At least 23 people are reported to have died when a makeshift church building collapsed in eastern Nepal.

At least another 60 people were injured in the incident, in the town of Dharan, about 400km (240 miles) south-east of the capital, Kathmandu.

Police official Arjun Khadka told the AP news agency the victims had been staying in the building while they attended a Christian conference.

Nepal's home ministry said a temporary wall had collapsed on them.

Ministry spokesman Ekmani Nepal told the AFP news agency 23 people had been killed instantly and around 60 were injured.

Some of the victims are believed to have been children.

Police inspector Mohan Bikram Dahal told AFP the victims were on the ground floor of the temporary building preparing to go to sleep when the collapse happened.

"The wall was made of bamboo and it could not withstand the weight of the people in the church," he said.

More than 1,500 people are thought to have been inside the building at the time.

KUNMING, July 30 (Xinhua) – Hillary Callan, an anthropologist from London, found herself drinking in the landscape of the Keyi village, the home of 712 Axi people, a branch of the Yi ethnic group.

The village, a three-hour drive from Kunming, capital of southwestern Yunnan Province, is believed by local residents to be the birthplace of the Axi culture.

Legend says it is the source of an epic poem telling the beginning of the Axi people. The poem, passed down from generation-to-generation, refers the village as "an auspicious place".

What struck Callan was a folk dance named "Axi Tiaoyue" or "Axi dance under moonlight", traditionally performed to celebrate harvest and victory.

"It looks fantastic and sounds joyful. I like their music, costume and dance. It is traditional and creative," she said.

Together with Callan were dozens of foreign anthropologists who joined more than 3,000 scholars to participate in the ongoing 16th World Congress of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES) due to close on Friday.

Responding to the curiosity of foreign scholars in China's ethnic culture, the congress has arranged five fieldtrips during the five-day event to ethnic villages nearby Kunming.

IUAES President Luis Alberto Vargas told Xinhua that he found the work made by the Chinese government in relation to the minorities was "something to be known world over".

"Many countries have the same situation as China does. That is a country having multi-nationalities. But not all countries have learned to handle this situation. The way that China is doing is just one of several possibilities. I think it has to be known to the world because it's getting good results," he said.

Many participants enjoyed the change of pace the fieldtrips offered.

"It's good to see ethnic villages like Keyi and their cultural heritage are open to the national public and the international public," Callan said.

Yi, a modern ethnic group mainly living in China, Vietnam and Thailand, has a population of about eight million. It is the seventh largest of China’s 55 ethnic minority groups. Its branch Axi were scattered in several counties and cities of Yunnan province, with a total population of more than 100,000.

Australian scholar Andrew McWilliams from the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies also greed that the Axi Tiaoyue Dance was one of their favorites from their Wednesday trip.

"It's amazing, and dances like that are things I have never seen before in anywhere else," said McWilliams.

The dance represented the essence of the Axi culture, such as primitive beliefs, songs, musical instruments, traditional costumes and religious rites. It has been performed in more than ten countries and regions, including the United States, Japan, Austria, Poland, North Korea and Russia.

Callan was also impressed by the way the ethnic community works together with local government for its prosperity.

"They use their own cultural heritages and resources for tourism and economic and social development. The village shows enormous potential of tourism development," she said.

Another anthropologist from Chiangwai University in Thailand, Chukiat Chaiboonsvi, thought the village’s traditional culture is "under proper protection".

“It looks very likely for the village to protect the culture and pass it to the next generation. The village is a good example of achieving economic development while at the same time protecting the precious culture," he said.

"I think the Chinese government has always been trying to support and take care of ethnic minorities. It's difficult and it takes time, but so long as the government keeps going on, it will have good results."

People from countries outside China are rarely aware of various ethnic groups in China or the government's policies towards ethnic groups, according to experts on the trip interviewed by Xinhua.

Shivendra Kumar Kashyap, an anthropologist from G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in India, said he had no idea of China’s ethnic groups until he visited the National Museum in Yunnan this time.

