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CHINESE director Feng Xiaogang's movie, "A World Without Thieves is one of the most popular movies in the theatres these days. Many audiences are moved when the director arranges for the thief to sacrifice his life and use his blood to wash away his crimes at the end of the movie. But the concept in real life is less believable.
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- Demand to communicate spreads
IN the most Westernized city of the Chinese mainland, where more than 160,000 expatriates live, the locals' enthusiasm for learning foreign languages has created a thriving market for foreign language training.
- Off the leash
ON December 1, around 300 students arrived at the Hongkou School of Web International English and found the school had just closed. It was first reported that the head of the franchised training centre had disappeared together with tuition fees amounting to 1.8 million yuan (US$218,000). Later reports said the closure had resulted from a dispute between franchiser and franchisee.
- CET: test or torment
THE national English testing system CET (College English Test) 4 and CET 6 have been under fire more than ever since the beginning of 2005. The latest crisis to hit the system and arouse considerable criticism was widespread leaking via the Internet of the contents of the writing sections of both tests before they were administered.
- A world without thieves?
CHINESE director Feng Xiaogang's movie, "A World Without Thieves is one of the most popular movies in the theatres these days. Many audiences are moved when the director arranges for the thief to sacrifice his life and use his blood to wash away his crimes at the end of the movie. But the concept in real life is less believable.
- Educators play catch up
WANG Jieqing, a middle school student in Shanghai Luxun Middle School, was happy to discover that he would be able to play online games without opposition from his parents and school.
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- Iraq to seal borders during election
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber struck the Baghdad headquarters of Iraq's biggest Shi'ite political party, killing three people, as the government announced plans to close borders and restrict movements to bolster security in the national election. Three candidates were slain as insurgents intensified their campaign to subvert the ballot.
- Kidnapped in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents released a video on January 18 showing eight Chinese workers held hostage by gunmen who claim the men are employed by a construction company working with US troops, in the latest abduction of foreigners in Iraq.
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| Voice of people |
- Early this month, China's Antarctic expedition team, which set out from Shanghai last October for China's 21st expedition to this frozen continent, successfully reached the north summit of Dome A. According to initial measurement by GPS, it stands 4,091 metres above sea level. Its exact elevation and position is yet to be confirmed after further survey.
- There must be a better way to learn English
Learning English is one of the few things I have been doing consistently over the past 16 years. So, why did I start to study English in the first place?
- press clips
- For whom the bell tolls
On New Year's Eve, it is a tradition for Chinese people to go to the temple and strike the bell and wish for good luck in the coming year. The temple in Nanjing, in neighbouring Jiangsu Province, is always full of visitors during this time. However, the bell in Nanjing also tolls for another reason. Besides looking into the blessed future, it serves as a remembrance of the bitter past.
- Forced beautification urged
Peripatetic and easy mixing travellers such as yours truly, inevitably finish up with a pile of notes and business cards of interesting people met during a journey and with whom, somehow, contact should have been maintained.
- VOICES
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- Hunters without guns
MOST people who visit Shanghai are dazzled by the towering skyscrapers, tangled roads and buzzing traffic. But for Zhang Cizu and his son, Zhang Bin, cities are "scars" that humans have left on nature.
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- Intellectual, public conscience
ON December 28, 2004, prominent American female writer and critic Susan Sontag died at the age of 71 from complications of acute myelogenous leukemia at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York. She learnt that she had breast cancer at the age of 43. After that, her health gradually deteriorated. In March 2003, she was found to have leukaemia and received a bone marrow transplant operation. She struggled against her cancer with an intellectual's verve and reflection during the last years of her life.
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| Dining out |
- Ritualistic dining
THE Chinese are a superstitious people and the most important event of a year, the Lunar New Year symbolizing the beginning of spring, is bound up with many customs related to ghosts and other supernatural phenomena.
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