It's a celebration of what the human body can do when a performer defies the force of gravity, locks a foot on a pole and extends vertically, arms akimbo and horizontal to the ground. It's an affirmation of what human intelligence and mental strength can achieve, making bulky tigers jump through burning hoops, balancing drums on the soles of one's upturned feet and even playing on them.

As a child acrobat growing up in an obscure village in Jiangsu province in the 1950s, Lu Yi did not have it easy. Getting beaten up by his teachers for every little lapse was routine.

Yao Chen talks fashion

Cenote Ikil, or "Sacred Blue Well", is one of nature's works of art. Sunshine and water pour into the limestone sinkhole as bats and swallows dash in and out. It is 60 m in diameter and 40 m deep, while the cave opening is 25 m above.

There are no direct flights between China and Mexico. Chinese visitors have to fly to Tokyo and catch AeroMexico's flight from Tokyo to Mexico, en route Tijuana. According to the Mexico Tourism Board, however, AeroMexico will launch direct flights between Shanghai and Mexico City next March. There are regular flights from Mexico City to both Merida and Cancun.

While the Mayans left many spectacular mementos of their achievements in the jungle on Yucatan Peninsula, the influence of the Spanish is usually found in cities and towns of the region, such as Merida and Izamal.

As the plane landed in Wau, in Southwest Sudan, a shudder ran down Zhang Yong's spine - charred wreckages of cars and planes lay among crumbling walls pocked with bullet holes and children rummaged through garbage dumps in search of food.

To provide some respite to his soldiers, Zhang Yong would often organize basketball and tug-war-matches for them. Mostly, he was a good listener, helping them to vent steam.

When I first moved to Beijing almost a year ago, I was greeted with several new experiences and sights that I was unaccustomed to living in Vancouver, Canada - jam-packed streets with motorized tricycles and rickshaws, street vendors selling sweet potatoes and the omnipresent squat toilet.

Boost for French luxury

When Wei Yuan from Hunan, a minor official of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), wrote The Illustrated Gazetteer of the Maritime Countries, in 1844, introducing the rest of the world to the imperial court, he became the first Chinese to advocate learning about the West.