Karen from the ChinaBooks Yahoo group recommends Hanna's Butterfly:
It is a beginning reading book that is beautifully illustrated and is about a child who finds a butterfly, learns about it, and then releases it. Here's the bonus: without any mention to multiracial families in the story line, the illustrations show an apparently Asian girl with her apparently Caucasian mom! It's a book I give out at all birthdays now :)
Quilt show held to support panda applying for Olympic mascot: Students from Chengdu, the capital of southwestern Sichuan Province, made a huge picture of a panda from pieces of cloth Monday to support the rare animal's bid to be the mascot of 2008 Olympic Games to be held in Beijing. [full picture here]
Construction Resumed on Olympic Stadium: China has resumed construction of the 100,000-seat "bird's nest" national Olympic stadium, designed as a centerpiece venue for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Twentysomethings Bear the Heaviest Pressure: A project researching major sources of stress for people during the current period of social transformation, organized by the Psychology Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, recently finished its analysis. It says that people in their 20s are living with the heaviest psychological pressures.
. . . but if you are looking for a fun gift for a three-year-old, this was a hit at our house! You can see Merry Maggie—The Talking Sprayer at kidzdelight.com.
Many Killed, Hurt in China Riot: As many as 1,000 villagers battled police in southern China in a riot that left several people dead and dozens wounded. The riot started after security forces beat a resident to death.
Fast food takes bite out of Chinese culture : As the world's most populous nation continues its transformation from a former outpost of communism into a place where spending power reigns, it has come to this—China's cuisine is increasingly being altered by the growing consumption of fast food, with Chinese now more likely than Americans to eat takeout meals, according to a survey.
Greater numbers speak putonghua: More and more Chinese nowadays are able to communicate using Chinese Mandarin, says a survey that indicates that 53 per cent of the population can communicate with the standard spoken language also known as putonghua.
Triplets tigers lie in an air-conditioned cave in the Chinese Tiger cultivation base in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province. An eight-year-old tigress gave birth to triplets there Dec. 24, 2004.
Christmas in China: Christmas, a religious holiday originated in the West, is prevailing in China where only 1.15 percent of Chinese are Christians.
Adoption like a fairy tale for the Huntsmans: Five years ago Tuesday, Governor-elect Jon Huntsman Jr. and his wife, Mary Kaye, brought their new baby home from China to join their family. "She is our greatest Christmas present ever," says Mary Kaye.
A Christmas Decision: The Zinskys' quest for a family led them from Homewood to Beijing, from Chicago's skyscrapers to a dirt road in China.
DNA helps adoptees in a foreign land find family links: On a recent Sunday afternoon, 10-year-old Anna Hinkeldey and Emily Shields were together as sisters in Los Angeles' Chinatown. For weeks they had been counting the days until this three-day weekend—the families' first get-together since they heard the DNA results.
I'll be taking time off from this blog, starting back up on Dec. 26. Until then, thanks for stopping by and have a Merry Christmas!!
