31st of March 2011
The Lion Awakes
Daily News, Culture & Current Affairs about China
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People's Daily
China's attitude on Libya: Give peace a chance
China's President Hu jintao meeting his French counterpart Micolas Sarkozy in Beijing called for immediate cease-fire in Libya, including NATO-led multinational air strikes there, to avoid rising civilian deaths and injuries.
Hu told Sarkozy that the world should "give peace a chance", through well-willed peaceful negotiations on the table, while not via guns and missiles.
The Chinese President stressed that "history has time and again proved the use of military force is no answer to any problem, but, complicate the problem". Hu emphasized that the ultimate solution lies in "dialogue and other peaceful means".
Interview: China to support Mideast peace process despite situations change
Chinese Middle East envoy Wu Sike said in Beirut on Wednesday that China will keep its commitment to Middle East peace process, no matter what changes take place in this region.
In an interview with Xinhua, Wu said the major goal of his Middle East trip was to discuss with leaders in this region the impacts of the current developments on the peace process.
Political reform: Overlooked ingredient of China's economic success
China has impressed the world by its dramatic rise since 1979, when reform policies were implemented in the wake of the Mao era. In 30 years, its GDP has soared 18 times over, and in 2010 China replaced Japan as the world's second largest economic entity behind only the United States.
While this miracle has been increasingly acknowledged by Western powers as the success of economic transformation, China's progress in political reforms seems to have disappointed the Western supporters of democracy.
Throughout the past few decades, there have been three reform models in socialist countries. The first is the "Conservative Reform," which imposes limited economic structural reform and leaves the political structure untouched. The second is radical change in both economic and political systems.
The third, namely the "Chinese model," is distinguished by "great economic reform with lesser political reform," and is deemed the "steady model." Politics change mainly to serve the economy transformation and to lay a solid foundation for the improvement of the common good.
China may double solar power goal amid Japan nuclear crisis
China may lift its 5-year goal for solar power capacity from five gigawatts (GW) to 10 GW by 2015, a National Energy Administration (NEA) official told Xinhua Wednesday.
Shi Lishan, deputy director of the renewable energy department of the NEA, confirmed a media report on the possible adjustment of photovoltaic (PV) industry's future capacity.
In light of recent nuclear crisis in Japan, the revision is likely to be approved though it is still under discussion, according to an article from the Wednesday edition of the China Securities Journal.
India outshines China in global mining mergers
A report by international accountant Ernst & Young found that mergers and acquisitions in the mineral and mining sector by Chinese buyers on the overseas market in 2010 were challenged greatly by contenders from other emerging markets, particularly India.
It says that Chinese companies made no more than 13 billion U.S. dollars of mergers and acquisitions in minerals and mining in 2010, a drop of 20 percent from 2009. And 4.5 billion U.S. dollars is for overseas deals, a more drastic plunge of 55 percent and 100 million U.S. dollars less than the amount made by Indian companies.
Advisable, China reset relations with Mideast
By Li Hongmei
The Western country have formed a popular perception that the Islam states of the currently unrest Middle East play an indescribable but indispensable role in deciding the rise or fall of any world power. Further, in the current context that the international system is in the phase of transformation, the significance of the Middle East "plate" looms large, geopolitically, economically and militarily. In addition, the region not only boasts abundant oil and gas reserves but has a strong and unique appeal in terms of culture and civilization. The Middle East, hence, could somewhat contain and block the extension of a power's comprehensive strength.
In what way a power, or a rising power like China, should do to deal with the strategically critical "plate"----flexing muscles for invasion or intervention, or treating each other at equal footing, seeking mutual respect and win-win----will undoubtedly determine life or death of any power's Mideast strategies.
Hukou - longest stopgap policy in China
By Li Hong
The discriminative home-buying policy, charted by Beijing, Shanghai and other Chinese cities earlier this year, which permits permanent urban residents to buy two homes, but non-permanent migrant workers to purchase only one, again sheds light on a draconian systematic divide of Chinese people – the "Hukou", or residence registration regime -- a left-over from Chairman Mao Zedong's era.
