LONG LIVE HOME TOWN

ONE CHINA!

TIBET WAS, IS, WILL ALWAYS BE PART OF CHINA!

WE CHINESE LOVE PEACE!



Tibet Protest at Trafalgar Square (6 April 2008)



Chinese protest in London you never see on BBC (6 April 2008)



something important that the BBC "accidentally" missed out on 6 April 2008



GREAT CHINESE STUDENTS OVERSEAS (6 April 2008, from POWERAPPLE)



SHAME ON BBC AND CNN!!!

A volunteered website exposing the lies and distortions in western media ANTI-CNN

political presentation report 3

Planned Activity:- Athletes exchange
Athletes exchange visits between London and Beijing, and friendly matches could be planned.

At present there is a nice chance for people to people information exchange - the Beijing Olympics torch will arrive at London 6th April, by which time both British and Chinese sports stars as well as officials will be together. The arrival of the torch is also end of China in London 2008 season. As what could be expected, thousands and thousands of Londoners and overseas Chinese will join in the celebration, Tibetan protesters as well. It’s every overseas Chinese duty and opportunity to protect the torch and tell foreigners what happened in Tibet by using pictures and slogans.

- Exhibitions
Since work of Chinese artists or documentary-makers about environment in China, security situation, food safety, and Tibetans’ life is not so persuasiveness for westerners, we will invite non Chinese ones to conduct exhibitions on what they have seen on the land.

And from 15 March the featured exhibition “China Design Now” is on V&A, which will last until 13 July 2008. The youngest city Shenzhen, the foremost international city Shanghai, and the Olympics holding city Beijing will show a fantastic contemporary China and extraordinary change for the Games.

- Academic exchange
There are many scholars interested in China, Chinese culture-lovers and China experts in universities. They can give well influenced lectures and talks from English speaking world’s point of view. Also the students are future of the country, we should eliminate their misunderstandings. The confusions made by culture difference could be explained well by westerners. Communication is always very important and effective.

- Experience exchange
The sort of activities is determined by the relationship between London and Beijing as the takeover and handover Olympic cities, and was drawn inspiration from an interview with Harrow Council stuff. What good experience of Beijing doing well on reception issues and other preparations could be learnt from.

Getting in touch with each other, people in two countries will promote friendship and be aware of deeper the different culture value.

Administration:- Timing: from April to September 2008 succession events.

- Budgets: mainly from Chinese government, as well as donations from patriotic personage

Results:
Numbers of lectures & events, and box office of exhibitions could be counted. Any amount, great or small, will be appreciated. Months ahead of Beijing Olympics are just a beginning for infiltrating a real China to all over the world. Long hard way has to go.

political presentation poster 2

Strategy:
- Audience
The series events target on British as well as people around the globe who care about or are interested in Beijing Olympics or Tibet issues. Not only athletes themselves, but academic stuff, journalists, officials, and residents are all our target audience.

- Message
What we want those who are making use of political pressure on sports to understand are what they are doing is wrong and will completely not have the effects they expected. We are offering a chance to show people the facts, and then time will tell the truth.

- Method
For the one who is behaving to disrupt their home country, we cannot stop them, but leave them free to do so to illustrate their so-called “human rights”. For westerners who are not in the know for many years, we cannot persuade them at once, but continue to take up with switching their ideas about China, which is a long-term tough struggle.

- Media
As the fact that some western media are selective blind so that whatever efforts Chinese government made will be ignored, our events are aiming at nongovernmental contact. Schools and universities, museums, etc. are good media we can cover.

political presentation poster 1

Topic:
The government of China has asked you to prepare ideas for a PR campaign (no paid-for advertising) for the UK designed to counteract negative coverage ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Position:
- Internal
The year 2008 implies a favorable opportunity for the government of China as well as Chinese people to show a real China to the world, and the Western world to go deep into situation and culture there. From the government to ordinary people, Beijing Olympics is being seriously taken account of.

- External
Just at the sensitive moment, Dalai Lama premeditated a serial anti-government and free Tibet movement, attempting to leave negative influence on the Games through political pressure.

Rioters’ violation on Chinese Embassies in some European countries, and Tibetans’ on the Hans in Xizang happened on “3.14”. These movements push China into global media hotspot. But with many foreign media’s inverting justice reports, China government is being blamed in the last two weeks.

Objective:
We are preparing six months continuous events around UK especially in the capital London to return as many facts as possible to the world, to counteract as much negative influence as possible on Beijing Olympics, to persuade more people to face China squarely, even one more.

online report - As a team member

As a team member

I was thankful for these twelve weeks that gave me this opportunity to work with the other nine fantastic people. Also I’m getting to know the procedure to build a website. I believe that everyone has done everything to the best of one’s ability for London Out Loud. We have a great our own website now!

Julia, our boss, is very kind-hearted and a very good listener. She accepted different voices as much as possible. And she never drove anyone to do something, if article hadn’t been finished in time or there was just no one free to do some work, she would be patient and did it herself. Thanks, boss!

Deny and Chelna are both nice and responsible editors. Being different from London Alternative, topics of issues as well as of certain articles are managed by editors not oneself. So they just did much more work to think about what should be next issue.

Sebastian and Kheira are also very nice and are happy to help others.

Hugo is really mad with marketing, he has found any ways he could do for marketing.

Ice is really really smart and hard working during the last two months! I don’t think I need to say anything else, she’s work has been appreciated by every classmate.

Chris and Lu did a lot of shooting in order to richen the multimedia session. Not to mention heavy equipments needed taking, editing time needed spending, they are just enthusiastic about the site and anything need to done.

And myself, Yin, am just quite ordinary and have done what I should.

online report - As a writer

As a writer

I still think that what London Out Loud attracts people more is the lay out not articles themselves, though some latest comments showed that people were very interested at our fourth issue – SEX.

Now I’ve got into a groove of writing one feature plus a piece of news per week. Thinking back the last ten weeks, on weekdays we had classes and shooting tasks as well as at weekends for the first five weeks when doing TV, after which when we were doing radio, interviews could be done only during weekdays.

So writing for online for me in fact became a “leisure time”, at which time I could summarize what I did on TV or radio as an online feature, or be involved in a certain news deeply when doing research to write it.

We have four issues and I contributed seven articles, five features with two pieces of news.

