Scorching heat, drenching plum rains, characterize Nanchang

I told myself I would be finally rid of this weather as I buried myself in preparations for the 1983 college entrance examination, in the simmering heat of July.

Life Culture

Impact is imminent

Joan Chen. Gong Li. Zhang Ziyi. Liu Yifei? The starlet who co-starred with Jet Li and Jackie Chan in The Forbidden Kingdom may just be China's next big thing. Thanks to her performance in the kungfu blockbuster, the 20-year-old has just joined the William Morris Agency (WMA), the prestigious talent and literary agency with past like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and Katharine Hepburn. Liu is one of the agency's only two Chinese actresses; the other is Zhang Ziyi.

Rebuilding opera's famous chamber

"The younger sister Lin falls from the sky, like a light cloud just flying from the back of the mountain." It is probably one of the most popular arias from the Yueju Opera, A Dream of the Red Chamber.

MTV granted Games exclusive

MTV Networks China has received exclusive landing rights into the Beijing Olympic Village at the Beijing Olympics 2008. Approved by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), MTV China will be the only music television channel to broadcast over the private Olympic CATV network to all of the Olympic related competition venues and hotels from June 24, 2008.

Life Health

Quicken the tempo

The idea that listening to music during exercise can boost motivation is nothing new, but organizers of the inaugural Run to the Beat half marathon, happening in London this October, are taking the notion one step further, by providing carefully selected music at 16 points along the event's 13-mile route.

IN BRIEF (Page 19)

Life Culture

Heady mix of love, death, rebirth

The Peony Pavilion is a 16th-century Chinese drama about love, death, and resurrection, and arguably the most famous of all Kunqu operas written by Tang Xianzu (1550-1616).

Cao's failed favorite gets operatic overhaul

Sunrise (Ri Chu), The Thunderstorm (Lei Yu) and The Family (Jia) are the most famous works of the late playwright Cao Yu (1910-1996), but Cao himself once said The Peking Man (Beijing Ren) is the one he was most satisfied with.

Heartstrings and enchantment from the Norwegian woods

A leafy trail winds through the Norwegian woods to a secluded section of grassland, which shimmers in the moonlight. On this patch of paradise, a piano and violin release haunting sounds. This romantic scene will be one of many staged in the Great Hall of the People on Friday by Secret Garden.