Guizhou Social Housing Breaks New Ground

IT is early morning on March 26, 2011, and the construction site of Yu’an New City is surrounded by people, the crowd many rows deep, and most of the onlookers very excited indeed. Lines of orange bull-dozers and excavators stand alongside, ready for action. This is the ground-breaking cer-emony of a project to build one million square meters of public rental houses in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province.     

The Tastemakers

JIM Boyce granted me an interview in a bar at 6 p.m.,in between tasting a flight of 13 liquors at 4 p.m.and getting ready for yet another interview at 8 p.m.The first thing he did was recommend I try a white bourbon.Like they say,it’s a tough job but someone has to do it.Boyce sips and scribbles for Beijing Boyce,his nightlife blog,and Grape Wall of China,a website he runs with a host of other contributors from the wine industry.His real work is brand consulting and market research however,with a specialty in natural resources,but wine takes up much of his spare time.My sense is that for Boyce the landscape of Chinese wine seems to be many things - a national coming-of-age drama for an industry,an international cast of characters,a struggle of market forces,treasure rediscovered,and a plot begging for the emergence of heroes.That would explain why readers like his style of sharing what he’s learned,as he learns it.     

Approach to Higher Education Reform

ON September 1,Luo Lan became a freshman at Tianjin-based Nankai University.Unlike most of her schoolmates,she did not gain entry merely on the strength of her results in the entrance examination.Luo Lan got a spot thanks to her musical talent.     

The Cost of Cool

Individual and trendy products, the foolproof hook for young consumers.AT 8 am, September 25, 2010,Apple’s iPhone 4 of ficially wenton sale on the Chinese mainland market     

Tiexi Mirror： A Reflection of China＇s Rise

MANY old-generation Chinese regard Tiexi District of Shenyang City,Liaoning Province as China’s earliest industrial city,one that carried the ideals of an era.It was known as the "Ruhrg(an industrial district of Germany) of China."Tiexi District has evolved into a showcase district proudly demonstrating how China has upgraded and transformed its old industrial bases and equipment manufacturing sectors.     

Bite of the Drama Queen

WHERE the amateurs go head to head with the professionals Anna Grace seems to be proving less is indeed more,at least in China.Grace,the theatrical equivalent of a Swiss Army knife didn’t intend to get to New York! New York! from Beijing!     

TIMELY AND TOPICAL

Oxford-FLTRP EnglishChinese,Chinese-English DictionaryPublished by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press and Oxford University PressPages:2,064Price:RMB 199(China) (Published in UK as Oxford Chinese Dictionary at ￡45) IT is predicted that in a few years,the English-learning population in China will exceed the combined total population of all native-Englishspeaking countries.     

Land Transfers Support Modern Agriculture in Xiaogang Village

XIAOGANG Village in Fengyang County,Anhui Province,is a typical rural settlement where most farmers live by growing grain crops.In 1978,18 of them bravely began to explore a household-based land contract system,turning a new page in the history of China’s countryside.Since     

Moveable Feasts

WHETHER you are nostalgic for your own culture or keen to experience another, food,it seems,is the sensual conduit to the comforts of home or to irresistible adventures abroad.Two Beijing-based culinary entrepreneurs are remarkable just for their longevity in the art of providing taste bud tours.