Flag-raising ceremony marks 3rd Serfs Emancipation Day in Lhasa
A national flag-raising ceremony is held at the Potala Palace Square in Lhasa, Tibet on March 28, 2011. More than 3,000 people participated in a national flag-raising ceremony on Monday to mark the third Serfs Emancipation Day. On March 28, 1959, China's central government announced it would dissolve the aristocratic local government of Tibet and replace it with a preparatory committee for establishing the Tibet Autonomous Region, putting an end to serfdom, and abolishing the hierarchal system characterized by theocracy with the Dalai Lama as the core of the leadership.
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China Tibet Online
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China Daily
President Hu Jintao meets with Sarkozy
BEIJING - President Hu Jintao called for an immediate ceasefire in Libya on Wednesday to prevent further civilian casualties and to "give peace a chance".
He made the remarks during a meeting with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country has championed the Western-led military attack against Muammar Gadhafi's forces.
Family policy relaxed in Beijing for more couples
Beijing - China's capital city will make fewer couples subject to the fines charged to those who violate China's family planning policy by having a second child, according to the municipal commission of population and family planning.
Beijing maps out home prices control target
BEIJING- Beijing has been determined to stabilize or lower new home prices in 2011 with what is considered the most ambitious housing price control target among those issued by more than 40 Chinese cities.
The government will keep prices of new homes, mainly apartments with an area less than 90 square meters, steady or declining this year, according to a statement posted on its website Tuesday night.
China aims to build Urumqi into int'l trade center
RUMQI- Xinjiang's capital of Urumqi will be built into a "core city" in west China and an "international trade center" of central and west Asia by 2020, local authorities have announced.
Tainted pork was 'an isolated case'
BEIJING - Sweeping spot-checks of thousands of pigs in Henan province found only a very small minority had been fed with the banned substance clenbuterol.
The Ministry of Agriculture said on Tuesday that the test results suggested that a recent health scare involving tainted meat may have just been an isolated case.
Fragile plateau to get extra protection
BEIJING - China has pledged to promote ecological preservation and environmental protection on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau during the next two decades.
In line with a plan approved on Wednesday at a meeting of the State Council, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region, an area covering the Tibet autonomous region and Qinghai province, as well as parts of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu provinces, is "key to the country's ecological safety".
China releases green goals for 2011
China's resource conservation and environmental protection goals for 2011 were released by the National Development and Reform Commission on Tuesday, and related regulations are likely to be announced soon, the Shanghai Securities Times reported.
The country intends to reduce its energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 3.5 percent compared to 2010, and the water consumption per 10,000 yuan of industrial value-added output is set to see a 7 percent year-on-year dip, the report said, adding that both goals were higher than market expectations.
The water saving and energy reduction goals for this year were higher than the annual average setup of the country's 12th-Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), the report said.
Kaixin Travel
Huangshan (Yellow Mountain), Anhui province
Witness of Tibet Photography Contest and Exhibit
2011 marks the 60th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet, and the magazine China's Tibet and Federation of Literary and Art Circles of Tibet Autonomous Region are jointly holding a "Witness of Tibet, 1950-2010" photography contest. In addition to prizes, all winning works will be exhibited in Beijing and Lhasa in May 2011.
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CCTV
CCTV Hu: China disapproves of use of force in int'l relations VIDEO
President Hu Jintao has met with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
President Hu says the Sino-French relationship has made great progress during the past year, adding that both sides should continue to enhance cooperation in the economy, astronomy and new energy, and particularly in nuclear power safety.
The situation in Libya was also discussed. President Hu said China maintains that Libya's sovereignty, independence, unification and territorial integrity should be respected, adding that China always disapproves of the use of force in international relations.
Meanwhile, Sarkozy stated he looks forward to exchanging views with President Hu concerning the international monetary system reforms at the G20 Summit in November.
CCTV China enacts new smoking ban VIDEO
hina has enacted a new rule to ban smoking in enclosed public spaces. The new rule will take effect on May 1 and has been added to the revised regulations on health management in public places from the country's Ministry of Health.
The revised regulations also stipulate that business owners with public places should put up non-smoking signs, carry out promotional activities to warn people of the danger of smoking and dispatch personnel to dissuade smokers.