For issue one – Chinese New Year, just in time I was doing TV documentary China: Generation Next, as a result I had chance, or to say I had to spend whole days to shoot events and celebrations, so I know what happened I have the first hand material.

To write about what China in London 2008 offered and Londoners reaction was not hard for me. As for the one Year of the Rat which talked about fortune and fate, it was Wen task and she suddenly went back to China, so I took over the feature reasonably.

For issue two – London Olympics, I was in charge of a feature of International Women’s Day and news of London future plan’s launching. I think the most important and difficult thing is first I need to understand the context through many researching and then though about how to arrange lots of information to let readers understanding what was going to happen.

For issue three – London Arts, there was one feature I needed to cover. It was the Taste East festival, I really wanted to go there and taste free food as well as drinks, but what a big shame that the two afternoons’ food festival met with International Women’s Day which was my radio feature topic. I had no choice here.

For issue four – Sexy London. The two distributed topic chanced to meet my interest – manga and wireless network. It was easier for me to write, as I visited the three manga shops I recommended very often. The other one’s situation was just the same. Everyone feels easier to research and write what they are interested or familiar with.

online report - As a Web 2.0 producer

As a Web 2.0 producer

At the beginning of this term when we sat down in newsroom started to discuss who would like to do what, I thought I could do everything also nothing. The reason why I am saying this is obvious – I know everything, but everything a little, not on good level.

For English speaking and writing, neither readily reaction or leadership ability nor English-speaking world’s thinking I am not better than others. So I could not choose to be editors or subs or marketing to interfere everyone’s time and work.

For video shooting and editing, evidently Chris and Lu are more professional. Consequently for better performance of our site I should not choose to be in charge of multimedia and photography.

I believe that this is not a chance to practice and improve one’s own ability through twelve weeks’ team work, but to contribute your best ideas, knowledge and energy to conduct a best student website.

Well, only designers left for me as the only one choice. But Ice is very good at this, I would like to share more the heavy burden with her, however she only needs me to do some code.

At first I thought I need to write the code myself, and I do found online java or html course began to learn. When I was at university what I learnt was from the very basic point to understand computer world. Even though at the elective course Multimedia Technology, I was taught using C++ to conduct a program transferring image format.

When I knew only one thing I needed to do was to find free codes on the Internet, on the contrary, I was not that much good at. Although I have a good grasp of programming, various applications are more important and useful for me to learn, because now good software is already there, which who can master skilled who can win.

Well, finally we have comment, bookmark & share, and RSS feeds, also what we haven’t put them online – print, site search, pool, etc, for the reason that page looking or lay out issue.

London manga shopping guide

This is the feature of LOL issue 4. It's only a small introduction of London manga shops.

Are you just fan of American comics or Japanese manga that is living in London now and having no idea where to buy the latest volume of your favorite books?

Otherwise, have you seen the digitally-projected movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which was the first ever to include a genuine 8-channel Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) soundtrack?

Or that includes six episodes going along with our grown up the big movie series Star Wars?

Don’t you want to learn more about these adaptations of comics or manga? Just simply follow guide below to find out your interest.

As being not so popular as in Japan or America, there are not many big stores selling comics or manga in London, however, which are enough to satisfy a craving for it.

Japan Center

Located presently at the busy meeting point and tourist attraction - Piccadilly Circus, Japan Center was established in 1976 by a young Japanese man who just for the reason that couldn’t find a Japanese book when he wanted one.

Besides food shop, restaurant, travel service and supermarket, a book shop underground is also part of Japan Center.

All the books sold there are in Katakana and Hiragana. Though there are not many manga volumes being sold, some most popular and recent ones are involved, such as Luck Star, Detective Conan, Doraemon, Bleach, One Piece etc.

The well-known Japan manga and anime journals are provided as well.

For example, monthly released serial manga magazine LALA, Weekly Young Jump for young male readers, boys love (BL) magazines aiming primarily at girls Monthly Asuka and monthly Be Boy, and some of the most famous amine information giving ones Newtype, Animedia, and Hobby.

In a word, if you would like to see most of the current manga and anime journals as soon as possible, Japan Center is no doubt your first choice.

But the prices are high, however, there is usually some unsold stock being cleared out cheaply. Online shopping is available, but the book lists are not updated on time.

Address: 212-213 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9HX

Forbidden Planet

As the largest specialist science fiction (SF) and comic shop in the UK, including an excellent range of anime goods by default, Forbidden Planet is really a fantastic place.

Not only Japanese manga, but American comics as many as you need are offered. All the Japanese ones are put in alphabetical order and English translated.

Manga, magazines and videos are in the basement. T-shirts, merchandise, models, postcards and badges are mixed in with the relevant sections everywhere. Price is good and cheaper for online shopping.

Just go to Forbidden Planet and have a look around by yourself. You will always have fun more than expected.

Address: 179 Shaftesbury Ave, London, WC2H 8JR

Adanami Shobo

Moved from 387 Edgeware Road to 30 Brewer ST, Adanami Shobo is a very small and crowd store being full of second-hand Japanese books.

There are many classic and finished serial manga, and not so up-to-date. Nevertheless, the most exciting thing is that prices at Adanami Shobo are to bring even the stingiest otaku to their knees.

Even if this is a second-hand book shop, quality of books themselves is still satisfactory.

Address: 30 Brewer ST, London, W1F 0SS

London, the capital of Wi-Fi

Here comes the news of LOL issue 4. After getting these information, I began to notice that wireless on Wmin campus is Wi-Fi application.

According to new research from mobile services firm iPass, London is the world's biggest Wi-Fi hotspot city.

The iPass ‘Wi-Fi Hotspot Index’ said that in the second half of 2007, Wi-Fi usage in London has rocketed 156 per cent, and the average session time lasting 72 minutes, which helped London hold up its position as Wi-Fi capital of the world.

Singapore and Tokyo were the second and third Wi-Fi cities respectively, with Tokyo accumulating 118 per cent growth, which taken it to within a few breadth of its Asian neighbour.

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is the abbreviation of Wireless Fidelity that is a wireless-technology brand owned by the Wi-Fi Alliance, promoting standards with the aim of improving the interoperability of wireless local area network products.

A Wi-Fi enabled device, such as a PC, game console, cell phone, MP3 player, or PDA can connect to the Internet when within range of a wireless network connected to the Internet.

In a word, Wi-Fi is sort of wireless technology like Bluetooth, 3G etc.

