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“Gina Haspel has been working at the CIA for three decades. During her time at the agency she was known as the brightest and most successful in everything she did. Haspel took part in undercover operations, recruited Russian agents, and survived coup d’etats — and now, just weeks ago, she was chosen as the first female director of the CIA. Is this a win for feminism? Is she the female James Bond we have been waiting for?”
Read more here.
Chinese netizens love a good joke. And when Xi Jinping was compared to Winnie the Pooh, the joke seemed too good to miss. The discovery brought on an onslaught of memes and stickers that circulated on the Chinese web comparing Daddy Xi to Winnie the slow-witted, loveable bear. China’s most censored picture in 2015 was one of Xi Jinping standing up through a parade car that was paired with the image of Winnie the Pooh’s toy car.
But by July of 2017 the jokes were over. Searches of Winnie the Pooh drew up pages which read: “warning, content is illegal”. Image searches found no results.
This incident shows two things: firstly, that when anonymous, Chinese netizens are cynical and ironic about their government and society, even though publicly nobody would own up to such sentiments. Secondly, and more importantly in light of recent events, the Chinese Communist Party does not deal with issues like a slow-witted, loveable bear. Their responses are swift and merciless.
Read more here.
“Pastor Frank Haye was quietly nervous as he paced the lawn around the temporary stage at one of China’s biggest rock festivals.
It was the last day of concerts by rock, electronic, and metal bands, and in a few hours, his Brooklyn gospel choir would come face-to-face with grass-trampling Chinese music fans.
Haye wasn’t sure how the raucous audience at the Midi Music Festival, staged each May, would take to the soulful tunes of his Brooklyn Interdenominational Choir praising the Lord. That is, if anyone showed up at all…”
Read the rest of the article and watch the video here.
When I graduated from high school and embarked on what would become two gap years, I started to call myself “the drifting spinster.” Spinster, because I was single and single people take to exaggeration and self-pity; and drifting—because that’s exactly how it feels when you’re out of high school.
In most parts of the world, the fad has yet to really catch on. According to UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service), only five percent of UK-based students took a deferred year in 2015. Numbers in the U.S. vary, but according to PBS, deferred students account for only one percent of American college freshmen. In China, gap years are virtually non-existent since the education system does not give extra points for any creativity outside the classroom. Read the whole article here.
“The Chinese language can drive you crazy, but learning Chinese is not impossible and can be—dare we say it—a lot of fun. Get the lowdown on how to get your Chinese from mamahuhu tochaojiwudi…” Read the whole article here.
In the first years of your child’s life, their eyes are going through a lot of changes. They start out their existence seeing only in shades of gray, but by their first birthday, bam! The world becomes full of light, shapes and a dazzling array of colors.
However, sometimes things can go a little wrong, but if your child is very young, it’s hard to detect emerging problems with their eyesight. What are common eyesight issues children face—and what symptoms should we be (ahem) keeping an eye out for? Read the whole article here.
“Bullying happens all over the world. Victims are targeted for a variety of reasons, but much of it comes down to perceived differences. If your child attends a local school and is a bullying victim, you’re definitely not alone—many other children have grown up in similar circumstances. Sara (a pseudonym) is a teenager who recalls being bullied at her local elementary school in Shanghai. She agreed to talk about her experience anonymously. ‘[The bullying] was mostly verbal,’ she explains. ‘The students would say mean things to my face and behind my back, sometimes they would talk about me when I was around like I was not even there to hear it. Or they would play tricks on me … sometimes people would even push me.’…” Read the rest of the article here.
Calculus—the name alone is enough to make high school students groan. So what can calculus teachers do to make this demanding subject a little less dull and confusing? We talked to some of the city’s differential buffs to see how they tackle the subject in the classroom.
Damion Walker, IB math teacher from Yew Chung International School of Beijing (YCIS Beijing), has experienced his fair share of baffled students. According to him, one of the biggest problems with calculus, as compared to algebra and trigonometry, is that the concepts are very abstract. Walker stresses the importance of learning the concept itself and understanding why you do these calculations. Solving questions in calculus involves a lot of smaller algebraic and trigonometric equations, so if students lose sight of the calculus concept behind the question, they can be overwhelmed by the amount of random steps that lead to seemingly unimportant answers. Read the whole article here.
Everybody loves a cool, calm and confident public speaker—they make teachers drool and parents quiver with pride. But the prospect of giving a speech fills a lot of us with paralyzing fear. Jerry Seinfeld once quipped that, according to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking, while death was number two: “This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.”
Hilarious—but definitely not true. How can you help your child develop this critical life skill and become fearless on the stage? We ask some confident speakers in Beijing about their top tips when it comes to speaking to an audience. Read the whole article here.