"In the museum, I got to know all the ethnic minorities in China, including how they survive and how they preserve their own culture," he said.

Callan said she would encourage young people from western countries to come and explore by themselves the real China.

"China is absolutely one of the most interesting parts of the world for anthropologists. I wish I could stay longer to learn in greater depth about this country," she said.
from xinhua

One day a peasant took his good hazel stick out of the corner and said to his wife, "Trina, I am going across country, and shall not return for three days. If during that time the cattle dealer should happen to call and want to buy our three cows, you may strike a bargain at once, but not unless you can get two hundred talers for them, nothing less, do you hear."

"In God's name, just go in peace," answered the woman, "I will manage that."

"You, indeed," said the man. "You once fell on your head when you were a little child, and that affects you even now. But let me tell you this, if you do anything foolish, I will make your back black and blue, and not with paint, I assure you, but with the stick which I have in my hand. And the coloring shall last a whole year. You may rely on that." Having said that, the man went on his way.

The next morning the cattle dealer came, and the woman had no need to say many words to him. When he had seen the cows and heard the price, he said, "I am quite willing to give that. Honestly speaking, they are worth it. I will take the animals away with me at once."

He unfastened their chains and drove them out of the stall, but just as he was going out of the farmyard gate, the woman clutched him by the sleeve and said, "You must give me the two hundred talers now, or I cannot let the cows go."

"Right," answered the man, "but I have forgotten to buckle on my money belt. Have no fear, however, you shall have security until I pay. I will take two cows with me and leave one, so you will have good collateral."

The woman saw the wisdom of this, and let the man go away with the cows, and thought to herself, "How pleased Hans will be when he finds how cleverly I have managed."

The peasant came home on the third day as he had said he would, and at once inquired if the cows were sold. "Yes, indeed, dear Hans," answered the woman, "and as you said, for two hundred talers. They are scarcely worth so much, but the man took them without making any objection."

"Where is the money?" asked the peasant. "Oh, I have not got the money," replied the woman. "He had happened to forget his money belt, but he will soon bring it, and he left good security behind him."

"What kind of security?" asked the man.

"One of the three cows, which he shall not have until he has paid for the other two. I have managed very cunningly, for I have kept the smallest, which eats the least."

The man was enraged and lifted up his stick, and was just going to give her the beating he had promised her, when suddenly he lowered the stick and said, "You are the stupidest goose that ever waddled on God's earth, but I am sorry for you. I will go out into the highway and wait for three days to see if I find anyone who is still stupider than you. If I succeed in doing so, you shall go free, but if I do not find him, you shall receive your well-deserved reward without any discount."

He went out into the great highway, sat down on a stone, and waited for what would come along. Then he saw a farm wagon coming towards him, and a woman was standing upright in the middle of it, instead of sitting on the bundle of straw which was lying beside her, or walking near the oxen and leading them.

The man thought to himself, "That is certainly one of the kind I am in search of," and jumped up and ran back and forth in front of the wagon like one who is not in his right mind.

"What do you want, my friend?" said the woman to him. "I don't know you, where do you come from?"

"I have fallen down from heaven," replied the man, "and don't know how to get back again. Couldn't you drive me up?"

"No," said the woman, "I don't know the way. But if you come from heaven you can surely tell me how my husband is, who has been there these three years. You must have seen him."

"Oh, yes, I have seen him, but not everyone can get on well. He herds sheep, and these creatures give him a great deal to do. They run up the mountains and lose their way in the wilderness, and he has to run after them and drive them together again. His clothes are all torn to pieces too, and will soon fall off his body. There is no tailor there, for Saint Peter won't let any of them in, as you know by the story."

"Who would have thought it?" cried the woman. "I tell you what. I will fetch his Sunday coat which is still hanging at home in the cupboard. He can wear that and look respectable. You will be so kind as to take it with you."

"That won't be possible," answered the peasant. "People are not allowed to take clothes into heaven. They are taken away at the gate."

