February 2007 China News

BEIJING, China (AP) -- A desperate Chinese university student wants to "rent" a girlfriend for 10 days so he can show her off to his parents over the Lunar New Year holiday, state media reported Wednesday.

The physics student, who gave his name as Zhu Lijie, posted a notice on a bulletin board at Peking University offering 1,000 yuan ($130) to a woman who would pose as his girlfriend for the trip home for the holiday, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The advertisement said the woman should be "an honest, kind and similar-aged girl with a diploma."

The Lunar New Year holiday, which starts February 18 this year, is the most important family holiday in China.

Xinhua said Zhu had told his parents, who were pressuring him to get a girlfriend, that he had been studying too hard and had no time to meet a potential partner.

Peking University officials and the police have warned women to be wary of such advertisements.

Wang Jisheng, a professor with the Psychology Institution of the Chinese Academy Sciences, was quoted as saying Zhu was trying to show filial piety to his parents but was only cheating them.

HONG KONG, China (AP) -- Who wants to be a millionaire? Potentially hundreds of millions do in China.

Dutch company 2waytraffic, which holds the rights to the popular TV quiz show, "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" said Thursday that it has licensed a Chinese company to produce a local edition of the program.

The deal marks the show's exposure to the world's largest potential viewership: China has about 1.3 billion people -- 20 percent of the global total.

China Media Company will produce and air at least 104 episodes of the show nationally starting in May, 2waytraffic said in statement on its Web site.

It won't be the first time the show has aired in the Chinese-speaking world, however.

Hong Kong's ATV station launched a local version of the show several years ago, although it was broadcast in the southern Chinese dialect of Cantonese. The mainland Chinese edition likely will use Mandarin, the country's national language.

Relics unearthed at Olympics site

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- About 1,100 cultural relics were unearthed at Beijing Olympic venue construction sites last year, state media reported on Thursday.

The relics were discovered at 10 different venues and included about 700 tombs dating from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Xinhua news agency said, citing Shu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics.

Beijing is building or renovating 31 venues for the Games, and has embarked on a $40 billion upgrade of the city's infrastructure.

Last October, work was halted at the Beijing Olympic shooting venue after workers found an imperial-era tomb several hundred meters away from the site of several Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) tombs unearthed during construction of the Beijing shooting range hall in May.

Archaeologists in Greece were also kept busy in the lead-up to the 2004 Athens Games, with antiquities discovered at several Olympic venue sites.

"Daughter Wanted" ad draws 100

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- A retired Chinese couple have advertised for a "daughter" to look after them in place of their son who has emigrated to Canada -- and more than 100 candidates signed up to try their luck, a newspaper said on Tuesday.

Tian Zhendong and Ding Shuhui, a former construction expert and a university professor from central Wuhan, felt "lonely and lost" after their only son moved to Canada with his wife, even though he called home every week, the Guangzhou Daily said.

But he didn't want to come back to China.

"I regret letting him leave," the newspaper quoted mother Ding as saying.

The couple used to visit their son in Canada, but they could not get used to life there, it said.

After six years of loneliness, the couple decided to seek a daughter to be with them and look after them, who would be given an apartment if she passed the trial period of three years.

"We are not looking for a maid, but someone to be with us until we are dead," father Tian was quoted as saying.

The "fierce competition" was entering its final stage as the couple were expected to choose the final winner from the last five candidates soon, the newspaper said.