Discover China

China has passed the country’s first law for intangible cultural heritage (ICH) to better preserve the nation’s traditions of historic, literary, artistic and scientific value.  To find out more visit the CNTV News item China adopts first law for intangible cultural heritage protection.

When I visited Beijing in January the city had been experiencing a long period of very dry weather, and at that time there had been no snow despite sub-zero temperatures. Snow finally fell on 10 February, breaking the longest snow-free winter for 60 years. Beijing woke up to white on Saturday as snow fell for the third time this year. Despite being bigger than the previous snowfalls, the accumulated depth is still smaller. Find out more in the CNTV news item Beijing sees biggest snow this year.

Shenzhen Xili is a quiet, developing area now, but it has a few fairly old features, including the villages of Pingshan and Liuxiandong, each of which features a small temple. Read more in James Baquet’s Shenzhen Daily article Two temples in Xili.

On Thursday people across China celebrated the Lantern Festival. Falling on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar year, the festival takes place under a full moon and marks the end of Chinese new year festivities. Find out more in the CNTV News item China celebrates Lantern Festival.

Earlier this week, official Japanese statistics confirmed that China overtook Japan in 2010 as the world’s second largest economy in terms of nominal gross domestic product (GDP), a position Japan had held since 1968. Unfortunately such news is likely to be exploited by some international commentators who seem keen to portray China and China’s growth negatively. The Xinhua News Special report: China’s boom all boon no bane to the world reveals how China’s path to development is in reality peaceful and of great benefit to the world:

“The Chinese people have suffered long enough from poverty. Our greatest and only strategic intention is to live a better life, in which every day is better than the previous one. We wish the same for all the people in the world.”