The smell of a dead body next door alarmed a tenant in a residential block in Guangdong, China, on 14 July. The neighbor called the police to investigate the foul odor, but it turned out to be a false alarm. What she had smelled was her neighbor, surnamed Chen, cooking.

Chen posted the incident on social media, saying, “My neighbor thought I was cooking a dead body,” the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

Chen was preparing a soup that included traditional stinky vinegar, according to SCMP. Said to be a 2,000-year-old recipe, the vinegar is made by fermenting rice and water for three months.

Meanwhile, a drunk-driving charge against a man from Anyang, Henan province, China, literally refused to die despite his elaborate effort to evade it.

The man, surnamed Si, had posted bail after being arrested in January 2025, but in June he reportedly died of a drug overdose at his home.

According to Si’s family, they covered his face because it had been disfigured by the drugs and hastily buried him.

Police were notified of Si’s “death” but, upon checking, were unable to view the body because he had already been buried.

The hurried burial aroused suspicion, prompting police to investigate. They found that Si’s family had failed to seek emergency medical treatment, the coffin had been purchased in advance, and there was neither a hospital-issued death certificate nor evidence that Si’s household registration had been canceled, SCMP reported.

After examining surveillance footage, bank transactions and phone records, police concluded that Si was alive and launched a manhunt.

Si, who faked his death to avoid jail, was arrested in April and sentenced in May to five months of criminal detention. He was also fined 20,000 yuan.