A Queen's Dressing Set

All women love beauty,in ancient or modern times.Of allthe unearthed ancient dressing sets,the one found in 1968 inthe tomb of Don Wan,wife of Liu Sheng,the King ofZhongshanjing in the Western Han Dynasty.is the mostexquisite. Small and intricate.11.2cm tall and 9.5 cm wide(seepicture),bronze is rarely seen with such vivid shapes—amythical rosefinch carrying a ring in its beak standing on theback of a tiger-like beast,linking the twin tall-stemmed cups.     

A Special Lunar New Year in My Memory

IT was 20 years ago. When firecrackers started popping in the village on the eve of the New Year, many families prepared to worship Buddha. Our family was no exception. Father was ill and hospitalized in a remote town. Mother cleaned the old-fashioned square table carefully, and placed it in the courtyard. She put 12 small wine cups on the table and filled each one halfway with wine. Then she arranged chicken, pork and fish at the center of     

EDITORIAL MAILBOX

I Will Keep the Copy I just received the copy of Women of China on the Fourth World Conference on Women and the NGO Forum in Huairou, which I had mail-ordered in my last letter. I enjoy it very much as I was a participant at the forum and at the UN Conference. You have captured the spirit of global friendship and support in your pictures, and the coverage is excellent as well. It is indeed one of the magazines from the FWCW that I will keep. ANNE YEDOWITZ U.S.A.     

An Invitation to Tea

TEA-drinking is very popular in southwest China's Sichuan Province, especially in the provincial capital Chengdu. Some people estimate that the number of tea houses in Chengdu is greater than that of restaurants in Beijing. I, too, have developed the habit of having a cup of tea in the morning. On holidays, when I am free in the morning, I get up early to rush to a tea house,     

A Soldier on the Roof of the World

IT was during the Cultural Revolution, in, the year that I turned 16, that I put on an army uniform, got on a train, and left Beijing for Urumqi in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. After six days of driving on the vast Gobi Desert, I reached Kashi of southern Xinjiang. After another six days' severe jolting, I arrived at the hig'nest land in China. I was one of the five first women soldiers     

Disabled Athlete Wins Olympic Gold

Iam 21 years old. My home is in a small village of Putian, Fujian Province. Like thousands of healthy children, I once had a colorful childhood. Unexpectedly, however, I contracted an eye disease at the age of 13 and began to gradually lose my eyesight. At first, I cherished a gleam of hope that heaven would kindly make me see light again someday. My mother took me to one hospital after another for treatment, but my eyesight remained dim. I became frightened and restless. I realized that sometime soon I might no longer be able to see my mother's kind face, my father's thin figure, the golden rape flowers in the fields, or the meandering stream by the village. In the daytime, the adults went to work in the fields and the children went to school. I was left alone in the empty house. I tried     

新年新愿望(英文)

Yangchun Baixuepainter杨春白雪 小画家"I would have a pair of wings with which I would fly to all places of happiness. Even if I could not get the wings, I would have a greater imagination.In the crispy air in the early morning, I will hear the singing of nature. When it snows, I will see flowers of spring in full bloom. In the spring wind, I will fly like a bird. I believe deeply that apes would possibly still roam wild if they did not have an imagination.In the new year, the wings of my dreams will be even stronger."     

IMPROVING LIFE FOR WOMEN

I noticed a photo in the exhibition room of village history in North Yangjiawa,Liyuan Township, Tongxian County, Beijing. It was the epitome of the typical northern countryside:shabby houses, bumpy dirt roads and heaps of garbage. I didn't feel strange about it, as I had once lived in such a village fur more than 1,000 days and nights during the Cultural Revolution when educated urban youths were encouraged tn work in the countryside and mountains. What astonished me was the words under this photo: North Yangjiawa in 1993. I couldn't imagine how this tremendous change could happen in only three years.     

Invaluable Trust A Visit to Bernice Hemphill, an Old Friend of ACWF

IN March of last year, on my way to New York to attend the NGO Consultation, I stopped in San Francisco. Before I left I called Bernice. She told me she was not well. Before I went to America again in June of this year to visit some of my relatives, I asked my ex-colleagues at the International Liaison Department of the All-China Women's Federation about     

编者寄语(英文)

International Women's Day always reminds me of the internationalfriends I have made in China. I began developing those friendships in the 1980s,after my socialistmotherland opened to the outside world.As an editor with Women of Chi-na,I noticed more foreigners were leaving their names in my address