BINHU, China -- It was early morning when an odd noise awoke Tao Qunxian, a farmer in this village on the banks of Dongting Lake in Hunan province. He looked out his front door to see his entire rice paddy had disappeared overnight. The culprit was a seasonal pest: the eastern field mouse, also referred to here as the rat.

LOS ANGELES -- For decades, college kids have used stolen milk crates as the basic building blocks of coffee tables and dorm room shelves.