Leisure Pursuits for Migrant Workers

IT’S 7pm, and knocking-off time for laborers on a building site in southwest Beijing. Clearly ex hausted, they chat companion ably on the road home. Two o them, Hu Bing and Yan Chenghai, are from the same town in Hebei province Hu is 25 years old, and regards Yan three years his junior, as his didi, o younger brother. The previous evening they spent three hours playing pool Yan, to his shame, lost every game. Hav ing agreed that the loser should pay fo a RMB 0 mutton barbecue, Hu bough…     

The Private Life of Deng Xiaoping

AUGUST 22 marked the centenary of Deng Xiaoping's birth. During his lifetime, Deng Xiaoping was punctilious about keeping his political and family lives separate. Seven years after his death, one hundred books extol-     

Charity Online

MAO Lihui, a teacher in a remote mountainous area, changed his deprived students＇ lives with the help of the Internet. The article he wrote on his blog,which included pictures of his pupils in their tattered clothes and often bare feet, aroused public sympathy and prompted an influx of donations.     

Chairman Mao＇s Cigar Man

FAN Guorong, aged 84,is known in his hometown as “the Old CigarMan.” The moniker isa fitting one as he has spent most of his life making cigars. In his early teens, Fan served a three-year apprenticeship and became the youngest cigar maker of his time when he started his career in the late 1940s.     

Forever young

Wang Guocai, 68-year-old rises at daybreak, reaches for his birdcage and heads to one of Beijing‘s numerous green areas, to get his daily dose of exercise, Arriving at the park, the retired post office worker runs into his peers, where he‘ll join them in this morning‘s activity -- an aerobic workout. Some are warming up; others area lready bending, stretching and walking around backwards.     

Zhang Kun：Capturing the Beauty of Real Life

The first thing that strikes anyone looking at a figure painting by Zhang Kun is a strong sense of realism. Zhang never distorts his figures with exaggerated lines and shapes, nor does he blindly follow any particular fashion, instead concentrating on the depiction of real life. Not only does Zhang imitate nature, he simplifies and orders it so as to capture its essence, and any adjustment he attempts is in order to bring greater depth to such simplicity. His consummate skills contribute to the purity of his paintings, his poetic language being heard through his representation of ordinary life. His works present man and nature in a simple and harmonious relationship, the very thing that modem people yearn for,     

Lu Xun at Home

正LU Xun(1881-1936)is widely considered as China’s greatest modern writer.Although he was a prolific essayist and translator,it is for his intense and often disturbing short stories that he is best known.In criticizing repressive social norms,he aimed for nothing less than the eradication of the nation’s spiritual ills.In the decades since his death editions of his works,translations and critical studies have surged,making Lu Xun an accessible writer in most major languages.But he can also be remembered through the homes in which he lived and worked.     

My Teacher and Helpmate

IN my life I have made many friends, both Chinese and foreign, quite a number of them intimate to the extent that I can repose in them my full confidence. Israel Epstein, known as Eppy to his friends, is one of the most outstanding. In appearance he is foreign, but emotionally he is Chinese, having taken Chinese citizenship in 1957. Those who have heard and read his analyses of Chinese issues are impressed with his deep insight. Epstein, who turns 90 on April 20, is a living witness to the radical changes that have     

LETTERS

The topic of＂dreams＂ reminds me of a text by the late Chinese writer Shi Tiesheng who was paralyzed when he was 21, in whichhe elaborated on his devotion to sports. He loved track and field the most, more than writing, and his favorite star was Carl Lewis whom, with a strong body and super speed, he regarded as the luckiest man on earth. Shi once thought that he would do anything to have Lewis＇ physique and vigor in another life, if there were one. But observ- ing the athlete＇s rise and fall after a doping scandal, he gained fresh understanding of success, happiness and life in general. He said his dream was to have a healthy body, a beautiful soul and life wisdom. While acknowledging that many think one should not be too greedy or ambitious, Shi＇s overriding belief was that everyone has the right to dream big, and to look forward to the best in the world.     

