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Wedding customs exhibited in Ninghai, China's Zhejiang

A decoration for traditional Chinese wedding is seen at a museum in Ninghai, east China's Zhejiang Province, May 18, 2011. A museum in Ninghai, highlighting objects related to the wedding customs in east Zhejiang Province since Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) and Qing Dynasty (1616-1911 AD), opened to public on Wednesday. The wedding customs of east Zhejiang Province was enlisted as one of the national intangible cultural heritages.

Marriage in China - Ancient & Modern

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Suzhou: Heaven on Earth

Time-tested adages sing praises of Suzhou.

Many cities have slogans to entice you to visit and spend your tourist dollars. These are usually written by some tourism office or travel agency, and no matter how clever or well thought out, they often fall on the deaf ears of seasoned travelers or the cynical.

But there are adages that are time-tested - like this one, which roughly translates to: Up in the sky there is heaven, down on earth there is Suzhou and Hangzhou.

That's a pretty bold declaration when you consider the size of China and the many beautiful places to see within its borders. Yet, Suzhou's beauty has won it boasting rights.

Suzhou, built in 514 BC, has a storied past.

Marco Polo spent time there in 1276 while on the Silk Road. Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War in Suzhou when it was the kingdom of Wu.

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Wooden pagoda seeks for world heritage status

TAIYUAN - Authorities in north China's Shanxi Province said Sunday that they would finish the application for the Sakyamuni Pagoda, the oldest wooden structures in the world, by July for it to be included on the UNESCO list of cultural relics by 2013.

The Sakyamuni Pagoda, also known as the Yingxian Pagoda as it was housed in the Fogong Temple of Yingxian County, is the oldest full-wooden pagoda still standing in China and believed to be the oldest of its kind in the world.

Standing 67.31 meters tall, the octagonal pagoda was built in 1,056 AD during the Khitan-led Liao Dynasty.

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On-line Dating：A New Craze Sweeping China

Due to the dating pressure, millions of China’s singletons log on dating websites to find love, especially for men, which has been driving a major boom in on-line dating business.

Where does this dating pressure come from? As a Chinese saying goes,”A man should  get married on coming of age, so should a woman ” Nowadays, Chinese parents commonly expect their daughters to be married by the time they’re 25 and sons by the age of 30. There’s even a word for those who are not married by the time expected: Shengnan and shengnv, literally a “left-over man” or “left-over woman”. Shengnan and Shengnv are bearing all aspects of pressure coming from their worried and pushy parents as well as their busy jobs. “I was very busy; my life circle was very small” Ada Zhang, one of my ex-colleagues, said, “So I turned to on-line dating, and I made it, now I’m married. I believe everyone can find their true love on the internet” She is just one of millions of Chinese people who are turning to on-line dating as a solution to their relationship woes in a society where the pressure to find a partner can be very oppressive.

According to research by the National Women's Union and Baihe.com in 2010, China currently has 180 million bachelors, 23.8% of who are going on dates arranged by their parents, the rest are looking for dates by themselves. A male netizen makes a joke of his being-busy in his blog,“if I’m not on a date, I must be on the way to it”. Among 180 million bachelors, some ask for dates from matchmakers, some “sneak” into dating agencies in a low profile, some even step out and chat up with girls on the streets, however, up to half of whom are thought to be looking for love on-line.

By Jan, 2011, there are three main stream on-line dating websites: Jiayuan.com with 32 million registered members, Baihe.com and Zhenai.com with 26 million members each, which all together account for nearly half of singletons in China.

Those numbers mean big business. In china, the combination between the immense demand of finding love and the advanced network has started generating the windfall profits. Every on-line site now is like a 24-hour convenient store, collecting and selling their member’s information. What makes people jealous is that those websites are taking in billions of revenues annually, with the annual growth rate at 200%. Every year, there are 20 million singletons who would become the potential clients for the on-line dating sites. According to Time.com, it's estimated that online dating sites attracted three million paying customers in 2010, who collectively spent more than $150 million.

Marriage in China - Ancient & Modern

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Old Beijing hutong reopens with new look

After years of renovation, the much noted Xianyukou Hutong in the bustling Qianmen area of downtown Beijing is welcoming visitors with a whole new look.

Xianyukou is literally translated as Fish Street. It's an appropriate name because it was the fish market for old Beijing.

