1 . Like reading? Interested in Chinese classical novels? Have a look at the following four books which are we known to most Chinese as Four Masterpieces.

The Water Margin

The Water Margin, also known as All Men Are Brothers in Pearl Buck’s translation, Shui Hu Zhuan in Chinese, is along chapter novel with the Song Jiang Uprising in the late Northern Song Dynasty as the main background and type of heroic legend. It is an immortal (不朽的) novel and has inspired many storytellers. The author of the novel is generally regarded as Shi Nai’an (1296~1371).

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the first full-length historical romance novel in China. Its author is Luo Guan zhong (about 1330~1400), a famous novelist in the late Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty. Characters such as Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhuge Liang have become household names among the Chinese.

Journey to the West

Journey to the West is the first romantic chapter novel about gods and devils in ancient China. There are 100 copies of Journey to the Westin the existing Ming Publications without the author’s signature. Wu Yuxuan, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, first proposed that the author of Journey to the West was Wu Cheng’en (1500~1582) of the Ming Dynasty.

The Dream of the Red Chamber

The Dream of the Red Chamber, also called The Story of the Stone, is said to be the greatest masterpiece of Chinese fiction. It is generally believed to be written by Cao Xueqin (about 1715~1763), a writer of the Qing Dynasty. With hundreds of persons and their stories, the story is very complex but also very interesting for its encyclopedic character(百科全书式的人物).

3 . The New York Times bestselling author Dan Brown is famous for the novel, The Da Vinci Code, published in 2003. The award-winning author is back with another book Inferno, which is set in Florence, Italy. Now we are highlighting a few of the amazing places in Florence mentioned in the novel Inferno.

Boboli Gardens

The Boboli Gardens are one of the most famous open-air museums in Florence. The park sits at the heart of the city. It features breathtaking landscapes and stone statues. In Brown’s novel, Boboli Gardens are the site where characters, Robert Langdon and Sienna Brooks, escape from mysterious men who are chasing them.

Ponte vecchio

Ponte Vecchio is the oldest bridge in Florence and was the only bridge in the city until the construction of the Ponte alla Carraia in 1218. The current bridge was rebuilt in 1345 and still stands today. Ponte Vecchio is also one of the most historically relevant landmarks in Florence. In the book, Brown mentions a tragic incident which happened on Ponte Vecchio.

Signoria Palace and Museum

Signoria Palace and Museum is a huge square, which was named after the Palazzo della Signoria and also called Palazzo Vecchio. It is important in the history of the Florence.

Florence Cathedral

Florence Cathedral is the most famous church in Italy. The cathedral was built in 1296 and completed in 1436. Florence Cathedral is located in Piazza del Duomo. It is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florence. In the novel Inferno, the cathedral contains clues about the origins of the city.

4 . The Masai(马赛人) are continually trying to keep their own ways in an increasingly modern world. They live along the border of Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa, moving their homes from time to time to follow their cattle, the source of their livelihood. They rely on their cattle in many parts of their life. They like drinking the cows’ milk.

They don’t kill their cattle for food. But if a cow is killed, the parts of its body are used to make containers, shoes, clothin,   ropes, bed coverings and so on. Not all of the men have cows. The more cattle a man owns, the richer he is considered to be. A man who owns 50 or fewer cattle is considered poor. Rich men have a thousand or more. The cattle, though owned by the man, are considered to belong to the man’s entire family. The family names the cattle and can recognize each animal’s special voice.

The Masai men have become known as warriors(勇士), protecting their cattle against other wild animals. They wear their red long hair. Most women often take care of their children, cook food, clean clothes and make clothing at home. They also make necklaces dresses and headdresses. A few women can also become authorities once they are powerful enough. They speak a language called Maa.

The houses of Masai made from sticks and grass, which are held together with a mixture of mud, are not very firm or safe. These plain houses with some basic supplies are built in a circle and make up a Masai village. They are not meant to last long since the migration(迁徙) of the cow population means that the Masai move as well. In the meantime, in order to prevent animals from entering, they also form a wall of branches. The whole setup is to protect the cattle, which sleep at night in the middle of the village. They seem to live a natural and self-sufficient life but lack modern civilisation.

The University of Amsterdam is a public research university located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Founded in 1632 as the Atheneaeum Illustre by the scholars Gerardus Vossius and Caspar Barlaeus, it is the third-oldest university in the Netherlands. The University is one of Europe’s largest research universities with 7,900 scientific publications each year. It is the largest university in the Netherlands by the number of students. The campus is located primarily in the City Center of Amsterdam, with a few faculties located in adjacent boroughs.