According to the latest data from iPass index, for the second half of 2007, business use of wireless hotspots almost doubled last year.

As a mobile broadband technology, the increasing popularity of 3G is also fuelling the connectivity storm.

Airports are Still King

The locations where mobile users choose to log on to wireless networks continue to be led by traditional business travel place.

Airports are the hotspots of choice, accounting for almost half (45 per cent) of Wi-Fi sessions overall.

And Heathrow was the fourth most popular airport in the world for Wi-Fi usage.

Accounting for almost one-third of global usage, hotels are also popular, with 146 per cent growth on the same period last year.

A spokesman for iPass said enterprise mobile connectivity is likely to remain a tale of more than one technology.

He said in a statement: "The results of our Mobile Broadband Index suggest that no single technology can meet all the needs of an enterprise workforce.

While 3G provides broadband download speeds in domestic metropolitan areas, users need Wi-Fi hotspots for fast bi-directional access everywhere else as well as to avoid high international 3G roaming charges."

Taste East

Here comes the LOL online feature for the third issue ARTS.

I tried to go to the market at gap between radio interviews. But how stupid I was that I forgot to bring the address with me, and even if Ying and I asked people how to get there we still failed to...

Taste East

The curtain has descended on the 6-day East Festival that showcased the best of what was on offer in East London running from 6-11 March.

As food part of the East Festival, Taste East has been back.

On Fri 7 and Sat 8 March from 12pm to 5pm, the wonderful two days food festival was held in Old Spitalfields Market.

This year Taste East celebrated the countryside by welcoming Spitalfields City Farm into Bishop’s Square, which transformed Spitalfields into a country idyll armed with lots of food stalls, demonstrations, and free family entertainment.

Fabulous Food Fair
Over 50 carefully selected stalls have offered the freshest and finest food sample at the free international country food fair.

People could also buy the food back to home and taste leisurely.

Some really wonderful food stalls that provided delicious food all over the world were on display in the two afternoons.

Also some Great British Food from some of the east end's best restaurants shared a passion for ethically sourced British produce.

Jollof Pot, founded by Romford based couple Lloyd Mensah and Adwoa Hagan-Mensah, offered modern Ghanaian food that is characterised by its hearty, tasty stews and soups.

The Rivington Grill, a celebrated restaurant in the east end, of which menu was originally created by one the UK's best chefs Mark Hix, gave cooking demonstrations within a hot food stall.

Rummanco, producing quality Caribbean food and established for over 25 years, offered their range of spicy condiments that all made with natural ingredients and no colourings or preservatives such as Rummanco Mango & Apricot Chutney with jerk spices.

Don't Forget the Drinks
Not only food, but all manner of fine wines, traditional ciders and independently brewed beers were on Taste East. Plus a whole lot of juices, organic hot chocolates, coffees and teas.

Quaffs Beer, founded by beer enthusiast Chris Gill, sold beers from across the world including unusual beers that cannot be found easily in the UK.

Tea Smith, a contemporary tea house in Old Spitalfields Market, founded by tea obsessive John Kennedy and his wife, offered a selection of teas that grown and processed in their traditional locations, and hosted a stall where people could learn the art of making the perfect cup.

Free Demonstrations
On Friday and Saturday, secrets of some of the country’s top chefs were discovered at free demonstrations on Taste East festival. They have given live food demonstrations.

Peter Gott of Sillfield Farm strongly believes in the "Slow Food" movement, which encourages and promotes local food and artisan food production. He is also deeply involved with the promotion of quality food and food production.

Cyrus Todiwala, in 2000 awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) in recognition of his skill and commitment to the catering industry, is proprietor and Executive Chef of innovative Indian restaurant Café Spice Namasté in Whitechapel.

Don’t be afraid of missing last weekend’s Taste East food festival, just go to Old Spitalfields Market at Brushfield Street along with your family and friends at any time!

editorial session missing

Because of online module timetable changed suddenly, everything planned to be done has to be changed schedule either.

These days are really hard for me, Ying as well. We spent several continuous days almost travelled the whole London to do the radio feature.

Suffering the rains for three hours, spending twelve hours outside without any rest etc. that made us very very tired.

If we don't have a draft or brief idea to talk with teacher, why we need to come to waste the time rather than to discuss a mature one with partner.

But someone just like to do so - when they only have the raw materials then they go to teacher to ask help with the structure! I treat this kind of behaviour as the lazy guy does!

But again, some the foreign teachers just like these guys. They believe they are learning, are doing job. I think this is culture difference.

Well, as we are at foreign school learning foreigners' habit doing things, just follow the rules is the best way to get better grade.

pitch 2

- How
It may shoot two days, then by editing that it seems like one whole day activities.
* [to search the Internet] four main websites providing anime shops info
http://www.animejin.org.uk/lnshop.htm#01
http://www.animelondon.ca/links.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+9951+3++0+0
http://www.ryouko.demon.co.uk/ukshop.htm

* [to google maps and print] [to find tube or bus routes]
* [Japan Centre (Piccadilly Circus), 212 Piccadilly, W1J 9HG]
[Orbital - manga (Leicester Square), Orion House, 4C Upper ST Martins Lane]
[VINMAG Co Ltd (Piccadilly Circus), 39/43 Brewer ST Soho, W1 R9UD]
[JP-books (Piccadilly Circus), Mitsukoshi, 14-20 Regent ST]
[OCS Books (Ealing Common), 2 Grosvenor Parade, Uxbridge Road]
[HMV (Piccadilly Circus), 142 Wardour Street, W1F 8LN]
[Forbidden Planet (Piccadilly Circus/Leicester Square), Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2H 8JR]
Interview with store managers [talk about their shops]
* [Asahiya Shoten (Piccadilly Circus), 30 Brewer ST, W1F 0SSmoved]
[Oriental Cityclosed down]
interview with the neighbor shop keepers [talk about reasons that they knew why anime shops closedlimited market/not so popular Japanese animations around London etc.]
*[to have lunch at Japan Centre]
[to have dinner at Leicester Square]

- Where
Local anime channels or children programs.

- Who
Kids and young people who are fans of Japanese animations, manga, and SF, including Londoners, and who just come and live in London especially overseas students.

