News

Three-day Revelry Marks Build-up to Today's Halloween: Parts of Beijing seemed like ghost towns over the weekend no, not deserted, but populated with ghost-like figures.

Acrobatic Festival Attracts World-Class Acts: The 10th China Wuqiao International Circus Festival (CWICF) opened on Saturday in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, attracting 326 acrobats from 16 countries.

China's Next Big Boom Could Be the Foul Air: One statistic offered last week by a top Chinese environmental official should stimulate genuine alarm inside and outside China. The official, Zhang Lijun, warned that pollution levels here could more than quadruple within 15 years if the country does not curb its rapid growth in energy consumption and automobile use.

Local Story

When Jews opt to adopt, help comes from alliance: Shayna Seid bounces out of the bagel shop with the enviable energy typical of 8-year-olds. She plops down in a chair and listens as her mother talks about how they became a family.

NPR Story

China Tightens Control Over Death-Penalty Cases: Courts in China have overturned several death sentences this year following widely publicized miscarriages of justice. The cases have prompted China to tighten control over the death penalty. Anthony Kuhn has the story of four Chinese families who claim their sons have been sentenced to death and unjustly imprisoned for more than a decade.

China-Related TV

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

Feature Flickr Photo

Mt. Jade Dragon
Lijiang ,Yunnan, China

Hasselblad 905SWC

(Courtesy of Zeiss Octopus)

News

Building of 1,400-year-old Bridge to Be Celebrated: China is organizing a string of commemorative activities to mark the 1,400th anniversary of the building of a bridge located at Zhaoxian County in north China's Hebei Province.

China Luring Foreign Scholars to Make Its Universities Great: When Andrew Chi-chih Yao, a Princeton professor who is recognized as one of the United States' top computer scientists, was approached by Qinghua University in Beijing last year to lead an advanced computer studies program, he did not hesitate.

Want to study Chinese? Join the crowd: English is the world's dominant language for business and culture, but with China's ascendance more and more people around the globe are taking up the challenge of learning to speak and read Chinese.

Local Story

Teaching in China gives perspective: A summer teaching trip to China will affect a Northview High School teacher's classroom and personal life. Kevin Weber, who teaches English and history, and his wife, Sarah, a Comstock Park High School science teacher, plan to adopt a girl from China early next year

Featured Flickr Photo

Peace


(Courtesy of Emma Devine)

Family Fun Video

Okay, I'll admit this is a little off topic, but last night, my entire family had a good laugh watching this video.

(via BoingBoing)

News

Classes in Chinese Grow as the Language Rides a Wave of Popularity: The future of foreign language study in the United States might be glimpsed here at Louisa May Alcott Elementary School, in a classroom where lanterns with cherry blossoms and pandas dangle overhead, and a paper dragon, an American flag and a Chinese flag hang from the wall.

China has new bird flu outbreak: The future of foreign language study in the United States might be glimpsed here at Louisa May Alcott Elementary School, in a classroom where lanterns with cherry blossoms and pandas dangle overhead, and a paper dragon, an American flag and a Chinese flag hang from the wall.

Gold Mah-jong Sets Spark Online Debate: A Chinese manufacturer has made 3,000 mah-jong sets using pure gold. . . . The ostentatious set has sparked much debate among the online community. While affirming that people should have the freedom to buy the expensive game, net surfer Leng Dan said he doubted whether the set would be used as a gift to buy favours from policy-makers.

Drugs and bribes claims hit China's Olympic rehearsal: China has scored a sporting own goal, as its first rehearsal for Beijing's Olympic Games in 2008 descended into a farce of alleged match-rigging, bribery, unfair judging and doping scandals.