Global Village

Celebration of light

The large Indian community of Guangzhou has just celebrated Diwali (a Sanskrit word meaning "row of lamps"), one of the biggest festivals of Hindus. It is celebrated for five continuous days, with the third day being the main "Festival of Lights". The auspicious day is decided by the moon position and according to the Hindu calendar. Amavasya, or the "no moon day", is considered the perfect day.

Indian expats expressed their happiness by lighting earthen diyas (lamps), decorating the houses, bursting firecrackers and inviting friends/relatives to their homes for partaking in a sumptuous feast. Many Diwali parties were held, one especially for children involving firecrackers.

Local authorities gave special permission for the fireworks party.

Chinese language a loss

Expats who cannot speak Chinese take heart - a recent article in The Economist says learning Chinese is a waste of time.

"In a few decades China may indeed overtake America as the world's top economic power. Will Britons who make the effort to learn its language be rewarded with better careers? Barring some kind of sea change in global language learning, the answer will almost always be no," the report said. "Anecdotal evidence suggests that there is little call for Britons with Mandarin. One reason is that many Chinese already speak reasonable English."

Night at the movies

Kunming, in Yunnan Province, is in the middle of hosting the 2007 BigScreen International Film Festival, featuring 94 films from more than 30 countries. This year's festival will add momentum to Kunming's emergence as one of China's major movie centers.

This fifth installment of the BigScreen film festival series will last five days and will highlight films from around the globe, including feature-length films, short films, documentaries and video installations.

Special guests include jurors Marco Ceresa, organizer of Venice Film Festival, and Wang Yao, screenwriter of Baby in Love, Returning Home and Gourmet of Poison.

AND ANOTHER THING...

The Forbidden City is a well-known destination for Beijing expats who lead groups of visiting friends. One American told Expat Life he has visited the world's largest palace five times, and says renovations are well underway. The final restoration will be completed by 2020 to celebrate the 600th anniversary of its original completion.

If you think Beijing bricklayers are busy now, consider the scale of construction back in the early 1400s. More than one million workers, including 100,000 artisans, were involved. Construction started in 1406 and took 14 years. It is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world, and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987.

(China Daily 11/30/2007 page19)