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A Beautiful CourtyardHouseTraditional Chinese neighborhood is called Hutong and traditional Chinese residence for city dwellers is known as Shiheyuan--- a courtyard with one-storey houses on four sides. Courtyard house came into existence as early as in the Western Zhou Dynasty dating back to cover 3,000 years ago. As Beijing served respectively as the capital of three dynasties, namely the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, needless to say, the courtyard house in Beijing represents the quintessence of traditional Chinese residential houses. Their exquisite architecture and rich cultural connotation are so inviting to their visitors that many of them simply cannot tear themselves away from it. The magnificent imperial city, now popularly known as the Palace Museum, together with the residential compound of grey bricks and tiles contribute to the unique attraction of the city.In the street behind the Art Museum, East District, Beijing Municipality, there stands an old-style standard compound with traditional Chinese houses on four sides---No.22. Built as early as in the Ming Dynasty and composed of two courtyards, this courtyard house has a total floor space of over 1,000 square meters. Grown with flowers and plants and carpeted with lawns, the courtyard look neat and orderly, presenting pleasing scenes all the year round. When spring roses are in full bloom and their shadows spread on the lawns, the courtyards are turned into a perfect picture of spring, a world of colours. Late on summer afternoon, Chinese trumpet creepers begin budding. Sitting in the shade of walnut trees, one can hear cicadas chiming. In the fallwhen the sky is blue andbreeze is cool, one cancommunicate in whisper withthe insects. In winter whenth e courtyards are bathed inthe sunshine, and slantingbranches of the treessilhouetted against the eavesand walls, a serene, warmpicture unfolds itself beforeour eyes with an irresistiblecharm of its own.Painted red against greybricks and tiles, these housesaround the courtyards lookneat and rectangular, kept as ithad been for hundreds of yearswithout any artificial touch.What is unusual about it is thatunder the eaves of theprincipal house there is a pairof brick carvings known as "elephant eyes", rarely seennowadays. Characteristic ofthe courtyard house in theMing Dynasty, these brickcarvings are cut inintaglio--while tracing patternagainst dark background. Onthe brick to the west--a bunchof carved chrysanthemum infull blossom, whereas to theright of th brick, a kitten islooking up, ready to capture abutterfly on wings,lines simpleand neat, lifelike andexpressive.Inside the house, stand twocarved partition boards,reaching from floor to ceiling,one to left, the other to thewest. Though in differentstyles, they are equallyattractive. And the interiordecoration also shows aperfect harmony of twoseemingly diametrical styles,oriental and western;collection of antiques go sideby side with moderndecorations, paintings andcalligraphy by celebritiesabove the desk handed fromthe Ming Dynasty, echoingeach other, graceful andgorgeous.No Title Often, in my calmmoment of contemplation, Ifind it amazing that a man likeme who was born of a poorfamily and has suffered alifetime of frustrations shouldhave lived to the age of 92.When I was in my eighties,people often asked me foradvice on how to keep in goodhealth. But the fact is, insteadof a recipe for healthy living, Ihave some very bad habits.I am impetuous and tend torush all things. I walk quickly,I write quickly, I eat evenmore quickly or, so to speak,just wolf down my food. As aresult I became ill withduodenitis. The doctor at lastcured me of my stomachtrouble, but not of my badhabit of eating quickly.I am a picky eater. Prior tothe outbreak of the 10-yeardomestic political turmoil in1966, I refused to eat melon,and seldom took vegetable andfruit. During the seventies,when I was confined in jail inQincheng, my daily threemeals consisted of nothing butcorn buns plus turnip andChinese cabbage. That,however, cured me of mybeing choosy about food. But,once out of prison, I slippedback to my old self, takinglittle vegetable and fruit.I am a teetotaler, but Ibegan to smoke at the age of30. At first I did it onlyoccasionally, but later Ibecame addicted to it. Duringthe ten years when I was withthe Ministry of Culture, I usedto consume two packs a day,containing 40 cigarettes, tillmy fingers were yellowed andmy lips and tongueparched.but I still could notget out of the tobacco habit.Smoking was banned in prison,but as soon as I was releasedthe first thing I did was to askmy folks for cigarette. Once,by way of testing mywillpower, I stopped smokingfor several months, but only toend up in the relapse. Somepeople dwelled on the harmfulness of smoking in articles published in newspapers or magazines. To me, however, they were exaggerating things just to scare people and sort of manifesting a rebellious mentality. I reasoned lamely that decades of heavy smoking had not shortened my life at all. Strange to say, early on a certain morning two years ago, my first cigarette of the day happened to be so sickening that I stubbed it out immediately and from then on smoking no more. That marked the beginning of my clean break with cigarettes.Three things, however, have much to do with one's health, namely, physiology, psychology and adaptability. That I have lived to this age is probably due to my effort to sum up my personal experience of the past decades and draw a lesson from it. I have never been weighed down by cares. I never get angry or become pessimistic. Another strong point of mine is that I am always thirsting for knowledge and have many-sided interests. My interests range over a wild field, from