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.

Forbidden dreams

Composer Guo Wenjing says the most challenging part he created for the original ballet The Peony Pavilion are the two pas de deux between the leading female role Du Liniang and her lover Liu Mengmei. One is the first scene in Act I in which the lovers embrace in the dream. The other is the last scene of the ballet in which the ghost of Du makes love with the living Liu.

China-South Africa Friendship

'Rainbow nation' offers tourism kaleidoscope

South Africa has long been a popular tourist destination, alluring visitors with an exotic blend of thundering African drums, wild animals roaming natural reserves, small tranquil towns and big modern cities.

Airborne adventures abound

The hot interior of South Africa offers thermals on which many paragliders have made record-breaking distance flights, particularly in the northern Cape.