The National University of Singapore is Singapore’s oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of the number of students and curriculum offered. It was formed with the merger (合并) of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University in 1980. The merger was done in part due to the government’s desire to pool the two institutions’ resources into a single and promote English as Singapore’s only main language. The university’s campus is located in southwest Singapore at Kent Ridge, with an area of approximately 1.5 square kilometers.

Simon Fraser University is a Canadian public research university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Moutain in Burnaby. The main campus of 1.7 square kilometers, located 29km from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and has more than 35,000 students and 950 faculty members. The downtown campus has expanded to include several other buildings in recent years. Similar to most Canadian universities, SFU is a public university, with more than half of its funding coming from taxpayers and the remaining from tuition fees. It was named after Simon Fraser, a fur trader in North West Company.

Lomonosov Moscow State University is the oldest and largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, the university was renamed in honor of its founder, Mikhail Lomonosov, in 1940. It also claims to have the tallest educational building in the world. Since 1953, most of the university’s faculties have been situated on Sparrow Hills, in the southwest of Moscow.

6 . Some of the most well-known cities in the world have gone through at least one name change. The new names often exhibit shifts of power, or may honor a specific person. Here are some that were once known by other names.

Saigon became Ho Chi Minh City in 1975 when it joined the Gia Dinh Province of Vietnam after the end of the Vietnam War. It was renamed after a previous communist prime minister, as the new name represented the north’s success. However, many people still refer to the city by its original name.

The city formerly known as Bombay officially became Mumbai in 1995 when the Shiv Sena political party rose to power. The Shiv Sena party saw Bombay as a relic of Britain’s colonial legacy (殖民遗产), and Mumbai was just one of many places in the country to receive a non-British name.

Constantine the Great originally gave the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire the name of Constantinople, or “City of Constantine. ” The city went by this name or variations of it even after the Ottomans took it over in 1453; it was formally renamed Istanbul in 1930, not long after the Republic of Turkey was created.

A fire destroyed the city of Oslo in 1624, during King Christian IV’s rule. When the settlement was being rebuilt, King Christian IV insisted on renaming Norway’s largest urban center after himself as Christiania (which later became Kristiania). In 1925, the city’s original name was restored to Oslo.

7 . Louis Vuitton, commonly shortened to LV, is a French fashion house founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. Louis Vuitton was the best known designer of leather goods in the history of France. In 1854, he opened the first suitcase store with his own name in Paris. Louis Vuitton became a legend in the art of travel by creating luggage, bags and accessories as they were elegant and practical. Later on, it has enjoyed a huge success since 1896 and played a starring role in the development of modern luxury.

It constantly introduced and created new and original designs to meet the demands of customers. That is to say, it is innovation that shapes the story of Louis Vuitton.

Now, the label’s LV monogram appears on most of its products, ranging from luxury trunks and leather goods to ready-to-wear, shoes, watches, jewelry, accessories, sunglasses. Louis Vuitton is one of the world’s leading international fashion houses; it sells its products through stand-alone boutiques (专卖店), high-end department stores, and the e-commerce section of its website Louis Vuitton.com. For seven years in a row (2006-2012) Louis Vuitton has been named the world’s most valuable luxury brand.

In February 1998, Louis Vuitton, the world’s first flagship store opened in Paris; then London’s Bond Street is also the second opening. The same year in August and September, the third and fourth flagship store respectively opened in Japan and in New York. In 1999, Louis Vuitton opened a flagship store in Hong Kong, covering two floors with 6600 square meters. Continually expanding, Louis Vuitton today boasts 13 production workshops, an international logistics center (物流中心), more than 300 exclusive shops in 50 countries and employs 9, 500 people throughout the world, 60% of whom are based outside France.

8 . The Chicago Fire of 1871 was the worst disaster of the 19th century.

The fire is said to have started one evening in Mrs. O’Leary’s barn (牲口棚) on the West Side of Chicago. Several hours after she milked her cow, it kicked over an oil lamp, and the cow started the fire. We do not know if the story is true, but we do know that the fire began in a barn on the West Side.

The fire spread quickly because of the wooden buildings, a strong wind, and a dry season. The fire lasted 27 hours and spread to all parts of the city. Other cities sent 25 fire companies to help put out the fire. Federal troops (联邦军队) were also used to help fight the fire and keep order, too. At last rain put out the fire.

There was a lot of damage. 90,000 people were homeless, and 18,000 buildings were destroyed. Property damage (财产损失) was almost 200 million dollars. In addition, about 300 people died.

People from all over the world helped Chicago by sending food and clothing. Within a month, 4,000 cottages (小屋) with two rooms had been built. In a few years, Chicago was completely rebuilt.