Promises

AT dusk, I switched on my radio. What I heard was a special call-in program entitled "New Air of the City," on a local music channel; the two silver-tongued hosts were discussing the topic of promises. A young woman with a soft voice managed to get through first. She said that she had been in love for many years. She and her fiance often went to the banks of the Yangtze River in their spare time, lifting stones to look for small crabs, as tiny as fingernails. They liked to raise the crabs in a glass bowl. But one day, there were few stones by the river; they searched for a long time, but found nothing. An old man who was catching fish told them that it was difficult to find those crabs on the bank. Then he took several crabs out of his     

The Story of Yun Cuixian

THERE once was a good-for-nothing named Liang Youcai. One day he took a fancy to a young maiden, but she spurned his advances. Not to be put off so easily, he went and wormed his way into the confidence of her mother, with flattery and honeyed words. As a result, the old woman insisted on marrying her daughter, whose name was Yun Cuixian, to him.     

Ying Ning

A young man named Wang Zifu saw a pretty woman on the outskirts of town. Afterwards, he missed her so much that he fell ill. Discovering the reason, his mother lied to him in order to console him. She said the woman was their relative and lived in Nanshan (South Mountain) so it was easy to visit her.     

Training Helps Autistic Children Emerge from Solitude

Amother considers her child to be a continuation of her own life, and places her own desires that she cannot achieve on her child. A child is a mother's sun, a mother's hope. In this world, however, there exists another group of mothers whose children have autism. These children act as if they are completely alone, do not interact with others, and even refuse the love of     

It's…Quadruplets!Couple Suddenly Becomes Family of Six

ON January 16, 1993, I received a letter from Shan Jiazhi, professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Shandong Provincial Hospital. In his letter, Shan informed me that a woman would soon give birth to quadruplets and asked me to quickly come to the hospital. In his office, Professor Shan produced two X-rays of the lying-in woman. "This woman, Su Lixin, is a worker with the Jinan No. 1 Machine Tool Factory. Since she was hospitalized, we've applied modern comprehensive measures to control the occurrence of complications and have striven for international standards for the gestational period reaching or surpassing 37 weeks." He then told me that in the United States, 100     

BESTSELLERS

Xin Yiwu is one of China＇s most popular young writers. Last year, her youth novel, So Young, was adapted to a film by Chinese actress and director Zhao Wei, and that film was hugely popular with Chinese moviegoers. The Promised Day, Xin＇s latest work, is a touching love story. For Feng Lan, a restaurant owner, marriage is like a door that she wants to open. But she doesn＇t find the key until she falls in love with Ding Xiaoye, a waiter in her restaurant.     

Kazakh Women Rise Above the Plains

MANY people have become familiar with the Kazakh people by watching the sport of "girl chasing" performed on the vast grasslands. A handsome young Kazakh man and a beautiful Kazakh girl ride on horseback. The man speeds past while the woman chases him. If the woman catches up to the man, she can lash him lightly with the whip in her hand. The scene is set off by the brilliant blue sky and white clouds.     

Old Professor''''s 85 Roses

"I was mesmerized by you, a gentleman of an ancient Oriental country. I love you deeply, I shall fly over the hills and seas to be by your side and I shall live together with you all my life…" This is not a film subtitle but an excerpt from a letter a Dutch woman wrote to a Chinese man.     

Memory Like A String of Pearls

WANG Mingzhen is a wellknown Chinese physicist. Recently the 91-year-old woman looked back over the profoundly affecting experiences of her life. A Series of Setbacks As soon as she graduated from Peking University in 1930, Wang Mingzhen received an offer of admission from the University of Michigan in the United States. Although the school offered her a four-year scholarship for her tuition, she was penniless and could not afford the steamer ticket. Unwilling to seek help from her friends and relatives, Wang sent a letter declining admission, using her mother's illness as an excuse. She could not know that this action would postpone     

The First Woman Doctor in the New Fourth Army

WHILE a university student in Kuomintang-controlled Shanghai, she met a Communist who changed her life. This man set her on the way to become the first woman doctor in the Communist New Fourth Army. Zhang Yangfen now enjoys her old age in peace and satisfaction with her fruitful life. Sitting under the grape arbor in her courtyard, Zhang recalls her past. Every Common Person Has Her Obligation To the Country My childhood was spent in the years when China was in a desperate situation and people were living in dire poverty.     

