A man in Taiwan has tamed the tiger, shrinking the Chinese zodiac animal into a sculpture smaller than a grain of rice that's fully visible only through a magnifying glass.

Chen Forng-shean, who has been sculpting as a hobby for some 30 years, carved from resin what he calls the world's tiniest tiger at 1 millimetre (0.04 inch) high and just over a millimeter long ahead of the Chinese lunar Year of the Tiger which starts on February 14.

But Chen said the brightly colored beast nearly got the best of him over 10 attempts to create it.

Chen, 54, a minting plate designer by trade, says "For this tiger, the toughest part is because it is three-dimensional. It can be looked at from any angle and still seem very lively."

The single animal, created after three months of intensive labor, was finished in November and Chen said it was worth T$3 million ($94,200), although it is not for sale.

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The Changsha zoo, in Hunan province, has put tigers' beards on sale for 30 yuan ($4.39) to 100 yuan, depending on its length, the Changsha Evening News reports.

A 15-cm beard is being sold for 100 yuan while the shorter ones are going for at 30 yuan and 50 yuan each, a zoo staff said.

Tiger beards are expected to help residents ward off evil and avert calamities in the Year of Tiger that begins Feb 14.

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A team of Chinese confectioners have built a 10 meter long replica of the structure entirely out of chocolate in a bid to entice Chinese to eat more of the sweet stuff.

The chocolate wall is made from solid dark chocolate bricks stuck together with white chocolate and is one of the attractions at the World Chocolate Wonderland exhibition and trade show which will open to the public later this month.

Chocolatier Wang Qilu said his version of the ancient wall was a feat of engineering in itself, with a carefully constructed crumbling section at one end to resemble the real thing. He also had to make sure his materials did not melt.

Up to 80 tonnes of chocolate were used in making the displays, which include a mini-army of 560 chocolate replicas of the famous Terracotta Warriors standing to attention on a layer of chocolate flakes.

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A woman in Hunan province tried making love to a burglar, mistaking the intruder for her husband.

The woman, surnamed Qiu, woke up when she heard someone enter the room and threw herself on the person, thinking it was her husband.

The man pushed her down on the bed and started cuddling her.  That's when Qiu realized her husband's hair had suddenly grown unusually long.

She switched on the lights to find a stranger on her bed and raised an alarm.

Qiu's husband, who was playing mahjong at a neighbor's house, rushed in and subdued the intruder.