Chinese army puts snorers to bed

The Chinese People's Liberation Army is bringing in new recruitment guidelines to ensure troops continue to get a good night's sleep by banning heavy snorers.

According to the official Xinhua news agency, any hopefuls who snore loudly will be unable to join military school because "the nasal sound of chronic snorers disturbs collective life". The report did not say how officials would test recruits.

An army health official, Li Chunming, said tattoos would be forbidden under the guidelines unless they were traditional decorations of China's many ethnic and tribal minorities. "Tattoos will tarnish the military's image, even the scars of removed tattoos," Mr Li said.

In a sign of the changing times, the army also announced it had begun conducting urine tests for officers because of a surge in the number of young Chinese drug users.