Shanghai, China — Two weeks before the New Year, China's State Council declared a new policy on holidays. One of the nation's three "golden week" holidays is to be eliminated, and three traditional Chinese festivals are to be revived. Is this a move to restore Chinese culture?

BEIJING, China — Many mainland Chinese are afflicted with empleomania -- an obsession with holding public office. This is demonstrated even in the sad story of a poor worker from the countryside named Xiao Zhijun.

Beijing, China — Faced with public opposition over the construction of a chemical plant, officials in China's southern coastal city of Xiamen held public meetings to discuss the plant's environmental impact and safety concerns, giving citizens a rare voice. This should be common practice.

Manila, Philippines — Philippines Environment Secretary Lito Atienza has appealed to the public to reduce the garbage they produce during the holiday season. Christmas is a time of gift-giving and merrymaking but also of conspicuous consumption and trash production.

Tokyo, Japan — Japan is twinkling with Christmas lights this season, as streets, parks, shops and even private homes are lit up for the Christmas season. This year, economic and colorful LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, are widely popular.

Hong Kong, China — A uniquely horizontal revolving Ferris wheel with bars and restaurants mounted on a dramatically inclined tower, leaning over the waters of Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor, with stunning 360-degree views, could be Hong Kong's future icon, say the architects who designed it.

WUHAN, China — In the Chinese city of Nanjing, thousands of people gathered on Dec. 13 to mark the 70th anniversary of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre. The mood was solemn, but the prevailing public attitude was, "Remember the history, not the hatred."

Tokyo, Japan — The Japanese people have chosen the Kanji character for "fake" as the word of the year for 2007. The choice reflects their indignation over a series of scandals involving food ingredients, product labels and construction data.

Hangzhou, China — It is an odd phenomenon in China that many authentic journalists -- those dedicated to real reporting -- cannot obtain a journalist's license while official, licensed journalists do not really report, but receive higher pay than the former.Those in the

Meerut, India — It is an irony that we try to intermingle the caste system with religion. It is also regrettable that we affix the seal of religion on the caste system, thereby intentionally distancing ourselves from true religion.

Hong Kong, China — Depression is a very common mental disorder. Characterized by bad moods, a loss of interest or pleasure and feelings of guilt or low self-worth, it affects about 121 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

Manila, Philippines — "Every minute, a child under 15 dies of an AIDS-related illness. Every minute, another child becomes HIV-positive.

Seoul, South Korea — Anyone who has visited South Korea will have been impressed by its integration of modernity and tradition. If Seoul is a symbol of modern Korea, Geyongju represents ancient Korea and mainstream traditional culture.Gyeongju, which lies in the eastern par

Hong Kong, China — Hypertension, or persistently elevated blood pressure, often accompanies diabetes in a deadly combination. A clinical trial published in October shows that tighter control of blood pressure in diabetic patients improves mortality and morbidity due to hear

Beijing, China — For the first time, the Chinese Communist Party has highlighted the need for the people to receive education in citizenship.In a report at the Party Congress last month, the Party vowed "to strengthen citizenship education and establish the ideas of soc

Manila, Philippines — The Philippines has a very young population. Adolescence is thought to be the healthiest stage of the life cycle, but in this country statistics defy this common observation.

Tokyo, Japan — A new microbiotic technology could dramatically reduce raw garbage coming out of restaurants or food factories, leaving little residual waste plus some hydrogen and heat. A food-processing factory in western Japan is experimenting with this innovative met

Seoul, South Korea — This has been a tough year for the Chinese government. "Made in China" products, ranging from shoes and toys to toothpaste and medical products, have been found to contain toxic substances or dangerous parts, seriously affected China's export industry.

Hong Kong, China — Globally, 17 million people die of heart disease every year; about 80 percent of these are in Asia. A number of factors such as obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking contribute to the risk of heart disease.

Nagercoil, India — Deepavali is the Festival of Light celebrated by Indian religious traditions -- Vedic, Jain and Sikh. Multi-level mythologies and history have made the festival cherished in the memories and lives of the billion-strong Indian communities.

Hong Kong, China — Paul is a diabetic, with a big wound on his foot. To dress it, his surgeon reaches for a jar of honey, soaks a piece of gauze in it and pats it on.

Hong Kong, China — To the delight of cricket enthusiasts, Sri Lanka pulled a stunning victory over the fancied favorites, the All-Star Team, at the Hong Kong Sixes Tournament on Oct. 28.

BERLIN, Germany — A German man who was the Taliban's hostage for three months has for the first time spoken about his ordeal. It's a tale of terrorism, corruption and psychological warfare up in the mountains of Afghanistan, where the Taliban, and not the Western forces, c

Jeju, South Korea — Delegates from 136 countries, representing local governments, vowed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and use renewable and clean energy sources to combat climate change, at the second World Congress of the United Cities and Local Governments. Some 2,000

SEOUL, South Korea — The Chinese enclave of Macau is as beautiful as a saga about her. The name "Macau" seems to be derived from the Temple of A-Ma, or Ma Kok Temple in the local Chinese dialect.

