Chinese Stories in English
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1. Pretends to Have Big Job, Hooks Boss Who Owed Wages
Worker Ends Up Recovering ¥6,200 in Pay
Reporter Kong Defang, Correspondent Zhong Cheng, Dispatch to the Evening News
When the construction job was finished, a contractor took the project funds and pulled an "evaporation from the world of men". To force him to show himself, a worker lied about having a large construction project to undertake. The ruse worked. The contractor appeared straightaway, and the worker used the opportunity to seize his car and make him pay the 6,200 Yuan [≈$1,000] he owed.
In March of this year Boss Li, a contractor, took on the job of redecorating a karaoke on Peace Road. He hired Master Yang, 44, to do the puttying for him. According to the [agreed] price of 8 Yuan per square meter, the total compensation would be 8,200 Yuan, but Master Yang worked a month and a half and only received a food allowance of 2,000 Yuan. When the project was finished, Boss Li pulled an "evaporation from the world of men".
"He wouldn't answer his phone and couldn't be found at home." Completely without recourse, Master Yang had his brother call Boss Li yesterday at about 1:00 p.m., pretending to be a rich businessman: "I've got a big project here on Peace Road. Will you work it?" Boss Li naturally answered the phone, seeing as how it was an unfamiliar number. When he heard there was business to be done, he was happy to accept whole-heartedly, and drove to the site right away.
When he saw that Boss Li had shown up, Master Yang lost no time in pressing him for his pay. Boss Li said he could not pay the money because he had not personally measured the area of the karaoke. "Let me go measure it first." Master Yang was worried that he would disappear again, so he immediately detained the car and called the police.
An officer from Western Pond Police Kiosk rushed to the scene. After mediation, Boss Li paid the wages to Master Yang on the spot.
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-12-21, p. 4
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2. Ignores Son Because of Divorce Grudge?
Young Man w/o Residence Permit Must Reapply for ID Card
In Desperation Seeks Police Assistance
Contributing Reporter Zhou Liuning
Young Fang had been looking for work for two years when he finally found something suitable. But when he went to apply, filled with enthusiasm, he was shut out. Unexpectedly, the ultimate cause of his rejection was his father!
"You got to help me out, Officer Heh! I've been waiting two years for a job and I can't miss out on this one!" Early in the morning of the 15th young Fang, a 23 year-old youth living in a certain residential community on Dragon Pond Road, walked into the Pegasus Police Precinct looking for the community's beat officer to make a complaint. It turned out that, for various reasons, young Fang had never been able to find a suitable job and had been sitting around at home. A few days previously, he had seen a hiring announcement from a certain company in the newspaper. He studied it closely and was happy to discover that his qualifications matched the company's prerequisites, and that he liked the work done by this company.
Therefore, filled with excitement, he had gone to apply right away. After a preliminary screening the company also indicated that it was satisfied with him, and thus asked him to furnish his Residence Permit and Identity Card with an application.
Only then did young Fang remember that he had lost his ID several months ago. [He would need his Residence Permit to get a replacement.] Since his Residence Permit was tied to his Father's, it was at his father's place. Young Fang went there immediately to get it, but his father refused to give it to him. He could not get an ID Card without the Residence Permit, and lacking an ID Card would mean that he could not file an application with that company. He was extremely upset.
"Why won't your father give you the Residence Permit?" Officer Heh asked. "Doesn't he want you to get a job?"
Depressed, young Fang said that his father and mother had divorced two years ago. He was living with his mother and his father had hard feelings. That's why he wouldn't give him the Residence Permit.
Officer Heh understood clearly that the situation could not be resolved satisfactorily without untying the knot in young Fang's father's heart. He got in touch with the father, Mister Fang, using the phone number provided by young Fang.
Mister Fang was quite surprised when he received the call from Officer Heh. The officer told him about young Fang's request for help and urged him: No matter what, your son is still your son. The relationship can't be severed. And your son will be your means of support when you get old! What parents don't want their son to have a job and be able to live independently? Do you really want your son to live in hardship?...