The alley, packed with time-honored brands of Beijing snacks, was once among the most frequently visited places by locals.

See Kaixin's - Beijing Hutongs

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Miao ethnic singer Song Zuying debuts in Taiwan

Song Zuying, one of the most capable singers on the Chinese stage, held her first solo concert in Taiwan on Sunday night.

The success of her concerts could blaze a trail for more top singers from the Chinese mainland to perform in Taiwan.

Clad in glamorous costumes, Song Zuying performed a program of Chinese folk songs for her debut in Taiwan.

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Resort manager to double business

Singapore-based luxury company expects growth of 20 percent every year for the next five years

BEIJING - Banyan Tree Holdings Ltd, a Singapore-based manager and developer of luxury resorts, hotels and spas, is seeking to double its hospitality business by 2015, with a majority of new openings to be built in China, a senior manager said.

"We expect growth of about 20 percent every year for the next five years, with more than 30 projects currently in the pipeline under the names of Banyan Tree and Angsana brands, which will double the total number of resorts by the end of 2014," said Luca Deplano, vice-president of marketing with Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts. He added that several of the new openings will be in China by the end of this year, including Banyan Tree Riverside, Shanghai, and other developments in Tianjin and Hangzhou. Others in Chengdu, Chongqing and Guilin will open after 2011.

The move indicates China is an increasingly popular destination for both international and domestic travelers. The company believes international travelers want to see more than just Shanghai and Beijing. They also want to visit places such as Lijiang and Ringha in Southwest China's Yunnan province.

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Tibet invests 57m yuan to maintain ruins

NGARI - The government has invested more than 57 million yuan (about $8.8 million) to maintain the ruins of the famed Guge Dynasty, an ancient kingdom in western Tibet Autonomous Region, local authorities said.

The project, started on May 1, is now in full swing in Ngari Prefecture, said an official of the Cultural Relics Bureau of the Ngari Prefecture government.

The famed Guge Dynasty Ruins, built in the 10th century, are the largest ruins and also best preserved artifacts from the kingdom, which includes color paintings, clay sculptures and stone sculptures.

"The five palaces of the ruins have problems with cracked walls and loose ceilings, to a different extent, which are expected to be fixed," said Phubu Chosang, an official of the administration of the ruins.

See Kaixin's - CHINA & TIBET

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A Director’s Message in ‘Buddha Mountain’ + VIDEO

Over the past decade, Li Yu has emerged as one of China’s most provocative art-house film directors. Her movies have often run afoul of mainland authorities because of the taboo and sensitive subjects they take on.

Her latest, “Buddha Mountain,” which opened this week in Hong Kong, also explores potentially delicate social topics but it has been less fraught with troubles over censorship.

Actors from left, Chen Po Lin, Fei Long, and actress Fan Bingbing star in ‘Buddha Mountain.’

Trailer: Buddha Mountain 观音山 - 最新预告片 (范冰冰东京封后!!!)

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High notes of life

Young opera star combines her own passion with seven generations of family tradition

Unlike her peers who were born in the 1980s and are fascinated by modern Western pop music and soap operas, Tan Na focuses her mind on Peking opera, determined to learn and develop the traditional Chinese art.

Tan's success in resisting modern temptations may be due to the long tradition of opera in her family.

Born in 1981 in Beijing, Tan is a seventh-generation descendant of Tan Xinpei, a famous Peking opera artist who lived from 1847 to 1917 and was well-known for his roles of laosheng - a term that refers to elderly male roles.

Tan fell in love with Peking opera at a very young age. In 1992, Tan was enrolled at Beijing Opera School (which is now renamed Beijing Vocational Institute of Local Opera and Arts). Her focus was to play qingyi - a term that refers to roles of faithful wife, lover or maiden in distress.

After graduation in 1998, Tan became a professional performer in Beijing Peking Opera Theater. After that, with the stage name Tan Mingxin, she played different roles in classic operas such as Celestial Beauty Scattering Flowers, Farewell My Concubine and The Drunken Beauty.

Clockwise:Tan Na checks her make-up and puts on an elaborate hair ornament before her performance. The diva performs, sans face paint, singing highlights from the opera Mu Guiying. Elaborate fingerwork and footwork demand hours of rehearsals before a performance. Tan Na (middle) performs another classic, The Drunken Beauty. The actress grips a prop at rehearsal.

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