Furthermore, the smoking area in outdoor locations should not occupy people's paths and cigarette vending machines should be excluded from public places. However, the new rule does not list any penalty provisions for violators, which arouses doubts over how the new legislation will be implemented.
Young minds remodel future style 
The ongoing China Fashion Week in Beijing is providing a platform for new comers and new ideas. This season, the fashion fiesta is holding seven professional competitions. Our reporter Zhang Song went to the one presented by young fashion designers from China and the United States.
Zhang Song, Beijing said "I'm here at the 798 contemporary art zone in Beijing -- famous for presenting new ideas. And now it's offering a fitting backdrop for the semiannual China Fashion Week. Young designers from China and abroad won't miss the opportunity to interpret the style of future."
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CCTV China makes first voluntary carbon deal VIDEO
China, the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, is making new environmental protection commitments, now highlighted by the first voluntary carbon credit purchase in Beijing. Tuesday's buy falls under the Panda Standard, which is the country's carbon credit evaluation and calculation mechanism.
The world's fastest growing economy is looking to move into one of the globe's hottest new financial markets: carbon trading.
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CCTV China offers more fuel aid to Japan VIDEO
China has decided to send more fuel to Japan, helping further ease the shortages the country faces in the wake of earthquake and tsunami.
Monday's free assistance package includes 10-thousand tons of gasoline, and 10-thousand tons of diesel, worth about 150 million yuan. An oil tanker charged with the mission has stopped off in the northeast city of Dalian. The fuel will be loaded there, and then be shipped to several ports in Japan.
The country is dealing with acute shortage of gasoline and petroleum, after its refining capacity was cut, due to the shutdown of several key facilities. China had previously sent 30 million yuan worth of aid to the country since the twin disasters of March 11th.
CCTV Tibet chairman deliveres speech on 52nd anniversary of emancipation VIDEO
Today marks the 52nd anniversary of the emancipation of millions of Serfs in Tibet. On Sunday, the region's chairman delivered a speech to the Tibetan people.
Padma Choling, Chairman of Tibet Autonomous Region, said, "The democratic reform has freed millions of serfs in the autonomous region. Since then, the Tibet Autonomous Region has followed a road from darkness to brightness.
It is developing from poverty to affluence. It is a period that has seen the region become more open. The people of the Tibet Autonomous Region should remember this day!"
Studio interview: Changes brought by serf emancipation
And for more discussion on the changes brought about by serf emancipation, we're now joined in the studio by Mr. Da Wa Tse Ring, from the China Tibetology Research Center. Welcome ...
Q1: As a Tibetan, can you tell us about the changes serf emancipation has brought to the Autonomous Region?
Q2: Some experts and institutions in the West have a different perception about the current conditions and development strategy in the Autonomous Region. Why is this? And what can be done to better promote what is really happening in Tibet?
CCTV Destinies of two generations in Tibet VIDEO
Kesong village in the Shannan area of the Tibet Autonomous Region was the first village in Tibet to implement democratic reforms 50 years ago. Our reporter Liu Ying has visited a Tibetan family living in the Kesong village and tells us their story.
37-year-old Nima Zhuoga is an expert of growing vegetables in the Kesong village. She only had three years of primary school education, but with the help of the local Women's Federation, Nima Zhuoga was offered training and mastered the techniques for growing vegetables. And she has soon turned the knowledge into a fortune.
Nima Zhuoga, Kesong Villager, said, "Our family's life has improved significantly since 2004. Now, besides growing wild oat and greenhouse vegetables, we also raise livestock. Last year, we bought a Toyota offroad vehicle with credit from the bank to engage in tourist business. We earned a total net income of 100 thousand yuan last year."
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Global Times
The UK taught the world how to produce in the 19th century, the US showed the world how to consume in the 20th century, and China needs to demonstrate how to develop in a sustainable way in the 21st century.
UN resolution legality needs a gatekeeper
On March 29, Gaddafi's army recaptured two cities. This new twist to the Libyan military situation has heaped political embarrassment on the West. It is now time to prevent the West from further abusing Security Council Resolution No. 1973.
