The entrance to Weihai Huaxia City in Weihai, a coastal city in Shandong Province, welcomes visitors with its unique charm. Located in this beautiful place, it is a vast ecological culture-themed scenic area dedicated to showcasing the timeless and traditional cultures of China.

Since its beginning in 2003, the scenic area has transformed 44 former mining pits into essential parts of its landscape, marking a significant step towards harmonizing environmental rejuvenation (恢复活力) with tourism development. Each pit-turned-spot boasts a distinct theme. One such theme highlights the rich historic culture of the Yao, Shun, and Yu eras, dating back thousands of years. Another shows the dynamic folk culture of eastern Shandong, while still another houses an underground Air Defense Education Museum, offering a glimpse into the region’s defensive past.

A standout cultural feature of Weihai Huaxia City is its expansive open - air performance space, perfectly integrating natural scenery into performances to offer an uncomparable showcase of local culture and traditions. For tourists seeking an immersive experience in traditional Chinese culture, Weihai Huaxia City stands as one of the region’s most important destinations. Its popularity has increased, strengthening its status as a famous tourist hotspot within the city.

“During the last 15 km, I felt faint and my face and hands were dead,” recalled Miao Hao, China’s first professional triathlete (参加三项全能赛的运动员). Exhausted at the last 200m at the IRONMAN Hamburg European Championship held in Germany on June 2, Miao collapsed near the finish line, crawling his way across it.

As a super tough race with multiple sports, the Ironman Triathlon includes a 3.8 km swim, a 180 km bike ride and a 42.195 km marathon. Being a former military triathlete, Miao represented the national team before retiring in 2018. The government offered him a job as a civil servant. But Miao chose to pursue a career as a professional triathlete, giving up the stability of the former.

Going from a national team athlete to a professional has presented significant challenges for Miao. “In the national team, I had comprehensive support and was merely an athlete. Now, I am also a husband and a father, shouldering family responsibilities like dropping my son off at primary school before starting my training,” he noted. Miao also faces financial pressure due to managing his own coaching, physiotherapists, nutritionists and support staff.

As the first professional triathlete in China, Miao is exploring future options for professional athletes. In addition to training, Miao shares his training and competition experiences through social media to attract more people to understand and participate in triathlon. At the same time, he regularly communicates with various sports clubs to introduce the charm of triathlon. “To boost triathlon in China and prepare for future Olympics, we need teamwork from various sectors, including more youth training and business sponsorship,” he said. “I hope more Chinese triathletes will compete in the Olympics and stand on more stages,” said Miao.

Blue light glasses gained popularity over the past few years with the idea that they protect our eyes against screen usage, but a new analysis shows they might not be as beneficial to our eye health as previously hoped. Spectacles (眼镜) that are marketed to filter out blue light probably make no difference to eye tiredness caused by computer use or to sleep quality, according to a Cochrane review of 17 randomized controlled trials of the best available evidence so far. Nor did the review, led by authors from the University of Melbourne and published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, find any evidence that blue-light filtering lenses (镜片) protect against damage to the retina (视网膜), the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye.

“We found there may be no short-term advantages with using blue-light filtering spectacle lenses to reduce visual fatigue associated with computer use, compared to non-blue-light filtering lenses,” said Laura Downie, senior author of the review and professor at the University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in a news release.

“It is also currently unclear whether these lenses affect vision quality or sleep - related outcomes, and no conclusion could be drawn about any potential effects on retinal health in the longer term.” she added. “People should be aware of the findings when deciding whether to purchase these spectacles. However, the quality and duration of the studies also need to be considered,” she said. “We performed the systematic review of Cochrane methodological standards to ensure the findings are robust (强有力的). However, our certainty in the reported findings is limited by the quality of the available evidence,” she added.

The studies they reviewed ranged in size and length, with a span from as few as five to as many as 156 participants assessed over different periods, from less than one day to five weeks. The authors said more research with longer follow-ups in more diverse populations is needed to better assess any potential effects. “More studies should examine whether effectiveness and safety outcomes vary between different groups of people and using different types of lenses,” author Dr. Sumeer Singh, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Downie Laboratory, advised for future research.

Instead of shelling out money for special shades, however, experts advise taking screen breaks.

Imagine waking up feeling anxious and hopeless. You think, “I’ll never be happy. Nothing I do matters.” The more you focus on these thoughts, the worse you feel. But what’s really going on? Are your thoughts causing your feelings, or is it the other way around?