After listening to what the officer said and thinking seriously about it, Mr. Fang opened his mouth to speak. "I've really been screwy, Officer Heh. I'll take the Residence Permit to the precinct. Have my son get his ID Card right away. You're right, the boy can't go without a job."
Half an hour later, Mr. Fang brought the Residence Permit in to the precinct. After the Residency Officers had verified everything, they quickly completed the procedures for issuing a second ID Card to young Fang. They also informed him that he could get a temporary ID right away if he had an urgent need for one.
Once the problem had been resolved, the grievances that had been keeping the father and son estranged also dissipated. [The reporter found it unnecessary to state whether Young Fang got the job.]
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-12-20 p. 10
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3. Meets with Sales Agent under Pretext of Looking at House, After Robbery Takes Nude Photos of Her
Man Gets Wicked Idea after Losing Money Gambling
When Finished Warns Woman Not to Call Cops
Reporter Fan Zhen, Correspondent Tan Fang, Dispatch to the Evening News
Yesterday, having lost money gambling, Li XX had the bad idea of robbing someone. He arranged to meet with a female facilitator [sales agent] from a certain real estate company and took money from her person by force. He also tied her up with a rope and took nude photos of her, and threatened her [with retribution] if she called the police.
The woman, Little Wen (name changed), recalled that on the evening of the third she received a phone call from Li XX. He said he wanted to buy a condo, and the two agreed to meet the next day. Yesterday she met him in a development on Ancient Pavilion Avenue at noon. The pair took the elevator to the 21st floor and, when Li XX suddenly shut and locked the door just after they entered the condo, Little Wen knew something was wrong.
At that time Li XX took out a paring knife and told Little Wen, "Take out the money you have with you." Scared to death, she took out her wallet right away.
Li XX took thirty or forty Yuan [≈$4.85 to $6.50] and 100 Thai Bhat [≈$3.00] from the wallet. He also took two bank cards and demanded that Little Wen tell him the passwords. He took her iPhone as well.
Worried that Little Wen would report the robbery, Li XX tied her up and removed the clothing from her upper torso. He took a nude photo and threatened to publish it if she dared call the police.
Li XX left quickly after saying that. Little Wen took off her high-top boots, walked to a corner of the room and rubbed the rope that was around her body until it broke.
"Robbery! Get him!" The development's security guard saw a man running on the premises. He also heard someone yelling, so he stopped the man.
A police officer rushed to the scene upon receiving the report, and brought Li XX back [to the precinct]. Currently Li XX has been placed in criminal detention.
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-12-05, p. 6
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4. After Getting Dumped, Gets Sucked in by Dealer
Honest Girl Worker Turns to Dealing
Correspondent Lan Bing, Dispatch to the Evening News
Ms. Liang of Inner Heights Town in Willow River County, who is 25 this year, had been an honest, law-abiding girl. It was when she met and fell under the spell of her boyfriend that she got hooked on drugs. Afterwards she not only quit her job, she spent all her time screwing around with her boyfriend. In the end, because the two of them were spending too much money on drugs, she got dumped by her boyfriend.
Having lost her source of income, she started selling drugs to support her habit. Recently Ms. Liang was captured by the Willow River police in a room with several other drug users at a "drug banquet" in the Basis of Grandeur Development Area in Willow River.
Early this month, the Inner Heights Police Precinct learned something important from an informant: Drug users often came and went from a 7 story building in the Basis of Grandeur Development Area. That Precinct joined with officers from the Patrol Division to investigate and get to the bottom of the situation. They discovered that drug users were living on the 2nd and 4th floors of the building. At about 9:00 on the evening of the 4th, the two departments opened a united anti-drug operation. They arrested Ms. Liang and two people named Wei and Zhang in a room in Ms. Liang's 2nd floor residence, and a search of the room found 6 small packets of crystal meth with a net weight of 5 grams. Investigation revealed that Wei had purchased these 6 packets from Ms. Liang on December 2 for 600 Yuan [≈$97] in Wei's own residence on the 4th floor.
