Nation’s oldest

    Luo Meizhen, a 125-year-old woman from Bama County in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, has been named the country’s oldest person, according to the China Gerontological Society (CGS) on Monday.

    Born on July 9, 1885, the Chinese super centenarian* is likely one of the oldest living people in the world, second only to Turinah, an Indonesian woman who claims to have been born in 1853.

    Asiad torch relay

    Hundreds of residents gathered at the summit of Lianhua Hill on Monday morning to witness the start of the Asian Games torch relay* in Shenzhen.

    Mayor Xu Qin ignited* the torch with the Asiad flame and passed it to the first runner, Liu Gang, the rifle shooting champion at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.

    SZ leads in innovation

    Shenzhen was ranked the most innovative city on the mainland followed by Shanghai and Suzhou, according to a ranking by Forbes China last week.

    Shenzhen took the top spot following a survey of 132 mainland cities with a GDP of at least 360 billion yuan (US$54.1 billion) in 2009.

    Gardener killed

    A zoo gardener is believed to have climbed over a fence at Shenzhen Safari Park on Thursday, then fallen into the tiger’s pen where he was attacked and died before help could arrive, zoo officials said.

    The 54-year-old gardener, Sheng Jinhua, was found in the tiger’s pen at about 2: 45 p.m. Doctors arriving at the park declared Sheng, who started work at the zoo in July on a two-year contract, had died from severe bite wounds. (SD-Agencies)