Trending across China

Single female PhD is looking for a boyfriend for Spring Festival, 280,000 people in Beijing are living in basements, forming a "rat tribe," and it's raining oranges in Gansu as a truck rolls over on the road.

Tobacco ban

China's health authorities plan to ban smoking at indoor public venues, said Mao Qun'an, spokesman for the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

About 740 million non-smokers nationwide have been affected by the country's 300 million smokers, and more than 1 million Chinese died from diseases caused by tobacco, Mao said during a news conference on Tuesday.

Related: Shanghai districts start to enforce smoking ban

Female PhD popular

A female PhD from Nanjing Normal University gained popularity on the Internet after her photos were uploaded to weibo.com, China's largest platform for Twitter-like micro blogs.

The single woman was seeking a boyfriend to accompany her back to her hometown during the coming Spring Festival (New Year's Day on the Chinese lunar calendar, or Jan 31 this year).

However, an online survey by Modern Express shows that about 30 percent of men don't want to marry a female PhD.

Related: Chinese university leaders visit Texas to round-up some ideas

Wild boar killed

A wild boar broke into a residential community in Hefei, capital city of East China's Anhui province, and injured three people on Tuesday morning.

Special police forces managed to shoot the beast dead in a parking area in the community, and it remains unclear where the boar came from, People's Daily reported.

Related: Zoo responsible for man's death

Living like rats

Many Chinese people have to live underground like rats since they can't afford the high price of housing in the big cities, Can Kao Xiao Xi said, citing Reuters.

The people living underground are called the "rat tribe," the report said. Statistics by Beijing's house authorities showed that about 280,000 people are living in basements in the capital.

Related: Beijing underground

Academic scandal

Wang Zhengmin, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, denied the accusation that he plagiarized and copied technology.

Four academicians who recommended him to be a CAS member said in a joint letter that Wang should be dismissed from the post after the scandal was exposed. Wang responded on Tuesday that it's not the proper time to draw a conclusion since the investigation has not been completed yet, Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

Wang allegedly bought an Australian-made artificial cochlea, which is a surgical treatment for hearing loss, and copied the technology as he developed his own product in 2003, according to a report by China Central Television.

Related: Top universities face exams for corruption

Truck rollover

A truck loaded with oranges rolled over on a highway in Northwest China's Gansu province on Tuesday morning, with most of the oranges spilling onto the road.

Local residents swarmed to the site and were ready to loot the oranges, but the quick-responding police were able to prevent them from taking the oranges, according to Xinhua News Agency.

The truck driver allowed the residents to take the oranges after some of the bags broke open, the report said.

Related: Tank rollover causes corrosive acid leak

Venting anger

China Railway Corp has set aside a special place in its office where its customer service workers could vent their anger through boxing or writing down their complaints.

There are more than 330 workers at the company's customer service center, and they answer 1,000 phone calls each hour, Beijing Morning Post said.

Most of the phone calls are from angry ticket-buyers who sometimes curse the workers, the report said.

Related: 'Chunyun' train tickets up for sale

Vehicle auction

Wuliangye Group, a State-owned producer of high-end Chinese alcoholic drinks, is scheduled to auction 340 vehicles on Saturday morning.

The auction is expected to save 10 million yuan a year on vehicle maintenance, People's Daily reported.

Related: Wuliangye in elite circles, boosts international profile