Climber admits she got a lift

Trek up Qomolangma started with helicopter flight to avoid avalanche zone

Around China

IN BRIEF (Page 2)

Learning China's other languages

Chinese is becoming a second language of choice in schools throughout the world as the country's economy rises - but not everyone is interested in learning Pu-tonghua or even dialects.

Dictionaries define what cultures create

Six years that shaped a life

Visitors to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford can now admire what is hailed as the biggest private collection of modern Chinese art in the West. The art historian Michael Sullivan, who died last year aged 96, spent a lifetime building the collection and bequeathed it to the museum after his death.

World Scene

Mandarin for money or the joy of learning

A response to place

The first thing one notices on entering the Beijing apartment of artist Niamh Cunningham is the number of canvases covering almost every inch of wall space. A closer look shows an equally impressive variety of styles and subject matter - the dark reds and black silhouettes of her subway series, thickly applied impasto oils that form rugged crags on a huge mountainscape, and the soft, seemingly melting lines of her Transparent Milk portraits, inspired by the work of the contemporary Chinese artist Zheng Delong.

Out and about

He's rolling in dough

Art of enlightenment

As dusk settled in on the night of May 6, a lecture hall at the University of Sydney was full with an audience eager for insight.

Sips of ningxia

When Chinese people hear a mention of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, they think of wolfberry, good lamb and then, barren saline and alkaline soil. But in recent years, the area has become known for one more specialty: Chinese wine.

Pistolera promises the big guns of Mexican cuisine

Guest chef Kojima is artist in disguise

Swan lake mans up

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake gives the classic ballet new wings, propelled by an injection of testosterone.

Crowning a new King Lear

Lighting designer hopes to shine on China tour

Rural revelry

Umbria offers some of the best of the Italian countryside. Wang Shanshan discovers many delights this fertile land produces.

Browsing in homegrown boutiques near Venice's Grand Canal

Nadal and Djokovic set up final scorcher

The belated appearance of the blazing sun at what had been a cold and chilly French Open until Friday allowed Rafa Nadal to scorch past Andy Murray and set up a hotly-anticipated final with Novak Djokovic.

Black Friday as World Cup casualties mount

Score board

IN BRIEF (Page 11)

FIFA finds a field of dreams in China

Images of a beaming FIFA president Sepp Blatter and a small blue certificate in the Chinese city of Zibo proclaim it as the birthplace of soccer, much to the chagrin of English experts.

Brazil has changed, but Cup quandaries have not