For centuries, people have debated the cause of emotional suffering. Is it childhood trauma (创伤)? A chemical imbalance in the brain? A lack of love and connection? Every school of psychology has its own theory, with hundreds of ideas but little conclusive proof.

Over 1,700 years ago, the Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus proposed a different theory. He argued that it’s not life events that upset us, but our thoughts about them. This idea became the foundation of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT suggests that if you change the way you think, you can change the way you feel. It’s an exciting claim — but is it true? We decided to test it using data from a new mental health app.

In our first study, we analyzed data from 290 testers of the Feeling Great app. Unlike traditional studies that rely on broad, retrospective (回顾性) surveys (asking how you’ve felt over the past two weeks), our app measured users’ negative thoughts and feelings in the here and now, using new, extremely sensitive scales. This distinction is crucial. By tracking moment-to-moment changes, we could test if negative thoughts (e.g., “I’m a failure”) actually cause negative feelings or if it’s the other way around. On average, users who reduced their belief in their negative thought to zero experienced an 87% reduction in seven negative emotions during their first session. Our data strongly supports CBT’s central idea that thoughts shape emotions far more than emotions shape thoughts.

To ensure that our findings were solid, we conducted a second independent study with 1,393 users of an AI-enhanced version of the app. The results? Practically identical. Interestingly, with the larger sample size, we did detect a small but statistically significant effect of emotions influencing thoughts — but the effect was barely detectable and far weaker than the impact of thoughts on feelings. This suggests that emotions can sometimes influence thoughts, but the effect is minor in comparison to the power of thoughts to shape emotions. And that’s a discovery Epictetus would have been proud of.

Chinese, the most commonly spoken language in the world, is challenging to master. Rather than an alphabet, Chinese has thousands of characters. On top of that, the language is tonal. 【小题1】

So, why to learn Chinese? China is a critical player in the global economy and world affairs with a fascinating history and influential culture. Learning how to speak Chinese can prepare you for traveling or careers related to China and Chinese. For my friend, for instance, knowing the language makes traveling throughout China easier and more enriching. 【小题2】Like any skill, learning Mandarin requires practice and self-discipline. Here are some strategies you can use to learn the language more quickly and easily.

【小题3】Encourage them to correct your pronunciation and try mimicking (模仿) how they pronounce tones. If you don’t have a partner, I recommend recording yourself speaking and then playing it back to check your pronunciation.

Watch and listen to native speakers. Improve your pronunciation by following popular channels. 【小题4】Another option is to turn on subtitles and audio while watching English or Chinese films and shows. I suggest starting with Chinese-language movies such as To Live, The Blue Kite, Hero and Eat Drink Man Woman Listen to Chinese music. A fellow expert in China once recommended

I pick a song and study the lyrics and melody.【小题5】 Professors in Chinese learning also recommend incorporating (包含) nursery rhymes and classical poetry into your lessons.

While Mandarin may seem challenging to master, you can reach basic or practical proficiency as long as you put in the time. If you have a really good memory and a good ear, Mandarin should not be hard.

A 23-year-old Kazakh man-made history by becoming the first in his country to _________ a traffic ticket in court with the help of ChatGPT.

In December 2024, Kenzhebek Ismailov was driving his mother to the hospital when the car ahead _________ stopped for no apparent reason, blocking the only lane. To avoid a long wait, he used the bus lane but surveillance (监视) cameras _________ his move, resulting in a fine. After his initial _________ was rejected, he turned to court.

Unwilling to hire a lawyer for a small fine, Ismailov _________ ChatGPT for legal assistance. The AI analyzed his case, reviewed video evidence, and even _________ legal documents.

On social media, Ismailov shared that traffic authority personnel were initially very rude, _________ his complaint. After filing the lawsuit, the authority _________ him, offering to cancel the fine and returning the money to him. But ChatGPT advised him _________ dropping the lawsuit. So he went to the court instead. During a 10-miniute hearing where he was asked _________ questions by a judge, Ismailov used ChatGPT’s speech synthesis to answer the questions. The AI’s responses were so _________ that the judge canceled the fine.

“This trial was 99% _________ by ChatGPT,” Ismailov said, who claimed to have only challenged the traffic violation out of _________. Now, he plans to _________ the police for his wasted time, again _________ AI assistance.