Don’t bury paper money underground & other stories from the “China Daily”

Greg picked up a “China Daily” the other day, pretty much the only English language newspaper we’ve seen thus far in Beijing. It turned out to be a hilarious read, as you’ll see when you read these news snippets (which i have copied word for word. i am not making these up)

Don’t bury paper money underground
When a women from a remote pasture area of Baotou unearthed a large sum of paper currency she had buried, she found it was unusable. Eight years ago she placed 6,400 yuan ($820) in a homemade jar and buried it. Last Friday, she unearthed the jar. To her surprise, some of the money had become so crisp that it broke into pieces when touched. She called a local bank and was able to change 5,900 yuan ($756) of the crispy cash into new currency.

Hello, news flash! You shouldn’t bury money underground in a jar… Since when is this news? How long have banks been around? Forget banks, how long have wallets been around… Also, the author makes it sound as if it is still OKAY to bury non-paper money, such as coins. Just don’t bury your PAPER money! Remember that everyone.

Man comes to grief replacing cat as ratter
Liu Xiang, a 28 year old man from Sichuan, was bitten by a big rat when a borrowed cat wasn’t up to the job. Liu tried to catch the rodent in his rat-infested room in Chenjiaqiao, after his girlfriend was frightened away by a rat who joined them in bed last Thursday. The next day, Liu borrowed a pet cat from a friend and started searching for the rat nest. When he found the nest with one big rat, the cat would not go near it. When Liu tried to catch the rat himself, it jumped onto his head and bit him before fleeing.

Now the problem I see with this story is not that Liu has a rat infested room (cause you know, it happens), but that he doesn’t try to get rid of the rats until it frightens his girlfriend that there is one IN THEIR BED. I think the cat was the smart one to stay away from the large rat. Poor Liu, I hope his girlfriend didn’t dump him over it.

Angry couples, don’t tear up proof of marriage
Staff at marriage registration offices in Wuhan are urging local couples, particularly young husbands and wives, not to tear up their marriage certificates when they quarrel. The local offices are facing an additional workload reissuing marriage certificates torn up in anger. Couples usually regret the act a day later, arriving at the marriage registration offices for new certificates.

I think this is an interesting problem to have. I didn’t know that couples tore up marriage certificates in fights. Do you know anyone who has done this? I hope this marital problem doesn’t befall Greg and I, cause we’d have to fly all the way to Bangkok to get a new one. So this is another important lesson learned people – don’t tear up your marriage certificate in anger – it leads to extra workload for the marriage registration office! It isn’t fair to them, because its not their fault that you got in a fight, is it? 😉