The Western powers have acted beyond the resolution. Although the leaders of the US, Britain and France have said their military actions are only aimed at establishing a no-fly zone, the Western air strikes have directly attacked Libyan government forces and provided air support for the opposition. They have jointly demanded Gaddafi to step down immediately, which has nothing to do with Security Council resolutions.
In the absence of China, Russia, the African Union and most members of the Arab League, the London conference centered around the political landscape of the "post-Gaddafi era." This countermands the authority of the United Nations and goes against the Western declaration of "letting Libyan people determine by themselves."
The intensification of Western direct military intervention could force Gaddafi to step down soon. But the West has two obstacles: the Security Council resolution does not grant them such authority and they have to consider public opinion. The greater the opposition of global opinion, the more hesitant the West will be.
China should unite with Russia in requiring the US, Britain and France to respect Security Council resolutions.
China needs flexible diplomacy in Mideast
London held an international meeting yesterday to map out what a post-Gaddafi Libya might look like. The US is looking to step back, but as long as its stalwart allies in the UK and France insist on military action, it will not let them stand alone.
Among the international powers, China is relatively detached from the conflict. To maintain and expand China's diplomatic initiative on the Libyan issue will better aid China in dealing with the Middle East.
As long as its society is not infected by the chaos sweeping the Middle East, China possesses a strong foundation for strategic initiative. The past two months have proven that the Chinese public desires stability and remains cool-headed toward the Middle East revolution. This enables China to consider its Middle East policy based on regional geopolitics and China's global interests.
China should set out to contact the Libyan opposition forces in time. We should neither rush to recognize them, nor continue seeing them as "rebels." We should also maintain contact with Gaddafi, too. This is real detachment in diplomacy.
Three outspoken academics
Zhang Ming
Position: Professor, political sciences, Renmin University
Born: 1957
He Weifang
Position: Law professor, Peking University
Born: 1960
Chen Danqing
Position: Painter
Born: 1953
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Dialogue
A 30 Minute Current Affairs Programme on CCTV - 9 (In English) where current issues are discussed by experts from China and Internationally:
International News Sources
The Wall Street Journal
China Says Force Won't Work in Libya
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Hu Jintao admonished French President Nicolas Sarkozy over the allied bombing campaign in Libya on Wednesday, saying force will not resolve the conflict in the North African country.
Chinese Scholar Blasts Dollar on Eve of G-20 Conference
In an article posted this week, Xu Hongcai, a professor at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, a state-run think tank, said dollar dominance has caused irregular flows of global capital and abnormal exchange-rate fluctuations, and said one solution to the problem would be to set up a system of multiple international reserve currencies.
Cnooc, Total Buy Into Uganda
LONDON—Oil-and-gas company Tullow Oil PLC said it will sell one-third stakes in three Ugandan exploration areas to Total SA and China's Cnooc Ltd. for $2.9 billion in cash, pushing forward a development that is set to transform Uganda into a major oil producer.
Chinese Navy Sails to Another First Off Somalia
A Chinese warship has completed its first escort of a World Food Program shipment along the pirate-infested coast of Somalia in another milestone for the Chinese military as it tries to enhance its operational experience – and its international image.
Missile frigate Ma’anshan of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Task Force 525 is escorted by a tugboat upon arrival at the port in Manila April 13, 2010.
A Shanghai Benchmark: The $40 Million Office Floor
The Empire State Building cost around $41 million. So does a single floor in China’s tallest building.
The owner of the 101-story Shanghai World Financial Center says that in recent weeks it has set deals to sell five high-level floors in the building for as much as 273 million yuan, or $41.6 million, each.
China’s Venture Capitalists Go Luxury Shopping
Chinese venture capitalists continue to pump cash into online purveyors of high-end merchandise, cosmetics and lingerie that China’s newly wealthy crave.
In Bow to Authors, Baidu Scrubs Document Sharing Site
Chinese search giant Baidu said it has successfully removed 2.8 million files from its document-sharing website, Baidu Wenku, after getting slammed by Chinese authors who accused the company of encouraging copyright infringement and demanded compensation.
