Around the nation: Chinese woman celebrates victory thanks to her 1.8-metre-long locks
The ethnic minority Kazakh, 33, who won a 'longest hair' competition, says it takes two hours to wash her hair, which she has not cut for the past 10 years
XINJIANG
Long locks a winner
A Kazakh woman's 1.8 metre-long locks have won her a "longest hair" competition at a tourist festival last weekend, China News Service reports. The 33-year-old, from Yining county, who defeated 20 other ethnic minority women taking part, said it took two hours to wash her hair, and she had not had it cut for the past 10 years.
Census of 1pc of population
Authorities in the autonomous region are to carry out a survey of 400,000 residents - 1 per cent of the region's total population - as part of a national population census, news website Xinjiangnet.com reports. People living in more than 1,600 communities will receive a questionnaire on topics including their ethnic group, education, occupation, previous migration and home ownership. China carries out a national population census every 10 years - the latest one was in 2010 - followed five years later by the survey of 1 per cent of the total population.
Municipal quality inspectors are making routine checks on nearly 4,000 elevators and escalators that have been in service in the capital for more than 15 years, the reports. Beijing had nearly 180,000 escalators and elevators up to the end of last year, with the number rising 10 per cent a year.
A stationery shop owner was jailed for three years by a Miyun district court for "sexual indecency" with four girls aged 6 and 10, the reports. The man harassed the girls while visiting his shop, but was caught when one girl told her parents, the report said.
Three people died and 19 were injured after a coach overturned on an icy road in Yongchang county on Saturday, China News Service reports. The bus, with 23 passengers, was travelling from Zhangye to Wuwei .
Gansu province is to invest more than 800 billion yuan (HK$1 trillion) on new roads and railways in the next six years as part of the central government's Silk Road Belt initiative, reports. The plan to improve infrastructure along the ancient trading route will see the province, one of China's poorest, add more than 70,000km of roads and rail so highways link every county and all villages have cement roads.
The northeastern province began building the nation's longest cross-city high-speed rail bridge in Jiamusi on the weekend, China News Service reports. The 7km bridge - spanning heavily populated areas - will serve the railway linking the city to the provincial capital, Harbin, and is due to be completed in June 2017.
Police in Nanjing are investigating claims that a couple severely abused their adopted son, the reports. Police said the parents, one a lawyer and the other a journalist, had allegedly badly beaten the nine-year-old. Pictures posted online reportedly showed severe bruising on the boy's back, legs, arms, stomach and feet.
Nanjing's popular Confucius Temple has vowed to improve its management after an undercover investigation found the tourist site's toilet facilities, parking, guide information, traffic management and rubbish disposal were inadequate, the reports. It had failed to meet the standard expected of China's top-ranked "National 5A" scenic areas.
Heritage authorities in Shanxi have renovated about 70 of its 105 600-year-old timber buildings, Xinhua reports. The province, known as the "treasure house of wooden architecture", has more than 80 per cent of these types of buildings left in China. Central authorities have spent more than 900 million yuan on the repairs since 2006.
Police shot dead a suspected robber in Xinzhou on Saturday, who had earlier stabbed four policemen as they tried to arrest him, China News Service reports. The man, 26, reportedly died after ignoring a warning shot fired in the air. He had been wanted in connection with a series of robberies and thefts committed in the province since last year.
A group of 11 babies rescued by railway police in Kunming in November after they were abducted from their homes have yet to be claimed by their parents, reports. The seven boys and four girls were trafficked from Honghe and Wenshan prefectures to provinces including Shandong and Henan. Many couples have visited the children's home in Honghe's Kaiyuan city, where the children are living, but DNA tests have failed to find any match.
Police in Dayao county have detained an alleged drug addict, who reportedly faked his own abduction so his family would pay a 1 million yuan ransom and fund his costly habit, the reports. The man, 23, allegedly sent a text to his parents 10 days after he left home, urging them to send the ransom to his kidnappers. His family called police, who reportedly found him in a hotel room taking drugs.
Police have detained a man and woman who allegedly duped nearly 20 university students in Hangzhou with a scam involving the purchase of new iPhone 6 Plus smartphones, the reports. The students allegedly received 1,000 yuan after agreeing to buy the phones on instalment, and then give the phones to the woman. She had allegedly promised to pay all their instalment fees, but simply left them with the debts while the phones were sold at full price.