Faced with conclusive evidence, Ms. Liang truthfully recounted the facts of her illegal criminal actions, selling drugs to Wei and other users. As recounted by her, she had been a law-abiding girl who sought to get rich through honest labor. Before she met Ah-Fei (still on the loose), she was a waitress in a small eatery. She met him sometime around June of this year, and the two developed a relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend.
She quit her waitressing job around September and moved in with Ah-Fei. She learned he was a drug user while she was living with him and he bewitched her into taking drugs with him. She couldn't resist the temptation and became a drug user, too. Since the daily expenses of two people taking drugs were too high, and neither of them had a legal source of income, Ah-Fei asked her to move out of his residence before they had been together very long.
After being dumped by Ah-Fei, since she'd become addicted to drugs and didn't have a job, she started down the path of illegal drug sales to support her habit. She dealt drugs to users under the pretext of organizing "drug banquets" for them at her residence.
Since her actions were already suspected of constituting drug sales, on December 18 the Willow River police placed Ms. Liang under arrest in accordance with law and with the approval of the Procurator's Office.
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-12-21, p.4
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5. Liuzhou Guerrilla Battles in the Anti-Japanese War
Author: Xiao Jieming
According to local records and historical materials, the invading Japanese Army occupied Liuzhou and its environs in November of the 33rd Year of the Republic (1944). Thereafter various types of armed Anti-Japanese groups organized one after another and engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Japanese Army on their own initiative. By June of the 34th Year of the Republic (1945) 42 armed detachments had been organized in various places around the city and its environs, with 4,837 partisans, and they had carried out guerrilla attacks on over 200 occasions, killing 1,175 Japanese Army personnel.
Here are some exemplary battles to serve as an introduction. It will give the reader a preliminary understanding of the situation in those days.
The Bombardment of Cosmetic Table Ridge
In December of the 33rd Year of the Republic (1944), the traitor Huang Song led over 50 Japanese soldiers and 100 porters carrying rattan baskets to attack a small village on Cosmetic Table Ridge in the north of Liuzhou. They were bombarded by a Self-Defense Team and the local populace using self-made munitions, killing six Japanese Army personnel.
The Horse Mill Ambush
In the 12th lunar month of the 33rd Year of the Republic (1944), the Long Dyke Self Defense Troop from the northern outskirts of Liuzhou ambushed the Japanese Army in the Horse Mill area in the northern section of Liuzhou. They killed one squadron commander and six Japanese Army soldiers; rescued over 70 civilians; and captured three rifles and handguns as well as ten old-style guns and five sewing machines.
The Counter-Attack at Luo River Sands
On January 19th of the 34th Year of the Republic (1945), the Japanese Army's 39th Air Wing, 43rd Squadron, which was stationed in Sand Dyke, surrounded Luo River Sands Village near Sand Dyke. Zhou Shilin's Squadron from the National Army's Fourth Battalion met them head on, sending a detachment in a surprise maneuver to fight on the enemy's left flank. The Japanese Army beat a hasty retreat to Sand Dyke at 4:00 in the afternoon. Thirty-three people from the Japanese Army were killed and 15 injured in this battle. Three people were injured on the Chinese side.
The Siege of Luo River Wharf
In February of the 34th Year of the Republic (1945), 60 or more Japanese Army personnel stationed at Luo River Wharf were under siege by Self-Defense forces. The Japanese Army couldn't be contained and fled in disarray towards the town of Luorong. Eight Japanese went into the river and swam toward Thunder Village on the opposite shore. One of them was shot dead by the Self-Defense forces, and the other seven were shot dead by Self-Defense teams from Dragon Village, Thunder Village and other villages.
The Raid on Double Wash
In March of the 34th Year of the Republic (1945), 10 or more Japanese Army personnel entered the home of the Shens, a gentry family in Double Wash Station, White Dew Village. The Self-Defense Forces rushed in at once. They shot one of the Japanese dead and injured six others.
The Raid on Horse Ridge
On April 10th of the 34th Year of the Republic (1945), Li Hancheng of the Freeze Battalion of the Self-Defense Forces led ten men in civilian clothes to raid Japanese forces at Peace Village, Horse Ridge, in the Broad Source Rural Area (under the jurisdiction of White Dew Village, Yellow Village and Western Goose Village). They killed two Japanese, injured another, and captured three rifles.