major event at home and abroad to plants and trees, and fish and worms. I used to raise birds and dogs, and now I A keep cats. I was once crazy about philately and collecting books and paintings.I watch TV or listen to the radio, not only for news but mainly for ball games, soccer in particular. I watch each and every Italian series A Match without fail. Only, due to my eagerness for national honor, it always makes me made to see the Chinese Team lose out in international matches.In recent years, when friends write or call on me ,they have often greeted me by saying, " May you have good health and a long life!" well, I think life should not be excessively long. Some comeinto this world while somedeparted from it, that is theway of all flesh. What ifeverybody should live anundying life? What wouldbecome of this world ifConfucius, Qinshihuang, YuanShikai and Chiang Kai-shekwere still alive today !In this human world,things all go by certain rules.Only by grasping these rulescan we make reforms andcreate. I think habits do notcome under the category ofideology, but have somethingto do with inertia. That is whythe ancient say, "old habits diehard." Nevertheless, it doesnot mean that habits areimpossible of being broken.With strong resolution andperseverance, we can certainlybreak ourselves of habits.Coexistence of World'sCivilizationsSince the arrival of 21stcentury, the world hascontinued to undergo profoundchanges. Worldmulti-polarization andeconomic globalization aredeveloping in greater depthamid twists and turns withnew troubles andcontradictions emerging oneafter another. With thedevelopment of economicglobalization, many scholarsin the west have taken greatinterests in discussing therelationship between differentcivilizations. However, behindthe arguments of somescholars, one can discern astrong sense of superiority ofWestern civilization. Quite afew western scholars evenbelieve that without embracingthe western value system, nosociety in the world wouldever be able to achievemodernization. Many peoplein Asian countries have alsobegun to doubt if their owncultural tradition can nurturethe spirit of modernization.Obviously, this kind ofsuspicion is groundless.Different nations havetraversed different roads ofhistorical development. Eachnation with its own culturalbackground, social system andvalue, will continue to lead alife in its own way. It isdiversity that has filled theworld withcompetition ,vigor,andinnovation. Countries shouldenhance exchanges andunderstanding, and moveahead together on the basis ofmutual respect and equality.They should not allow thediversity to be a barrier totheir progress, still less shouldthey deliberately provokeconfrontation and conflict. Theadvance of human society willcertainly be pushed forward ifwe can respect and developthe diversity of civilizations,and identify common interestsamid and the diversity at sametime.Should Confucius notionof " benevolence" be appliedto the handing of relationsbetween different civilizations,there would be no conflicts orwar, thereby bringing aboutthe coexistence of civilizations.Confucius said, " Gentlemenare in harmony with eachother in spite of differencesbetween them, whereas basepersons are in disharmonywith each other in spite ofapparent uniformity". In hisopinion, gentlemen with goodlearning and moral integrityshould be able to live in theharmony with other people inspite of differences. However,people with little learning orno moral integrity would findthemselves on bad terms withother people, as they oftenimpose their own views uponothers. If we can apply theconcept of " being harmoniouswhile remaining different" as aprinciple to handling relationsbetween different cultures,then it will play an extremelypositive role in resolvingdisputes between nations.In general, it is essentialfor civilizations to coexist with each other by transcending different social system and ideology. All countries should work hard to seek convergence of common interests, honor the principle that the world is colorful and diversified, and adopt a positive attitude of learning from each other to make up for their respective deficiencies in the interest of common development. It is not acceptable to model the world after one political system or development pattern.Salvage Measures and Legal Liabilities in Marriage and Family LawArticle 43 where a person indulges in family violence or maltreatments a family member, the victim shall have the right to advance a request; the neighbourhood committee, villagers committee or the unit where they belong to, shall persuade the person to stop doing it and conduct mediation.Where a person is committing family violence, the victim shall have the right to advance a request; the neighbourhood committee, villagers committee shall persuade the person to stop doing it; the public security organ shall stop such violence.Where the victim advances a request, the public security organ shall, in accordance with the legal provisions on administrative penalties for public security, imposed an administrative penalty on the person who commits family violence or maltreatment of a family member.Article44 the family member who is abandoned shall have the right to advance a request; the neighbourhood committee, villagers committee or the unit where they belong to , shall persuade the person to stop doing it andconduct mediation.Where the abandonedfamily member advances arequest, the people's courtshall, in accordance with law,make the judgment onpayment by the person whoabandons the family memberto the victim for the costs ofmaintenance, upbringing orsupport.Article45 the person whocommits bigamy, familyviolence, maltreatment orabandonment of a familymember, if it constitutes acrime, shall be investigated forcriminal responsibility inaccordance