Reel life

A prophetic article published in 1908 begged three questions: Will a Chinese athlete ever have the honor to call himself an Olympian? Will a Chinese flag bearer ever proudly lead a team to the Olympic stadium? Is it too much of a dream that China will one day host the Olympic Games?

True tragedies that inspired new TV drama

If 10,000 women saw a TV series, and half of them went for a mammogram, at least 15,000 people, including the women's families, would benefit.

IN BRIEF (Page 19)

Life Expat

New Year resolution

Yesterday in Beijing I celebrated the Lantern Festival, the 15th day of the first lunar month which marks the last day of the Chinese New Year celebration. I enjoyed eating chewy rice balls boiled in water, and tried organizing a mahjong game with my American roommates.

Successful quest for traditional China

I came to Beijing six months ago with an image of China that was based on a lot of reading about China since my early childhood, on meeting with Chinese colleagues and visitors to Israel and on very few short visits to China.

A question of the left being right - and normal

Expat blogger Ben Ross (www.benross.net) recently sparked debate with his post on the novelty of being a left-handed foreigner in a land full of right-handers. Ross, an American who lived in Fuzhou, Fujian province, recounted his experience at a Chinese Christmas party in the United States under the title, No Lefties in China?:

Life Travel

Sea of tranquility

CHENGDU: Yibin in Sichuan province is a city of many unique features. For ordinary Chinese, it is synonymous with Wuliangye, a famous liquor that has been produced for more than 600 years. Besides Wuliangye, there are another 1,000 distilleries in the city, making it China's largest liquor producer.

Care for some bamboo brew?

According to local annals, bamboo began to grow in the Bamboo Sea about 3,000 years ago. Since ancient times, bamboo has been indispensable to locals, who still use it to build houses, brew alcohol, make tools and utensils for daily use, and create musical instruments and souvenirs.

Where every day is Valentine's Day

A bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates may be simple romantic gestures, but if you really want to spoil your lover, heading to an island getaway is hard to top.

The trips, traps and trysts of my childhood

In 1966, a science fiction TV series called The Time Tunnel took audiences in the United States by storm. Three years later, under an ancient city of Central China, a real "time tunnel" was discovered, which could take one back more than 1,500 years.