Society

Deng Jun has traveled 1,700 kilometers from home, leaving behind husband and two young sons. Her mission: To learn pole dancing in the Chinese capital. Two weeks into her classes at Lolan Pole Dancing School, which claims to be the first such institution on the Chinese mainland, Deng's arms and legs are decorated with bruises. Some add a touch of brown to the red-and-black tattoo on her left upper arm. She's in the dance studio five hours a day, six days a week, mastering moves like "pole-climbing technique" and "pole descent dance". She is committed to this grueling routine for at least the next four months, and she has already spent 10,300 yuan or $1,600.

"I had children at a young age, and now that they're older, I'd like to make something of myself," says the 27-year-old who is married to a businessman in Guiyang, capital of the southwestern province of Guizhou. Once Deng earns her pole dancing credentials, she plans to return home and open a pole dancing school.

Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) officers and soldiers will soon have the chance to play the army's first self-developed military game, as it finishes the main development and is in the debugging process.

The video game, Mission of Honor, was co-developed by the PLA's Nanjing command and the Wuxi Giant Interactive Group Inc two years ago, the PLA Daily reported Friday.

The game is set in a soldier's life at a military camp, and the final mission is to complete a large-scale military drill code named "Mission of Honor".

Renowned musician Gao Xiaosong has been arrested by police on suspicion of drunk driving after a four-vehicle collision on Monday night, Legal Evening News reported.

The 42-year-old music producer and director, famous for his campus folk ballad My Deskmate in the 1990s and appearing as a judge on China's Got Talent, was driving through Beijing when his white SUV crashed into a car stopped at a red light at an intersection near the diplomatic area of Dongzhimen Street. The collision, just before 10.30 pm on Monday, caused a pile-up that involved two other cars, injuring four people.

An order banning migrant workers from claiming unpaid back pay has been revoked and local government bosses have apologized for any offence caused.

The new policy issued 12 days ago, which virtually prohibits migrant workers in Shenzhen from protesting unfair treatment, also threatened to bring criminal charges against those who organize collective protests or petitions.

The ban, which was to take effect from May 1 to September 30, was part of efforts by planning chiefs in the economic hub of South China to safeguard the city before the 26th Universiade in August.

But on Monday the Bureau of Housing and Urban-Rural Development apologized for the improper wording of the original document after being engulfed by a wave of criticism from across the whole nation.