Lady Bug Sleeping Bag

TJ Maxx has lady bug sleeping bags on sale.

Your little ladybug is certain to love this yellow, ladybug patterned sleeping bag. Cozy and warm sleeping bag comes with a convenient vinyl drawstring bag.

(Thanks Christine from APC!)

Book Review

Ten Thousand Miles Without A Cloud, by Sun Shuyun.

In the 7th century, the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang completed one of history's most extraordinary journeys, on pack animals and on foot, through present-day Kirgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, arriving finally in India, the birthplace of Buddhism. He returned almost two decades later with a vast body of Buddhist works in Sanskrit, translations of which revived Buddhism in China and helped its spread through Asia. Almost as soon as Xuanzang returned to China in 645 A.D., his exploits began to inspire books and stories. Now, the latest to follow in his footsteps down the Silk Road is the Chinese-born Sun Shuyun, author of Ten Thousand Miles Without A Cloud.

News

China grapples with legacy of its 'missing girls': China is asking where all the girls have gone. And the sobering answer is that this vast nation, now the world's fastest-growing economy, is confronting a self-perpetuated demographic disaster that some experts describe as "gendercide" -- the phenomenom caused by millions of families resorting to abortion and infanticide to make sure their one child was a boy.

One Billion Couch Potatoes: Chairman Mao's portrait still decorates many households in Yaoli, a former communist guerilla base in China's Jiangxi province. But what mesmerizes the people these days is television.

Females Suicides Happen Most Often in Villages: Gu Xiulian, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) and chairperson of the All-China Women's Federation, said this morning that both the Chinese government and ordinary people consider the issue of females suicide to be extremely important and governments have instituted a series of measures.

Shanghai Divorce Rate Goes Up: According to reports of Shanghai's media, a survey of the city's 19 district marriage registration bureaus revealed that last year, 27,374 couples registered for divorces, averaging 75 couples per day, up 38.9 percent over the previous year.

China Related TV

China Sprout posts a much-appreciated weekly guide for China Related TV listings.

Picture of the Day

Four giant pandas line up to drink water at Wolong giant panda research and breeding center in Sichuan Province.

Local Stories

Red tape binds orphans to China: In his two weeks as an Australian, Zhong Snelson has celebrated his first birthday at his new home in Newcastle, started to crawl, and learned to grab furniture and pull himself upright.

Made in China: In A bland five-storey building on Beijing's Baiguang Road, Chinese Government officials are peering closely at photographs of middle-aged Westerners, their eyes darting constantly across to another set of pictures, close-ups of tiny, spiky-haired Chinese babies.

For Napoleon Dynamite Fans

Twin ligers in south China set new record: Photo taken on August 18, 2005 shows liger twins "An An" and "Ping Ping" playing with each other at a zoo in south China's Hainan Province. The liger twins, born on May 2, 2005, have set a new record of survival time in China. There are Eight to 10 ligers in the world at present.

News

Guangdong Sausage May Get the Chop: Cantonese style sausage is popular across the country as well as in its home province of Guangdong. But the traditional food might disappear from local restaurants and dinner tables if a new food regulation goes into effect.

China to Develop World-class Science Parks: China will focus on developing two or three world-class science parks in the country's 53 national-level high-tech industrial zones.

China experts say bird flu bigger threat than SARS: Bird flu now poses a bigger and more worrying threat to people than SARS, medical experts in southern China, the region where Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome first surfaced, said on Friday.

Local Story

Howell family fulfills dream, opens home to Chinese girl: Mark and Karen Oglesby and their 13-year-old daughter, Taylor, traveled 7,800 miles to Guangzhou, China, to bring home Taylor's adopted baby sister, Madison Li.

News

Romans in China stir up controversy: Xie Xiaodong, a life sciences researcher, has finally started the laboratory test he wanted to do 10 years ago. The findings may help establish a genetic link between some villagers in Yongchang County, Northwest China's Gansu Province, and the ancient Romans in the Mediterranean.

Disney probes China labour claims: US media giant Walt Disney has said it will investigate claims that staff at factories in China making books for the firm are working in unsafe conditions.

More Women and Children Smoking: Overall, 7 percent of kids and teenagers aged 6 to 18 smoke: 10.2 percent among boys and 1.8 percent among girls. That was the finding of a survey of Beijing's school students who smoke by the Chinese Association of Tobacco Control, which was released on Thursday.

News

Chinese detainees are men without a country: In late 2003, the Pentagon quietly decided that 15 Chinese Muslims detained at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could be released. . . . More than 20 months later, the 15 still languish at Guantanamo Bay, imprisoned and sometimes shackled, with most of their families unaware whether they are even alive.

One quarter of China's farmland hit by pests: Rice, the main staple for the majority of China's 1.3 billion people, is under threat with one quarter of the nation's farmland hit by pests and diseases this year.

Featured Blog

Brian Stuy from Research-China.org has started a blog.

Research-China.org has established a "Blog" so that families can learn about China, its orphanages, and other facets of Chinese life. The blogs are designed to inform and educate their readers as to life in China's orphanages, experiences Brian has had while traveling in China, and lessons learned about Chinese culture. The blogs will be wide-ranging in subject, but always informative.

