1 . Must-See Landmarks For Your Xi’an Tour

Serving as the capital of China for 13 dynasties, Xi’ an, capital of Shaanxi province has numerous historical sites and relics. If you are planning a tour of Xi’an taking less than 3 days, check out these recommended attractions, which we think best capture the spirit of the ancient city.

The Terracotta Army

The Terracotta Army is one of the most significant archaeological finds in the world and one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century.

Discovered in 1974, the army of Terracotta Warriors was constructed by China’s First Emperor Qinshihuang of the Qin Dynasty (221 BC-207 BC). It is a collection of thousands of life-size terracotta soldiers, horses and chariots in battle formation, through which people can get a great insight into the history, military development and culture of ancient China in that period.

Ancient City Wall

Xi’an City Wall was built in the 14th century by Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) as a military defense system. Now it is one of the oldest and best-preserved Chinese city walls. When you take a walk or cycle on the massive wall, you can enjoy a good view of the city.

Giant Wild Goose Pagoda

One of China’s most famous Buddhist pagodas, the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda was built in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) specially for the study of Buddhist scriptures. Situated in Da Ci’en Temple, the pagoda was built with layers of bricks and has a grand structure that gives it a holy appearance. It is a good example of traditional Chinese architecture.

2 . Humans are very social creatures. In addition to verbal (语言的) communication, we also use our bodies to help us better express our thoughts and feelings. This non-verbal communication is known as body language.

Body language includes things like facial expressions, eye contact and posture (姿势). It actually developed as a form of communication before humans could speak or write. We can tell a lot about what a person is thinking or feeling just by looking at them.

In fact, body language is so common that you may not even realize that you are communicating many messages to others every day without even using words. For example, you might move your head from side to side to express the word “no” instead of actually saying the word. Or, you might give a “thumbs (拇指) up” to show that you like or agree with something.

But now that we are spending more time online, we may not have as many in-person interactions as before. Because of this, our means of non-verbal communication has changed, but is still an important way to express our thoughts.

Our “digital body language” is becoming increasingly important as we change how we communicate. Instead of using voice messages, we can video chat with our friends to show them our smiling face. Another way to express our emotions digitally is through emojis (表情符号). When we are communicating online, we are only revealing the content and leaving out tones and facial expressions. That’s when emojis can help in communication.

Whether using video chat to show our expression or sending an emoji, don’t forget the importance of digital body language and non-verbal communication.

4 . The beauty of a single pheasant’s feather (野鸡羽毛) caught Nick Orr’s eye — and inspired him to produce something unique.

The art of the miniaturist (微型画画家) invites us to look at the familiar in a new way by reimagining it on a different scale.

This extraordinary inversion of the beauty of birds in flight expressed microscopically (微观地) through sculpting a sole flight feather came about by chance. Orr explains: “One day my daughter asked for some pheasant’s feathers. It made me look at them and see how beautiful they were and I thought what a waste not to create something with them.”

Having had his 10% of inspiration, Orr now had to go through 90% of perspiration (汗水) to find a way to work with feathers. Orr said “I played around with various ideas and nothing really worked, and I was holding a bunch and started cutting them to shape and to my surprise they didn’t fall apart.”

“It is as difficult to design the feather as it is to cut it out. The feather is my canvas and it is such a small canvas to work on-less than 3cm — and a very particular shape. Everything I depict must fit into that.”

“I see birds so differently now. Now I see the feathers first and then see the bird. I will think about how I can recreate it on a feather.”

Each individual feather is treated differently, with the feather itself playing a major part in the design of the eventual image.” Once I have an idea for a picture, I will start to sketch an overall outline on paper, at the same time as thinking about how it will fit a particular feather. I love the idea that I take a feather from a bird that most people think of as the ugliest on the planet and tun it into something beautiful.”

And that’s at the heart of Orr’s work — to make us see what we normally miss.

5 . The 2022 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony was held at Al Bayt stadium in Qatar on 20 November 2022. What arrested the world and fascinated the audience was the recitation of poems from the Holy Quran by 20-year-old reciter Ghanim AI Muftah, also a FIFA World Cup ambassador.