Cool Customers-China＇s youth has become a dream market

IN China‘s current boxoffice-leading film Lian AiZhong De Bao Bei (Baoberin Love) main character Liu Zhi is bored with modern,materialistic life. He confesses his antipathy to his video camera while he waits for the girl with whom he wants to fail passionately in love.Baober finds his videotape and the     

Rotten Tomatoes for Zhang Yimou

Some Chinese critics regard Zhang Yimou's portrayed concept of Chinese civilization as over simplified. They say his works draw Western attention to Chinese national culture without conveying its true diversity, and that his work mirrors his own view rather than offering a window on China through which the world may make its own observations.     

Two Bon Vivants and Their Sweet Life in China

JEAN-HUGUES Depigny and his wife are from France. They have lived in China for 10 years and are known by the Chinese names Yang Peiyi and Yang An. Their home is resplendent in Chinese furnishings and ornaments. Jean-Hugues Depigny is vice president of Airbus China customer services in Beijing. Airbus and China have been in cooperation since 1985, when China Eastern Airlines, formerly the CAAC East Regional Administration, became its first client in China. Since then, Airbus and the China aviation manu-     

The Mobile Man of Cinema

MA Gongzhi walks with a limp because of severe malformation of his lower body. The handicapped youngster lives in Bolin Town, Yongxing County, Hunan Province. No more than 1.5 meters in height and 40 kg in weight, the 22-year-old Ma has never let his handicap prevent him from sharing in life＇s bounty. He has trekked over mountains with 55kg of film projection equipment on his shoulder, and brought back interesting footage for the enjoyment of farmers in isolated villages.     

Zhuangzi: Wandering in Selfless Ease

ZHUANGZI (ca. 369-286 B.C.), orChuang-tzu, was an influentialTaoist thinker from State Song(encompassing parts of today’sShandong and Henan provinces) dur-ing the Warring States Period (475-221B.C.). He made his living weaving strawsandals before becoming a low-rankingoffi cial. Though in economic distress formuch of his life, the great philosopherwas convinced that people should be re-signed to the natural order of things and     

Thinking from the Heart!

AN American investment banker and a longtime China observer, Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn became a household name in China as the author of The Man Who Changed China： The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin, a best-seller in 2005 demonstrating the life of China＇s former president. The success of this book facilitated his subsequent work in this country. His experiences, accumulated over four years of crisscrossing the nation and dozens of interviews with officials at all levels, have been published in his new book： How China＇s Leaders Think.＂ The Inside Story of China＇s Reform and What This Means for the Future.     

Best of Two Worlds

Love knows no boundaries as testified by the romance between Tibetan Tsedup and his British wife Kate.     

HOPPING MAD

China's young white collars are discovering the benefits - and the pitfalls - of jumping from one job to the next. PRESSING the PC's 'off' button after a particularly hectic week at the office, Li Gang almost scorches his finger. He then stuffs the contents of his desk into a cardboard box. In goes the photo of his wife and 2-year-old son, his Formula 1 mouse pad, his heavily stained coffee pot, and his Newton's Cradle. On     

Wang Guangmers Personal Photo Album （Ⅲ） The Days with Liu Shaoqi

WANG Guangmei and Liu Shaoqi set a good example of happy family life for the high-ranking political couples of the Chinese Communist Party. So that Liu Shaoqi could immerse himself totally in the affairs of the Party and the state, Wang took good care of every tiny detail of his daily life. Her tenderness and firmness gave Liu Shaoqi the most peaceful and happy family life he was ever to know.     

Back from the Brink Rescuing the White-Headed Langur

PAN Wenshi is a living legend in the Chinese zoology community. Having spent 16 years in remote mountain regions investigating the behavioral patterns,living conditions and genetics of giant pandas,he is known to his scientific brethren as "The Father of the Panda." Given the great success of his research,most people would expect Pan to retire to a quiet life in his twilight years.     

Pedal Power Passior

BEIJING, 6 am. Meng Qiuyu cycles across the darkened city, still in a dream. The destination of his 20-kilometer journey is the Temple of Heaven in downtown Beijing. The dawn of every Saturday sees Meng and his fellow road cycling club members riding in from every corner of the sprawling metropolis, Occupied with their jobs during the week, they fervently spend the weekends pursuing their hobby,