Am I addicted to smartphone?

I think my iPhone has destroyed my brain. I really do. I used to listen in meetings; now I browse the Internet. I don't text people using proper sentences anymore; I use ugly contractions such as "def" or "prob", and that's when I'm not resorting to smiley faces and winks.

Legacy listing

Both northern China and South Korea developed ancient heating systems, but China won't follow its neighbor in applying for a UNESCO listing. Sun Yuanqing and Chen Jie find out why.

Show teases your sight and smell

The exhibition is a feast for both the eyes and the nose. A pleasant fragrance fills the exhibition hall.

Exquisite ceramic, bronze and silk

Jiangxi province is showcasing some of its most precious cultural relics at the Capital Museum in Beijing for the first time. Almost half of the 160 items are first-class national treasures. They include bronze wares, ceramics, jade wares, silks, calligraphy and paintings.

Slam dunk for tourism

Beijing tourism chiefs recently attended a basketball game in the United States as part of a bid to lure more tourists to the Chinese capital.

Best of Beijing

There are many ways to tour the Chinese capital. A better approach is to savor it like a stick of candied haws, one haw at a time and with long intervals to relish the flavor, rather than like a big apple that you bite off simply because it's good for you and will keep the doctor away.

Riding free

He has cycled across most of China and plans to keep traveling anywhere he can reach on two wheels. Deng Zhangyu chats to a man who lives by the seat of his bicycle.

Living in a haze

With smog dominating our life and headlines, sales of air purifiers and masks are flying off the shelves. Liu Zhihua explores how people cope with the pollution.

IN BRIEF (Page 22)

Encore for a teacher

It's a Friday afternoon and Helen Boyle is waiting impatiently in a small office at a Beijing primary school for her team of volunteers.

Entrepreneurs watch their dreams fly

For almost a decade, they were just three young talents chasing their vague dreams in Beijing. Now they are renowned entrepreneurs running their own company in their hometown.

Students score trip of a lifetime

For underprivileged American students who have never left North America, traveling more than 10,000 kilometers from home may seem like a far-fetched dream. But 10 top students from Oakland, California, learned earlier this month that they will be going to China this summer, for free.