BEIJING, Dec. 2 -- The 86-million-yuan repair project of Sakya Monastery has by far been finished 80 percent and will come into an end early next year.

    Housing substantive Buddhism scriptures and frescos, the Sakya Monastery, located in the Sakya County of Xigaze Prefecture, is honored as "Second Dunhuang". Since 2002, the monastery has been undertaking several maintenances at a huge cost.

The 86-million-yuan repair project of Sakya Monastery has by far been finished 80 percent and will come into an end early next year. (Photo: eng.tibet.cn )Photo Gallery>>>

    According to Dorje, who is responsible for the repair project, renovation of Sakya Monastery mainly focuses on protection of frescos, reinforcing of Aga soil, a kind of soil formed in the drought grassland in temperate zone, enhancing of Baima...]]> Culture Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:06:29 +0800 /articles/08/1202/165245/MTY1MjQ1gusBFMam.html
]]> Culture Tue, 02 Dec 2008 06:37:44 +0800 /articles/08/1202/165213/MTY1MjEzSI9BSjER.html Students walk past the 400-year litchi tree at Dalu Village, Lingshan County, southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nov. 14, 2008. Dalu Village is formed with nine ancient architecture groups dating back to the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. The architecture groups occupying 450,000 square meters are well preserved and protected. (Xinhua Photo) ]]> Culture Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:11:37 +0800 /articles/08/1202/165187/MTY1MTg36pYYDNkN.html Students crowded the job fair held in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, on Nov. 29, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Dec. 2 -- The global financial crisis is having a major impact on the job market. Over six million Chinese students graduated this year, and the Education Ministry has announced measures to create more jobs for them.

 Students crowded the job fair held in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, on Nov. 29, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)Photo Gallery>>>

    Graduates who choose to work in remote and rural areas for a required period will be exempt from paying college tuition fees and the government will pay off their education loans. The government will also recruit over 30,000 college graduates to teach in rural schools in western regions.

    Meanwhile, the army wi...]]> Culture Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:04:45 +0800 /articles/08/1202/165169/MTY1MTY5pH0WBwiL.html     BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Monday it would recruit 30,000 college students as rural teachers next year, a move intended to ease employment pressure in China amid the global financial downturn.

    The 2009 figure would be nearly equal to the total quotas for 2006 and 2007, which were 16,000 and 17,000, respectively, the ministry said.

    The move is part of a larger drive by the MOE that aims to channel next year's estimated 6.11 million college graduates into jobs that need filling in the country's remote, less-developed west.

    Other plans to help new grads included raising the number of places in full-time postgraduate or second-degree programs, which are choices for many Chinese college students who want to postpone job-hunting amid what is likely to be increasingly stiff competition.

    Th...]]> Culture Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:07:34 +0800 /articles/08/1202/165151/MTY1MTUxmDh1Mc5d.html

Hu Jintao's remarks, at a weekend meeting of the ruling 25-member Politburo, appeared on the front page of the party's mouthpiece, the People's Daily.

It was his bluntest message to China's 1.3 billion people, and more than 70 million party members, about damage to the world's fourth-largest economy.

The subtext of his speech was the increasing risk of social unrest caused by China's rising unemployment, as a slump in exports leads to factory closures and a fall in property sales results in abandoned construction projects.

The President, who is the head of the Communist Party, said: "In this coming period, we will starkly confront the effects of the sustained deepening of the international financial crisis and pressure as global economic growth clearly slows." He said the slowdow...]]> Culture Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:03:55 +0800 /articles/08/1201/165017/MTY1MDE30SIpjdQY.html Culture Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:28:49 +0800 /articles/08/1129/164916/MTY0OTE2vrz5B5wn.html
People try to set up a totem of the mountain deity Bainaqia during a ceremony in Yakeshi, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Nov. 28, 2008. ]]> Culture Sat, 29 Nov 2008 12:33:41 +0800 /articles/08/1129/164870/MTY0ODcwRMgu6O9v.html     KIEV, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The second Confucius Institute in Ukraine, co-founded by China's Jilin University and the National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, opened Friday on the latter's campus.

