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.

Life Health

All strain, no gain?

For some time now, core stability training has been a fitness-industry panacea. Without it, we are told, you risk poor posture, lower back pain, mediocre sports performance and a less than flat stomach.

It boils down to this: eggs really are good for you

From a health perspective, eggs have been given a significant reprieve in recent years. Although the yolk contains cholesterol, it is now known that cholesterol already in food contributes very little to the levels inside your body, and it is the cholesterol made inside your body from saturated fat (found in fatty meat, full dairy products and processed food) that you really need to worry about.

Net addicts need help from school and home

China's young Internet addicts need consistent help from family, school and society to overcome their problems, according to doctors and experts at a recent conference in Beijing.

Life Culture

A princess re-born

Giacomo Puccini was suffering from throat cancer as he tried to complete his last masterpiece, Turandot, in 1924. The composition of a final duet between Calaf and Turandot remained pending when he died after surgery in Brussels. Puccini's colleague, Franco Alfano, completed the duet as well as a finale, using Puccini's notes and sketches. This full-length version is the one that has been performed worldwide ever since the opera premiered in 1926, two years after Puccini's death.

Shanghai Opera set to shine at the Egg Shell

Mariinsky Theater raised the curtain of the opera house of China's National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) last December and the Theater of the Capital of Toulouse will wrap up the opening season of the "Egg Shell" in April. But which is the home company that now holds court at the splendid new theater? Could it be the Central Opera Theater of China? No. It is the Shanghai Opera House.

Life Culture

Work remains Wang's reward

Slumped over in an orange, velvety sofa at a teahouse in Beijing's Sanlitun area, Wang Xiaoshuai appears both relaxed and spirited. The man, who is in his early 40s, is one of China's most active directors.