- When
From after school time (after 15:00) to supper time.

pitch 1

Finding London Anime Shops

- What
Miss Wang, a Chinese girl studying MA course in London, is a big fan of Japanese animations & comics, also SF. When she first came to London, she was eager to know where amine shops were and where she could buy DVDs, magazines, toys etc. This 15~20 minutes long documentary is going to follow and film her with a girlfriend whole day of finding anime shops around London.

- Why & Aim
It’s a kind of autobiographical type TV documentary. When I came to London last August and searched the Internet to find out where the anime shops were, I faced a little difficulty.

Generally speaking, there was no overall information; otherwise the last time of information updated was years ago.

Meanwhile, I found overseas students left messages saying they wanted to know either; Londoners even who provided a certain shop address haven’t themselves been to the shop either because of inconvenience or time limited.

And also my classmates who are interested in Japanese games or foods ask me if I know some good places.

So I want to through this short film to introduce where shops are, when shops open, and what characters shops have including goods varieties, prices, etc. And it’s necessary to correct wrong guides by the Internet.

Following the information that hasn’t been updated for years, I wasted time and money, because some once big shopping malls moved or don’t exist any more.

International Women's Day

Spending one hour to reseach at 2am, and there hours to arrange materials and write before 1pm, I made up a 2nd article for LOL, which one I thought should be finished after IWD. How stupid I was^^

Here comes the preview of this year's events.

Shaping Progress

In 1908, fifteen thousand women marched through New York City asking for shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.

A century on, the pertinence of this event is honored through International Women’s Day 2008 global theme 'Shaping Progress'.

By the end of 3rd March, 177 events have registered in the official website of International Women’s Day, while in world wide the number reaches 481.

Celebrations began earlier this year in UK. Began with event of looking for women who would like to participate in a vibrancy shown film during the last week of January, celebrations come to a climax in the rest of this week.

Events in UK
On 5th March, there are 7 events covering network to women jobs from morning to night, among which Chippy Lippys will last the whole day from 7:30am to 9pm.

Chippy Lippys is a women's networking group designed to promote and grow one’s business in a fun and informal environment.

Event this year is to create entrepreneurship and to make a difference in the developing world through authorizing and training women leaders with The Hunger Project.

On 6th March, 19 events will be held around UK. From 7pm, as part of Out of the Archives Lecture Series, the Women’s Library will give a talk by Judith Bourne about the first woman barrister Helena Normanton.

The Women's Library is a cultural centre that houses the most extensive collection of women's history in the UK.

On 7th March, there will be 17 more colorful events. From 7pm to 10pm, a concert held by Hitchin Rotary Club will give a performance with all proceeds going to The St. Mary's Fabric Appeal, The Wheelchair Foundation and Forward.

The programme includes traditional and popular works by The Holy Saviour Choir Andante, The Radcliffe Singers and The Hitchin Light Orchestra:

Hitchin Rotary Club was formed in 2002 by a group of people keen to put something back into local community.

On Women’s Day, more than seventy events are coming. From art exhibition to free talk, from women’s work condition to live changes, you will definitely find out an event that interests you.

History
The first International Women's Day was launched on 8 March 1911 in Copenhagen by Clara Zetkin, Leader of the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany.

This followed many years of women's campaigning dating back to British MP, John Stuart Mill, the first person in Parliament calling for women's right to vote.

On 19 September 1893 New Zealand became the first self-governing nation in the world to give women the right to vote.

In just three years time, 2011 will see Centenary of International Women’s Day, which is 100 years of women's united action for global equality and change. Organizations around the world have already started to plan for their celebrations.

London Collaborative Launch

Sunday is not sunday. It is just the preview of Monday, a long Monday.

Today I spent ten hours in library withoud my dear food, partly because I have to finish one piece of news for LOL, partly because I need to burn DVD for TV group, and the most important part is that I exceeded network daily usage yesterday. Hehe~

Here comes the unsubbed edition news.

London Collaborative Launch

By the end of March, London Collaborative and Capital Ambition will publish a report on key challenges and future frame of London.

The report aims at providing a framework for settling the most suitable areas for cooperation and at investigating the most effective ways of measuring London’s future success.

On 18th March, the report will be put out at the official launch of the Futures programme, which is Capital Ambition’s flagship project.

The programme will deliver important research and analysis on how London can prepare for future challenges.

The first stage of network building is in well progress with nearly 200 key managers nominated from across the boroughs.

A second stage, enrolling people from key agencies such as the Metropolitan Police, the NHS (National Health Service) and housing agencies, has also started.

Capital Ambition
Capital Ambition was set up in January 2006 by London local government to improve public services across the capital.

Its originally focus has been on engaging in current pieces in London, while another important part of Capital Ambition manifesto is around the longer-term challenges for London.

Earlier 2007, Capital Ambition met with a range of consultants, academic and policy institutions to discuss how the project would be delivered.

London Collaborative
Following the testing period that took place over August and September, London Collaborative was selected as Capital Ambition’s partner to deliver the programme.

London Collaborative is an association led by the Young Foundation, and including OPM (the Office for Public Management) and Common Purpose, with access to LSE, UCL, Local Futures Group, Shared Intelligence, and Forum for the Future.

TV documentary - catching interviewees

At the very beginning, we thought to.........................

TV documentary review

At the very beginning before I really got involved in documentary skills for TV, I didn't realized that it was so mentally as well as physically hard module that we three girls were all tired of it.

As a result, I was too busy to have time to wash clothes, to go to supermarkets, to clean my lovely room, etc. Once there was time, I would like to choose to sleep rather than anything else.

Also I have no time to update my blog. Now the 7th week is coming, and group A turned to radio session either. We have much time now. Let me review what happened last six weeks.

New Beginning

After months leaving my blog alone, it is time to re-start!

Let me begin with our online group's big PHOTO SHOOT!

Actually on the day we were aiming to take pictures for ABOUT ME page of our website - London Out Loud.

We rent the photography studio of school for two hours, however, the progress went very well, much better than we expected. As a result, we ended up picturing tens of minutes earlier.

What was interesting was that some of our online team were TV members also at the moment. We took the cameras all the time as a habit.

Two Chinese shot at random. But after then we thought it was a exciting idea that make it a short film as an advertisement, just for marketing.

So a Chinese boy, Chris, spent spare time to edit which lasted several days. And at the end we "stole" background music from youtube too, of course, we declared the copyright stuff at the beginning of the video.

I sent the youtube link to many friends also my parents. After having a look at the clip, they all said that it was great and excellent! We were experts and professional!

Now let's enjoy!

