Professor Wu Yuefeng of Hebei University's Life Science department,
commented to Will and Guy, 'It's very rare to see such a weird-shaped
egg. This will be the result of a lack of calcium in the hen's diet
which has prevented it from creating a hard shell.'
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