Build a Great Wall

OakridgeHobbies.com sells brick and mortar kits that let kids construct all sorts of famous buildings, including the Great Wall of China.

Experience the pride of building ready-to-display stone replicas of world famous architectural masterpieces, brick by brick! Mix the special mortar in the mini-sized wheelbarrow, then follow the step-by-step instructions for building each structure with real kiln-fired bricks! The special mortar dissolves in water, allowing you to build structures over and over again, plus create structures of your own design. Plus, for schools, since the special mortar dissolves in water,this allows students to create and build more structures of their own design, and teachers to use the kits year after year!

Writing Chinese on your computer

Asa from APC suggests this site to learn more about multilingual computing, including installing Chinese fonts on Windows and Macs.

China Related TV

China Sprout posts a much-appreciated weekly guide for China Related TV listings.

Beautiful China

Picture of the Day

Gas Thief Escapes on Tricycle: Speeding from the scene of the crime, a Chinese boy tows a floating plastic bag of stolen natural gas last week. Flouting a government ban, farmers around the central Chinese town of Pucheng frequently filch gas from the local oil field.

New Stamps

HK issues "4 great inventions" stamps: Hong Kong Postmaster General Allan Chiang said at the special stamps issuing ceremony that in this new set of stamps entitled " Four Great Inventions of Ancient China", Hongkong Post showcases four revolutionary Chinese technologies -- the compass, printing, gunpowder and papermaking of which every Chinese is proud.

You can find out more about buying these stamps here.

Women Entrepreneurs in China

Four women who shape Beijing: Women like Hung make up almost 20 percent of the country's entrepreneurs, according to the China Association of Women Entrepreneurs. They're attracted, experts say, by an atmosphere that measures them largely by results rather than gender, by the allure of calling the shots, and by the chance to put their stamp on everything from Beijing's skyline to discovering new artists.

News

China's Sex Ratio at Birth Expanding: It was reported from the 4th National Women and Children Working Conference that in recent years China's sex ratio at birth kept expanding and the problem of children's deficiency at birth is evident and the number of AIDS orphans is increasing.

World famous mathematician slams academic corruption in China: If academic corruption in China can not be curbed, scientific and technological development in the country will be delayed by 20 years, world-known mathematician Shing-Tung Yau warned recently.

China Seeks Cheaper Labor Within Its Borders: China's economic boom has benefited its coastal areas the most. The government is now trying to hasten economic development in the country's midwest, which has traditionally been an agricultural area. Hefei, a nondescript city of four million, is illustrative of the drive for development. [Audio feed from NPR]

Chinese Culture

Qixi—the Chinese Valentine's Day: If it rains heavily on Thursday night, some elderly Chinese will say it is because Zhinu, or the Weaving Maid, is crying on the day she met her husband Niulang, or the Cowherd, on the Milky Way.

Featured Blog

Be sure to check out Do They Have Salsa in China?, another great China-adoption weblog.

We're Rod (laid-back tuba-player from Texas) and Mary-Mia (excitable, artsy girl from California). We're working toward adopting a baby from China, and this is our adoption blog. You'll see plenty of comments from the grandparents-to-be, who will be making the trip to China with us! So pick up that mouse and add a few of your own--it's easy, and your comments always make us smile.

Construction in China

China's great cloud of construction dust: Chinese leaders have a tradition of ambitious schemes—Great Leaps, Great Walls, Long Marches and the like—but never before has the world seen a bricks-and-mortar transformation of the nation like the one now under way.

Picture of the Day

A mother and child, weighing a total of [126 lbs.] and with arms outstretched, sit on a huge lotus leaf which draws lots of visitors to the Xi'an Botanic Park in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The leaf of the mature King Lotus, from Paraguay, can hold considerable weight while floating on the water. (link)

Local Story

Adoption builds a family: Dave and Kim Schomer, of Connellsville, always wanted to be parents but had difficulty making their dream come true. After struggling with years of infertility, the Schomers decided to consider adoption.

New Record

New Tallest Man Found in Inner Mongolia: A herdsman from North China's Inner Mongolia has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest naturally-growing human being.

China Related TV

China Sprout posts a much-appreciated weekly guide for China Related TV listings.

Beautiful China

Chinese Culture

Ten Unique Customs in Guanzhong Plain: The Guanzhong Plain (also known as Central Shannxi Plain) has played a vital role in the development of Chinese history. Some special local cultures and customs were gradually formed in the long development process. Some of the ten oddities of local customs are as follows.

Picture of the Day

This was send to me from a friend. Now my kids want a chair like this!

A couple of articles on China's family planning

Family planning policy saves China 300 mln births: China's total fertility rate has dropped to around 1.8 since the nation started to exercise its family planning policy in the 1970s, which is 1.2 or 1.3 points lower than other countries or regions of the same economic development level and has saved China the birth of 300 million people.

Population program "much more than" fertility control: Chinese population program is not merely a fertility control program as many people believe, but "much more than that" with a number of "positive developments", a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said.

UK Mirror Article

(Note -- This article is likely to offend.)