The anti-Japanese guerillas in Liuzhou made the Japanese pay a price in blood. They wrote a glorious page in Liuzhou's history and will be remembered by future generations.
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-12-07, p. 14
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6. Merchant Posting "No Chinese Allowed" Sign Accused of Discrimination
Legal Specialist Indicates Merchant's Behavior is Inappropriate Practice
Dispatch to This Paper (Reporter Yang Lin, Reporter Interns Kong Linghan, Liu Hongjing)
Recently a city resident phoned this paper's hotline to report that a commercial establishment in the vicinity of Yabao Road in Chaoyang District had posted a placard saying "No Chinese Allowed". Regarding this [report], an employee of the commercial store claimed that the placard was posted because the store only makes sales for export and does not want Chinese in the same business to conduct walk-throughs [browsing through its] product line. A legal expert is of the opinion that this action by the store raises suspicions of discrimination against consumers.
Yesterday afternoon Beijing Youth Daily reporters came to the Yabao Road neighborhood. The reporters saw a placard saying "No Chinese Allowed (Except Employees)" posted on the glass door in the entryway of a clothing store. The BYD reporters thereafter entered the clothing store in the guise of ordinary consumers. Just after they entered, a store employee told the reporters that they do not make sales for the domestic market.
The reporters immediately indicated that they hadn't really come in to buy clothing. They had merely seen the "No Chinese Allowed" sign in the doorway and come in to ask about it.
The employee claimed that the reason the sign was posted was because the company is an exporter and does not want Chinese in the same line of business coming into the store to browse through its product line. Another worker in the shop explained that preventing plagiarism by others in the business wasn't the main reason. The reason the sign was posted is that "some Chinese customers are really too much."
This worker explained that the sign on the door had been posted a week or so ago. The reason was a prior incident where a foreign customer had had a wallet stolen by a Chinese customer while shopping in the store. Although the store had actively cooperated with the victim in investigating the incident, making its internal surveillance videos available, the foreign customer continued to believe that the store was in league with the thief and had demanded US$5,000 in damages from the store.
Further, on a normal day lots of female Chinese customers often come into the store and try on piles of clothes but end up not buying anything. When they put the clothes back they address the store personnel in vulgar language. The store feels it has a limited number of employees and it is really difficult to allocate resources to attend to the retail business, so they had to post the "No Chinese Allowed" sign. This worker emphasized to the reporters that "we didn't want to post the sign, which would make people think we look down on ourselves, but some Chinese customers really are too much."
Research by BYD reporters discovered that this isn't the first time Yabao Road has said "No" to Chinese nationals. As early as 2003 media reports claimed that some of the merchants there were refusing entry to Chinese nationals. They hung out signs saying "No Looking Around, Please" in Chinese and "Welcome" in foreign languages. The explanation the merchants offered at the time was that their actions really weren't motivated by discrimination against nationals, but were simply intended to prevent others in the same business from stealing trade secrets. In some cases there were even physical altercations between customers and store personnel who prohibited entry to Chinese consumers.
Chinese University of Political Science and Law Professor Li Xiandong is of the opinion that when these merchants on Yabao Road prohibit entry to consumers, using as excuses that they do not make retail sales or fear competitors examining their product lines, such actions are understandable, since merchants have the right to choose their own business models and can refuse sales to consumers on the ground that they are engaged in an export business and do not sell products at retail. But sticking up a "No Chinese Allowed" sign on the store is a bit radical and is suggestive of discrimination against Chinese nationals. "If you prohibit Chinese from entering the premises, well, your employees are Chinese, so why are they allowed in? The actions of these merchants are not prohibited from a legal point of view, but from the perspective of civilized behavior, they really aren't appropriate."
Beijing Youth Daily, Digital Edition, 2014-11-26, p. A10
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7. Added Sulfoxylate and Borax
Produced "Poison Tofu Strips"
Huang Yanhong, Chen Lixin, Dispatch from Willow River
In order to make the dried tofu sticks he produced chewier and to enhance the color, a producer actually added Sulfoxylate, borax and similar toxic substances to the curd. On September 4, the Willow River County Court pronounced judgment in the case against one Zhuo X for the production and sale of "poisoned tofu sticks". He was given a one-year determinate prison sentence and was also fined 10,000 Yuan [≈$1,640] for the crime of producing and selling toxic and hazardous foodstuff.