Eight Questions: Susan Shirk, ‘Changing Media, Changing China’
The effort to make sense of what’s happening in Chinese media is one of the most fascinating, but also confusing and exhausting, jobs of the China watcher. That job was recently been made easier with the publication of “Changing Media, Changing China,” a collection of essays from Oxford University Press, dog-eared copies of which grace multiple desks inside The Wall Street Journal’s Beijing bureau.
By Alan Paul
I have watched the uproar over the Tiger Mom debate with growing annoyance that one simple question remains unasked: Where are the dads?
Eight Questions: Alan Paul, ‘Big in China’
Mr. Paul has compiled the experiences documented in his column into a book, “Big in China,” released by Harper Collins last week. China Real Time caught up with him by email and asked him eight questions about the book, the band and how he’s dealt with going back to the U.S. ...
Montecito Acquires Film Rights to 'Big In China' (Exclusive)
Journalist Alan Paul's new memoir about his unlikely adventures in Beijing is being developed with an eye for Ivan Reitman to direct.
Ivan Reitman and Tom Pollock’s Montecito Pictures has acquired the film rights to journalist Alan Paul’s new memoir Big in China: My Unlikely Adventure Raising a Family, Playing the Blues and Reinventing Myself in Beijing.
Big in China is being developed with an eye for Reitman to direct. Project is out to writers.
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The New York Times
China Tells France Force Won't Work in Libya
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Hu Jintao admonished French President Nicolas Sarkozy over the Western bombing campaign in Libya on Wednesday, saying force will not resolve the conflict in the North African country.
Memoir (or Is It?) of Sex and Opium
HONG KONG — There are things we know about Sir Edmund Trelawny Backhouse, 2nd Baronet, of England: He was one of few Europeans to live among the Chinese in the early 20th century, and his writings greatly influenced the way the West saw Peking. Then there are fuzzier facts, like his claim that he had affairs with both Oscar Wilde and the Empress Dowager Cixi.
The sexually explicit “Décadence Mandchoue,” written in 1943, when Backhouse was 70 and dying, recounts his time as a young man as he explored Peking’s gay haunts and what he described as wanton practices within the Imperial Court.
Sir Edmund Backhouse from 1943
Project Syndicate
The Sources of Chinese Conduct
Yan Xuetong
BEIJING – Six decades ago, the American diplomat George Kennan wrote an article, “The Sources of Soviet Conduct,” that galvanized American and world opinion, which soon hardened into the rigid postures of the Cold War. Today, given China’s decisive influence on the global economy, and its increasing ability to project military power, understanding the sources of Chinese conduct has become a central issue in international relations. Indeed, better understanding of China’s foreign policy motivations may help prevent relations between China and the United States from hardening into rigid and antagonistic postures.
Caixin Online
Closer Look: Property Price Caps Under Foggy Conditions
The much-lauded property price targets might be missed if methods to address a large gap in local GDP and income figures aren't clarified
(Beijing) -- The Shanghai municipal government released its 2011 housing price cap on March 28, the first among large Chinese cities.
As Village People, Major Banks Try New Gigs
Major banks are heeding a regulator's call to offer services in villages nationwide, despite risk concerns
(Beijing) - Village bankers have swamped help-wanted websites in China with advertising in recent weeks, teasing job hunters with headlines such as "Agent to set up village bank" and "Seeking village bank sponsor at 100,000 yuan per year."
The Slow Decay of Household Registration Reform
How unbridgeable local government financing gaps will make freedom of internal migration in China a distant possibility
From the highest echelons of the central government, calls for a major overhaul of the household registration system have been summoned. But local governments – buckling under the pressure of financing gaps for municipal services – have dissolved all hope that major changes will soon be underway.
Welcoming China's Bigger Stake in the States
Total Chinese investment in the United States has grown 31 percent annually since 2003, and more is coming
During his landmark visit to the United States in January, Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the headquarters of Wanxiang America Corp., near the geographic center of the country in the state of Illinois. As expected, the company's employees greeted the Chinese leader with open arms.
