China's Li Na makes history as first Asian grand-slam winner at 2011 French Open

China's Li Na beat last year's champion Francesca Schiavone in the French Open final to become the first Asian player to win a grand slam singles title.

Nabeat out the former champion 6-4 7-6 on Saturday to take home the championship.

Sixth seed Li, who lost the Australian Open final earlier this year, dominated Italian fifth seed Schiavone's in a confident display of power and accuracy.

"She deserved to win today," Schiavone says on the court. "One has to win, one has to lose. She deserves everything."

Li was beaming. "Of course I was nervous, but I didn't want to show opponent. I was a little bit cheating."

Li, who beat hard hitters Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova en route to the final, built her success on her lightning-quick backhand and precise serve as Schiavone never hit her stride on the red clay.

Li allowed Schiavone, who was hoping to break the pace with her sliced backhand, only five points on her serve in the opening set.

She snatched her opponent's serve in the first game of the second set and saved a break point with an ace as she opened a 2-0 lead, only for Schiavone to fight back.

Li, whose ranking will rise to a career-high No. 4 on Monday, has made the finals of the past two Grand Slams. But winning at Roland Garros was a far bigger surprise, since clay is her least-favorite surface.

Beijing embraces first snow this winter 2011

First snow fell in Beijing Wednesday night and continued into Thursday morning. It was the latest first snow for the city in 60 years.

"Now there is snow at last. I love the taste of snow." "The world in pure white! It's the most beautiful landscape in winter." Beijing residents who stayed late in the night and happened to see the first flakes of snow in the city left their postings on microblogs.

However, meteorologists said the first snow won't last long and it will end on Thursday noon. In midnight, the city will have a cloudy weather, and Friday will be a sunny day.

"As the precipitation is small, it will have limited effect on easing drought," Song Jisong, the municipal meteorological bureau's chief weather forecaster said.

Sun said that the capital city's record-long winter drought occurred in the winter of 1970/71, when there was no precipitation for 114 days. This winter drought was the second longest in 60 years.

China Shanghai Expo 2010 上海世界博览会

China Shanghai Expo 2010 中国2010年上海世界博览会 is being held on both banks of the Huangpu River in the city of Shanghai, China, from May 1 to October 31, 2010.
It is a first time for China to hold a World Expo. The theme of the exposition is "Better City – Better Life" and signifies Shanghai's new status in the 21st century as the "next great world city". The expo Logo features the Chinese character 世 ('world') modified to represent three people together with the 2010 date. It is the most expensive Expo in the history of the world's fairs. The Shanghai World Expo is also the largest World's Fair site ever at 5.28 square km.

More than 190 countries and more than 50 international organizations have registered to participate in the Shanghai World Expo, the largest ever. China expects to receive almost 100 foreign leaders and millions of people from across the world to come and visit the World Expo. More than 70–100 million visitors are expected to visit the expo, the largest in history.

2010 China Yushu earthquake 玉树地震

The 2010 Yushu (玉树藏族自治州, 中国青海省下辖的一个自治州) earthquake struck on April 14, 2010, and registered a magnitude of 7.1. It originated in Yushu, Qinghai province on Tibetan plateau, China, at 7:49 am local time. According to the Xinhua News Agency, more than 1,484 people have been confirmed dead, 312 missing, and 12,088 injured of which 1,394 are severely injured. The epicenter was located in Rima village (日玛村/日麻村), Upper Laxiu township (上拉秀乡) of Yushu County, in remote and rugged terrain, near the border of Tibet Autonomous Region. The epicenter is about 30 km from Gyegu town, the seat of Yushu County, and about 240 km from Qamdo. The epicenter was in a sparsely populated area on the Tibetan plateau that is regularly hit by earthquakes.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao urged all-out efforts to help rescue those affected by the earthquake and Vice Premier Hui Liangyu has been sent to the region. Many countries and organizations around the world sent condolences and pledged assistance if necessary. Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Yushu on April 15 to lead rescue work, and postponed his trip to southeast Asia.

Beijing welcomes the New Year 2010 with heavy snow

China’s capital got off to a slow start in the new year, with the first snowstorm of 2010 and seriously subfreezing temperatures bringing the city to a halt after the long holiday weekend.

A day after Beijing experienced its biggest snowfall in 60 years, a similarly historic cold front swept into the city. Temperatures were forecast to drop to as low as -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) Monday and schools remained closed, giving students an extra bit of winter holiday. Beijing has mobilized a sizable army of 300,000 workers to clear the snow, China Daily reports, though it appeared that few cars were willing to brave the city's icy streets Monday.

Transportation in northern China faced disruptions as well, with road closures and airports shut down. At Hong Kong’s Chep Lap Kok airport Sunday, this reporter was among the thousands of Beijing-bound passengers waiting for bi-hourly updates on the grim situation at the capital’s airport, where only one of three runways was operational and more than 90% of flights were cancelled or delayed, according to China Daily.

The current conditions make the big storms of November seem like a dress rehearsal, and this time around, no one has mentioned government-sanctioned weather manipulation.

北京迎来新年的降雪。图为雪中的故宫银装素裹。

China as portrayed in 18th and 19th century western magazines

Colorful pictures of Qing China in 18th and 19th century settings



京城西边的城门-阜成门或德胜门刊印年代1796年 作者威廉•亚历山大 出处《英使谒见乾隆纪实》



进出城门的车水马龙 刊印年代1894年 出处《伦敦新闻画报》



华洋杂陈街景1 刊印年代1880年 作者M.莫林出处《世界画报》



女孩子的学堂作者SEM 出处《伦敦新闻画报》



码头市场刊印年代1843年 作者托马斯•阿罗姆出处《图解中华帝国——社会建筑风俗》



北海湖中景象刊印年代1796年 作者威廉•亚历山大 出处《英使谒见乾隆纪实》



冰上童趣与北京出租车刊印年代1861年 出处《伦敦新闻画报》



在北京南郊的赛马场2 刊印年代1867年 出处《伦敦新闻画报》

Beijing receives the earliest snowfall in 22 years

BEIJING — Government scientists in Beijing have been pilloried for inducing a recent heavy snow fall that jammed traffic, delayed air travel and left city residents shivering, state media said Wednesday.

Sunday's snowfall dropped more than 16 million tonnes of snow on the Chinese capital, blanketing a city where winter heating services have yet to be switched on and leading to howls of public protest, the China Daily reported.

The Weather Modification Office shot massive amounts of chemicals into clouds over the city the night before to provoke the snowfall, which it said was needed due to a lingering drought in the region, the paper said.

Heating in most Beijing buildings was due to be turned on November 15, but city officials were forced to move the timetable forward and were working Wednesday to bring buildings onstream ahead of schedule.

"This arbitrary government decision had disregarded the interests of the people... we should (have) considered the potential hazards of cloud seeding," said one commentary carried in the paper.

Sunday's snowfall, the earliest to hit the capital in 22 years, delayed 200 flights stranding thousands of passengers, led to traffic accidents and disrupted electrical services dozens of times, it added.

"(This) shows there is a lot of room to improve the national weather manipulation warning system for the public," the paper quoted Chen Zhenlin, spokesman of the China Meteorological Administration, as saying.

Chinese meteorologists have for years sought to make rain to reduce an ongoing drought.

But ahead of the massive celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of communist rule in China on October 1, cloud dispersal chemicals were used in the Beijing area to ward off unwanted rain clouds.