Crowds expected at Sydney celebrations

SYDNEY - Twenty-two years ago a number of local businesses, tourists and expats in Sydney's Chinatown wanted to find a way to wish one another good fortune and celebrate the Lunar New Year. With a lot of help and hard work from community organizers, a very modest Sydney Spring Festival was born tucked away in one small street in the inner city suburb of Haymarket.

IN BRIEF (Page 4)

Encouraging words

It is Wednesday evening and Sarah Evans' friends are enjoying a drink at a pub but the 25-year-old, who works for a hedge fund company in the City of London, does not join them because she is at her weekly Mandarin class.

It's a rap: Teacher finds method in music

Mandarin can be a massive challenge for people trying to pick it up as a second language, but a London teacher has introduced a novel way to teach it - by rapping in Chinese to make classes memorable and fun.

Children make early start on China classes as schools launch lessons

In a bright new classroom on the second floor of a West London building, Christie counts to 10 confidently and then identifies parts of the body when prompted by her teacher.

Britain once again shows it is at US' beck and call

Despite some of them having conflicting territorial claims, countries in the region have been working hard to ensure peace and stability are maintained in the South China Sea, through which a third of global maritime trade passes, and to this effect they recently reached agreement on a framework for a code of conduct in the waters on the basis of consultation and consensus.

Trump proposes fresh salvo of tariffs in his war for spoils

It is yet to be seen whether US President Donald Trump's threat of a "reciprocal tax" on goods imported from countries that levy tariffs on US products was just a reiteration of his campaign trail slogans as some observers believe.

Foxconn's planned IPO reflects vitality of China's real economy

THE CHINA SECURITIES REGULATORY COMMISSION disclosed the prospectus of Foxconn Industrial Internet Company, a subsidiary of the Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, on its official website on Friday. Beijing News comments:

Time to close underground blood market

CHINA WILL halt its "mutual aid blood donation", except in some far-flung areas, by the end of March. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Tuesday:

No ice, no problem Qomolangma is still the highest peak

SOME MEDIA REPORTS have suggested China has given up its previous data about Qomolangma's height of 8,844.43 meters and adopted the data of Nepal that measures the height of the mountain as 8,848.13 meters. However, the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation has responded that China will adhere to its own data. Beijing News comments:

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How do we get from Pyeongchang to peace?

After some two years of rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the reprieve brought by the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in the Republic of Korea is more than welcome. However, complacency is not an option.