Her Career Begins Like This

THE summer of 1990 was almost the end of the world for Huang Kaijun, whose dearly beloved husband was found to have been carrying on with some other woman behind her back and even had a one-year-old son while she was completely in the dark and still dreaming a sweet dream of life. What on earth had happened to their 12 years of marriage? The unexpected heavy     

A Cancer Patient Strives to Become a Writer

LEI, 42, is spirited, sometimes even childish in her speech. Now, she is a writer with mature thoughts and a pure inner world. She has published several literary works. One would never guess her unusual story or the difficulties she has had to surmount. Doctors diagnosed Lei's colon cancer when she was 25, just half a year after     

Young Woman Tames Wild Animals

ON Shanghai's acrobatic stage, the audience held its breath while it watched a lion put its front paws on the shoulders of a dainty and beautiful young woman and licked her face with its red tongue. The girl was perfectly calm, even smiling. This legendary woman is Zhang Xiuhong, a lion-tamer in the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe. I Fear the Lion When she was 11, Zhang Xiuhong joined the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe Soon afterward, she was assigned to work as a lion-tamer. The first animal she tamed was a lion cub. From the     

Japanese Woman Chooses China

IN Qianyang Village, Gucheng Township, Bozhou city in Anhui Province, lives Mitsui Yoshie, a 72-year-old Japanese woman. Her Chinese name is Wang Fengying. This is the story of how she decided to spend the rest of her life in China. Mitsui Yoshie was born into a well-to-do family in Kumamoto, Japan. Her father, Mitsui Kichizo, followed her grandfather into the timber business. She and her older brother, Mitsui Seiki, and     

Dance Drama Depicts Love at the Sanxia Gorge

THE dance drama "Love at the Sanxia Gorge" tells the story of an ordinary young couple who are passionately in love. Because there have been quite a few national dance dramas depicting love between a man and a woman, the creators of this drama and the performers with the Chongqing Song and Dance Troupe have tried their best to impress their audience. The female lead dances in a modem     

Art Appreciation

Wang Erkeis a middle-aged woman with deep feelings and a strong character She has lived on the black land of the Great North Wilderness and gained abundant experience from her ups and downs She has tasted the happiness of marriage and as well the pains of divorce in the new life she has made for herself, she feels as fresh and vital as the spring. She tried to discover the type of painting that enabled her to express her inner feelings Though she lost the chance to study at an art academy. she studied and practiced ink and     

Hao Huizhen Eloquently Defends Her Clients

HAO Huizhen cannot forget the joy she felt winning her first lawsuit dealing with a transnational marriage case. The court decided that Hao's litigant voluntarily offered his ex-wife ￥5,000. The first trial was announced effective because the defendant didn't lodge an appeal. Hao carefully researched the economic conditions of both sides and collected 18 pieces of evidence. Based on this evidence, she put forth a 15,000-character statement for the plaintiff which won the decision of the court. The plaintiff, a man from another country, did not have to pay his estranged wife ￥300,000 she had demanded. Settling this first transnational marriage court case increased Hao's confidence in herself. As a result, many     

Memories of Home

COUPLES invited to participate in the '96 Beijing Golden Wedding Anniversary for the World's People's Tour stayed in the Shangri-La Hotel in western Beijing. The large contingent included Chen Dong and his wife Zhang Shujie. Shortly after arriving, one segment of a TV program featuring a Canadian woman recounting her experiences in China in the Chinese language aroused the attention of Zhang Shujie. That woman said she was born in Beijing at a time when her family lived at No.47 Waijiaobu Street. Zhang muttered to herself: "It's No.32 and not No.47." Zhang suddenly remembered     

Gao Fenglian and Her Papercuts

The papercuts of Gao Fenglian, a northern Shanxi woman, are collected by Chinese and foreign galleries, museums and individuals. For a time, it has been a hot topic in her hometown. When she returned from the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, the rural woman who has lived on the Loess Plateau for dozens of years was admired by her fellow villagers. The scissors gave the hardworking woman infinite delight     

I Have Learned to Accompany Myself

XIAO Ya was my middle schoolmate. She was gentle and quiet. We called her Ah Fang because she looks like Wang Fang, the leading lady of the film "Heroic Sons and Daughters." Xiao Ya lived in the red building that was constructed in the 1960s near the small wood behind my family's home. Her family lived on the second floor. Below the window was a board which read "Aiguo Grain Shop" (aiguo means love the country). Xiao Ya didn't like to speak. When she did, her face often turned red; but when she sang, she had an easy manner. I could hear her singing from a long distance. I used to take my worn-out accordion to her house. Since I could sing to my own