“Changing Faces” (变脸) is a traditional Chinese folk art. It consists of an artist swiftly changing masks, without the spectator noticing it. The designers of the Beijing pavilion for the World Expo Shanghai 2010 decided to take this concept one step further and apply it to their building.
One more month, and the World Expo Shanghai 2010 will open its doors. China’s actual meteorological situation reminds us, that weather has always been a rather unpredictable phenomenon. However, it is a fair prediction to say, that the World Expo will experience some hot and busy days.
To ease the visitors’ journey, the World Expo is turning to water mist. A system of outdoor tiny water mist sprinklers will be installed on strategic sites of the expo area. The evaporation of the water mist has an endothermic effect, which results in a drop of temperature.
“I drive happily!” This could, in the near future, be the slogan of a car commercial, since the announcement by Ford of an agreement to sell Volvo to Geely (吉利). Volvo means “I drive”, “I move” in Latin and Geely’s Chinese name means “happy”, “auspicious”.
As noted in Ford’s official announcement, “the sale is expected to close in the third quarter of 2010, and is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of applicable regulatory approvals.” But the fact, that both Li Yizhong (李毅中), China’s minister of industry and information technology and Maud Olofsson, Sweden’s deputy prime minister and minister for enterprise and energy were present at the signing ceremony in Gothenburg is a sign that the deal is being supported both in Beijing and Stockholm.
What to do when rain is much needed, but not falling? In traditional societies, people would pray the gods. In progress- and technology-minded contemporary China, the answer is to turn to man’s astuteness and self create what the sky isn’t providing. Both methods have their shortcomings and limitations.
In fighting southwestern China’s current drought, the local meteorological departments all rely on their rain provoking rockets and on the army’s planes. This is no miracle solution. It can only help bringing down the water from already existing clouds or expand the scope and volume of expected rainfalls. It means waiting for days for the right conditions.
Google finally decided about the future of its Chinese search activities. Users visiting the mainland domain (Google.cn) are now being redirected to the Hong Kong domain (Google.com.hk). The reason being that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (中華人民共和國 香港特別行政區) doesn’t have the same filtering of search results requirements as the mainland authorities do.
The very likely next step is that Google.com.hk may be blocked in the mainland. And Google knows this very well: “We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services.”
It is called the AC313 and it is China’s newest aviation product. According to Chinese news sites, the large-scale helicopter made by Aviation Industry Corporation of China (中国航空工业集团公司) fills a gap in the country’s homemade offer. The AC313 took its first flight on the 18. March in Jingdezhen (景德镇), Jiangxi province (江西).
“Better city, better life” is the Shanghai 2010 World Exposition motto. In accordance with it, one of the city’s airport becomes bigger, more convenient and more energy efficient.
Shanghai Hongqiao Airport (上海红桥机场)’s new Terminal No. 2 as well as a second runway officially opened on March 16. Hongqiao is the city’s second airport after Pudong International airport (浦东国际机场). It is mainly a big hub for inland flights. The new construction will increase the airport’s flight capacity by 60%. It will also improve the passengers’ comfort and diminish queuing time. Furthermore it is well connected to the city’s public transportation network with a new subway station.
“I like both oil painting and Chinese ink and wash painting. But if one uses the oil painting criteria to appreciate Chinese ink and wash painting, then I am afraid things will go wrong.” These words are from Yang Jiechi (杨洁篪), China’s minister of foreign affairs. Yang used this analogy while answering a question about mutual understanding between China and the West by a US journalist.
In China, “oil painting” is used as a synonym for Western style painting, since this technique wasn’t known in China before it was introduced to the country by representatives from the West. An ongoing exposition at Beijing’s Capital Museum (首都博物馆) entitled “Matteo Ricci: An Ambassador of Sino-Western Science, Technology and Culture” is dedicated to the man who, among other things, first brought the oil painting technique to China during the sixteenth century.
The Year of the Tiger (虎年) is now more than a week old; but major Chinese websites still wear the auspicious red and yellow colours, sign that the festivities are not over yet. The country is still in the return phase of its annual migration.
Every year on new year’s eve the Chinese Central Television (中央电视台) broadcasts a special live New Year’s Evening (春晚) program. For many, watching this program with the whole family has become part of the new year celebrations. It consists of a series of humorous sketches, performances by famous pop singers, acrobatics (杂技); etc.
With the massive popularization of the internet, this one-time event has now been multiplied in a series of small sequences that live on and can be viewed and reviewed on the net.
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