Life Pulse

Swept away in my own hoop dreams

I'm living in a fantasy world. The NBA basketball season tipped off last week, which for me is reason enough to rejoice. I am an NBA junkie, and after months of going without my medicine the return of the thunderous dunks and high arcing three-balls have soothed my anxious cravings.

Reviews

Films

Greatest show on earth

Guo Shutong carefully lifts a white mouse out of an antique wooden box. He places the tiny animal on a large platform, upon which he has constructed a miniature Disney Land.

Life Pulse

The impossible dream of Beijing's new red chambers

A famous scene from Dream of the Red Chamber perfectly described China's rich-poor divide. Peasant Granny Liu is flabbergasted at the extravagance of her rich relatives' 80-crab lunch. "I could feed my family for a year with this one lunch," she exclaimed.

What's on

BEIJING

Catching jungle fever

Hidden in one of the country's few unspoiled tropical forests and encircled by overgrown bushes and dense tropical trees, the Dong'er (Eastern No 2) Patrol Station of Bawangling National Nature Reserve is a compound with a two-storey building and a small garden.

Hey, rich people! Holidays need not be so humdrum

Holidays must be boring for the uber-rich. Not just the "I-own-a-city-block" folks but the kind of rich that warps minds. If Monday nights mean sipping back gold goblets full of 1787 Chateau Lafite, I'm talking to you. I respect your bulging coffers and sympathize with your apathy towards vacation time. What's so special about days off when working means taking stock of your stocks? Here's some suggestions for any future break from browsing for countries to buy.

Life Pulse

Reviews

Play

Got your boarding pass?

Sending children to a private boarding school is not an option for most American families due to the $30,000-40,000 annual tuition fees. But hundreds of Chinese families showed up last Friday at the China World Hotel for the first-ever North American Boarding School Asia Fair held in the country.