How Bargaining Power Works in Favor of Reform
At the root of China's reform process are bargaining initiatives through which parties interact and find resolution
China's modern economic reform experience cannot be compared to economic development patterns typical in developing countries, nor the institutional transformations seen following the collapse of the Soviet Bloc.
Asia Times Online
China has a blueprint for social order
By Willy Lam
An overbearing focus of China's latest five-year plan on social stability suggests a major conservative shift is underway, with "social-management" offices to feature on every major street amid mass recruitment of public vigilantes. With security forces' rapid-response capacity for "mass incidents" also to be honed and political reform frowned upon, the renewed drive to spurn Western norms will likely frustrate progressive intellectuals.
China forges uranium pact with Kazakhstan
By Farkhad Sharip
One consequence of President Nursultan Nazarbayev's recent visit to Beijing is that Kazakhstan will deliver uranium fuel pellets, part of an increasing energy cooperation between the two countries. Kazakhstan's desire for its own nuclear-power industry may be more difficult to satisfy.
SINOGRAPH
Arab unrest keeps China on its toes
By Francesco Sisci
China will suffer if prolonged fighting in Libya and elsewhere pushes up global food and oil prices, whereas fast regime change would relieve the economic pain but increase pressure for political reform at home. While this is unlikely to cause major disturbances of the kind seen in Egypt, the myriad possible adjustments to changing factors will keep the government on its toes.
Hangzhou bridge bonanza
By Daniel Allen
The 35-kilometer Hangzhou Bay Bridge, built just to the south of Shanghai, is transforming the economy of Zhejiang province and its port of Ningbo. Travel times have been drastically shortened, investment is booming two years after the bridge's opening, and curious tourists are crossing it in the millions.
PLA on board an Orient express
By Christina Lin
The tentacles of Chinese-built rail networks stretch far and wide, with lines to Tibet, high-speed connections to Southeast Asian neighbors and plans for a track to Iran passing through Central Asia. While China has done more than most to re-establish the Silk Route, some analysts are beginning to blow the whistle on the gains of such projects for its military mobilization.
Kaixin OpEd – A well informed article.
Kaixin thinks that the Iron Silk Road is more defensive rather than offensive, given the military reach of the United States.
THE ROVING EYE
Endgame: Divide, rule and get the oil
By Pepe Escobar
Western moral uprightness on Libya to coalition Gulf countries goes something like this: If you sell us a lot of oil, buy our weapons, and smash al-Qaeda, that's fine; you may even kill your own people, provided it's dozens, not thousands. That's how Saudi Arabia can get away with anything. The forces of counter-revolution are now joined at the hip with the West.
Syrian sauce for the Chinese gander
By Peter Lee
The official Chinese mood over Libya is shaped by the speed with which a regime was stripped of legitimacy and exposed to military intervention, but whether it will shake the convictions of China's interventionist liberal hawks is another matter. The darkening fate of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, which models itself on China, is altogether more pertinent to Beijing's yearning for stability.
The issue in Libya is the astounding ease with which a regime that found itself at cross-purposes with the United States was unilaterally stripped of its legitimacy and exposed to military intervention through aggressive and creative interpretation of an ambiguous UN resolution - in a mere three days.
Kaixin OpEd - An insightful analysis
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See over for the 30th of March 2011
CULTURAL CHINA
Articles of interest from the week's news
Insights into China's Society & Cutlure
Calligraphy on a grand scale
Artist Wang Dongling creates calligraphy on a gigantic piece of traditional Chinese paper on Tuesday at a gymnasium at China Academy of Art’s Hangzhou campus in Zhejiang province. The new piece, called Xinjing or Heart Sutra, is 7.3 meters high and 17 meters wide. The piece will be put on show in Hangzhou in October.
China Fashion Week
A model presents a creation for the 2011 Aimer Swimwear Collection during China Fashion Week in Beijing.
Love hurts as wedding costs soar
Shanghai - Weddings are not only about love; they're also about money.
To celebrate this important event in their lives, members of the post-80s generation in Shanghai are facing huge costs, which are rivaling those in the United States and Europe, a recent survey has revealed.
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Chinese kites - VIDEO
Kites were first used about 2,800 years ago in China. In the past, kites were used in the military to make a signal and test the wind. With the development of papermaking, people began using paper for the sails, and kite flying has been a popular outdoor game ever since.