Year of the Rat

Here comes the second piece for LOL feature.

People who were born Rat come to have a look at your fortune in 2008, Year of the Rat.

The Rat

It is considered an honor to be born in the Year of the Rat.

In China, the Rat is respected a courageous and creative person.

Rats know exactly where to find solutions and can take care of themselves and others without problems.

They use their natural sense of observation to help others in times of need.

Study
Rat people in 2008 will get a lot from friends. They will be assisted and promoted by companions to a great extent.

They should give first place to learn to update their knowledge in order to equip themselves.

There is a Chinese old saying – If one is unable to move forward, one will inevitably lag behind.

So rat people are supposed to spend more time absorbing knowledge rather than stepping at the same place.

Job
The Rat has an ordinary fortune on jobs this year, however, there is still possibilities for promoting to higher position.

Though it means there is more work to do, promotion is worth to celebrate in any case.

But the Rat may be easier to be mistaken this year so that should handle affairs carefully and watchfully in order to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Money
The Rat has a stable luck in making money, neither better nor worse.

They need to bear in mind to keep away from injustice income, and should not be out for small advantages, otherwise may suffer unexpected personal financial losses.

Love
There will be no big breakthrough of romantic for the Rat through this year.

They must put in a lot of hard work to break the insipid love life.

The Rat who is single is not easy to fall in love, while the one who is with lovers already will have little change with the relationship.

Health
The only one thing the Rat should be careful with is to avoid being suffered from influenza through the whole year.

The People of Rat
People who was born in 1972 is of great others assistance of career in 2008.

They should feel free to hand in new think of project to the managers or superiors. Also the fortune of wealth is quite good which means they are easier to get rich this year.

People who was born in 1984 has very good relation with parents.

It is believed that parents will help them a lot this year so that to listen to and follow their advice is a good choice.

People who was born in 1996 has good fate of studying. They can get good mark and well with classmates as well.

They should learn more techniques this year, such as swimming, painting, handwriting, piano etc, which will help a lot for their future.

Big Chinese New Year

This is the original edition of first article for LOL feature. Also for the reason of TV documentary, I fortunately attended most of the main events celebrating China in London 2008.

Big Chinese New Year

More than eight thousands of miles far away from China though, any Chinese living in London could be involved in rich celebrations for the Year of the Rat, and feel about festive air just no less than as in hometown.

Thirty years of China government releasing the policy of reformation and opening, the twenty-ninth summer Olympic Games in Beijing, planning launch of Shenzhou 7, which big events are believed put 2008 a big China year seen from the world wide angle.

China in London 2008
Also especially in London, China in London 2008 which includes a series event lasting for two months, began on 6th February on which day was also Chinese Lunar New Year.

2008 China in London season will end up with the Olympic Torch Relay of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on 6th April.

In the afternoon of 6th Feb. Olympic stars from China as well as England pressed together a red button at Oxford Circus to start the grand celebrations which were already successfully held for the last three years by the authority of the Office of Lord Mayor.

At the same time ten Chinese traditional red lanterns were lighted together in the sky of Oxford Circus.

China in London has been the biggest festivity for Chinese New Year outside Asia.

It has been cooperated with many famous British culture institutions, such as the British Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Royal Academy of Music etc, which push more than five hundreds activities.

Beijing - London both as Olympic Games holding places and their handover and takeover relationships are strong theme running through the 2008 China in London season.

Chinese New Year Celebrations
In Central London on 10th February at 11:00, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and the Chinatown held a colorful parade and theatrical performances in the meantime which were most expected through China in London season.

According to incomplete statistics, nearly half million Londoners as well as Chinese attended the six hours lasting entertainment.

Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, drew eyes for Chinese performance dragon at the opening ceremony.

Dazzling dragon and lion dances were mostly welcomed by kids, also the best of traditional and contemporary Chinese arts performed from both London and China.

Seven times fireworks displayed in Leicester Square at 11 o’clock, each displayed on the hour, until 6 o’clock.

Throughout the day in Chinatown cultural stalls, Chinese traditional food and decorations, also lion dance displayed were quite attractive not only Londoners but many people from Europe.

food miles

CUE:
Food miles have become a burning issue in the climate debate as campaigners call for people to eat more local food. What are problems because of food miles? What happened when a family tried to survive on food only from local place? Here is Yin & Ying report.

SCRIPTS:
Food miles are the measure of the distance a food travels from field to plate. Agriculture and food now account for nearly 30 per cent of goods transported on our roads.

This travel adds largely to the carbon dioxide emissions that are contributing to climate change - which is why food miles matter. A report by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says that food miles rose by 15 per cent between 1992 and 2002.

Sustain is part of Food Links, an union of organizations around the UK involved in projects aimed at developing local food economies and decreasing the distance that food travels.

Tully Wakeman of East Anglia Food Links believes it is crucial that local food is not a niche product, but that it becomes a far bigger part of the mainstream.

There is a group of about 100 volunteers in Fife calling for people to eat more local food. They have created the Fife Diet and are trying to live on a diet of food that is largely from within the area. Writer Mike Small is co-ordinator of the volunteers and he and his wife and children have now been on the diet.

Let’s listen to Mike about the idea behind the group in Fife. And what problems they are facing. What the group suggest people do to deal with foodmiles?

Media Monitoring 7

Radio is more vivid as a consequence of music and voice which could offer the audience imagination of scenes and features of reporter and interviewees.

But radio has a linear process of dissemination. Listeners cannot re-order or select from a single stream of content. Thus the voice keeps going on and on which will not give listeners a chance of feeling bored. Consequently, radio offers lots of information to win the audience, no matter how much listeners will remember.

In the mean while, writing for newspaper can be read again and again, which determines the story must be treated much more critical than be done in radio or online which has many tricks to draw one’s eyes.

As for this story, some common things are mentioned in all the three media, such as little changed life, economy, and democracy.

These are talked about by interviewees in radio and online which make the report more local, and by writer’s narrative in newspaper making the report more academic. In newspaper, the author treats the story from a macroscopic and social angle, however, in radio and online a microcosmic and individual angle.

For the reason that there is more space online than in newspaper, it provides more details and facts online. For example, speaking of free media, there is only one sentence in newspaper - “the judiciary remains independent and the media is free.” Yet article online illustrates data of a survey to prove that high levels of press freedom is just relative.