    Zhou Li, the Chinese ambassador to Ukraine, said during opening ceremonies that language offers an important tool for people to understand a country's culture, and the Confucius Institute will contribute to the development of Sino-Ukrainian relations.

    "More and more Ukrainian students are willing to learn Chinese language. The establishment of the Confucius Institute will promote mutual exchanges in the fields of education, culture and tourism," Zhou said.

    Li Yulin, vice president of the renowned Jilin University, expressed confidence that the Confucius Institute will become a bridge for the peoples of the two countries to enhance their traditional fr...]]> Culture Fri, 28 Nov 2008 21:10:15 +0800 /articles/08/1128/164796/MTY0Nzk2Fdfp4KZ5.html The 444 works are being sold to raise money for charity.

    The fair, which will be held alongside the annual Food Expo, is being co-organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, said Yang Sunxi, president of the association, at the founding ceremony of the association.

    The tea fair will showcase a variety of tea, processed tea and tea products, tea packaging, processing equipment and testing services, tea ware and the latest tea technology from all over the world.

    It will also host tea bars, tea organizations, services and publications, bringing exhibitors and buyers together from all over the region to explore business opportunities, said Yang.

    Fair highlights will include ...]]> Culture Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:08:36 +0800 /articles/08/1125/164266/MTY0MjY2jwFHd6qt.html     BEIJING, Nov. 25 -- "Night of Tibet" tourism conference was held in shanghai on Nov. 20, with Dekyi, vice chairman of TAR, Zhao Wen, vice mayor of shanghai, Wang Zhifa, deputy director of National Tourism Administration, Liu Jinping, member of Party committee of National Tourism Administration and Badro, deputy director of TAR National Tourism Administration participating in.

"Night of Tibet" tourism conference was held in shanghai on Nov. 20. (Photo: eng.tibet.cn )Photo Gallery>>>

    Tibet, the roof of the world, has become a popular tourist paradise for all the people from world, with the support from the government and efforts of people from different ethnic groups in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). The unique geographical environment, the special custom and the beautiful natural scenes are attracting more and more tourists ...]]> Culture Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:08:19 +0800 /articles/08/1125/164265/MTY0MjY1Hpqrt8kR.html     BEIJING, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government is inviting donors from Taiwan and the mainland to contribute to a new scheme to protect cultural heritages related with Taiwan.

    The State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) on Tuesday announced the five-year program would begin next month in southeastern Fujian Province, which lies across the strait from Taiwan.

    After two years of research, the SACH had identified 1,354 heritage sites in Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces as well as Beijing and Chongqing municipalities.

    They included a college hall in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, where the Kuomintang (KMT), or Chinese Nationalist Party, held its first national congress in January 1924, assembled by its founder, Sun Yat-sen. At the meeting, the KMT decided to forge the first alliance with the Communist Party of China (CPC) a...]]> Culture Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:08:13 +0800 /articles/08/1125/164219/MTY0MjE5Okrq9TCY.html A Chinese acrobat performs during an India-China cultural exchange programme in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata November 24, 2008. The programme was organised by the Indian council for cultural relations and embassy of the People's Republic of China to strengthen the cultural bonds between the two countries. [Agencies]
]]> Culture Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:25:35 +0800 /articles/08/1125/164171/MTY0MTcxOV1PXHQL.html Performers perform on the stage during the 7th Zhejiang Music and Dance Festival in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Nov. 24, 2008. More than 700 contestants will present 227 musical works, 80 percent of which are original, during the festival that kicked off on Monday. (Xinhua Photo) ]]> Culture Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:02:45 +0800 /articles/08/1125/164143/MTY0MTQzr5yhvhoH.html [1] [2] [3] [4]

    Standing in front of the Chinese calligraphy and traditional costumes exhibited in a hall at the Confucius Institute Headquarters in Beijing, Gleave said her visit to China, the first in her life, was amazing and excited.

    "Everything about China is new and interesting to me," Gleave said.

    Gleave and 109 other headteachers and education officials from Britain started their visit to China on Monday, as guests of the Chinese Hanban, or Office of Chinese Language Council International, and the British Council.

    They are here for a week-long tour especially for Chinese culture and Chinese language teaching.