Examination revealed that beginning in 2008, Mr. Zhuo, who is registered as a resident of Southern Peace in Guigang, having set up a tofu stick processing plant in Three Thousand Village, Advance Virtue Town, Willow River County, produced and sold tofu sticks without having completed the legal procedures for a manufacturing operation. In order to preserve the freshness and the attractive appearance and color of the tofu sticks, Mr. Zhuo added the Sulfoxylate and borax during the tofu production process.
On June 24 of this year, a joint law enforcement task force of the Willow River County Food and Drug Administration and the Willow County Public Security Bureau investigated Mr. Zhuo's dried bean curd processing facility. They seized 120 kg of finished dried bean curd, 31.8 kg of Sulfoxylate and 20 kg of borax at the location. Testing by the Liuzhou Prefecture Product Quality Supervision Department concluded: The sample of dried bean curd submitted for inspection tested positive for formaldehyde sodium bisulfite (commonly known as Sulfoxylate) and borax as ingredients.
That very day, the public security organs subpoenaed Mr. Zhuo for questioning. On August 22 they filed an indictment against him in the Willow River County Court for the crimes of producing and selling toxic and hazardous foodstuff.
The court held that the defendant Zhuo had violated state administrative regulations on food safety by producing and selling dried bean curd sticks without a license, and further, by incorporating prohibited toxic, hazardous and inedible materials in the production process. His behavior constituted the crime of producing and selling toxic and hazardous foodstuff. Thus, in accordance with law, the court issued the aforementioned verdict.
South China Daily, 2014-09-08, p. 5
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8. Posting Flyers and Spoiling for a Fight
Rampaging Man Stops Only When Policeman Rushes to Residential Community
Reporter Sun Yue, Correspondent Huang Xiujuan, Dispatch to the Evening News
"This guy came in and put up advertising flyers, then got to beating on people." A custodian in a community on White Cloud Road called the police at about 11:30 in the morning on the 4th, claiming that a male stranger had been posting advertising flyers on the premises. A fight broke out when the security guard waylaid him. He got an attitude and wanted to beat the guard.
An officer from the Arrow Mountain Police Kiosk rushed to the scene after receiving the report and pulled the two quarreling men apart. The custodian placed a cell phone in the officer's hand. The man who had been posting flyers said his last name was Liu. He told the officer that the community's custodian had taken away his cell phone and wouldn't give it back, and that's the only reason he had been fighting with the other guy.
But was that really the way it was? The custodian told the officer that the man had slipped into the community a little earlier and, taking advantage of the fact that no one was looking, had stuck up advertisements on the community bulletin board, on building doors and on interior corridor walls. Then, when the security patrolman found out about it and told the guy to leave right way, to everyone's surprise he ignored the order and kept on posting flyers. Then the patrolman took way his phone and ordered him to stop putting up flyers and to clean away the ones he had already posted.
"He was rampaging, spoiling for a fight, " a custodian named Mr. Shuai claimed. When the security guard stopped him, the guy shouted a stream of curses and postured like he was going to hit the guard.
After he got a handle on the facts, the police officer criticized the man who had been posting flyers and told him what's what. After cleaning away the flyers he had already posted, the man left with his cell phone.
[For Fannyi's personal encounter with "criticism and education" by a Chinese police officer, see here.]
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-12-07, p. 5
Chinese text available here.
1. Worker Tricks Boss, Recovers Back Pay
2. Man Ignores Son Because of Divorce Grudge?
3. Real Estate Sales Facilitator Robbed
4. Honest Girl Turns to Drug Dealing
5. Liuzhou Guerrillas in Anti-Japanese War
6. No Chinese Allowed in Store
7. Man Convicted of Selling "Poison Tofu"
8. Man Posting Flyers Spoils for Fight
News Translations Published September through December 2014