China’s Drunks Face Sobering Time

BEIJING — Tipplers found to be disturbing the peace in coastal Shandong province can expect to spend the night tied to a chair and to be released only after listening to a recording of their own “drunken burblings,” according to the newspaper China Youth News.

Drunks in the town of Laiwu, about 280 miles south of Beijing, “create disturbances and property damage, so it was decided to try a drastic cure,” the newspaper said last week.

In a room at a police station, drunks are tied to chairs “to keep them out of mischief,” the paper explained. “A tape recorder records their drunken burblings, which are played back to them when they sober up. The measure is proving effective.”