Classic kites use bamboo for the spars and paper or silk for the sails. Then they're designed with many different shapes and forms, which represent the pursuit of happiness, longevity, joy and good luck. Many craftsmen believe the common materials in one's life best express a person's best wishes for a better life.
It's good for our health to fly kites in the spring. We can enjoy the spring sunshine, the fresh air and the blue sky. It's relaxing, and it brings us great pleasure. It is said that if you fly a kite and then cut the twine to let the kite go, all of your illness and troubles in the coming year will fly away with the kite.
Now that spring is coming, everyone should get out their kites and enjoy flying them with friends and family.
Old Boys enliven young dreams
BEIJING - What does it take to touch a generation?
It's a question faced hundreds of times by Xiao Yang, whose online film Old Boys is resonating deeply with Chinese born in the 1970s and 1980s.
In the movie, Xiao plays a wedding party host who loves singing, while his real life business partner Wang Taili plays a hairdresser who loves dancing.
But their youthful dreams have been replaced by reality.
At the end of the movie, the two old boys walk onto a talent show to realize their dreams, even though everyone is making fun of them.
When they sing a beautiful elegy to youth, a lament for all the things lost along the way, many were in tears. The song features the music of Ohashi Takya's Arigatou, with lyrics written by the pair, known in the film and in reality as the Chopstick Brothers.
The film has been viewed online more than 26 million times since its Oct 28 debut.
Xiao Yang, 31, director of the hit online film Old Boys, prepares music in a studio in Beijing on Tuesday. The film has been viewed online more than 26 million times since its Oct 28 debut.
“Old Boy” Popular Chinese Short Film Makes Male Netizens Cry + Video Preview
Paper Apple goods the latest gifts for Qingming
GUANGZHOU - While people rush to get the latest iPhones and iPads, the deceased can also enjoy these trendy high-tech devices, although theirs will be made of paper.
With the Qingming Festival, or Tomb Sweeping Day, a time for paying respect to the ancestors, falling on April 5, some shops in Guangzhou selling sacrificial offerings have put paper-made versions of Apple products on their shelves.
A package of two iPads and four iPhones, paper-made and in different colors, goes for 6 yuan (90 cents), at a shop named Yongxinghang. A MacBook also costs 6 yuan.
Paper-made offerings are displayed at a market in Nanning city, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region
Investors get picky about rare, exotic teas
Afficionados are now treating the leaf-based beverage with reverence
BEIJING - While many rich Chinese people are happy to fork out $2,000 on a bottle of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, one of the most expensive wines in the world, others are turning to a more traditional Chinese beverage with centuries of culture behind it.
Rare and exotic teas are fast developing into investment opportunities with the marketing potential that French vintage wines have possessed for decades.
Xinhua News Agency reported futures in the best quality Longjing (or Dragon Well) spring tea, the leaves of which will be picked before early April, have already sold out at 60,000 yuan ($9,146) a kilogram.
Tibet's achievements celebrated
LHASA - Padma Choling, chairman of the Tibet autonomous region, delivered a speech on Sunday to the Tibetan people in celebration of the Third Serfs Emancipation Day and promised more efforts for a new Tibet that is stable, united, democratic and well-developed.
An accreditation ceremony is held in Lhasa's Jokhang Temple on Saturday. Eight monks were certified to be Gashe, the highest level of attainment for monks studying the scriptures of Tibetan Buddhism, during the service.
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Tibet marks Serfs Emancipation Day - VIDEO
Lhasa celebrates third annual Serfs Emancipation Day
LHASA - To spread the word about changes that have taken place in Tibet since the adoption of democratic reforms in 1959, the third Serfs Emancipation Day was celebrated on Monday throughout Lhasa, the capital of the autonomous region.
A ceremony celebrating Tibet's third Serfs Emancipation Day began on Monday in the square in front of the Potala Palace, a pilgrimage site for Tibetan Buddhists.
Cherry blossoms charm tourists in C China
An ancient building is seen through cherry blossoms in Wuhan University in Central China's Hubei province
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