Two swans became "distinguished" guests of a hotel in north China's Shanxi Province since they had trouble in their flying to the warm south for the winter season.
The two swans were supposed to have been stranded by snow brought on by a cold front which has blasted north China during the last week.
One of them was found flapping its wings on the snow-covered ground at midnight, November 8, by Sun Hui, a worker for a local paper mill who was getting off from night shift.
Sun brought home the big white bird. His father helped clean the swan and fed it Chinese cabbage and noodles.
About two hours later, another swan was found swimming in a pool beside the paper mill by a worker named Sun Deping, who helped the swan out with a ladder and then sent it to a nearby village.
The two swans were "invited" by local environmental protection bureau chief to stay in a hotel run by the county government before letting them into the wild again.
(People’s Daily 11/14/2000)
