From yesterday, May 19th, when you browse Chinese websites, you'll find something changed -- the font color of webpages has been changed to black and white.

Yes, that's one of what China is doing to mourn for quake victims.

On May 18th, China announced three-day mourning for quake victims, suspension for torch relay. The State Council, the Cabinet, on Sunday ordered a nationwide display of respect for the dead. The Olympic torch relay will also be suspended from Monday to Wednesday, the Olympic organizing committee said. China's diplomatic missions abroad were also ordered to observe the order, and condolence books are to be opened in the Foreign Ministry and Chinese embassies and consulates around the world.

The public are asked to stand in silence for three minutes from 2:28 p.m. on Monday, while automobiles, trains, and ships would sound their air sirens. Financial markets also suspended trading for three minutes.

Flags have been kept at half-mast and all public amusements are suspended for three days from Monday as China began an official mourning period for victims of the May 12 earthquake.

From leaders to down, all Chinese are mourning for quake victims.

Yesterday afternoon, several minutes before 2:28 came, I was being in a bus in Beisihuan Xilu of Beijing. When it was 2:28 sharp, all vehicles stopped and sounded their sirens. Passers-by also stopped and stood in silence. And from the video screen on the bus, I saw thousands of people shouting "Go, Go, China!" "Brave and strong, China!" and "Brave and Strong, Wenchuan!” "Hang on, Sichuan!"

At that time, colors which belonged to China were just black and white. What Chinese people felt was only sadness. People all over the China and overseas Chinese prayed for the quake dead.

China is carrying through its first-ever national mourning for quake victims.

We pray for people who died in the deadly quake. And we hope the survivors could walk out of shadow of the tragedy soon.

2:28 P.M., A MOMENT THAT FREEZES.

CHINA, A NATION IN GRIEF.

Today is the 15th day of the first lunar month in China, i.e. it is Chinese Lantern Festival. It's the secondary most important festival in this month, I think. The most important one is certainly the Spring Festival, the 1st day of this month.

According the lunar calendar, the round moon is is and brightest in the 15th day each month. So, the night of the Lantern Festival is very beautiful. It's pure and white, completely.

People celebrate the Lantern Festival in many ways. Such as guessing hanged riddles and eating yuanxiao. Lanterns in various forms are seen everywhere. It can be said to be colorful Lantern Festival.

Happy Lantern Festival!

According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2008 is a Year of the Rat, which begins on Feb. 7, 2008 and ends on Jan. 25, 2009. First in the cycle of 12 Animal signs, Rat Year begins the sequence and recurs every twelfth year. 

People believe the Rat Year is a time of hard work, activity, and renewal. Some say this is a good year to begin a new job, get married, launch a product or make a fresh start.

By the way, do you like rats?

Happy Spring Festival, all my friends!

Wish everyone enjoy this lunar new year. May everything beautiful and best with you. Wish you more future successes this year.

Best wishes for all of you and your family!

What do Chinese people do on their own New Year's Day? Are there some special customs and traditions when people celebrate the Spring Festival? Read the passages below and then you will know that.

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In the morning of the Chinese New Year's Day, people put on their new clothes and shoes. The young members of the family will extend greetings to the parents and elders. Children will get money as a New Year gift, wrapped up in a red envelope or a piece of red paper.

People in northern China will eat jiaozi, or dumplings, for breakfast, as they think "jiaozi" in sound means "bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new." Also, the shape of the dumpling is like gold ingot from ancient China. So people eat them and wish for money and treasure. Southern Chinese eat niangao (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) on this occasion, because as a homophone, niangao means "higher and higher, one year after another."

Starting from the New Year's Day, people begin going out to visit relatives and friends to wish them a "Happy and Prosperous New Year." Common expressions heard at this time are: Guonian Hao (Happy New Year), and Bainian (to congratulate the New Year). The caller is served tea with sweetmeats; melon seeds, both red and black; and fruits and delicacies such as puffed rice cakes, dumplings and deep-fried round doughnuts. In addition, liquor and tobacco are offered. Before leaving, the well-wisher present gifts of money wrapped in red paper to all the unmarried children of the family.

On New Year's Day, the lights on the porch and in the parlor are not turned off but left on continuously. To retain good fortune and wealth in the home, the house is not swept for fear of weeping out the good fortune. Quarrels are to be avoided. Words with bad connotations such as defeat, illness, surgical operations, a coffin or death are not to be used. Dishes are handled carefully, for breaking a dish on New Year's Day indicate bad luck for the coming year.

The Spring Festival (chunjie) is the most important festival for Chinese people and a time for family reunions. Before the eve of the New Year, people try to get back home from every corner of the country to join the entire family, making it the busiest time for the country's transportation systems.

The Chinese New Year's Day falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, often one month later than the Gregorian calendar. It originated in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC-c. 1100 BC) from the people's sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one.    

Traditionally, the Spring Festival starts in the early days of the 12th lunar month and lasts through the middle of 1st lunar month of the next year. Of them, the most important days are the Spring Festival Eve and the following three days. The Chinese government now stipulates people have seven days off for the Chinese New Year.