Hangzhou, China — People at the bottom of Chinese society do not naturally possess moral superiority. They are also declining along with the corrupt elite.

Hangzhou, China — The discrepancy between rich and poor and serious social injustice are among the major issues facing China today. In fact, we could say the country is divided into three Chinas at present.

Hong Kong, China — Bollywood's big-budget, sizzling cinematic depiction of an Indian guard's devotion to his prince -- titled "Eklavya, the Royal Guard" -- has been a commercial flop. Nevertheless, last week it won a narrow legal battle with rival film "Dharm," a low-budget

Hong Kong, China — Burn injuries are a major health concern in India. Every year about 400,000 people suffer from burn injuries and they are fatal in about 120,000 cases.

Seoul, South Korea — Thousands of people swarmed to the Seoul City Square on Sunday to watch pop stars and other celebrities sporting the latest fall and winter fashions at the Hallyu Fall Fashion Festival. Among the star-crazed fans screaming and waving to their idols on sta

Hong Kong, China — A Hindu festival celebrated in the Indian city of Kolkata over the weekend featured an unusual combination of Eastern worship and Western witchcraft. At the popular Durga Festival, Mother Durga, the goddess of valor and power, was honored with a shrine th

Beijing, China — In the Chinese media a heated discussion is under way concerning the need to reduce the burden of study of primary and middle school students. The discussion is based on the premise that the essential problem of today's students is that they have too much

Hong Kong, China — Recent studies have shown a strong correlation between levels of a "non-essential" amino acid called "glutamine" in the human body and the survival of patients in intensive care units. Glutamine is one of the 20 amino acids present in the human body and i

Tokyo, Japan — Three of this year's Nobel Prize awardees happened to have been recognized earlier by Japan-funded scientific prizes, to the satisfaction of those involved in the Japan Prize. The Japan Prize has been annually awarded since 1985 to people, regardless of

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is one of the 189 nation states which signed the Millennium Declaration in September 2000. Member states of the United Nations adopted the Millennium Development Goals to affirm their commitment to "reducing poverty and the worst forms of

Miami, FL, United States — What is the unifying theme in Indian politics? What transcends all barriers of religion, region, caste and creed and is equally true for Kashmir as it is for Tamil Nadu?

Manila, Philippines — Last week, the world marked the fiftieth anniversary of the launching of the Soviet-made satellite Sputnik into space. The Sputnik was the first successful attempt of mankind to fly an object into space.

Pusan, South Korea — People on the Korean peninsula are watching closely what the outcome will be of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun's historic visit to North Korea, which began Tuesday. In fact, knowing of the country's possession of nuclear devices and military missiles

Hong Kong, China — Sujata, a healthy housewife in her late thirties in Pune, India, suddenly came down with a high fever in October, 2006. With the fever came severe ankle and wrist joint pain, which she had never experienced before.

Eskilstuna, Sweden — China's Xinjiang Song and Dance Company gave two wonderful performances in Eskilstuna city in Sweden on Sept. 8th and 9th.

Beijing, China — The city government of Shouguang in China's Shandong province recently banned an organization of volunteers. Members of this group visited lonely and widowed elderly people and helped children who could not continue their education.

Hong Kong, China — The benefits of consuming omega-3 fatty acids are well known. Supplementing the diet with fish oil, which is rich in this nutrient, has been proven to have protective effects on the heart.

Chengdu, China — China experimented last week with a campaign urging citizens in 108 cities to take the bus and leave their cars at home. City leaders set the example by riding buses or bicycles, or walking to work, for the whole week.

Hong Kong, China — Local and Western media hailed the release of jailed New York Times Beijing Bureau researcher Zhao Yan on Sept. 15.

Hong Kong, China — Across the world people watched transfixed as a 9-year-old freshman made history in an academic world usually reserved for people a decade his senior. This year March Boedihardjo broke the record for the youngest person ever admitted into a university deg

Taiyuan, China — As a teacher, I was happy to receive telephone calls, text messages and flowers from my students to mark Teachers' Day on Sept. 10.

Nagercoil, India — Consider the following scenario: The Jordan government wants to lay down a road over a small hill that would fetch it some million dollars in profit. Laying down this road means knocking down a particular natural rock formation facing the direction of the

Hangzhou, China — Chinese citizens are being asked to select the country's 10 "happiest cities" by filling out a questionnaire and casting their votes in the country's first such competition. Participants may choose from a list of 35 large and medium-sized candidate cities

Hong Kong, China — A historic project aimed at creating an artificial navigation canal in India's southern seas has sparked a national controversy as it runs over a natural structure in its path but believed by Hindu's to be an ancient man made bridge built by Lord Rama - a

Hong Kong, China — There are millions of betel-leaf chewers in Asian countries like India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Taiwan and Malaysia. A recent experimental study conducted in Taiwan shows that a novel component in the betel leaf, hydroxychavicol,