Month: July 2019

A former cosmetics factory, the Sanlu Plant in Beijing has been repurposed to house, develop and protect the future of China’s intangible cultural heritage, Yang Feiyue reports.

A former factory and Beijing landmark has been transformed into an intangible cultural heritage park in the capital’s downtown.

Several modern-looking buildings and a big lawn at its heart easily set Yongyuan apart from its hutong surroundings.

Yongyuan park sits on Xingfu Street in Beijing’s Dongcheng district where the Sanlu Plant, a well-known cosmetics manufacturer back in the ’80s and ’90s, once stood.

The Sanlu Plant’s Dabao skincare brand was a household name nationwide, and the plant developed more than 100 products in markets such as hair care and fragrances. It contributed over 100 million yuan ($14.57 million) to the economy in the 1990s, making it Beijing’s number one taxpayer.

In 2003, the plant’s cosmetics production line was transferred out of the city, leaving the land at the center of the capital open for new use.

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The Sanlu Plant began its search for a tenant and in 2018, Hong Kong-listed Beijing Capital Land came in and decided to develop its cultural operations.

“The proprietor sympathizes with the concept of the cultural and creative industries, and intangible cultural heritage,” says Li Yue, general manager with the intangible cultural heritage platform, which Beijing Capital Land established last year.

Li believes the ambience of the neighborhood makes it the ideal environment for the development of intangible cultural heritage.

The plant covers an area of 14,000 square meters and sits right next to the South Central Axis.

It’s about 800 meters away from the iconic Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests at the Temple of Heaven. To the north of the plant’s location, there even stands a century-old church.

Remodeling began in September.

“We conducted protective reinforcement of the original architecture, ensuring everything from a piece of wood to a stalk of grass remained the way it was 100 years ago,” says Wang Leiming, an employee with the Beijing Capital Land’s intangible cultural heritage platform.

All of those old buildings have undergone exterior remodeling and interior refits, but visitors can still touch the old red bricks that are exposed on its surface here and there.

A traditional tile structure was applied to the partitions in the park.

It is the dream land for every child, with tens of thousands of trendiest, smartest and most creative toys exhibited there.

At the 10th Kids Fun Expo underway in Beijing from Thursday to Sunday, more than 210 toy brands from more than 30 countries and regions have brought their latest products to visitors.

Building blocks, DIY products, intelligent toys, stuffed animals and wooden toys are sure to keep every child busy for hours.

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Let’s take a look at expo.

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As the north bakes and the south swelters, China turns to tea

Hot weather is officially here with the summer sunshine. All over China now, the weather map is tinted various shades of red as the country swelters.

While the north is dry and hot, the southern regions are baking in humid heat they call sauna weather. That is why herbal teas are always an important part of this season.

These teas are infusions made with Chinese herbs or fruits and may taste slightly sweet or intensely bitter, depending on what they are prescribed for. But for as long as we can remember, herbal teas have been popular in these regions.

“Cooling herbal tea” or liangcha is so much a part of Chinese life that it has been listed a national intangible cultural heritage.

Southern Chinese, in particular, would not think of passing through summer without daily doses of cooling tea. And as the urban diaspora spreads, even major cities in the north are now enjoying the benefits of these teas-a result of improved marketing, packaging and logistics.

When the Sichuan hot pot migrated north, it took along the Cantonese cooling tea, and it became the rage to enjoy the numbing heat of the prickly ash peppercorns while imbibing huge quantities of liangcha by the side. It was an odd pairing.

However, this practice is actually frowned upon by herbal traditionalists.

Liangcha cannot be treated as a soft drink. Every glass or bowl has its designed dosage and benefits.

Carefully prepared infusions are sold in potbellied copper pots along the coastal stretch of southern China from Macao, Hong Kong to Guangzhou, Beihai, Zhanjiang right down to Hainan Island. These are specialist shops selling brews that have stood the test of time and generations.

For example, the country’s most popular tinned herbal tea in a red can comes from a Cantonese recipe that is a couple of hundred years old. Each herbal shop in Guangdong or Guangxi has its own signature brew.