Now the Spring Festival is coming. It's the most important festival in China. People make preparations for the celebration and family reunion. Out of question, it's the hottest thing within a year.

The Spring Festival has been popular for thousands years in China. It's concerned about by all Chinese people. Whoever you are, and wherever you are, the Spring Festival is always there.

But lots of foreigners are not familiar with the Spring Festival. They know little about the Spring Festival and the lunar calendar. Some are curious about the customs and tradition. They are interested in the Spring Festival's being special in China.

Now I will post some entries about the Spring Festival here. I will give foreigners some brief introduction of this Chinese particular festival.

Nowadays, with a trend of globalization, a country need to know others and also needed to be known. China is being open and developing. China needs to know the others countries and is needed to be known. It's necessary. So I want to make you know more about China, and more about real China.

In some provinces of South China, it has been snowing since 13th of this month. It is still snowing outside. I can hear the sound when the snowflakes hit the glass.

Why there are too many snowy days this winter? Especially in South China. It never happened like this before. But this year, this winter, it really does. Unexpected. When I firstly heard about the snow falling, I regarded it as a piece of news. I thought it was a surprise. I never saw this long-term and long-scale snowing in the past time of my life. I thought, in China, only could heavy snows be seen in the north. Because before I went to the north, I often saw many snows everywhere in the north from the TV. I took it for granted that heavy snows are the particular scenes which seem unique while belonging to the north.

But now I can see the same scenes in the south. Miracles! Although, generally speaking, it snows in the south, it will be sunny soon and the snows melt away for a while. Curiously, this snowy weather persist for more than ten days.

What power make it snow without any stop? We have been talking about the global warming for years. At the time when this topic is hot, it snow heavily and "warm winter" disappears. Funny. It's too complicated. I haven't seen any article about the reason why the south snows much more heavily than before. I wonder how it happens. Maybe I will ask climate experts for some help. It really confuses me a lot.

If it is because of the punishment for we human beings breaking the rules of nature, this will be just a very beginning of disaster. No one can imagine what will happen next. We are just waiting here, for the richly deserved punishments. 

The weather forecast said it will still snow in the following days. What exact time will it stop snowing? I can't stand this damned weather any more.

-- What can we do if old people live alone? This question was asked in an MSN group several days ago. And I gave some suggestions at that time. Now I post them below.

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Honestly, I don't approve of old people's living alone in China. Even, you know, it's dangerous and will do harm to old people's living condition and lives.

Yesterday, I read a piece of news on the Internet. It said that a body of an old man who lived alone was discovered after several days he had been dead. Incredible!

If old people have to live alone, I think there are many measures that should be taken, not only by their children and family, but also by the society and the authorities.

We should take care of old people if they live alone. We must make sure that their living condition is fine and their have enough money to go on with their lives. They shouldn't be hungry or thirsty. And children should keep in touch with them as often as they can. The family should know the old people's present situation. In case old people are ill, we must take them to see a doctor immediately.

Meanwhile, we should visit their houses at times. We can spend the weekend with them. We must let them know that we still love them and we are still concerning about them. We must let them know that they are not lonely.

Law and legislation are needed to protect the old people's rights and insure their required living condition. Any conduct which trespasses on old people's rights will be punished.

The government should build some departments to deal with everything of old people's living. If old people choose to live alone, some organs or organizations should take care of them if necessary. A well-run social security system is needed. If old people live far away from their children or their children don't attend them at all, there must be some people and organizations that take care of old people well.

The community and the society are responsible to care about old people. They can do and should do many things to improve old people's life.

In a word, we should improve old people's life by taking as many steps as we can take. We can't leave them alone. They need us. We need them, too. The old people shouldn't be separated from our society. They need to enjoy their well-being life.

As a global language, English is learned by people all around the world. English plays an important role on communication between people who speak different languages. If you can't speak English, you may be lost in the globalization.

English has been thought highly of in Mainland China since the Reform and Opening-up. There are more and more people joining in the trend of learning English. Not only students, but also other people. Especially the aged citizens, after the government called on the whole country to learn to speak English, when Beijing won the right to hold the 2008 Olympic Games. English learning is very prevalent now. Also English training services. The qualification of English is needed in many places. Such as universities and work units.

But what's the present status of China's English learning? How many native Chinese can speak fluent English? Is China's English education successful or failed?

When I ask these questions myself, I feel very depressed.

In China, when graduation, a college student has worked hard to learn English for ten years. Six in the middle school, and four at university. He also passes CET-4, many even CET-6. He scores very well when he take examinations. However, he can't talk to a foreigner freely. He can't understand books of English version completely, either. Writing a paper also seems too difficult for him. Why? It doesn't make sense.

On the contrary, when you travel to a non-English-speaking country in Europe or South America, you will find many people there can speak English fluently. No wonder that a child there speaks English more fluently and originally than an adult in China.

So, how these happen? What's the problem of China's English education system? And who should be responsible for the ugly situation?

If you find you get little after spending many years learning a language, even you spend much more time and effort on it than what you do in your native language learning, what do you think?

People can list many reasons that bring the problems of China's English learning. But the most important point is, what a language education system should be?