CHINESE TAKEAWAYS—Day 1 . . . the American child adoption factory: Breakfast ends at the White Swan Hotel and it is time for a group photograph. There are 21 adults, all beaming. And 11 baby girls, all Chinese. Instant families courtesy of the White Swan Express.

China's Car Boom

In land of bicycle, car boom brings freedom of open road: In car terms, life really began in China around the millennium. Some 1.2 million cars rolled off the lots in 2002, a spike in demand of 30 to 40 percent. That figure jumped 70 percent in 2003, to about 2 million. Last year, Chinese bought 2.4 million cars, according to official figures, and growth is expected to be about 15 percent this year, with 10 percent becoming the annual norm by 2015.

(Thanks Kate from APC!)

Featured Blog

To Bring My Daughter Home . . .

I am a mother of two (hopefully three soon!), living in Longmont, Colorado with my husband (David), and our sweet girls.

News

China suicide bus bombing wounds 31: A 42-year-old farmer with terminal lung cancer set off a home-made bomb aboard a bus in southeastern China on Monday in a suicide attack that wounded 31.

Food Safety Becomes People's Top Concern: A nationwide online survey recently revealed that food safety has become the No 1 concern for the country's urban residents.

Maternity leaves granted to students on campus: Maternity leave has been granted to married female students of Suzhou University in East China's Jiangsu Province. The newly issued school regulation stirs the nerves of the public in a nation where sex and reproduction remain a taboo, especially on campus.

China approves human trials for new SARS vaccine: China has approved a new vaccine for the pneumonia-like disease Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) to go through human trials.

Local Story

Parents keep adopted children in touch with their roots: Samantha Lucas was celebrating her fourth birthday yesterday afternoon with her "Chinese sisters," the girls she grew up with as a baby in the Yangzhou Welfare Institute, an orphanage in China's Jiangsu Province.

China Related TV

China Sprout posts a much-appreciated weekly guide for China Related TV listings.

Typhoon Matsa

Typhoon Matsa Batters East China: Typhoon Matsa has been wrecking havoc in east China after its landing at Zhejiang Province early Saturday morning.

Typhoon batters China, 1.24 million evacuated: Typhoon Matsa battered China's eastern coast with strong winds and heavy rain on Saturday morning, killing one and forcing more than a million people from their homes, state media reported.

Typhoon drives million from homes: More than a million people have been forced from their homes in China's Zhejiang province as Typhoon Matsa hit the country's eastern coast. One person was killed in Shanghai and there has been widespread disruption to shipping and aircraft.

Beautiful China

News

Soccer fever sweeps China: After waiting for 44 frustrating years, China is joining the soccer elite in the World Cup finals which start this weekend in South Korea and Japan. "It's been the dream of the whole Chinese people."

'This Is Really Home': A massive influx of migrants has created a new problem for city authorities—slums.

China's 'hairboy' aspires to be a rock star: He is an aspiring rock star, but Yu Zhenhuan's claim to fame for now is that he is the hairiest man in all of China.

Baby Trafficking

Chinese baby traffickers shift focus to girls: Low prices and strong demand have created a boom in the trafficking of baby girls in the mainland's hinterland provinces. In the past, most babies rescued from traffickers had been boys, but in some areas this year more than 80 per cent have been girls.

Picture of the Day

Pet dogs tie the knot in Changchun: Pet dogs Wang Wang (L) and Xu Xu pose for a photo after getting a marriage certificate in a pet store in Changchun, Northeast China's Jilin Province.

News

China villagers ignorant of pig disease: In a small hillside community near the town of Zizhong, everyone has a backyard pigsty. The locals are both nervous and confused about this strange virulent swine disease that they hear has struck nearby.

Pope Gives Special Greeting to Chinese: Pope Benedict XVI greeted a group of priests from China "with particular affection" Wednesday, the first time a pontiff has publicly welcomed members of the state-controlled church in the latest sign of warming relations between the Vatican and Beijing.

English Names More Preferred than 'Comrade': People in China today are more accustomed to address their peers by their English names or directly calling their Chinese names, rather than by employing the term "comrade" -- a word used to address others in socialist Chinese society of the past half century.

Interesting Pictures

Pandas in a Needle

Happy Sand Sculpture

News

Beijing bans pork from pig disease province: Beijing has taken measures to prevent a deadly pig disease from entering the Chinese capital, including halting the sale of pork from Sichuan province, as the death toll climbed to 37.

Chinese calendars reveal ancient science: Researchers from across the globe have been looking into the history of science in ancient China to help illuminate events taking place in the world today.

Office etiquette can be a headache: It is a headache for some 40 percent of people starting out on their careers according to the latest survey conducted by recruitment website Zhaopin.com. In the results Zhaopin disclosed, 23 percent of novice employees are at a loss as to how to address their bosses and colleagues, while one-third said they have quickly managed to get accustomed to their companies' style of address. Only 5 percent saw it as no problem at all.

China's Top 100 Companies

Do you recognize even one of China's Top 100 Companies?

China Related TV

China Sprout posts a much-appreciated weekly guide for China Related TV listings.