Chinese police rescued two people who were held hostages on Friday.

One of the kidnaps began at 2:30 a.m. at a construction site in Beijing, where a man, surnamed Zhang, held another man with a knife, threatening to kill the hostage and set fire to the houses in the construction site while attacking the rescuing police and firefighters who approached him. Two police officers were injured. Police fired warning shots before they shot the suspect and rescued the hostage.

Zhang, 35 and from the northeastern Jilin Province, was wounded by the gunfire and sent to hospital. He is now receiving medical treatment, and is not in a life-threatening condition.

Further details are not yet available as the investigation is underway.

The second kidnap was in Dalian of the northeastern Liaoning Province.

Police received a phone call at 9:15 a.m. and rushed to the scene in a bathing center, finding a waitress was held by a 45-year-old suspect surnamed Ma with a knife in the lobby.

After dialogue with two police and a journalist, Ma surrendered at about 11 a.m.

Police said that Ma had served jail terms totalling 17 years for theft, fraud and robbery, without specify his motivation for this kidnap.

Ma has been detained and under investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2008)