    After a short stay in Beijing, the 110 delegates will be divided int...]]> Culture Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:07:39 +0800 /articles/08/1124/164052/MTY0MDUyA4lHcF8x.html     URUMQI, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region plans to provide free education for high school students, extending the current nine-year free compulsory education period by three years.

    The change will start "as soon as possible" in Hotan, Kashgar and Kizilsu Kirgiz, all in the south of Xinjiang, and expand to other areas, according to information from a meeting of the Xinjiang committee of the Communist Party of China on Sunday.

    Only 56 percent of Xinjiang's junior high school graduates go to high school, below the national level of 80.5 percent. The figure for Hotan, Kashgar and Kizilsu Kirgiz is a mere 23 percent.

    Xinjiang also plans to provide free education for students in normal universities and increase subsidies for poor college students.

    The central government ...]]> Culture Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:07:12 +0800 /articles/08/1124/164021/MTY0MDIxtMoZfqVm.html The grand performance stage is where Fujian merchants watched the regional operas.

The magnificent red Sanshan Guild Hall for Fujian fruit merchants is being restored to its early grandeur, including the enormous gilded hall, theater stage and statue of sea goddess Mazu, writes Nie Xin.Guild halls have been magnets for business, worship, socializing and the arts since ancient times in commerce-driven Shanghai, which once had more than 130 guild halls.One of the most famous and magnificent in Shanghai is the two-story red-brick Sanshan Guild Hall for fruit merchants from coastal Fujian Province in southern China.The grand hall on Zhongshan Road S. under Nanpu Bridge has been undergoing major renovations since June. Work on the nearly 100-year-old building will be completed by the end of the month. It has been open throughout the facelift.The repairs are part of conservation efforts in advance of the World Expo 2010 Shanghai, themed "B...]]> Culture Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:02:40 +0800 /articles/08/1124/164020/MTY0MDIwhzbTVLE4.html Street culture once signified disturbing nonconformity and weirdness. Today it's just another lifestyle choice, but there's not a whole lotta of skatin', rollin', dancin' or grafitti goin' on in these pristine streets, writes Yao Minji.Yang Li, 35, still remembers how difficult it was to convince his parents that he wasn't a roughneck rebel when he bought his first skateboard 16 years ago."Back then, anyone who skateboarded or did street dancing was essentially a 'little hooligan,' who wore earrings, dyed their hair and skipped school to play," he says. It was an unacceptable counterculture statement. "When we practiced skateboarding in the neighborhood or on the streets, people looked at us as if we were freaks," says Yang, who is a sales manager. He recently took his seven-year-old son to an extreme sports festival in remote Yangpu District. Back then, there were no special plazas or parks, and you could only learn by yourself or from frien...]]> Culture Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:02:36 +0800 /articles/08/1124/163936/MTYzOTM2Eogus8CL.html Culture Mon, 24 Nov 2008 01:36:13 +0800 /articles/08/1124/163926/MTYzOTI2tJy7Z556.html     LHASA, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The second-phase repair work on the Potala Palace, an iconic building in Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, is nearing completion, said an administrative official Sunday.

    Champa Kelsang, chief of the administration for Potala Palace, said "some 150 million yuan (about 22.1 million U.S. dollars) has been spent on the second phase of the repairs of the Potala Palace. Also, the schedule has it that the repair work should be finished by the year end."

    According to the official, the workers have nearly finished the following: reinforcement of sleeper walls -- a cylindrical structure used to support floor joists in the foundation of the main buildings of Potala Palace; renovation of 17 ancient buildings, including the "white palace" and the "red palace".

    Problems found include mud erosion, stone peeling away, pl...]]> Culture Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:07:27 +0800 /articles/08/1124/163925/MTYzOTI1beTW43MA.html     TAIPEI, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland delegation of cultural relics protection arrived here Sunday to attend a cross-Strait seminar on ancient architectural studies.

    The 20-member delegation, headed by Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH), was the highest level of mainland relics delegations to visit the island for more than 10 years.

    Composed of officials and scholars, it was also the biggest in number.

    The seminar, slated for Nov. 25 to 26, is organized by the Taiwan-based Sheen Chuen-Chi Cultural and Educational Foundation and the Taiwan University of Arts.