In addition, report online refers to HK’s impact on the border, the south coast, even the whole country, not only impacts on HK of the return. This reminds readers to think about the story in a varied deeper way.

Besides no interview is in newspaper, there are seven or eight in radio and online. Paralleled with interviewees in radio who are all almost someone, people interviewed online are really normal. Therefore, it looks more authoritative and formal in radio and kinder online.

Media Monitoring 6

5.2.3 Pictures & Texts & Captions
The story has three pictures with three texts, which spread evenly throughout the page and all stand the right side to the words.

The first picture, in the middle of intros, is full views of skyscrapers standing in the Victoria Harbor, with a caption saying what the biggest reason for HK’s success is.

The second picture, in the middle of first section “little change”, is one interviewee who is a taxi driver standing in front of her car, with her saying about her loving homeland as a caption. These two pictures work well in concert with contents around them.

The third picture, in the middle of the last section “China’s menace”, is the 87-year-old man whose words is quoted far earlier in the intros sitting on threshold beside a doorpost, with a caption pointing out that he, as well as many others, feels little difference in the decade.

Actually there are two quotations from him both of which are in the first five or six paragraphs, but it is strange that his picture is shown in the bottom of the page. It could cause confusion to readers to some extent.

The first and third texts are both the interviewees’ saying with their names and occupations as captions.

The second text is right in middle of the page which shows in fact readers comments on the story. Though it occupies advantage point, readers need to roll the mouse a few times if they want to find place to comment, for the story is a little long which length could fit three screens.

5.2.4 Interviewees
There are seven interviewees. Three of whom are ordinary people, whose sayings are aiming at indicating people’s life have no significant change. Three are professional, one economist, one political analyst, and a professor, whose statement are more academic rather than official. And an only government official, the HK Human Rights Monitor.

6 Comparisons
It is the medium characters that determine the process of story construction and also shape the final product. There is no visual image or document with radio, no sound or moving pictures with newspaper, nevertheless, varied types of text, graphics, audio and video could be put online.

For the sake of attracting own audience, the story is treated differently to make a medium stand alone with others.

Media Monitoring 5

4.1.4 The Ending
The eighth paragraph, the last one, has a summarized ending which states briefly what HK should do to arrest the risks coming true.

4.2 Identity
Although being a short article without any interview, the writer points out sharply the cruxes of HK confusion – democracy and the status of Asian financial centre. The language is short, simple, and sharp, the idea is crucial, clear and critical.

5 Online
Article Hong Kong’s decade under China’s flag is one of a series of features on BBC website which was uploaded on June 21, 2007. The BBC’s Samanthi Dissanayake went to HK to look at how HK has changed in a decade.

5.1 Non-Linear
Online journalism is not only about the text, but also techniques. Users are free to choose whether to read the story till the end, or to go to audio and video, to database, to comment, to graphic, or to browse another website. They are characters of online journalism.

This article holds the two middle columns of the website, if which is cut into four, accompanied by the homepage link and subtitle pages’ in the left and links to other stories, audios & videos, pictures etc associating with the issue HK ten years on in the right.

5.2 Writing
5.2.1 Intros
The first paragraphs are the apex of the pyramid, the all important intro.

In this part four paragraphs are included. The first one gives a scenic description on China’s regain possession of HK. The second one quotes a short sentence using quotation marks from a 87-year-old man in order to draw the third paragraph which says what was nature in the city at that moment – uncertainty about the future. The last paragraph of intros tells what considerable crisis HK has overcome in the decade.

5.2.2 Headlines
Good headlines provide important guidance and context for readers who would like to access sections of stories they are interested in and to leave the rest. Headlines divide a full story into several sections, which make it convenient to follow.

There are four headlines in whole page, under each of which the words are in nearly the same length which quite fits a window. The sense perception is good.

Media Monitoring 4

4 Newspaper
There isn’t much space in a newspaper. There’s no room for too many words. Thus the article Hong Kong today published in Financial Times on June 30, 2007, the day prior to 10th anniversary of HK’s return to China, contains only eight short paragraphs, four hundred sixty-five words.

4.1 Feature
4.1.1 The Focus
This article focuses on “HK faces too many challenges”.

In the beginning of the writing, the writer points out that seemingly life in HK under Chinese sovereignty is almost the same as it was under British colonial rule. But then it turns to a point of view by deeper observation on the superficial appearance, which is “little risk reassurance”.

4.1.2 The Lead
In the second paragraph, the author associates two significant facts coming along with the return – Asian financial crisis and SARS – with the Five-Starred Red Flag in the handover ceremony, as they were all emerging at that moment.

This descriptive lead gives readers a clear, simple, and lively picture of a scene from which the story will then flow.

4.1.3 The Body
There are five paragraphs in the body of the story which can be considered as three parts according to the content.

Some facts of the advantages as well as what have little changed in HK ten years on are enumerated in the first part of three, the third paragraph. The writer simply gives out several details, such as the soaring tycoons’ property and fortunes, the prosperous stock market, the remaining independent judiciary as well as free media.

In the second part which contains the fourth and fifth paragraphs, HK people’s main disappointment – undemocratic HK – is described. The author demonstrates what the citizen shows – the protest march in 2003, what the disappointment is – the failure of HK’s becoming a full democracy society, and also why it is – Beijing’s interference, local administration’s timidity, business leaders’ connivance, and the increasingly growing economy.

In the last part, a question is raised in paragraph six and is answered in paragraph seven. The author begins to think about what exactly makes HK “special” rather than another coastal city in China by giving several pieces of proof that HK is losing its status as the financial centre in Asia in reality. But in logical, it still is, that is the answer.

Media Monitoring 3

3.4 Interviewees & Content
Radio part one arranges several questions around the central subject - identity - by presenting eight interviews, one vox pop with pupils, and some conversations.

The interviewees covers wide trades and professions, including not only famous tycoon, head teacher of HK secondary school, hand dealer with furniture, millionaire, club holder who once worked for British army, but also Donald Tsang, HK chief executive, and Christopher Patten.

In addition to some essential news background information, reporter’s own and personal feeling and observation when he is standing in a significance spot, fill the airtime among these interviews.

Radio part two focuses on what is still one of the most arguable issues in HK - the move towards democracy. In this part, all the interviewees are from organs of power, state of the city.

They are all politicians, such as Tung Chee-hwa, the first HK chief executive, Donald Tsang, as well as Chris Patten. The professionals give authority answers thus make the report authoritative and powerful.

