LETTERS

Though I only recently discovered China Today, it has been a case of "love at first sight." Frankly speaking, when I read the ar- ticles, I come across many new words, and need to look up their meaning in the dictionary. After some time, I found that my reading comprehen- sion has made obvious improvements, and my vocabulary level has soared. I would therefore like to express my gratitude to your magazine for helping me improve my English. Through China Today, I can not only bet- ter my E…     

Xinjiang People： A Local Photographer＇s Portfolio

I was born and brought up in Xinjiang, and my Iongtime friends often warn me, a photographer, not to take pictures in dangerous places. As a matter of fact I have received many such phone calls in recent years. Each time I finish the call, I become lost in thought. Scenes of experiences in past decades, together with those photos, materialize before my eyes. I decide I will, with my camera and my utmost good faith, continue to record the land and its people that I dearly love.     

Lang Lang: From child prodigy to Carregie Hall

As a child, I had three wishes: to have my own bicycle, to take figure-skating lessons, and to play piano. As a young mother of 26,I finally bought a bicycle which I happily rode up and down our farm laneway. At 34, my first lesson with a professional skating teacher was also my last when I fell on the ice and popped an instant bump the size of an egg on the back of my head. To my chagrin, the only keyboard I ever mastered was that of the typewriter/computer.     

A Voyage of Discovery

正I have spent the golden years of my life and career in China,having come to Beijing from Cairo as a 22-year-old.That was in 2008 and this is 2016,so you could call it a life-time experience.But if I had got one mark more in my French exam in school I would not have been in Beijing.I would also not have married the love of my life and had my little daughter.I would probably be working as a taxi driver or     

Magic Numbers

THE last digit of my home phone number in Beijing is 4. "So what?" European readers might ask. This was my attitude when I first lived in China; I couldn't under stand why Chinese friends were so shocked at my indifference to the number 4. But China brings new discoveries every day, and I have since seen the light. I know now     

Brought up in Beijing

<正>I think I have the best of two worlds.I was born in Bangladesh,and I grew up in China,the land of Confucius and my second home.The earliest and most prominent memories of my life are from China,and Chinese is a language I have spoken since childhood.When I was just over 2 years old,my parents and I moved to Beijing.My father received an invitation from China Radio International to work     

Chengdu Impression

Most of my high school experience wasspent studying Chinese on my own and working toward my ultimate goal of mastering a language and through this learn more about my own and others as well. First, it is important to understand a background of my senior year in high school when I went abroad to China.I arrived in Chengdu, capital city     

Group Buying on the Upsurge

正LAST month I was invited out for a Korean barbecue by a 23-year-old Chinese friend of mine,Huang Xuesong.I gladly accepted the invitation and we had dinner together.After a good meal,it was time to pay the bill.As I rummaged in my bag for my purse,my friend stopped me:"No,it’s okay.I’ve already paid over the Internet,"he said.I won-     

我的藏区自驾行（英文）

<正>I have been to Tibet a few times in recent years,but I didn't write much about it.There is a lot to remember,but I didn't know where to start and how to put it into words.Maybe something rooted in my heart stopped me from making it a worldly place,or I haven't found the language to describe how I deeply feel.My bag is packed with true and rich feelings on every trip,which are scattered along the road and infused into my blood,then captured into my mind and blended into my soul.     

A Humble Approach to Mandarin

<正>I have always wanted to learn another language. As a kid, my cousin and I would speak in our own made-up language and pretend that we understood each other.In an effort to fulfill my goal, I had my goat Spanish. My high school required a foreign language and Spanish was the only option. I tried to connect with the language, but I could not find the motivation to really focus.     

LETTERS

正Now in my 60s,I am starting to think seriously about where I’m going to spend my later years.I do not personally oppose living in a nursing home when I’m too old to take care of myself.My children treat me very well and I enjoy the time we spend together.But they have lives of their own,while I have a life of my own.I don’t have the heart to expect them to look after me,as they are already occupied with     

In the Depths of the Mountains-Relocation and Change for a Bulang Family

More than a decade had gone by since my time with them, but I could not forget them ond I kept on dreaming about that Bulang family livingin the vircjin forests of Xishuangbanna. The passage of time could not change my nostalgic recollections, so I finally packed my bags and headed once more for the depths of the mountains.     

Journey to the West

For as long as I can remember,my dad had talked of the jewel in China's western territory,Tibet Autonomous Region.As a student of international relations and Chinese,I have been living in China for the past three years.Tibet was a region I was desperate to see but its remoteness and my inability to find the right time to go delayed my journey.After a few e-mails back and forth with my dad,who is based in the UK.     

Walk in the park

NOW begins a long hot summer in Beijing and recent happenings have conspired to change my traveling plans… whatever will I do? I could stay in my air-conditioned flat and wait for fall, race from one air-conditioned store to another,wasting my time looking at things I don‘t need and don‘t even want.But I won‘t! Instead I‘m going to make plans to fully explore Beijing. But it‘s so hot! Do I really want to do this, do 1 really think I can change my hermit habits and brave the hot pavement and grumpy tempers of uncomfortable people? Yeah...I‘m determined and this is how I‘ll start.     

Play on!

RECENTLY,I found myself in Seoul,at the invitation of Arts Council Korea. During the course of my stay,I enjoyed one of the most moving artistic experiences I have had in many years. It was my first     

Food for Thought

Like most Americans, my expe-rience with stateside Chinese food was limited the stuff we get delivered in cleverly folded cardboard tubs. Although I enjoyed my weekly mu-shu fix, I did harbor suspicions that it was not, perhaps, the most authentic culinary experience. Thus, I came to China ready for unfamiliar ingredients, determined to develop a taste for real Chinese cuisine. But my first glimpse of Chinese cooking culture actually came about a year prior to hopping my trans-Pacific flight.     

Book Information

正Tangka By:Ye Xingsheng Publisher:China Federation of Literature Publishing House Publication date:January 2012I believe my deep involvement with Tangka to be ordained by fate.Three unforgettable encounters with this art are engraved on my heart.In 1961,when I was 11 years old,I had my first trip to Tibet to join my parents there.I was riding on a food truck,but it truck broke down just as it reached the foot of the Tanggula Mountains,so we had T B P P w o     

Getting Lost in Chinese Menus

正Just over two months ago, I returned to Beijing for the second time, six years after my first visit to the city and after having studied Chinese for two years. What was the first thing on my mind as I emerged into the city from Dongsishitiao subway station? Before I found my hostel, and before I bought a Chinese SIM card, there was something I needed to do which I had been craving for so many years: one of Beijing's street-side snacks. During the weeks leading up to my departure, I had not been able to stop thinking about the world of food     

My Two Homes

Irecently hadto fly back to Australia to have some urgently needed surgery. I have had the surgery, and my doctor has given me the all-clear to travel internationally, and to go back to teaching again. I will return to China very soon. Now, I am writing from my study in my modest but comfortable home in Robertson, Queensland. This is a very wealthy suburb of     

The Way to a Life for AIDS Orphans

IN April 1996 I received, in my capacity as gynecologist, the first AIDS patient in Henan Province. She stretched out her wasted hands to me crying: "Doctor Gao, why am I incurable since selling my blood? I don't want to die and leave my husband and children..." The cold sorrow sparked off by this pathetic plea has since stayed in my