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| FOCUS |
GIANT lanterns in the shapes of roosters, fish and dragons illuminated the night of February 23, with families crowding into the City God Temple to see the lanterns, solve the lantern puzzles and burn incense.
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| Focus |
- Old
ways never die
GIANT lanterns
in the shapes of roosters, fish and dragons illuminated the
night of February 23, with families crowding into the City God
Temple to see the lanterns, solve the lantern puzzles and burn
incense.
- Family
treasures
GUO and his
brother were excited after their first day in the Shanghai Library:
the archived information they found in the genealogy room there
had proved that all the villagers in their hometown with ¡°Guo¡±
as a last name were descendants of Guo Ziyi, a famous general
of the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
- Record
of generations
JIA Pu, records
of genealogy (or family tree books), also called Zu Pu, are
significant in the history of the Chinese people.
- Expensive
lessons
PARENTS spend
an average of close to half a million yuan (US$60,000) on raising
and supporting a child until he or she reaches age 30, according
to a report recently released by the Shanghai Academy of Social
Sciences.
Post-festival
blues
WHEN Zhao
Xia returned from a day-long visit to her parents' home, her
dog Beibei failed to respond. It was the seventh day in the
Spring Festival holiday and Zhao had gone out every day, leaving
the dog at home alone.
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| News |
- Re-building bridges
Behind US President George W Bush¡¯s outstretched hand of friendship, some European leaders sense a genuine change of heart. Even French President Jacques Chirac believes Bush now wants a ¡°true partnership?
- Conservative Shi¡¯ite leader becomes top PM candidate
BAGHDAD, Iraq ?Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the head of a religious party who fought Saddam Hussein and took refuge in Iran for more than a decade, was chosen on February 22 as the Shi¡¯ite ticket¡¯s candidate for prime minister.
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| Voice of people |
- Miners¡¯
lives undervalued
Life is precious,
but if a price is put on it, can you tell how much a Chinese
mineworker ¡ª usually the only breadwinner of a poor
family somewhere in the vast Chinese territory ¡ª is
worth?.
- Press
clips
- Time
to cherish our ancient treasures
More than
once, I have read in the newspaper that we have to save from
extinction something with traditional Chinese characteristics.
Craftsmanship in making clay, cloth or flour creatures, embroidery,
paper cutting ¡ª all have become subjects of concern
due to their diminishing number of practitioners. Very few youngsters
select traditional Chinese medicine as a university major, and
even if they do, there are not enough experts to teach them.
- More
thoughts on communal activities in parks
Regarding
the article ¡°Comparatively liberated¡± by Sarah
Lockwood, in the February 3 edition of Shanghai Star, the writer
did a great job describing her first impression of the vitality
of the public parks in Shanghai. She hit the mark with her comment
that so many outdoor communal activities in public places have
a lot to do with Chinese culture, which is quite different from
that of Britain. She also noted that the generally smaller living
areas for most residents may also contribute to the flourishing
of such large gatherings outdoors.
- When
self is the centre of the universe
Like almost
everyone else, I have been on a shopping spree recently. The
shopping experiences were interesting, because I have been treated
quite differently. One day I was treated as a middle-aged woman,
on another I was called ¡°little girl¡±. It is not
that I have dressed differently or worn different make-up. I
swear I was even wearing the same clothes on both occasions.
Of course as someone in their late 20s, I was indignant when
the sales girl said: ¡°Middle-aged people like you always
prefer black.¡± Although I liked the black wool coat a
lot and wanted to pay for it immediately, I could never buy
an item after such an insult.
- Letters
Is being
thin
- Voices
¡°It¡¯s
fun to set off fireworks, because you can hide in some place
after lighting them and watch the cops looking for you everywhere.¡±
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| Profile |
- Plunge into China
LEARNING Chinese seemed impossible for Catarina Lilliehook several years ago when she first found a Chinese language learning book in a bookstore in Stockholm. She was shocked by the strange pronunciation and complicated way of writing Chinese characters.
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| Culture |
- Protective images
NEW Year pictures may have been the most widely accepted art form in ancient China.
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| Dining out |
- Bright new ways to eat Korean
WHEN I first passed the Hanliu Garden, I hesitated for a while, wondering whether to enter, because the restaurant seemed desolate, without any customers. However, the bright colours of the stylish corner I could see through the glass door made me step inside.
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