From Lullaby to Requiem

The Kirghiz love folk songs. As infants, they listen to their mothers singing lullabies and learn to sing folk songs as they themselves get a little older. They use songs to express their feelings to their sweethearts, to sing their joys and sorrows, their loves and hates, to say goodbye to the living and a final farewell to the dead. When someone dies,     

Brain Drain

Many Westerners, myself included, come to China to teach English. Our aim is to immerse ourselves in a culture vastly different to our own, and recognise that the best way to achieve this is to live and work here. A few may arrive here to study the language or some cultural aspect, and have long term plans to stay in the country. For the vast majority, however,     

Shaanxi:Bridgehead of Western China Development

Brief introduction to Shaanxi provincial conditionsLocated in the hinterland area of the Shaanxi province borders Inner Mongolia to the north, Sichuan and Hubei to the south, Gansu and Ningxia to the west, and Shanxi and Henan to the east. It is a door to enter the vast northwest China area, occupying a key posi-     

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Polish Airlines launches direct flight to Beijing LOT Polish Airlines has decided to resume flights to the Far East,starting with a direct flight between Warsaw and Beijing.The inaugural flight from Warsaw to Beijing was made on April 2, 2008.Poland's national carrier returns to the Chinese market after an absence of nearly 10 years. In view of the considerable growth of China's economy,the rapid development of the Polish market and the increasing economic cooperation and tourist exchange between Poland and the People's Republic of China,LOT Polish Airlines has decided to expand its flight network with new services to Far Eastern destinations.The first of these will be a direct flight from Warsaw to Beijing."The launching of flights to Beijing is the first step toward expanding our long-distance flight network to include Far Eastern destinations,"said Wojciech K dziolka,LOT spokesman."We want to fly to the destinations our passengers want to go to.Due to the close economic relations between Asian countries and Poland as well as the rest of Europe and an ever-increasing number of tourists traveling to this region,the Far East seems to be a natural destination for LOT,"added Mr. K dziotka.     

LETTERS

As an avid reader of China .Today to which I first sub-scribed in 1981 at the Guangzhou Fair, I would like to take the liberty now to put something right concerning Valentine＇s Day. This is not a Westem festival and it has nothing to do with a saint or religion. It used to be an Anglo-Saxon habit to dedicate one day per year to present flowers to a person you treasure （friend, lover, nice colleague, etc.）,     

共创世界和平与发展的美好未来中华人民共和国主席胡锦涛2010年新年贺词

Ladies and gentlemen,comrades and friends: The New Year's bell is about to ring.and 2010 is SOOn to begin.At this beautiful moment of bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new,and via China Radio International,China National Radio and China Central Television,I'm delighted to extend New Year wishes to Chinese of all ethnic groups,to compatriots in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,the Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan,to overseas Chinese and to friends all over the world!     

From Connaissance de la Chine, Lausanne

Dear Friends, On the occasion of your 40th anniversary, we would like to extend to you our warmest congratulations. We sincerely wish you to continue to carry out successfully various kinds of activities so as to help people better understand your     

Google FITTING IN

Search engine giant's path to China is proving to be a bumpy ride You have to hand it to Google; it knows how to make a big splash. When the doyen of search engines came to town to reinvent itself, no expense was spared. Booking the banquet hall of Beijing's most famous five-star hotel, cramming it full of the cream of the IT world and a gaggle of journalists from 170 news agencies,     

Sino-Indian Strategic Partnership Reaches New Heights

正ASHOK K.Kantha became Indian Ambassador to China on January 6,2014.From high-ranking officials to ordinary citizens,all Indians value India-China relations,he said;moving forward,India intends to strengthen its cooperation with China and upgrade the bilateral strategic partnership to a new high.As Indian ambassador to China,Kantha said he would endeavor to     

Paving the Way

正An ethnic minority group in China successfully shakes off poverty Huang Bingfeng came to Beijing as a deputy to the National People's Congress(NPC) annual meeting with good news from his hometown.On May 9,Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region shook off poverty,adding Maonan to the list of ethnic groups in the country to beat back poverty.Some Maonan people wrote a letter to President Xi Jinping sharing the joy of poverty elimination and expressing their determination to continue to build their hometown.Xi replied to the letter,encouraging them to take this as a     

PEOPLE & POINTS

"We need to have a firm, constructive, appropriate, but prudent, response [to North Korea's nuclear test]. There has to be some punitive actions, but also I think these actions have to be appropriate." Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Wang Guangya     

2003·文化强省·七大进展

In 2004, cultural workers of the whole province are determined to further study,publicize and carry out the spirit of the 16th Party congress and its third plenary session under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory and the “Three Represents” important thought; to create more works to inspire people; stay close to reality, dose to real life and close to the masses; to construct a culture-strong province; to strengthen the power of social influence in propaganda and ideological work; to demonstrate social competitiveness of cultural industries and undertakings; and to offer more spiritual food and cultural materials for the realization of an overall well-off society in Shanxi.     

From Austrian Association for Promotion of Friendship and Cultural Relations with China

Dear Mr. President, It has been our intention to ask the chairman of Viennese City-Parliament, Mr. Herbert Dinhof who is vice-president of our association to lead a group from OGCF in May to Beijing in order to participate in the anniversary celebrations of your distinguished associaton. Unfortunately Mr. Dinhor is prevented to go due to unforseen mee-     

Holiday Anomalies

正THE week-long National Day holiday at the beginning of October is a firm favorite among Chinese employees.It is a prime time for them to ask for leave to go traveling or visit relatives in other cities.However,if you are about to write an email to your Chinese boss to ask for 20 days of annual leave to travel somewhere in China,then I really have to stop you right     

Buddhist Believers

As China becomes richer and more populous, and continues to open to the outside world, the Chinese people wish to further enrich their spiritual and cultural lives. Now they have more time to think about these needs, and some are choosing to pursue religion.     

People With HIV Now Live a Better Life

As a Un Volunteer,working with UnaiDS China,i have the opportunity to get involved in a wide range of areas.From working with community-based organizations,set up by people living with hiV to interacting with the mediaon topics related to hiV/aiDS to sup-porting campaigns to fight HIV/AIDS-related discrimination in the workplace,i get to do it all.     

Fixing Flaws in the Law

China's top legislature has adopted a draft amendment to the Law on Lawyers that will make it easier for lawyers to meet criminal suspects and obtain evidenceA change to China's 11-year-old Law on Lawyers is set to empow- er the country's legal profession. The amendment to the law,which will come into effect on June 1 next year,will allow individuals to open a law firm,improve access to clients and enable lawyers to build a case more easily. Lawyers in China have traditionally lacked power and this has hampered devel- opment of the industry.The amendment could change this and lead to rapid growth in the profession.     

Sino-lndian Strategic Partnership Reaches New Heights

ASHOK K. Kantha became Indian Ambassador to China on January 6, 2014. From high-ranking officials to ordinary citizens, ,all Indians value India-China relations, he said; moving forward, India intends to strengthen its cooperation with China and upgrade the bilateral strategic partnership to a new high. As Indian am- bassador to China, Kantha said he would endeavor to enhance friendship between the two nations.     

The Silence Of the Kids

正At the age of 3,Xiao Jingkang,always known as Kangkang,was supposed to attend kindergarten in Beijing,but he couldn't,because he didn't talk-not to his friends, not to his teachers,not even to his parents.Kangkang was diagnosed with moderate-to-acute autism and unable to communicate with     

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