Home-made submarine!

A Chinese labourer with only a basic school education has made a submarine at home.

Tao Xiangli made the 1.6 tonnes submarine mostly from metal barrels and improvised parts by hand, reports Zhong'an Online.

"Metal barrels are possibly the best material for me because of their low cost," said Tao, a migrant worker in Beijing.

The 20ft submarine is cramped inside with room for only one person but it features pressure metres, monitoring cameras, a TV set, oxygen supply and headlights.

"Although the equipment is simple, it's enough for a basic submarine, and more importantly, it enables the passenger to see things clearly underwater," said Tao.

It took Tao more than a year of research and experiments, but he says the most difficult challenge he faced was not a lack of knowledge, but of funds.

"The devices for submarines are all expensive, so because I couldn't afford them I found a lot of inexpensive replacements," he said.

Tao said the basic submarine cost him £2,200, the equivalent of a year's pay.

Tao is now in the final phase of debugging the submarine and hopes it will make its maiden voyage within the next week in Beijing. He says it can dive to a maximum depth of 10 meters, and should be quite safe.

Although he has only an elementary school education, Tao owns 17 patents, including a head massager, a washing machine and a shoe polisher.

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Singing Wolves!

A Chinese zoo is creating a singing wolf troupe - and is also planning to teach them how to dance.

Luo Yong, a keeper at Chongqing Wild Zoo, said he discovered the wolves' singing ability by accident, reports People's Daily.

"Once I was playing guitar and singing the song 'I Am A Wolf From The North', and a young wolf I raised walked up to me and stared at me. Suddenly he howled with the rhythm, and even patted the strings with his claw," he said.

Luo said that ever since he dedicated himself to training his wolf group, and now all 30 wolves at the zoo can sing along to a rhythm.

"My next plan is to find someone to write a song just for them, and also to find people to teach them disco dancing," he added optimistically.

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Chinese company develops 'UFO'

A Chinese company has developed a prototype flying saucer that can hover in the air and be controlled remotely from afar, state press said Tuesday.

The aircraft is 1.2 metres (four feet) in diameter and is able to take off and land vertically and hover at an altitude of up to 1,000 metres (yards), Xinhua news agency said.

The unmanned disc is driven by a propeller and can be controlled remotely or sent on a preset flight path, it said.

Its top speed is 80 kilometres (50 miles) per hour, it added.

It took the Harbin Smart Special Aerocraft Co Ltd 12 years and 28 million yuan (4.1 million dollars) to develop the prototype craft, which is designed for aerial photography, geological surveys and emergency lighting, the report said.

Cat adopts rat!

A pet cat in China has adopted a rat which she is nursing alongside her four kittens.

Sun Shujun, of Yantai City, says the rat has been living with her cat since the kittens were born four weeks ago.

Sun, 81, says that a neighbour came to see the kittens on the day they were born and was amazed to see a rat suckling alongside them.

"At the beginning, I thought I must have seen wrong. So I took a flashlight and had a clear look," said the neighbour.

The rat not only drinks cat's milk, but also plays with its kitten 'brothers and sisters', according to the Qilu Evening Post.

The cat reportedly treats the rat exactly the same as her natural kittens and it has become part of her family.

Sun reckons her maternal instincts must have overwhelmed her predatory instincts to allow her to adopt an animal she would normally see as prey.

Man Walks For 72 Days To See Son In Prison!

A 72-year-old Chinese man walked more than 600 miles to visit his son in prison.

The man walked for 71 days from his hometown at Taihe town, Anhui province, to the prison at Lianping town, Guangdong province.

The pensioner, whose name was not disclosed by the Southern Daily, had planned to take the train but had his savings stolen shortly after leaving home.

The father, who walks with a stick, says he begged all the way, and sometimes ate rotten food from bins during his two month journey.

"I didn't see him for two years. I am here to visit him and tell him not to worry about me and transform himself for good, while in prison," he said.

Prison wardens were so touched by his story that they even bent the rules to allow him to see his son.

"We usually need the visitor to show us his ID card, but his was stolen along with the money," said warden Liu Guanghui.

The son, Xie Fei, revealed that his father is actually is his adoptive father, as his real parents died when he was ten.

"He adopted me and loves me very much, but I have nothing to repay all this," said Xie.

His father made the return journey home in much less time - after wardens clubbed together to buy him a train ticket.

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104 yr old woman sweeps roads for 84 years

A 104-year-old grandmother has been cleaning the streets in her city in China for 84 years - for free.

Ding Youzhen, of Anfeng town, Dongtai city, sweeps the roads near her home every day, reports the People's Daily.

She says she got into the habit in her twenties when she and her husband ran a teahouse.

"We would clean the roads from the port to our teahouse every day," she said.

And although the teahouse closed several years ago, Ding said she had never got out of the habit of sweeping the roads.

She has won several awards for her work for the community and has become something of a local celebrity.

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