These two parts are constructed in a somewhat different way. In part one, reporter’s speaking and interviews fill almost a balanced airtime; in the mean while, the interviews, even containing some argument between interviewer and interviewee, fill 65 to 70 percent of the airtime.

The aim of part one is to discover, however, part two is to discuss. The interviews in part two run a litter longer, add more depth, enlarge the views towards the problem, and give an opportunity for arguing points on the contrary.

Media Monitoring 2

3.2 Promotion
In radio part one which picks up the life pieces of HK people, some Chinese traditional music elements are inserted as background music.

The first two inserts of four are both Deng Lijun’s song. One is at 2’20”, right after the demonstration of story, mixed with noises of hawking one’s wares in the streets and lanes at night. After which reporter talks about his first impression of HK today since handover and what has changed, what hasn’t. The other is at 6’30”, which is right before talking on economy field and an interview with a tycoon from mainland living in HK.

The third and fourth are traditional Chinese operas. As the third one beginning at 9’50” lasts for one minute fifteen seconds, reporter is summing up answers to his question gained by interviews. And when the fourth begins at 21’30” which continues till the end, reporter starts to make conclusion of radio part one.

As is known, traditional Chinese operas stand for China’s splendid national culture, represent China on some occasion, here, the mainland, motherland. Singer Deng Lijun is one of the symbols of contemporary HK’s culture. Quoting these local culture elements as inserts, reporter is quite familiar with HK and China. Thus it makes the radio much more interesting, lively, and vivid.

3.3 Reporter
The maker is BBC's Jonathan Dimbleby, a well-known BBC journalist. He came to HK in 1992 with Christopher Patten who was living after five years as governor of HK, HK’s last British governor. He wrote a book The Last Governor after going back to Britain 1997.

Jonathan Dimbleby experienced the last time of colonial domination in HK. He is Christopher Patten’s trusted follower. As a result, he understands HK, knows about HK more than other correspondents.

Media Monitoring 1

1 Summary
The story of HK today is covered in some different kinds of media. This essay analyzes how the story is treated in radio, newspaper & online, and makes a comparison.

2 Background & Introduction
Hong Kong, the financial centre of Asia, one of the greatest cities of the world, was handed back to China from Britain on a rainy night between June 30 and July 1 1997. Ten years on, what has changed and hasn’t in HK? What do HK people think about HK?

All documentary and audio sources are from internet. A radio clip of BBC World Service first broadcasted in July 2007, one article of Financial Times published on June 30, and one article of BBC online uploaded on June 21, are samples of my research.

3 Radio
As the story is a history-made political issue, this two-part radio Hong Kong ten years on, each has a little more than 22 minutes airtime, is designed in a style, pace and rhythm way. It is very clear and definite what the reporter meant – to find out how much has changed in one of the world's most dynamic cities.

3.1 Opening
It is very important to win the audience at the beginning.

At the opening of radio part one, with the sound of wind, the reporter begins to describe the Victoria Harbor scene, recalls the days ten years ago in HK. Then live clips of the handover ceremony insert, as well as the voice of Christopher Patten, the last British governor of HK. After which, what HK feared at that time are illustrated, and then story begins.

To be honest, this is an absolutely attractive, emotional and powerful opening recalling the historical moment which will and should impress listeners.

The live sound clips of the big protest march of 2003 against a controversial anti-subversion law fill the first ten seconds of radio part two, and then turn to a background sound when interviewee’s voice sounds. The march of people’s calling for personal freedoms is one defining moment in democratization progress, which will be discussed later in radio.

SOHU observation 5

Homepage - Navigation bars of specified column
At the lower part of homepage, there are 8 specified columns, which are TV, food, entertainments, women, education, culture & society, games & lottery, travel & maps.

Each of the specified columns has its own navigation bar.

For example, menu bar for food contains eat, health, Chinese meal, Western-style meal, kitchen, nutrition, and cookbook.

These are indeed detailed division.

News Central
There is a little change on Sohu news page from the others - the main navigation bar turns to be at the left rather than at the top. It includes nation, international, society, business, IT, Olympic, sports, entertainments, car, real estate, culture, education, military, and pictures.

A secondary navigation bar is at the top. From left items to right, current date and time come first, followed by charity, popular opinions, special topic, video, BBS, broadcast yourself, and search box for news. They are different categories.

It’s another classification way which helps users go through news.

Jakob's Rules – Page titles
The title of homepage is “Sohu – the largest portal site in China”.

The other pages’ titles are on the same form of “A - Sohu”, “A” stands for a specified aspect or news title, such as “News - Sohu”, “Xiang Liu again broke the world’s 110- meter hurdles record - Sohu”, and so on.

This kind of page titles describes the page significantly.

So Sohu has high usability especially when users move between multiple tabs.

SOHU observation 4

Because Sohu is a mine of information, good navigation is extremely needed. And this is what Sohu does very well.

Small navigation bars
One small navigation bar containing 5 signs following a fox tail is at the very right top of the homepage. The 5 signs are homepage, alumni record, real estate, an online games website, and the search engine - Sogou.

Except for homepage, this small bar is always at the very left top of each page which leads people easy to go to homepage and search engine.

Sohu also has another small navigation bar which is always at the very right top of each page. It consists of 18 signs, which are homepage, news, sport, sport video, entertainments, entertainments video, business, IT, car, real estate, women, TV, video, alumni record, email, blog, BBS, and Sogou.

With these two small bars at the very top of each page, people could go to almost everywhere they want by just clicking on the signs without go back to homepage.

Homepage - Main navigation bar
On homepage a main navigation bar is at the top, which includes 3 rows and 56 signs. From news to BBS (Bulletin Board System), Olympics to animations, military issues to traveling, it really covers diverse aspects of daily life.

9 signs of which are highlighted in red, they are a large online game official page, live online TV, blog, Olympics, Olympics in China, stock, entertainments, Sogou phonetic alphabet input system, and constellation

While the input system is highlighted partly because of commercial reason, the rest 8 items are popular among ordinary people.

Actually Olympic in China is a sub-page of Olympics. There is also a sign of Olympics 2008 official website which isn’t highlighted. The reason why to mention Olympic 3 times among 56 signs, I think, is that Olympic held on next year is very important to China.

SOHU observation 3

Special report
Sohu will set up channels for special report of serial news, such as Six-Party Talks, under first-class classification, like News.