Among them was Baozhilin, the herbal shop owned by legendary martial arts master Huang Feihong.

These herbal tea shops are the result of both geographical and cultural serendipity.

They are all in an area known as Lingnan, a naturally humid valley that is a botanical treasure trove of rare plants and herbs-a fact long discovered by their homeopathy founders.

They collected and dried these natural ingredients and brewed a vast variety of cooling teas to combat the summer heat.

Most of these cooling infusions are made from dried flowers, leaves and roots all harvested from the region.

Some are more commonplace such as the flowers of chrysanthemum, honeysuckle and frangipani, wild licorice root, American ginseng, fritillary bulbs, lotus leaves, mulberry leaves, borage, mint, perilla, mugwort, elderberry, hawthorn, wolfberry and fruits such as snow pear, jujubes, luohanguo or arhat fruit and dried longans.

Some ingredients were rare, but were later cultivated, including ajuga, the bugleweed known in Chinese as xiakucao. Then there is also the fuzzy silver-leaved baizicao, or Antiotrema dunnianum.

These two herbs are common summer coolers and are easily prepared at home, sweetened with rock sugar or honey.

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The France international is looking forward to teaming up with the multiple Ballon d’Or winner at Camp Nou following his arrival

New Barcelona striker Antoine Griezmann says that he is relishing the chance to train and play alongside Lionel Messi at the club, stating that it will be ‘an incredible joy’ to play alongside the Argentine. 

The France international and World Cup winner has brought the curtain down on his half-decade spell at Atletico Madrid with a €120 million (£108m,/$135m) move to Camp Nou to join the La Liga holders on a five-year deal.

Despite ongoing controversy swirling between the two clubs surrounding the exact cost of the 28-year-old’s move, Griezmann has kept his focus squarely on the field for the most part and what he can bring to the table with the Blaugrana.

In particular, he singled out five-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi, widely considered the lynchpin of Ernesto Valverde’s side, as the team-mate he is most excited to line up alongside.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what Messi’s like on a day-to-day basis in training,” Griezmann told Barcelona’s official website. “Playing next to him is an incredible joy.

“I’m really looking forward to working with my new-team mates and with the boss, and playing at Camp Nou and hopefully winning a lot of things.”

Though Griezmann has faced Barca several times over the years with firstly Real Sociedad and later Atletico, the forward has never been under any illusions over the magnitude of their role in global football and he further stressed his desire to help them grow.

“Barcelona is a big club and I hope to help it continue to be big or make it even bigger,” he added.

“I’m very happy. I’m very excited and am looking forward to working with the squad and meeting my new team-mates.

“[It’s] a new challenge, new targets. [They’re] important things and I hope I can do as well as I can, as I have been doing for my club and country. I hope to look good.”

Asked what silverware he hopes to deliver to the Catalan outfit, he responded: “All of them, La Liga, La Copa, the Champions League. They’re the club’s goals and my goals, and I hope to win them here.

“I like to have fun on the field and off it in the dressing room. I like to play with joy and I hope to bring a lot of joy to my team-mates and the fans, and hope we have fun together.”

Griezmann is expected to be a member of Barcelona’s travelling party as they prepare to head to Japan for a handful of pre-season fixtures, including a clash with Premier League rivals Chelsea.

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Jeison Murillo spent the second half of the 2018-19 season on loan at Barcelona, but the defender is now heading to Serie A side Sampdoria.

Valencia centre-back Jeison Murillo has cut short his stay in La Liga after Sampdoria agreed a deal for the Colombia international.

The 27-year-old, who only moved to Mestalla on a permanent basis last year following a loan deal with an obligation to buy from Inter, made only seven appearances across the 2018-19 campaign, split between his parent club and a half-season loan spell with Barcelona.

The Colombia international’s limited opportunities saw him lose his place in his nation’s squad following his World Cup exploits in Russia, missing out on selection for this year’s Copa America.

Now, he will initially link up with the Serie A outfit on loan before joining for a reported €15m (£13.5m/$16.9m) fee, having agreed to a four-year deal.

