Finding the salts of life

China made strides towards becoming a healthier nation last Tuesday, when the George Institute for International Health officially opened its Beijing branch. The opening is a significant landmark in the development of research and capacity building for tackling China's health priorities. And it provides new hope for the treatment of diseases such as hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease, obesity, diabetes and injury.

IN BRIEF (Page 19)

Over exposure

BERLIN: Almost everyone has come into contact with antibiotics whether in tablet, syrup or ointment form. Antibiotics have been used to fight bacterial infections for more than 70 years. Serious diseases, such as tuberculosis or cholera, which 100 years ago were fatal for humans, no longer pose the threat they once did. But in many cases patients fail to use antibiotics properly.

Life Movie

Bumbling Brits are full of Beans

LONDON: Mr Bean is one of the most successful British cultural exports ever. Since the first Bean TV show was broadcast in 1990, its 14 half-hour programs have been sold to more than 200 TV territories worldwide and shown on more than 50 airlines. The latest Bean film, Mr Bean's Holiday, is a global smash hit, No 1 in 21 countries and top of the international box office.

Much ado about Maggie

Award-winning Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle believes it is impossible to make Maggie Cheung look unattractive on the wide screen. The 43-year-old actress is a visual delight off-screen too.

Life Expat

Home away from home

The excitement of change and a yearning for the exotic is what brings many people to China. But even the most worldly wanderers can be overwhelmed by the smorgasbord of new experiences, and this is when a little creature comfort comes to the rescue.

Traditional Tom in touch with city's hutong heritage

Tom Luckock's beautifully restored Qing Dynasty courtyard home instantly betrays his passion for siheyuan, the disappearing style of traditional housing symbolic of Beijing's heritage.

Global village

Beijing

Mixing Ming furniture with Siri's Norwegian wood

SHANGHAI: You can meet people from all corners of the earth in Shanghai, but when you meet an interior designer who was born in the United States, raised in Norway, trained in Switzerland, worked in London, and who also had a full-blooded Cherokee Indian for a great grandmother, you know you have met someone against the grain.

Life Travel