Chinese at home and abroad spent less on luxury goods this year, competitors' mistakes are China's gain as Li Jianrou wins gold in speed skating, and finally, nothing says romance like cold hard cash.
Romantic cash
A man in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, planned to propose to his girlfriend with 999 roses made from 100-yuan banknotes.
The arrangement cost about 200,000 yuan ($32,980), which he has been saving since he started working in 2009.
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Russians' climb investigated
Shanghai police are investigating two Russian men who illegally entered the construction site of Shanghai Tower.
The two men climbed to the top of what will be China's tallest building during the Spring Festival holiday, and filmed themselves with head-mounted cameras at the top of the 632-meter tower.
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Men climb to top of Shanghai Tower
Luxury sales drop
Chinese people spent $6.9 billion overseas on luxury goods during the seven-day Spring Festival holiday, a drop of 18.8 percent from last year. And domestic sales of luxury goods were only $350 million, a 57.8-percent year-on-year drop.
Insiders said the results were due to the Chinese central government's cracking down on corruption, which led to dramatic decrease in government-paid junkets and officials accepting gifts.
Related: Luxury outlets lure Chinese at Lunar New Year
Too much cash
A man from Hong Kong, who planned to purchase real estate on the Chinese mainland, was carrying 5.5 million Hong Kong dollars ($708,950) in cash and tried to enter Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in order to save a 5 percent bank transfer fee.
He was detained by Shenzhen Customs and was fined 20 percent, or more than 1 million Hong Kong dollars.
Miracle on ice
In the women's 500-meter short track speed skating final event on Thursday, Chinese skater Li Jianrou, who fell behind at the beginning, avoided making slip-ups while the other three skaters crashed, and won China's first gold medal at Sochi.
People called it a "miracle" as such was accidents are rare in the history of Winter Olympic Games and short track speed skating.
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It's not just luck, Chinese short track coach says
Most romantic Chinese cities
Foshan, Guangdong province, topped the list of most romantic cities in China, followed by Ningbo, Zhejiang province, and Dongguan, Guangdong province, according to a ranking released by Amazon.cn on Wednesday.
The ranking was based on sales of romantic books, E-books and CDs in cities across China. Mega-cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou were left out of the top 10.
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Gastroenteritis killed panda
A 6-year-old female panda died of gastroenteritis on Feb 9 at the Zhengzhou Zoo, the zoo said on Thursday. The panda, Jin Yi, was born on Aug 6, 2007, and leased to the zoo by the China Panda Protection and Research Center in Wolong, Sichuan province, in May 2011. The specific cause of death will be announced within a month, zoo management said.
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Panda's death caused by gastroenteritis: zoo
1 dead, 2 injured in Ferrari accident
A red Ferrari smashed into pieces after hitting a guardrail on a highway near the Beijing Capital International Airport on Thursday morning, killing one passenger and injuring two others, according to Mirror Evening News.
The accident happened between 3 and 4 am, according to rescuers. Extreme high speeds are suspected as one cause of the accident. An investigation is underway.
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