Xu Feifei, an 11-year-old boy from Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, suffered from a sudden acute eye disease which has almost led to blindness. The whole ailment was caused by excessive eye fatigue during the winter vacation, during which he played computer games for a continuous 10 days and nights.

Many youngsters in China nowadays are increasingly indulged in computer games and other electronic products, and are unable to extricate themselves. This is followed by a series of health problems, with the most typical case being myopia, or nearsightedness.

According to the latest research report released by the World Health Organization (WHO), the nearsightedness rate among Chinese juveniles ranks first in the world – 70 percent of high school and college students. The rate is nearly 40 percent in primary school students, while it is only 10 percent for their peers in the United States.

The WHO research report says that the number of nearsighted people in China has reached 600 million, nearly approaching half of the country’s total population.

Experts attribute the soaring nearsightedness rate in China to the unhealthy lifestyles and learning styles which parents impose on their children.

On the one hand, to achieve high scores in exams, children spend too much time indoors studying and have not enough time outside in the sunlight. On the other hand, a growing number of high-tech products, such as smart phones and tablet PCs, make children focus their eyes and attention on fluorescent screens for long periods of time, resulting in excessive eye fatigue.

Experts suggest that youngsters maintain a proper balance between study and rest so as to protect their eyesight, and parents should play a correspondingly active role in the process.

More than 100 plant seeds dating back 2,000 years have been unearthed from an ancient tomb in northern China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, archaeologists said.

According to the regional institute of archaeology, the discovery was made during the excavation of a civilian tomb, dating between the middle and late Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.- 25 A.D.) and early Eastern Han Dynasty (25 A.D. – 220 A.D.), in Dengkou County, western Inner Mongolia.

The half-moon-shaped seeds were found on the east side of the female tomb owner’s head. They gathered in a round shape with a diameter of eight centimeters.

They look like modern pomegranate seeds, but archaeologists have not concluded what they are.

A rusted bronze seal was also found in the same tomb.

Further 18 single-chamber brick tombs were also unearthed. Scattered among sand dunes, the tombs were not well preserved, with most of their tops being exposed to air.

Six people died and two were injured after a fire at a motorcycle repair shop in Zhangzhou city, eastern China’s Fujian Province, city authorities said Friday.

Flames broke out at the shop in Gaokeng village in Zhangzhou at 11 p.m. Thursday, Zhangzhou authorities said.

Two died on site and four in hospital. The two injured remain stable.

Four fire squadrons were called to put out the fire.

An investigation is underway.

A man found guilty of setting off a homemade bomb at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport last June has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

According to a verdict announced by the Shanghai No.3 Intermediate People’s Court on Friday, Zhou Xingbai was also deprived of his political rights for two years.

Zhou set off a homemade explosive device at a check-in counter at 2:26 p.m. on June 12, 2016. Four people, including a Philippine national, suffered minor injuries. A number of flights were cancelled or delayed due to the incident.

Zhou also cut his own throat with a knife at the airport but was taken to hospital for medical treatment.

The 29-year-old from southwest China’s Guizhou Province became a migrant worker in 2006 after finishing middle school.

He has allegedly been addicted to online gambling since 2014, squandering his savings and living in heavy debt. On his WeChat account, he wrote that he owed many people money and was going to do something “very crazy.”

Zhou has no mental illness and should take full criminal responsibility for his actions, according to the Institute of Forensic Science under the Ministry of Justice.

Prosecutors in eastern China’s Zhejiang and Shandong Provinces are investigating recent hospital malpractice that caused infections, according to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate Friday.

The procuratorate said that it had been closely watching the latest developments in the investigation and asked for early intervention by local prosecuting departments to help police objectively collect evidence.

In early February, five people were found infected with HIV after a technician at Zhejiang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital reused pipettes on separate patients, according to Zhejiang provincial health and family planning commission.

In Shandong, a total of nine patients were infected by hepatitis B in January after medical staff at the hospital’s hemodialysis unit were negligent.