Changes Afoot in the National College Entrance Examination

SINCE being reinstated in 1977, the Gaokao （National College Entrance Examination, China＇s SAT） has, amid heated discussions, undergone constant reforms in aspects that include content, form and achnission procedures. As the Gaokao has such huge influence on the futures of so many, its each and eve13, proposed change polarizes national attention.     

Beijing＇s Theme Cafes： Brewing Staff-up Success

AT first glance the Garage Caféin Beijing’s Haidian District, amelting pot of universities and IT companies, looks no different from     

Make Way Hollywood？ China＇s Film Industry on the Up and Up

THE New Year period is a good time for filmmakers in China. Scores of movies premiere during the festive season, which lasts from December to Februarycompetition is fierce and box office receipts pile up.     

Property Owners Take Initiative

THE state of disrepair of household buildings, evident in falling exterior tiles, was a common worry last year among residents of the Shuiyan Mingju community in Beijing’s Haidian District. Dissatisfaction with their property management company and the need to have a say in repairs and apportionment of related costs prompted Yu Lin and other householders to apply to the local administrative office for permission to set up a property owners’ committee.     

Riding the Dragon into 2012

China’s Central Economic Work Conference discusses what the Year of the Dragon holds in store for the domestic economy THE annual Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC) has always been considered an influential forum at which the following year’s macroeconomic policy is discussed and decided. Economic forecasts given at this conference tend to be dead on the mark,and at this year’s event the buzzwords doing the rounds were stability and progress.     

The European Debt Crisis： China to the Rescue？

IN December 2011 the European debt contagion began to spread from second-tier members of the Eurozone to more highly regarded economies such as Italy, Austria and the Netherlands. In late October-early November of 2011, the Chief Executive Officer of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) Klaus Regling and President of the International Monetary Fund     

It’s All Natural Feicheng Excelsinthe International Organic Vegetable Market

AT 30 kilometers from Mount Tai,one of China’s famous five peaks,and 100 kilometers from Confucius’ hometown of Qufu,the location of Feicheng City in Shandong Province could not be more auspicious.With famously fertile plains extending for miles around the city,Feicheng is fast becoming an important base for China’s burgeoning organic vegetable industry.     

Care and Concern for Left-behind Children

NOWADAYS large numbers of young rural residents move to cities in expectations of better work opportunities. Statistics show that there are 230 million migrant workers in China - a figure that implies a huge population of so-called left-behind children     

Life and Silk,Intertwined Qian Xiaoping,Inheritor to the Song Brocade Tradition

SILK is synonymous with China. Chinese people started making the fine fabric around 4,700 years ago, and have been constantly improving their techniques ever since. The dozen varieties of silk are differentiated from each other essentially by processing techniques. Today, silk is ev- erywhere in our lives. It is in our clothes, scarves, ties, bags - and in some cases     

Bill Porter:American Follower of Chinese Zen

HAVING spent a decade in Taiwan practicing Chinese Zen, one of the major sects of Buddhism, and writing and translating books introducing Zen to Western readers, American Bill Porter came to China’s mainland in the 1980s in search of the few living Zen hermits.The book that his travels produced,Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits, was first published in 1993 and again in 2009. It introduced its American and European, and even many Chinese, readers to the modern hermits residing in the Zhongnan Mountains and aroused Western interest in traditional Chinese culture.