This Day, That Year

An item on Dec 4, 1997, in China Daily shows the first China Wedding Expo in Beijing. The Chinese wedding market has been booming along with the development of the nation’s economy.

With the economic development of the country, a middle class has emerged along with an upper class. China is also the country

This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up policy.

Editor’s note:

with the most billionaires in the world. They are concentrated in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen in Guangdong province. These cities are therefore perfect bases from which to reach high-end clientele.

This year’s China Wedding Expo held in Shanghai on March 31 and April 1 attracted more than 80,000 visits on its first day, with on-site transaction volume reaching 610 million yuan ($87.70 million), according to the Shanghai Morning Post.

The event gathered top global brands and provided customized services in wedding design, jewelry, dresses and banquets to attract young couples. Wealthy newlyweds spend an average of 340,000 yuan for wedding services, banquets, clothes, photos and other items.

The website Marketingto-

Book: sequel coming

Canadian author Margaret Atwood said last week that she is writing a sequel to her bestselling dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale. “Yes indeed to those who asked: I’m writing a sequel to The #Handmaids Tale,” Atwood wrote on her social media account. Called The Testaments, the novel will be set 15 years after the events depicted in The Handmaid’s Tale and will be narrated by three female characters, Atwood wrote. The book is due to be published in September 2019 by Penguin Random House, a division of Germany’s Bertelsmann. The Handmaid’s Tale, a bleak vision of a near future in a society called Gilead, where women are banned from reading and writing, have their children taken away from them, china noted that the Chinese are fascinated by Western lifestyles and bespoke weddings, particularly young people living in first-tier cities.

According to a study conducted last year, more than half of Chinese women prefer a Western-style wedding or a multicultural one with a

Forum: Samsung, Apple losing ground

Samsung and Apple are losing ground in the global smartphone market because of sluggish market demand and growing Chinese brands, researchers said. In September, Samsung and Apple combined were the makers of slightly less than 50 percent of the world’s active smartphones, compared with 52.3 percent in September last year and 56.5 percent in 2016, according to researcher Newzoo. Chinese brands, including Oppo, Huawei, Xiaomi and Vivo are “slowly but surely increasing their market share,” Newzoo said. In September this year, the two most popular brands based on active smartphones were Samsung and Apple, with respective market shares of 26.2 percent and 23.7 percent, compared with 10.4 percent for Oppo, which was in third place. In the fourth quarter, global smartphone production capacity will reach 380 million units, unchanged from the third quarter, researcher TrendForce said. Sluggish market demand, especially lowerthan-expected new iPhone sales, chic and elegant style, along with some traditional Chinese side elements. It is also a sign of wealth and social success.

Culture: What’s up in Beijing? Find out here

Discover the best things to do in Beijing with our weekly roundup of art and exhibitions, music, performances and activities around town. A new exhibition at the National Art Museum of China puts in spotlight artworks from the collections of the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens, Greece. On display are works created by Greek artists and others of international renown, narrating the relationship between language, paper and handwriting. Niki de Saint Phalle is a well-known FrenchAmerican sculptor, painter, and filmmaker — and one of the most highly acclaimed female artists of the 20th century. The Today Art Museum is presenting a retrospective exhibition of her work. Following a timeline, the exhibition presents important works of Saint Phalle since the 1960s and shows her comprehensive practice in painting, sculpture, performing arts, feminist art, largescale public art and movies.

The Zouwu is a monstrously large feline beast, as big as an elephant, with a striped body, scraggly mane, four fangs that curl out of its mouth, long sharp claws and a disproportionately long multicolored tail with ruffles.驺吾是一只可怕的巨型猫科野兽，体积像大象一样庞大；身上长着条纹，鬃毛蓬乱；四颗獠牙翘出嘴边，爪子锋利纤长，还有一条不成比例炸毛的五彩长尾巴。

In an interview earlier this year, author and scriptwriter J.K. Rowling confirmed the Zouwu’s Chinese origins. She borrowed the creature from

an ancient Chinese mythological text.在今年上半年，《哈利波特》作者和《神奇动物》编剧J.K.罗琳在一次采访中就解密道：神兽驺吾起源于中国神话故事《山海经》。

“The Zouwu is terrifying if you’re a normal human, and to Newt Scamander it’s like a big kitten.” “在普通人看来，它是可怕的。但对于纽特·斯卡曼德，它就像一只大猫咪一样。”

“This is how it’s described in Chinese mythology: a gigantic elephant-sized cat with five colors. It really does take a person like Newt Scamander to contain and look after that beast.” “中国神话这样描述：大若虎，五采毕具。它真的需要纽特·斯卡曼德这样的人来养护和照顾。”

The mischievous Niffler is small and furry, with a long, rounded snout. Nifflers are often kept by goblins to burrow deep into the earth for treasure. Though the Niffler is gentle and even affectionate, it can be destructive to belongings and should never be kept in a house.

嗅嗅住在地下六米深的巢穴中，一窝生六到八只宝宝。宝宝们皮毛颜色多种多样，从典型的黑色到棕白、灰白及三色都有。它们对闪闪亮的东西有着本能的喜欢。尽管嗅嗅宝宝们体型明显更小，但淘气程度丝毫不逊于它们的父母。

The sprig-like Bowtruckle is a maximum of 20 centimeters tall and appears to be made of a tree stem with roots, tiny leafy branches and two brown eyes, making them immensely difficult to spot in their natural environment. Bowtruckles are gentle and intensely shy unless threatened, and then they will do whatever it takes to defend their homes.像小树枝一样细的护树罗锅最大可长到二十厘米，它看起来是从树干上长出来的，有着根、长着叶子的小树枝和两只棕色的眼睛，这使得它们在自然环境中很难被找到。它们非常温和，还极度害羞。但在遭到威胁时，会竭尽所能守护自己的家园。

The feline Matagot is a familiar spirit somewhat resembling a hairless sphinx. In France, they are utilized by the Ministry of Magic to do menial jobs, including staffing the mailroom and providing security for various other departments. Matagots won’t attack unless provoked, but in that case will transform into something far more menacing.猫科动物玛达戈猫有点像无毛的斯芬克斯猫。在法国，它们被魔法部差遣着做琐碎卑贱的工作，包括在邮件收发室服务，以及为各部门提供安全保障。玛达戈猫不会主动攻击他人，除非遭到挑衅。在那样情况下，它们会变成可怕得多。

and are forced into sexual servitude by a patriarchal dictatorship, was first published in 1985. Visit our website to check it out.

has dampened production, analysts said.

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