with law. Thevictim may, in accordancewith relevant provisions of theCriminal Procedure Law,lodge a private prosecutionwith the people's court; thepublic security organ shallinvestigate the case inaccordance with law, and thepeople's procuratorate shallinstitute public prosecution inaccordance with law.Article 46 where one ofthe following circumstancesleads to divorce, the unerringparty shall have the right toclaim compensation:(1) bigamy is committed;(2) one party who has aspouse cohabits with anotherperson of the opposite sex;(3) family violence iscommitted; or(4) a family member ismaltreated or abandoned;China's EnvironmentPreservation State PolicyAs a developing country,China is faced with the dualtasks of developing itseconomy and protecting theenvironment. However, Chinasuffers an increasing disparitybetween economicdevelopment and naturalresources and the environmentwith a large population,relative insufficiency innatural resources andexpanding economy. Theserious environmentalproblem caused by severepollution, deterioratingecological condition, hugeconsumption of resources andlow reclamation has alreadybecome a bottleneck for thesustainable development of theChinese economy.In view of the country'scircumstances, China, whileimplementing itsmodernization blue-print in acomprehensive way, has takenenvironmental conservation asone of its basic state policiesand regarded sustainableeconomic development as animportant strategy. Meanwhile,it has launched a nationwidecampaign to prevent and treatpollution as well as to protectthe ecological environment.As a result, the deteriorationof its environment has beenlargely brought under control.It has been proved that ourpractice in striking a balancebetween economicdevelopment andenvironmental protection hasturned out to be quite effective.Only by making rational useof natural resources andcoexisting with nature inharmony can humans preserveand develop the civilizationthey have created, enjoyinggrowth and prosperity througha harmonious relationship withnature.As a member of theinternational community,China, while endeavoring toprotect its own environment, istaking an active part in the world's moves concerned with environmental conservation to promote international cooperation in environmental protection. Besides, it has earnestly fulfilled its international obligations. All this has fully shown the sincerity and resolution of the Chinese government and people to protect the global environment. What has China done to protect its own environment? What is the current situation of China's environmental protection? In brief, we have introduced these measures:1) Choosing a right strategy for sustainable development; 2) Improving the legal and administrative systems steadily;3) Preventing and controlling industrial pollution, and improving the urban environment in all-round way;4) Encouraging land reclamation and protecting the rural environment on a large scale;5) Preserving the ecological environment;6) Speeding up the development of environment-friendly science and technology;7) Popularizing knowledge of environmental preservation and enhancing people's awareness of environment-protecting ethics;8) Take measures to promote the international cooperation in environmental preservation.In one word, China is determined to take a new road in the course of industrialization characterized by high technology, good economic returns, low energy consumption, minimum environmental pollution, and full play of labour resources. The human race is still faced with many difficulties while dealing with the issues of environment and development. The task is demanding androad ahead is long. China, asalways, will cooperate withother nations to protect theenvironment which we dependon for survival. We will makeevery effort to bring happinessand prosperity to humanityand create a bright future forour next generations as well.Culture and InternationalBusinessThe success or failure of acompany abroad depends onhow effectively its employeescan exercise their skills in newlocation. That ability willdepend on both theirjob-related expertise and theindividual's sensitivity andresponsiveness to the newcultural environment. One ofthe most common factorscontributing to failure ininternational businessassignments is the erroneousassumption that if a person issuccessful in the homeenvironment, he or she will beequally successful in applyingtechnical expertise in adifferent culture.Research has shown thatfailures in the overseasbusiness setting mostfrequently result from aninability to understand andadapt to foreign ways ofthinking and acting rather thanfrom technical or professionalincompetence. At home,business people very oftenequip themselves with a vastamount of knowledge of theiremployees, customers, andbusiness partners. Marketresearch provides detailedinformation on values,attitudes, and buyingpreferences of the consumers;managers are well versed inthe intricacies of theirorganization's culture;andlabour negotiators must behighly sensitive to whatmotivates those on the otherside of the table. Yet whenbusiness people turn to theinternational arena, they willhave to deal with customers,employees, and fellowworkers with a dearth ofinformation that at homewould be unimaginable.Just as inattention to thecultural context can result insome costly blunders inmarketing and management,and it also can affect seriouslythe success of internationalbusiness negotiations. Ifbusiness people are to meetthe challenges of anincreasingly interdependentworld, they will need todevelop a better understandingof how cultural variablesinfluence internationalbusiness enterprises. A healthydialogue between culture andmembers of the internationalbusiness community will be animportant step in achieveingthat needed understanding.。