"Then listen to me," said the woman. "I sold my good wheat yesterday and got a lot of money for it. I will send that to him. If you hide the purse in your pocket, no one will know that you have it."

"If you can't manage it any other way," said the peasant, "I will do you that favor."

"Just sit still where you are," said she, "and I will drive home and fetch the purse. I shall soon be back again. I do not sit down on the bundle of straw, but stand up in the wagon, because it makes it lighter for the cattle."

She drove her oxen away, and the peasant thought, "That woman has a perfect talent for folly. If she really brings the money, my wife may think herself fortunate, for she will get no beating."

It was not long before she came in a great hurry with the money, and with her own hands put it in his pocket. Before she went away, she thanked him again a thousand times for his courtesy.

When the woman got home again, she found her son who had come in from the field. She told him what unexpected things had befallen her, and then added, "I am truly delighted at having found an opportunity of sending something to my poor husband. Who would ever have imagined that he could be suffering for want of anything up in heaven?"

The son was full of astonishment. "Mother," said he, it is not every day that a man comes from heaven in this way. I will go out immediately, and see if he is still to be found, he must tell me what it is like up there, and how the work is done.

He saddled the horse and rode off with all speed. He found the peasant who was sitting under a willow tree, and was about to count the money in the purse. "Have you seen the man who has come from heaven?" cried the youth to him.

"Yes," answered the peasant, "he has set out on his way back there, and has gone up that hill, from whence it will be rather nearer. You could still catch him up, if you ride fast."

"Alas," said the youth, "I have been doing tiring work all day, and the ride here has completely worn me out. You know the man. Be so kind as to get on my horse, and go and persuade him to come here."

"Aha," thought the peasant. "Here is another who has no wick in his lamp."

"Why should I not do you this favor?" said he, and mounted the horse and rode off at a quick trot. The youth remained sitting there until night fell, but the peasant never came back.

"The man from heaven must certainly have been in a great hurry, and would not turn back," thought he, "and the peasant has no doubt given him the horse to take to my father." He went home and told his mother what had happened, and that he had sent his father the horse so that he might not have to be always running about.

"You have done well," answered she. "You still have young legs and can go on foot."
When the peasant got home, he put the horse in the stable beside the cow which had been left as security, and then went to his wife and said, "Trina, as your luck would have it, I have found two who are still more stupid fools than you. This time you escape without a beating. I will store it up for another occasion."

Then he lighted his pipe, sat down in his grandfather's chair, and said, "It was a good stroke of business to get a sleek horse and a great purse full of money into the bargain, for two lean cows. If stupidity always brought in as much as that, I would be quite willing to hold it in honor."

So thought the peasant, but you no doubt prefer the simpletons.

So thought the peasant, but you no doubt prefer the simpletons.

BEIJING, March 17 -- For art historians, Xu Beihong (1895-1953) is a pioneer of modern Chinese art whose style straddles the East and the West. But for the average Chinese, he is simply a master painter of galloping horses, roaring lions and lovely birds.

Chinese artist Xu Beihong excelled at capturing the vivid expressions, free will, endurance and vigor of galloping horses.

The largest retrospective show to honor the master painter has been drawing throngs of visitors from all walks of life since it opened at Yanhuang Art Museum in northern Beijing.

On display are over 80 of Xu Beihong's signature sketches, ink and oil paintings. The highlights are Xu's monumental ink paintings with historical themes like Yu Gong Moves the Mountain, Jiu Fang Gao and Galloping Horses, his oil works like Lady with a Flute and Self Portrait, and his early pencil sketches of horse herders and female nudes.

The exhibition coincides with the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China and the 90th anniversary of the May Fourth New Culture Movement.

In fact, Xu's career as an artist and his personal experiences are closely associated with Chinese history, says Peking University art professor Zhu Qingsheng.

"Based on his deep understanding and deliberate choice of Western painting traditions, Xu advocated a Realist approach and style for Chinese art. He played a pivotal role in transforming modern Chinese art," Zhu says.

