Crisis of conscience ends with 20,000 yuan payoff

On March 23, Liu Wenxun, a man in Touqiao town in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, received a money order for 20,000 yuan ($2,900) from the post office.

Liu did not know the person - a man surnamed Chen - who sent the money from Zhenjiang, Jiangsu. Then he spotted the note written on the order - Chen confessed to stealing 2,000 yuan from Liu's late father 38 years before.

Chen, who was Liu's father's friend, had borrowed 2,000 yuan from his father and repaid the money in 1970. Liu's father was very happy to get his money back, so he invited Chen to dinner at his home. Because it was late, he asked Chen to stay the night.

Early the next day, Chen left and Liu's father saw him off at the bus station. Upon returning home, however, Liu's father could not find the money Chen had brought. Although he suspected Chen had stolen it, he had no evidence to call police.

After Liu's father had passed away, Chen wrote that he felt restless when he thought about the deed and recently decided to send the money to Liu's son to soothe his conscience.

(Yangtze Evening News)

Money dispute stretches beyond the grave

A man who attempted to sue his son on behalf of his mother was fined because he had concealed the fact that the woman had died.

In September 2000, Yang, an old woman from Shanghai, signed a contract with her grandson Zhang saying she would donate her house to him on condition that she be allowed to continue living there. One month later, Zhang got the house's ownership certificate.

Then, in April 2006, a company paid Zhang more than 3 million yuan (about $429,000) to compensate him for demolishing his house to make way for a real estate project. Yang wanted to a share of the compensation money, but Zhang brought her to court, which ruled she had no right to the money.

In November last year, Yang passed away. Her eldest son, Zhang's father, then sued Zhang in Yang's name without telling the court Yang had passed away.

After learning the truth, the court imposed a fine of 10,000 yuan on Yang's eldest son.

(Shanghai Morning Post)

(China Daily 05/10/2008 page3)