SHANGHAI

Seeking Miss Shanghai

SHANGHAI'S young ladies from 18 to 30 have been invited to enter the competition to select Miss Shanghai Tourism Pageant 2003. The contest has been organized by the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administrative Commission and Shanghai Winchell Culture and Art Corp Ltd. Young women who have lived in the city for at least five years, who speak fluent Mandarin, Shanghai dialect and one foreign language can file applications to enter the pageant by May 31. Application forms may be downloaded at the website www.shanghaitour.net.

Peace 'angels'

THE children of the city are going to have an unforgettable summer this year when Shanghai International Children's Cultural and Art Festival opens this July. Apart from gala performances and games, the children will have the chance to attend some more meaningful activities, the organizers say. The China Welfare Institute, one of the major organizers, announced on Wednesday that during the festival, the organizers will let three children act as image ambassadors for the festival with the title of "Little Peace-loving Angels".

Paint ban

THE Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau announced an import ban on 17 types of foreign paint used for indoor decoration as they were found to contain an excessive amount of harmful chemical substances, including formaldehyde and toluene. The banned paint brands, such as Morwear, Lilly and Shyange, are from eight countries and regions. Some were found to contain three to four times the limit of chemicals according the national standards.

Peeper hunters

A NEWLY invented anti-peeping product entitled "Inspector Dog" has aroused great interest among locals. The instrument, invented by Qinghua University, which is the first of its kind in China, can detect secret peeping instruments such as pin-hole cameras and monitors. Although the product hasn't formally been launched in the local market, over 30 Shanghai people have bought it through the mail. Over 70 per cent of the buyers are women around the age 25. With the sole aim of protecting themselves in a society where peeping is a common occurrence, they have bought the "Inspector" to avoid the risk of being photographed in clothes shops' fitting-rooms. However, the new product can only find wireless peeping instruments - or wired ones, the "Inspector" is useless. Qinghua University has started working on their second-generation anti-peeping instrument which would meet these further requirements.

Job surfeit

A SURVEY has found that about 12 per cent of the city's white-collar workers are involved in moonlighting. The rate of those taking part-time jobs is even higher among people who are satisfied with their jobs, while only a few of those who are thinking of job-hopping have part-time jobs. Alleviating economic pressure is one of the main reasons for taking part-time work. It is widely accepted that so long as moonlighting doesn't affect full-time work there is nothing wrong with doing it. Employers, however, tend to have more ambivalent feelings on the subject. On one hand, they don't want their employees to do part-time jobs.

Death charge

A LOCAL man identified as Feng has been fined 110,000 yuan (US$13,253) for the fatal pursuit of a boy he found stealing from his shop. The 14-year-old boy, surnamed Shao, was killed when he fell from a building while trying to escape from Feng. On the day of the incident the boy went to a small shop owned by Feng and stole a radio worth 60 yuan (US$7.30). He was spotted by Feng who beat the boy and asked him to pay 10 times the price as punishment. Shao tried to escape and ran into a tall building closely followed by Feng. The frightened boy fell from the building. Shao's parents brought a lawsuit against Feng. The court decided that Shao's death was partly Feng's fault and that he should be punished accordingly.

Spreading families

AMONG every four newly married local couples, one involves a marriage with someone from another city, reports the Shanghai Morning Post. Experts point out locals' ideas of marriage are breaching territorial restrictions. Non-local white-collared staff working in Shanghai are gaining more and more popularity among Shanghai girls who deem non-locals, struggling by themselves in the city to be more capable. While non-local men enjoy great popularity among local women, Shanghai men - famous for being responsible and considerate - are quite "marketable" among women from other cities. At the city's main match-making agencies, over 10 girls call every day from other cities saying they want to marry Shanghai men.

Investment website

E*Trade from the US heralded its arrival in Shanghai with a recent lecture on securities. The company is here for introducing "Power E*Trade" to the local citizens. This investment website's role is to analyze quotation package for active investors, including research reports by Standard & Poor and second-class quotation of NASDAQ etc. Compared with other websites of the same category, Power E*Trade provides their customers with many preferential policies.

BEIJING

Guides for Tibet

SOME 100 provincial tourist guides are to go to Tibet Autonomous Region to help the growth of tourism. Tibet is reported to have 582 tourist guides but only 164 have certificates. The region is in great need of guides who can speak foreign languages. Sources from the National Tourism Administration said that from now on, some 100 tourist guides will go to Tibet every year over the next ten years. They will stay in Tibet from April 14 to October 15.

Cursing parrot

A LOCAL court has rejected a request for compensation from a man who claimed that his neighbour's parrot had cursed him. Li and Feng have been neighbours for years but have not got along. Li told the court that Feng's parrot had cursed him by saying: "Li is bad" and that the parrot had kept on repeating this for several months. Li had asked for compensation of 2,000 yuan (US$242). He provided a video cassette to the court and insisted that it recorded the parrot's curse.

Shy bears

FIVE bears in Beijing Zoo who had acid thrown over them last year have not been able to mate since the attack. Sources at the zoo said the bears had recovered from the acid burns but were now reluctant to have tourists close to them and were ignoring food offered to them by tourists. Four out of the five bears had mated in 2001.

ZHEJIANG

Polar students

HANGZHOU will select six middle school students to accompany scientists on an expedition to the North Pole. Mao Lihan, from Hangzhou Youth and Children Exchange Centre, said the polar expedition would be a self-challenging experience for the students. He said school scientific activities in China had become superficial and the activity was expected to better initiate students' creativity. The six students will leave in June.

LIAONING

Poison deaths

THREE primary school students in Haicheng have died and about 3,000 are still suffering from the effects of poisoned soybean milk they drank on March 19. More than 200 parents have taken their children to Beijing for expert medical treatment. The students affected are from eight local primary schools, and they began to have stomach aches, accompanied by vomiting and twitching, on the afternoon of the day they drank the soybean milk. (Star News)