Initially contracted to Udinese as a teenager, Murillo never made a senior appearance for the Italian team, instead spending the early stages of his career on loan with Cadiz and Las Palmas on loan.

He subsequently established himself as a regular for Granada in 2013 before making the move to Inter two years later, on the back of an international breakout performance for Colombia that saw him named in the Team of the Tournament at the 2015 Copa America.

He found his chances somewhat reduced in his second season at San Siro, and ultimately sealed a return on an initial loan to Spain to join Valencia, only for that to also falter over the past 12 months.

Murillo becomes the latest in a line of off-season recruits at Sampdoria as the club seek to build upon last season’s ninth-place finish.

Having lost highly-rated defender Joachim Anderson to Lyon, they have raided fellow domestic rivals Juventus and Udinese among others for goalkeeper Emil Audero and midfielder Jakub Jankto.

Valencia meanwhile have effectively swapped goalkeepers with Murillo’s former club Barca bringing Jasper Cillessen on board with Neto heading in the opposite direction.

They have also brought on-board Villarreal winger Denis Cheryshev, and have lost striker Simone Zaza to Torino.

The La Liga outfit will be one of four Spanish teams competing in the Champions League this coming season after they beat out Getafe and Sevilla by two points to finish fourth.

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The former Sunderland manager is the prime candidate to take over the job left vacant by Rafa Benitez at St. James’ Park

Steve Bruce has held talks with Newcastle United over their vacant managerial position, the Sheffield Wednesday boss confirmed.

Bruce is reportedly Newcastle’s top target following the departure of Rafael Benitez at the end of his Magpies contract.

However, the former Sunderland manager says decisions are out of his control until negotiations are completed between the two clubs.

“Speculation is speculation. It’s in the hands of the club,” Bruce said after the Owls’ pre-season victory over Lincoln City. “For me, at this particular moment, there is nothing really to talk about until the two clubs reach some sort of compromise.

“I’ve had a conversation [with Newcastle]. It’s happening so quickly that I’ve got to take stock of the whole situation. It’s in the hands of both clubs and we’ll see what develops over the next 24 to 48 hours.

“The clubs have got to agree before any discussions and all the rest of it. Let’s see what happens, I cannot really comment any more than that.

“Out of respect I thought it was only right to go and talk [to Newcastle], it was over with before it started, thankfully the chairman [Dejphon Chansiri] gave me permission to go and have a conversation.

“I don’t really want to talk about dream jobs and all the rest of it, it’s a bit pie in the sky at the moment, I’m the Sheffield Wednesday manager and I have to respect that.

“I’ve been very, very happy here, of course I have.”

One Owls fan confronted Bruce in the dugout during Saturday’s game but the manager, who saw a cabbage thrown his way by a disgruntled supporter while in charge of Aston Villa, shrugged off the incident.

“It was nothing really,” Bruce added. “I think he expressed his opinion, shall we put it that way, very vocally. I think he’d had one or two beers too many.”

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Mount and Kovacic impressed in the manager’s first victory, but a lack of clinical edge up front could cause the Blues issues going forward

Frank Lampard has finally gotten his first win as Chelsea manager. After the disappointment of conceding a late, late equaliser against League of Ireland side Bohemians on Wednesday, the Blues did not let history repeat itself as they dominated St Patrick’s Athletic to finish off their early pre-season preparations in Dublin. Lampard’s Chelsea now fly out to Japan to take on Kawasaki Frontale and Barcelona, but the same concerns remain – can the Europa League champions rely on Olivier Giroud to provide the goals yet again?

Chelsea fielded two entirely different XIs as Lampard focuses on building the fitness of his players and gets to know his squad. The first-half saw the Blues play in a 4-4-2 diamond with a frontline of Tammy Abraham and Michy Batshuayi, but despite having nine shots between them, neither could find the net. St Pat’s were no match for Chelsea for large spells of the match, having made nine changes from the side which played in Europa League qualifying just two days earlier.