All the relevant articles, reports, pictures, videos, and comments will be included. It’s convenient to get related information, and clear to follow an issue.

Normal
Besides special report, as to mention the normal ones, the layouts are all the same.

There are two columns, the left one is news story, and the right one contains unrelated aspects.

Normal – left column
For news story itself, the hook comes first, bold, at font size 18, Song typeface (the same typeface below). If the story is available on video, there will be a small icon which likes a camera behind the hook. You can click on the icon, and then a page for video watching opens in a new window.

Then follows:
updated time at the left in sequence of year-month-day-hour-minute, font size 12;
link to comments and font size adjusting at the right, there are numbers of comments shown within brackets, font size 12, color of the number is red;
news source, such as Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, etc, font size 14;
news summary, one paragraph or a sentence which like cue in broadcasting journalism which summarizes the main story, font size 14;
pictures in the middle, with short caption pointing out name of the figure in the picture, or address of a building or place shown, etc. font size 12. Sometimes there is no picture;
the body, font size 14, 1.5 space;
link to comments right behind the body, the same one as what above news source;
relevant news & related key words links, which displays in two secondary columns divided by dotted line, with updated time next to each news link and “more” under the last one, font size 14;
place to leave comments, you have a choice here, to send comment with your name, or anonymous, or hide IP address, font size 12;
again link to comments at font size 14, right to blank comments space and under related key words links. Under which there are cream comments & debate links, font size 12.

The background color of the left column, which is news story, is light blue, while the rest is white. All the characters are black except for links, which are blue, and number of comments, which is red.

It is almost one sentence one paragraph, if not, it is one meaning one paragraph.

Subheadings are available. But no first paragraph of body is bold, I believe, which is Chinese habit to leave the first paragraph the same as rest of the body. If the font-size 14 Song typeface characters are bold, words will seem dirty and unclear.

There is a big ad picture in the left middle of the body. It is the same in other news story pages.

Normal – right column
At the top of right column, the search engine Sogou comes first then follows blogs and several online communities.

SOHU observation 2

Jakob's Rules – PDF Files

There are no PDF files applied in Sohu. It isn’t a result of one reason.

First of all, Sohu is a commercial website providing information, but not an academic reading website with academic articles, or websites of universities. There is no room for PDF files, to some extent.

In another way, PDF files are not as popular in China as in developed countries.

Sohu has Reading channel, where there are serial and finished novels. People are accustomed to read novels online, chapter by chapter, one chapter one page. Certainly you can download finished novels in the form of e-books. An e-book is usually text file, html file, or exe file produced by certain software.

Even if you search the internet for essays written in Chinese-simple, number of Microsoft word files will be much more than PDF files. But for Chinese-traditional and English essays, PDF are mainstream format.

Jakob's Rules - Anything looks like ads

Sohu has pop-up ads as well as flash ads almost in all pages. But what seems good is ads look like ads, picture news looks like news, flash games look like games. That means people will not be confused with animations or flashes’ design, such as shape or position.

Ads at Sohu are either at the top of a page, or at the bottom, or at the very both sides which follow you when you scroll up and down.

Jakob's Rules – Design conventions

In my opinion, most Chinese websites look the same. And Sohu is a comprehensive expression of the design conventions.

For instance, email logging in box at the very top of homepage, one link a new window, dense list of news titles, flash ads, flash picture news, latest news displays in the form of rolling, white background with blue or black characters, each channel with a same template, WMV format videos, font size 12 Song typeface - which is standard typeface of Chinese - as default, highlight the hottest news with different color and larger font size, etc.

Jakob's Rules – Answer users’ questions

Things like in London I will go to BBC website every weekday morning after getting up to see what’s the latest news, in China when I access to Internet I will go to Sohu first. Some journalism organizations ask for employees set up Sohu as default page of browser.

Founder of Sohu behaves more like a star rather than merely a rational business man. He often attends charity dinner parties, movie or music awarding ceremonies, and social public good activities, etc.

Sohu is undoubtedly one of the most successful website in China.

The reasons are simple – Sohu offers a satisfactory variety of what people need. Users could get what they expect to almost all the time.

SOHU observation 1

Sohu is a comprehensive website, which is the largest portal site in China. Every network user knows Sohu.

Everyone who for the first time goes to Sohu’s home page may be impressed by its colorful characters and navigation bars, ordered and dense layout, and the huge information.

Sohu in Chinese means two words – search & fox. Certainly I don’t know why founder of Sohu named his website fox, however, a fox tail is the website’s logo as is shown at the top middle of the home page, which is really a small logo.

There are three columns in home page which make readers easier to follow.

Pictures
There are only small pictures at the top left within some columns, especially within the classified-news columns on lower half of the home page.

Each small picture with short caption tells a different story from the rest of the column. The picture stories are either gossip or something like inside stories, all of which are of highly public interest.

Jakob's Rules - Search engine
Sohu has its own search engine named Sogou. Again, it’s very interesting that Sogou in Chinese means two words either – search & dog. The search box lies right in the middle when one opens Sohu without need to scroll up and down.

You can search for news, website, blog, music, picture and maps. It has been listed below the search box that what are the most frequently searched words recently, which make it clear what is hot news at a glance.

When you click on search, a new window opens up. Both at the top of the new search page and the bottom are search boxes. The related searched words are at the bottom either.

When you type a wrong word to search, although results are still available, the search engine will ask you “do you mean XXX (the right word)?”

The results are ranked by updated time, which means the most recently updated website ranks first. The article title, description, article link, rate for skimming, and updated time are displayed at the same time.

Jakob's Rules – Color of visited links & Opening new windows
On the home page, when you click on a link, its color will change, but what’s interesting is when you click on any blank place on the home page the changed color will change back to be original.

On the other pages of Sohu, the color of visited links will not change.

And whatever new content links you click on to go forwards, either news or AD, it will be opened in a new window. The same content, I mean a long article in several pages, on that condition a new page will open in same window. When you go backwards such as from a piece of news page to homepage, it will always be the same window.

I believe these two aspects meet Chinese custom. Most of the other Chinese websites are the same as Sohu.

Chinese people prefer to use browser that windows opened in different tabs but in one window. So there is no need to worry about one window covers another, or many windows fill up the screen, or hard to find out the page you want from many windows. We can see page titles at a glance at the tabs.