Footloose and sticky fingered brides escape with wedding money, actress Fan Bingbing leads Forbes China's most luminous celebrities, while firecrackers torch a BMW in a nuptial motorcade, these stories and more are hot around China.
Woman foils rape by saying she's pregnant
A woman in Haining, Zhejiang province talked a robber out of raping her by saying that she was pregnant, and the attacker even left her some money for a medical exam, Qianjiang Evening News reported on Sunday.
The man was caught on Sept 30, 2013, and recently sentenced to five years and six months in prison and fined 5,000 yuan ($800). The man attacked and robbed the 19-year-old woman, a migrant worker in the city, in the early morning of Sept 29 while she was sleeping in her dormitory.
Brides disappear with wedding gifts
Ten farmers in the Honghe Hani and Yi autonomous prefecture in Yunnan province are believed to be victims of marriage fraud, after their brides ran off with money they got as wedding gifts, Beijing Times reported on Sunday.
Local police received reports from farmers saying that in the past half-year, they were introduced to their future brides from the province's Yuanyang county, and the brides disappeared several weeks later after they got money as marriage gifts. The farmers lost a total of more than 500,000 yuan ($80,000).
Fan Bingbing leads Forbes list
Actress Fan Bingbing leads Forbes China's recently released list of China's most luminous celebrities. Andy Lau and Jay Chou came next on the list with film star Zhang Ziyi ranked fifth and tennis star Li Na ranked eighth.
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Another crash for notorious driver
Hu Bin, 25, from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, caused the death of a 25-year-old pedestrian in 2009 while speeding. Five years later, he was reportedly identified as the driver in a car accident on Friday that resulted in the car overturning while passing a detour area on a mountain road in Hangzhou. No injury was caused, Southern Metropolis Daily reported.
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Pilot who quit told to pay $250,000
A pilot who quit his job at an airline was ordered to pay 1.56 million yuan ($250,000) in compensation. The airline in Wuhan, Hubei province hired the pilot, surnamed Yang, in January 2008 with an agreement stipulating that he would work for the company until reaching statutory retirement age.
Yang was sent to universities for training at a cost to the company of 1.73 million yuan, the company said. In July 2011, when Yang asked to be allowed to quit and the airline refused to release him, the two sides went to court.
BMW torched by wedding firecrackers
A wedding car worth more than $159,800 was torched to a hollow shell at a wedding ceremony due to burning firecrackers, Modern Express reported. The accident occurred when the BMW was in the motorcade to fetch a bride. It was reported that burning firecrackers fell into the car igniting a blanket, which soon set off other firecrackers in the car. The fire grew out of control because onlookers could not find any fire extinguishers.
Woman allegedly fakes own kidnapping
A woman who had spent all her money dating her cyberfriend in another city was recently detained in Changsha, Hunan province when she faked her own kidnapping to seek help from her husband, Sanxiang Metropolis Daily reported.
Changsha police launched an investigation when they received reports late last month from a resident surnamed Li who said his wife, surnamed Wu, had been kidnapped in the city. After Wu was detained, she admitted she had lied as she worried Li did not care about her.
Victory for viral Buddha
A Buddha at the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, Henan province, went viral online, after netizens were amazed to find that the Buddha was flashing what appears to be a victory sign.
"The Buddha is displaying and selling cuteness" Great_K, a web user posted on his Sina Weibo account.
Experts explained, however, that the special gesture is just one kind of hand gestures in Buddhism.
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