Born in Yixing, Jiangsu province, in 1895, Xu grew up in an artistic family and showed talent at an early age.

He studied classic Chinese works and calligraphy with his father Xu Dazhang when he was 6 and Chinese painting, when he was 9.

In 1915, he went to study in Shanghai, a melting pot of Chinese and Western cultures where he met the scholar and political reformer Kang Youwei (1858-1927), who became his mentor and greatly influenced his thinking about the need to integrate Western practices and ideas into Chinese art.

"Xu felt that traditional Chinese art had become a mere copying of other paintings and was divorced from nature and social reality," says Central Academy of Fine Arts professor Huang Xiaoming.

"Xu was not the first to formulate the idea but he was one of the first to seek a solution and a direction."

Xu came up with the idea of applying Western scientific methods, using very precise anatomical proportions and integrating Western approaches, such as perspective and shading in his works, notes Huang.

In 1917, Xu traveled to Tokyo to study art. On his return to China, he began to teach at Peking University's art school at the invitation of principal Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940) in 1918.

Xu became one of the major figures of the artistic revolution of the May Fourth New Culture Movement in 1919.

(Source: Chinadaily.com.cn/Agencies)

 
  BEIJING, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Coupons worth almost 10 million yuan (1.5 million U.S. dollars) in discounts are to be handed out to tourists in the scenic city of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang cheap runescape gold province, to boost visitor numbers during the financial crisis.

    The vouchers will be targeted at people living in the Yangtze Delta region and Shanghai, China Daily cited Hangzhou tourism committee as reporting on Wednesday.

    Visitors will be able to use the coupons to pay entrance fees to the city's most popular scenic sights, as well as buy tickets for entertainment events or food, according to the tourism committee.

    "Boosting tourist spending is an immediate necessity for Hangzhou. Not everyone who gets the coupons will actually come, but the odds increase a lot," said Li Hong, an official for the city's tourism committee.

    Apart from the 10 million yuan from the city's tourism committee, the government will also help fund the Hangzhou tourism stimulus package, an official from the tourism committee said without revealing the specific amount.

    Details of how the coupons will be distributed have not been finalized yet but the stimulus plan will be implemented soon if everything goes well.

    Hangzhou tourism committee will subsidize the businesses that participate in the stimulus project, local media reported.

    The World Tourism Organization predicts only a 0-2 global growth this year for the number of tourists who holiday in a destination for at least one night, compared to last year.

    Even the Asia Pacific region, regarded as one of the fastest growing tourism markets, will not see an increase runescape gold of more than 2 percent, it said.

    And it is also feared the continued appreciation of the renminbi will undermine the competitive cost advantages of visiting China.
 
 
Editor: Zhang Mingyu 

The Yangtze River Valley is one of the national cheap runescape gold cultural cradles in China and Hubei is situated in the middle-reaches of Yangtze River. Hubei have nurtured countless politicians, strategists, writers and other famous people, which gives Hubei a name of Talents Born in Chu Only.
Qu Yuan is a great poet and statesman of the Warring States Period and one of the four cultural celebrities in the world. He was born and brought up in Yuantuo, Zigui of Hubei. His major poems include "Lisao (Lament at Parting)," "Jiuge (Nine Lyrical Poems)" and "Guoshang (The Sacrificial Songs), all classical magnificent masterpieces and a treasure of world literature.

Zhuge Liang is a famous politician and strategist in the Three-kingdom Period, and lived as a hermit in Longzhong of Xiangyang for ten years. Liu Bei visited him for three times and asked him for assistance. His famous statement of Liu Bei Longzhongdui contributes to the formation of the triangular balance of the power of the there kingdoms.

Wang Zhaojun, one of the Four Beauties in Chinese ancient history was born in Nanjun of Zigui in Western Han (xiangshan County today). She married to Xiongnu ethnic minority nationality and has enhanced unity between the Han and Xiongnu people which won her great respects.

