A diplomat, as once defined by US writer Caskie Stinnett, "is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip". Stinnett was writing in the mid-20th century, when exchanges between governments still relied on cadres of professionals based in each other's capitals and communicating with home via telegram, or dispatches hand-carried by couriers and consigned to diplomatic bags.
Hong Kong and overseas companies have upped the stakes in the race for a slice of the Chinese mainland's robust life insurance market, while mainland clients continue to flock to the city to snap up insurance policies.
The expected launch later this year of the Bond Connect - the third securities trading link between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland - represents a pleasing gift for the city, which is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its return to the motherland.
A fight over the use of a basketball court in Luoyang, Henan province, between young basketball players and a group of elderly dancers has highlighted problems that exist with urban management in Chinese cities.
Qiang Zi (not his real name) has to walk two hours to school in the mountain village of Xinhuang, a county in Hunan province. But the 7-year-old student enjoys school - and the free lunch he receives there.
From 2011, the year it was established, to December, the Free Lunch for Children Foundation raised 253 million yuan ($37 million). It has spent 169 million yuan to provide meals for 190,000 children in China's rural areas, in addition to funding infrastructure developments and resources.
"Add more sugar, please," 12-year-old Yu Haiyan said to a vendor who sells snacks during the noon break at her school in Baoshan village, Gansu province.
Editor's note: In the run-up to the 19th Communist Party of China National Congress, China Daily sent six reporters to villages nationwide to live for a month and take a look at how people are working under China's poverty eradication plan.
Intro: China Daily compared the questions in the English section of the gaokao four decades ago with those asked last year. Here is a selection. See if you can answer them correctly, and try to guess those that appeared in the 1977 test.
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Raymond Zhou
Op Rana
Berlin Fang
Zhu Yuan
Huang Xiangyang
Chen Weihua