However, it was Chelsea’s midfield that did all the hard work in attack. Mateo Kovacic, now a permanent fixture after the Blues activated the purchase option in his loan, provided the assist for the opener, splitting the defence in two to gift Mason Mount a goal. The 20-year-old finished smartly and was deserving of his goal after putting in an excellent all-round performance. Having spent last season on loan at Lampard’s Derby, both manager and midfielder already know how to work together and Mount should get plenty of opportunities to shine back at his parent club.

Ross Barkley sat at the tip of the diamond and was brimming with confidence, exposing weaknesses in the Saints backline, and it was his layoff that allowed Emerson to score from the edge of the area. Goalkeeper Barry Murphy really should have done better with the first-time shot, but was kept busy throughout and it was a rare slip from the recent Republic of Ireland call-up.

Murphy had a much easier job stopping Abraham’s goalbound effort, with the forward having lots of time on the ball in the box but failing to make the right decision at the crucial moment. Strike partner Batshuayi was better, forcing a couple of saves and was generally busy across the attack, looking to make a name for himself in pre-season.

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With hard-working performances like the ones on display in Dublin, Batshuayi stands the best chance of getting regular gametime in attack, but Lampard and Chelsea will probably need the goals to come from Giroud, just like under Sarri in 2018-19. The World Cup winner came on at half-time and was the lone frontman as Lampard changed to a 4-2-3-1, the formation he is probably more likely to play in competitive matches and for the rest of pre-season when Christian Pulisic and Willian join up with the squad.

Giroud gifted Pedro a golden opportunity just after the break with a lovely flick, but the Spanish winger fired straight at goalkeeper Murphy. Pedro repeated the feat a few minutes later when through on goal again, requiring Giroud himself to come up with the goods and turn in a perfectly-delivered cross from Kenedy. The Frenchman added a second late on after good pressing high up the pitch, finishing coolly into the bottom corner to once again prove his worth.

Chelsea’s second-half side gave gametime to Tiemoue Bakayoko, back from his loan at AC Milan, but he was disappointing in possession, despite the opposition. On one occasion, the midfielder passed the ball straight out of play, receiving some sarcastic commentary from local fans shortly after.

Blues fans at Richmond Park belted out ‘Super Frank Lampard’ throughout the game and the Chelsea legend will be pleased to have picked up a 4-0 victory in his second pre-season game. However, with less than a month until their Premier League campaign kicks off against Manchester United, Chelsea’s new manager seems to have inherited the problems of his predecessor, wondering where the goals will come from in attack yet again.

Marcus Rashford and James Garner earned the win for United as the Frenchman played 45 minutes after telling the club he wants a new challenge

Manchester United got their pre-season campaign off to a winning start as midfielder Paul Pogba made his first appearance since declaring that he is ready for “a new challenge”.

United beat Perth Glory 2-0 at the Optus Stadium but all eyes were on Pogba, who played the second 45 minutes as speculation continues that he will sign for either Real Madrid and Juventus before the 2019-20 season begins.

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Marcus Rashford’s 60th-minute goal and a late James Garner strike settled matters in Western Australia, and overall Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will have been more than happy with the intent of his side’s play regardless of how rarely they were able to break down Perth’s dogged defensive unit.

For Pogba, though, there was a mixed response from the Perth crowd – some cheering, some jeering – following his public pronouncement in June that he is ready to leave United, along with continued efforts by his agent Mino Raiola to prise the Frenchman away from Old Trafford.

Pogba was among 11 half-time substitutes as Solskjaer looked to give as many of his senior squad as possible the chance to stretch their legs. There was no sign of Romelu Lukaku, the subject of an official approach by Inter, but the United boss insisted that Lukaku, Victor Lindelof, Eric Bailly and Lee Grant all missed out through nothing more than “slight niggles”.

New signing Daniel James was an immediate positive, with his desire to run at opponents almost paying dividends in the first couple of minutes as he forged a yard of space and sent a teasing low ball in behind the Glory defence. Unfortunately for United there was nobody alert enough to react in the box and Diogo Dalot’s snap effort on the far edge of the box went high and wide.

Jesse Lingard also looked occasionally lively playing in a No.10 role but didn’t provide the key to unlock the bolstered Glory defence, and while Axel Tuanzebe and Dalot were sharp United couldn’t break through in the opening 45.