Tang Dynasty witnessed many excellent poets and writers. The poet Meng Hanran and the writer Pi Rixiu are among them both of who were born in Xiangyang and left many poems and poetry comments. Tea-Sage Lu Yu of Tang Dynasty wrote the first monograph on tea Tea Scripture in the world and he was born in Jingling of Hubei (Tianmen today).

The famous calligrapher in Song Dynasty Mi Fu was born in Xiangyang. The inventor of the type printing Bi Sheng was born in Yingshan County. Both of them made great contribution to Chinese civilization.

In Ming Dynasty, litterateurs The Three Yuans (Yuan Zongdao, Yuan Hongdao and Yuan Zhongdao) lived in Gongan County of Hubei and they formed Gongan School. The medical sage Li Shizhen in the same contemporary was born in Qizhou (Qichun County today). He wrote the medical monograph Compendia of Materia Medica, which was a treasure of Chinese medicine and has been translated into several foreign languages. Born in Jiangling, Zhang Juzheng is a famous politician and Head of Prime Ministers in Ming Dynasty. runescape gold He made reforms in politics, which developed China's economy.

In a word, many talents have been nurtured in the fertile land of Hubei.

In modern history, revolutionary pioneer Chen Tanqiu, Wuhan elite Yun Daiying, famous scholar and poet Wen Yiduo, famous geologist Li Siguang, economist Wang Yanan, writer Ye Shengtao, Beijing Opera leader Tan Xingpei and drama master Cao Yu were all form Hubei.

Hongan county is a place for generals while Qichun for professors. Students from city of Tianmen became the first in national entrance examination for science and literal arts for several years in succession. With many universities and scientific research institutes, Hubei has become a province with great human resources.

All kinds of special qualified people go out of this cradle to the whole country and the world as pillars in all trades.

NEW DELHI – An Indian woman has given cheap runescape gold birth to her first child at the age of 70 after receiving IVF treatment, newspapers reported her doctor as saying Monday.

An Indian nurse carries a new-born baby in a hospital in Calcutta, India, file photo. [Agencies]

Rajo Devi, who married 50 years ago, gave birth to a baby girl on November 28 after in vitro fertilisation, said Anurag Bishnoi, a doctor at the Hisar fertility centre in Haryana state.

"Rajo Devi and (her husband) Bala Ram approached the centre for treatment and the embryo transfer was done on April 19," he told the Hindustan Times. "Both the mother and child are in good health."

Bishnoi claimed runescape gold Devi was the world's oldest mother.

Another 70-year-old Indian was reported to have given birth to twins via IVF in July this year, while a 66-year-old Spanish woman had twins in 2006.

Devi's husband, aged 72, had also wed his wife's sister after 10 years of his first marriage did not result in children. His second wife also failed to become pregnant.

It was not clear whose egg and sperm were used in the successful treatment.

"IVF has revolutionised the way we look at infertility," said Bishnoi. "Infertility is no longer a social taboo or a divine curse. It can be treated scientifically."
SOURCE: Chinadaily EDITOR: ??

LONDON, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- A contaminated meat scare has spread from runescape gold Irish pork to beef after tests found illegally high levels of chemicals in cattle, Sky news reported on Tuesday.

Three beef farms have been linked to the contamination, with PCBs -- or Polychlorinated Biphenyls -- being found in 11 herds tested, Ireland's Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith has confirmed.

However, Smith said the public should not be worried as the levels of PCBs found in the beef were two to three times above safe limits, compared to 200 times for pork.

Officials said the contaminated animals which ate oil-tainted food are being taken out of the food chain.

Results are still pending for 34 more farms that received the contaminated feed.

The beef industry is Ireland's largest and most important farming sector and is worth 2.1 billion pounds (about 3 billion U.S. dollars) a year.

Since the cancer-causing dioxins runescape money were first found in Irish pork, products have been recalled from 21 countries.

Less than three days into the crisis, more than 1,700 pig factory workers had lost their jobs after a total of 56 farms in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland have been linked with the contamination.

But there are currently no plans to take beef products off the shelves, the officials said.