Ghanim was born on May 5, 2002 with a rare condition known as Caudal Regression Syndrome, causing him to be born without the lower half of the body. However, rather than allowing the condition to spoil his life, he has learned to overcome obstacles with positivity and leadership, and this is what makes him an exceptional and inspiring character.

He is currently pursuing his university degree, majoring in political sciences with a chief goal of becoming a diplomat (外交官). Despite his disability, Ghanim enjoys participating in extreme sports such as scuba diving, skateboarding and rock climbing.

While Ghanim was growing up, he found it difficult to attend school initially because of teasing and bullying from his classmates. Nevertheless, his mom encouraged him to speak to these classmates, teach them about his condition and raise awareness for the community. Ghanim has gone further at embracing his condition, with his infectious smile, perfect self-confidence and humorous personality. He has become a social media sensation - with over three million followers across social platforms, showing to the world how life with a disability can be fulfilling and worthwhile

Ghanim has overcome all kinds of challenges in his life, yet there is still one issue Ghanim must continually deal with—extensive medical treatments and surgery. Despite these routine medical treatments, he sees past these days and knows that with faith, commitment and hard work he will be free to accomplish his ambitions. It is this typical take and stance of life that have earned him the love, respect, and admiration of millions of people across the globe.

8 . The captain hadn’t even turned off the “fasten your seat belt” light and Matthew Bahani was already having a rough time.

Matthew, a 9-year-old with autism(自闭症), was growing increasingly anxious even as his parents hugged and kissed him.

“He gets nervous and he can’t control himself. He gets loud. He makes noise. It isn’t easy,” said his father, Sam Bahani, 48. “You can’t imagine what he goes through. He can’t express himself.”

The Bahanis were among the ten families who participated in a program at Newark Liberty International Airport intended to help familiarize autistic children with air travel — a confusing, complex process that, with loud noises, uniformed screening agents and lines of passengers they don’t know, can be frightening to them.

The “Autism Explores” program — which takes participants through all aspects of the flying experience without leaving the ground — also helps parents, who often find themselves in the position of dealing with a difficult child, as well as with scare from other adults who may have no idea of the child’s particular difficulty.

“When you’re in a public situation and that happens, people are not always kind,” said Matthew’s mother, Jennifer Bahani, 42, who avoids even the shopping mall with Matthew.

Each aspect of the program, from check-in to baggage claim, related to the flying experience, except for the actual flying. While the pilot and other flight crew made the usual announcements about flying conditions or the weather on the ground, the plane never actually pulled back from the gate.

“It’s a beautiful day for flying. Sit back and enjoy the flight,” announced the pilot, Geoff Bender, whose 13-year-old daughter, Teresa, is also autistic.

“Normalizing activities like flying for children with autism is important in making sure they will lead as full and independent a life as possible,” he said.

9 . Wang Zhenyi (1768-1797)

Born at a time when girls were prevented from getting a formal education, Wang Zhenyi got encouraged from her father to read books including works on astronomy, mathematics, geography, medicine, as well as poetry. She conducted experiments at home, in one of which she used a round table as the Earth, a lamp as the Sun, and a mirror as the Moon to understand their motions and finally revealed the mystery of lunar eclipse (月食). Wang often expressed in her poetry inequalities in society and fought for the rights of women.

Jocelyn Burnell (1943-)

Jocelyn Burnell was born in Northen Ireland, whose father Philip was an architect. In 1965, Burnell began her graduate studies in physics at Cambridge University, building a telescope to look for radio signals from space. Later, she found signals from space and was the first to confirm the existence of neutron stars (中子星). In 1974, she missed out on the winning of a Nobel Prize for this discovery. But in 2018, she won a Breakthrough Prize for it.

Mercedes Richards (1955-2016)

Mercedes Richards grew up in the capital of Jamaica. At 11, she knew she wanted to be an astronomer, Her father, who was a police detective, taught her the skills of observation and inference, while her mother, an accountant, taught her the importance of precision, Richards studied astronomy at York University and the University of Toronto, and investigated binary star (双子星) systems to determine how gas flows between the paired stars to create enormous explosion of energy called novae (新星).