After Solskjaer changed his entire XI for the second half there was a notable elevation in the pace of United’s passing and it wasn’t long before Rashford’s excellent spin and left-foot shot from a Pogba flick had put them ahead.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka looked steady in his first outing in a United shirt since arriving from Crystal Palace, while youngster Angel Gomes was a bright spot in the forward line and Mason Greenwood could easily have had a couple of goals having regularly found space in the final third. Pogba, meanwhile, always looked to be creative whenever he got the chance to take on a tiring Glory defence.

United wrapped up the win five minutes from time when Perth erred on the ball and James Garner lashed home from 20 yards having only moments earlier replaced Luke Shaw.

With the tour off to a winning start, the focus now has to be on deciding what happens next for the likes of Lukaku and Pogba. The success of Solskjaer’s United rebuild could depend on what happens in the transfer market over the next four weeks.

After saying his client was linked with Barcelona, Beto Yaque has insisted the Argentina forward is not leaving San Siro this summer

Lautaro Martinez’s agent has said his client will not leave Inter this summer, saying that if Lionel Messi wants to play with his international team-mate, he can join the Serie A club.

Martinez made the move to Inter last summer from Racing Club and enjoyed a solid debut season in Serie A, scoring six times in 27 appearances in the league, making 13 starts.

His profile was raised further during this summer’s Copa America, as he scored two goals in four games to help Argentina to a third-place finish at the tournament.

Links to Barcelona have appeared with Martinez’s agent, Beto Yaque, confirming the interest from the La Liga champions in recent days.

However, Yaque insists Martinez is completely committed to Inter and is excited to begin work with the club’s new head coach, former Italy and Juventus boss Antonio Conte.

“Lautaro Martinez will not leave Inter and he can’t wait to start work with Conte,” Yaque told FCInterNews.

“Obviously, being praised by the best player in the world is wonderful and very satisfying. Lautaro was extremely happy to hear Leo Messi’s compliments and it just made him want to work even harder to achieve his targets.

“However, Lautaro is thinking only of Inter. He is happy with the Nerazzurri and is dreaming big. Conte already called him to explain the working method and is definitely counting on him.”

After confirming interest in Barca, Yaque again spoke of the rumours linking his client with the Liga champions, noting they have not been contacted officially.

However, he reiterated the only way Messi and Martinez will team up on a club level next season is if the Barca talisman decides to make the move to San Siro.

“It’s true, there was some Blaugrana interest for Martinez, although nobody from the club contacted us officially. They are rumours that we know are to a degree true, but I repeat, Lautaro is staying at Inter.

“Let’s just put it this way: if Messi wants to play with Martinez, then he can come to Inter.”

The England striker was linked with a January move to the Blues, but has committed his long-term future to the Cherries

Callum Wilson has signed a new four-year contract to end speculation he could leave Bournemouth.

England striker Wilson had been linked with Chelsea and West Ham, but has now committed his future to the Cherries through to 2023.

And Wilson, who has scored 58 goals in 148 appearances since joining from Coventry City in 2014, feels there is more to come.

“We’ve improved in all areas since I initially joined the club but there’s still a long way to go,” Wilson told Bournemouth’s club website.

“While Bournemouth may be known as a smaller club, we’ve got some really big ambitions here. Everyone is pulling in the same direction towards those targets and goals.

“I feel like as an individual, my game is constantly improving here at the club. I want to continue that progress and reach even higher targets. I’m really excited about what the future holds.”

Bournemouth defender Nathan Ake has also been linked with a move away, but chief executive Neill Blake is determined to retain Bournemouth’s stars.

“Throughout his time at the club Callum has demonstrated incredible determination to succeed at the highest level – even in the face of adversity in the form of two season-ending injuries,” Blake added.

“He has proved himself as a Premier League striker and is now beginning to establish himself at international level, and this contract is just reward for that.

“We have no desire to lose our best players and this is further evidence of the board’s commitment to keep Bournemouth progressing year on year.”

Wilson scored 14 Premier League goals in 2018-19, as the Cherries finished the season in 14th place. 

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