IN BRIEF (Page 18)

Wine dining experience

Beijing is hardly famous for its wine bars, which are few and often seem to be quickly renamed "New Store Coming Soon".

Chefs coming to cook, sell books at Beijing fair

A show kitchen at next week's Beijing International Book Fair will be a first for the event, featuring hourly cooking demonstrations by eight chefs with international reputations.

Stinky cheese ice cream becomes Czech summer hit

An ice cream made out of a traditional pungent cheese has become a surprise hit in a small Czech town, with happy buyers scooping all the innovative producer can make.

Home is where heart is

Even after British rehabilitation therapist Alison Kennedy's six-month-long voluntary work for a charity in Central China's Hunan province, had ended in 2004, her mind remained occupied with her "unfinished" chapter. Two years later, she returned to China from her home country to resume the social work and has lived here since.

Musicians push for viola blossomin China

Wing Ho didn't seem to mind the sound of rain outside Jinlin Guanyuan International Hotel as he taught the viola to an eight-year-old girl.

Posters of Beatles gigs on show 60 years later

On the cusp of becoming a global music phenomenon in the 1960s, one man put the Beatles on the map.

There's no stone left unturned in Italian artist's workshop

Luigi Lineri's home work-shop is covered in stones - tens of thousands of them. They resemble animal heads, human faces and other forms, and the artist and poet believes they may have been shaped by prehistoric humans.

Bourne is back

A legendary spy returns, with his full name in the film title. In Jason Bourne, the fifth action spy thriller from the Bourne series, Matt Damon - who plays the protagonist, a former CIA assassin - not only has to escape CIA hit squads but also look for hidden truths about his father.

Celebrities being used again to tempt viewers to see Hollywood flick

Hollywood is again using Chinese celebrities to spread its influence in the lucrative mainland film market. This is the second such case in August.

Four dimensions

Few people may connect the writing brush, a vital tool of ancient Chinese calligraphy, to the whiskers of a mouse.

Monk's love story core of new Monkey King movie

A chapter in the 16th-century Chinese classic, Journey to the West, depicts an exotic kingdom inhabited only by women.