First it was that belated Chinese Lunar New Year's greeting.
On Jan 29, The Sunday Times reported that the Japanese embassy in Britain had been paying £10,000 ($12,480) a month to Henry Jackson Society, a registered charity, to encourage British politicians and journalists to oppose China's foreign policy. One such opposition came from Britain's former foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind.
Even before she embarked on what turned out to be a controversial visit to the White House, British Prime Minister Theresa May said she planned an early trip to China that would focus on boosting trade.
A series of recent local regulations targeting civil servants has drawn huge media attention. Kaili, a city in Southwest China's Guizhou province, issued a regulation on banquets which, among other things, says officials can hold a banquet for only their "first marriage".
Recently, Zhang Yajun received three parcels in one day; the last to arrive contained a feeding bottle for the baby she is expecting soon.
After Ma Zhongyan used an app on her phone to arrange for waste paper and bottles to be collected, all she had to do was wait for the company's truck to arrive.
For the past two Spring Festivals, psychotherapist Lu De's holidays have been different from most.
As the burners below 100 griddle plates roared into action, 100 bakers waited eagerly for the starting gong. Then came the cry: "Rolling pins ready! Spatulas ready! One, two, three, go!"
Two years ago, a 50-square-meter room in Sandefan village of Jinan, the capital city of East China's Shandong province, was rarely visited by local residents.
Beating out a rapid rhythm with a pair of bamboo clappers, Kong Fanxi spoke quickly as he related a Confucian story in the dialect used by residents of Qufu, a city in Shandong province that is famous as the birthplace of Confucius.
Seeing is believing. Two things that happened at Qufu East railway station during my recent visit to Qufu, Shandong province, impressed upon me how deeply the city and its people have been influenced by the teachings of Confucius, the city's best-known son and China's most-famous ancient sage.
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