    Shan is expected to address the seminar on architectural heritage protection. And experts from across the Taiwan Strait will discuss issues including ancient village investigation, ancient architecture maintenanc...]]> Culture Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:07:23 +0800 /articles/08/1122/163747/MTYzNzQ3iyAWRIML.html Pan Qiuai, 56, demonstrates her paper-cutting work in her residence in Yanhu District of Yuncheng City, north China's Shanxi Province, Nov. 20, 2008. The work, the result of her one month's effort, comprising 100 bulls in different postures, is a token of her good wish for the coming year, the Year of Ox in Chinese lunar calendar. (Xinhua Photo/Xue Jun)Photo Gallery>>>

Emperor Guangxu

    By Xinhua writers Yuan Ye, Wang Aihua     

    BEIJING, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- For Jin Zhenghao, this November has been the most stressful month in his 25 years of life.

    A financial engineering major at Xiamen University in southeast China's Fujian Province, Jin is desperately trying to find a job before graduating in June 2009.

    November is when the school gave him time to market himself to potential employers. Jin has sent resumes to nearly 30 companies, resulting in five interviews. So far, he has received no job offers.

    Now, Jin is paying 2,000 yuan (293 U.S. dollars) a month to live in Shanghai, the country's financial hub, in hopes of securing more interviews.

    "Companies either have few job vacancies or simply don't want ne...]]> Culture Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:06:03 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163505/MTYzNTA1hbGXLRnu.html
A white tiger cub and lion cub play together at Changzhou Zoo in Jiangsu Province. Two pairs of the cat different species living in the same cage have attracted hoards of visitors lately.]]> Culture Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:59:04 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163502/MTYzNTAyR65LJRC1.html
]]> Culture Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:44:38 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163390/MTYzMzkwstdY34KO.html Culture Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:37:10 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163351/MTYzMzUxECNUvbSt.html Culture Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:39:35 +0800 /articles/08/1119/163280/MTYzMjgwqT02e6rw.html
]]> Culture Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:53:59 +0800 /articles/08/1119/163214/MTYzMjE0B8HZdCgH.html People view fruits produced in southeast China's Taiwan during the 2008 Taiwan Farm Produce Exhibition in Zhangzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, Nov. 18, 2008. The 10th Cross-Straits Flower Exhibition and the 2008 Taiwan Farm Produce Exhibition were held here on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Jiang Kehong)
]]> Culture Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:29:53 +0800 /articles/08/1119/163186/MTYzMTg29QHfANpi.html Culture Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:06:10 +0800 /articles/08/1119/163157/MTYzMTU3h7dxCk0w.html The bronze horse was found recently in a tomb from the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The dynasty dates back around 16-hundred years. The life-sized horse wears a spirited expression.

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    Zhong Nanshan, the leading doctor in treating the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002, said he was in favor of the Ministry of Education's recent health campaign.

    It requires schools to organize daily runs for students from Oct. 26 until the end of next April. Primary schoolchildren must run 1 km per day, junior high school students 1.5 km, and senior high and college/university students 2 km.

    "I've been jogging three or four times a week in the past decades. It has become sort of a habit. Look at me, I'm 72 and still in very good shape," Zhong said.

    Debate over the campaign has been all over newspapers and websites, wit...]]> Culture Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:07:19 +0800 /articles/08/1119/163110/MTYzMTEwZMU9K2pA.html     BEIJING, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- There are still a record number of applicants taking the nationwide government recruitment exam even though around 26 percent who signed up, dropped out.

    775,000 people will take written examinations on Nov. 30. That's 130,000 more applicants than last year, Yang Shiqiu, Vice Minister of the Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) said on Tuesday.

    Those who pass, will go through a second-round of tests and interviews before March 15, 2009, to compete for 13,500 civil service jobs

    Initially, 1.05 million people signed up to take the exam but the MOHRSS said some either missed the confirmation date or didn't pay the exam fee.

    Yang said a civil servant job is so appealing because it comes with a good reputation, social status, career development path and welfare system.

   ...]]> Culture Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:07:15 +0800 /articles/08/1118/163018/MTYzMDE42edlzbxr.html A site of the "Xing Tai" dating to the Qin Dynasty (221 BC ]]> Culture Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:02:43 +0800