The meat became contaminated after unlicensed oil used in a burner tainted breadcrumbs which were supplied to 56 farms in the Republic of Ireland and nine farms in Northern Ireland.
 
SOURCE: Xinhua EDITOR: ?? 

list of our tour group on January 11th. There are 100 people, quit a lot."

    "One reason wow gold that many people choose to go to Taiwan during Spring festival, is they want to see how the festival is celebrated in Taiwan. And some want to spend the festival with their families and friends there."

    Some of the rules for Taiwan tours have been changed. For example, the minimum number of people in buy wow gold each group should be more than five, instead of 10. And tourists can also stay longer, the limit has now been extended from 10 days to 15.

    (Source: CCTV.com)
 
 
Editor: Sun Yunlong 

MIAMI – Seeking a getaway despite the downturn, Olivia Gonzalez called her travel agent with an agenda.

"I said, what kind of deals do you have?" said the Miami resident, who is in her 60s, standing outside the Port of Miami. What she buy wow gold found was a six-day, five-night cruise through the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos for $299 a person.

That was all the convincing Gonzalez and thousands of other passengers have needed lately to set sail. Though vacations are disposable when money gets tight, the cruise industry has kept ships full with deep discounts and some itinerary changes to shorter, cheaper voyages. Norwegian Cruise Line is sailing three-and four-day swings for the first time since 2004. Carnival Corp. is offering free state room upgrades and more Caribbean choices — a quick skip from the Miami port — in 2009 to accommodate demand.

"Consumers are looking for more value for their vacation dollar," said Howard Frank, Carnival's chief operating officer, on a recent conference call with analysts. "And our shorter, less expensive Caribbean cruise products are performing much better than our premium and luxury, longer cruise products. So we are seeing a consumer trade-down to value."

The major cruise lines are also seeing vacationers wait longer to commit. Before the downturn, bookings averaged about six months in advance, maybe eight months for luxury trips, said Bob Sharak, executive director of the Cruise Lines International Association.

"People are deferring their purchases to the last minute," he said. "They're booking, but it causes the operators some degree of agitation, because it takes longer to put that sailing on the books.

"I don't think that's something unique to our cruise business right now. I think all travel is like that."

Carnival is offering three- and four- day trips to Mexico and the Bahamas starting at $209 for the lowest-level rooms at the last minute, a nearly 50 percent discount in some cases. A four-day Baja California, Mexico cruise sailing in February and now selling at that rate would cost $399 later, while a three-day Bahamas vacation leaving Jan. 23 is available for $219 instead of $349. Norwegian's short Bahamas cruises were starting at $229 through mid-April.

Long considered a good vacation value, the cruise industry is holding up better than some competitors in this climate. The Port of Miami saw record cruise traffic of 3.8 million passengers from January to November 2008, a 10.5 percent increase over the previous year. Sharak predicts overall occupancy will continue to increase, despite grim predictions for 2009 in the industry and economy overall.

Both Carnival and Royal Caribbean have suspended stock dividends, a sign of some distress, and last month Carnival lowered its revenue predictions for 2009.

"I'm not minimizing today's situation. We've not seen an economic situation like this in America or globally in my lifetime," Sharak said. "However, if history is an indicator of the future, the business itself has been resilient in these varied markets, and I think right wow gold now we're showing that as well."

Carnival has rolled out a new pricing scheme to entice further advance commitments. The "Early Saver" program offers 25 percent discounts for certain trips booked up to three months before departure, plus a guarantee those passengers will get the same savings if rates drop.

"The good news is that consumers are still taking their vacations, but the vacation decision is for next month, rather than next year," Frank told investors.

For consumers, the cruise lines' push to fill big ships can mean big savings. Shannon McClelland was shopping for a birthday gift for her boyfriend two months ago when she found a five-day cruise sailing out of Miami for $1,500 a couple, including airfare from New York.

"Today is his birthday, so this is his birthday present," said McClelland, of New York. "I was just looking for something nice, it seemed doable, so we did it."
Source: chinadaily.com.cn