Fascinating Venice

Located in the northeast of Italy, Venice is well-known for its cultural treasures, romantic atmosphere and unusual living-on-water experience. The city spreads out over 118 islands, which are linked by more than 400 bridges, in the Venetian Lagoon.

Venice’s historical center consists of six regions. Italy in the south, the busiest main regions, are linked by the Rialto Bridge. The famous stone arch bridge (拱桥) crosses Venice’s main waterway — the Grand Canal. When night falls, many tourists enjoy dinner at the outside tables by the Grand Canal while watching colorfully lit boats going by.

Near the end of the S-shaped Grand Canal lies St. Mark’s Basilica, a must-see. Inside, beautiful mosaics (镶嵌图案) tell stories of Bible figures. Nearby are the Doge’s Palace and the Bridge of Sighs. These were made famous by Lord Byron, “I stood in Venice on the Bridge of Sighs, a palace and prison on each hand.” The story has it that if a couple passes under the bridge, their love will last forever.

In the square outside the Basilica, lovers of literature can sit at Caffe Florian, regarded as the oldest coffee house in Europe. Charles Dickens, Henry James as well as Lord Byron enjoyed the aromatic (芳香的) drink here.

Art lovers should buy a museum pass and visit some of the city’s museums. They can view works by Venetian masters like Giovanni, Titian and Tintoretto.

On five small islands in the Venetian Lagoon, Murano has been home to glass-makers since 1291. Tourists can visit factories, studios and the Glass Museum. Glass artists produce everything from simple souvenir pieces to beautiful works of contemporary art. Only glassworks made using traditional methods on Murano can be called Murano Glass. The nearby island of Burano is famous for lace (蕾丝 )making and colorful houses. Looking at the colorful houses and kaleidoscopic (万花筒似的) streets makes people feel as if they were walking in the fairy tale.

The City of Water promises beauty of all kinds, and it definitely lives up to its promise.

Felicien, a 29-year-old African graduate student, smiled as he helped a woman use a ticket on her phone to enter the Summer Palace in Beijing. As a volunteer in the palace garden, Felicien is just one of many African students studying in China.

The China-Africa Cooperation Meeting was held in Beijing from Sept 3 to 4. On the meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to offer working training courses, 50,000 scholarships for African youths and invite 2,000 young African people to visit China. "The future of China-Africa relations lies in our young people," Xi said. He also said that China will provide $60 billion in support, including free aid and special funds, for Africa's development.

The friendship between China and Africa dates back 600 years to the travels of Chinese explorer Zheng He, whose ships reached East Africa four times. Zheng brought gifts to his African hosts and took back nothing but a few giraffes. Today, China sees Africa as an equal partner in development and in international and regional affairs. China has been Africa's largest trading partner for 9 years. Chinese investments in Africa have increased more than 100 times in the past 18 years. China and Africa have strengthened cooperation since 2013, with the tremendous help of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

"China follows the principle of giving more and taking less, giving before taking and giving without asking for return. With open arms, we welcome African countries aboard the train of China's development, Xi said. Xi's words received much praise from African leaders.

Indeed, "With goodwill and cooperation with Bejing, Africa can bring her wisdom on board, mix it to the Chinese Dream and jointly build a community of shared future for all mankind,"^, commented an expert

When photographer Birte Kaufmann was on a trip with friends in the Irish countryside, she met Irish Travellers. How could she dig deeper into their culture, Kaufmann wondered. She made plans to photograph them.

A nomadic (流浪的) group, the Travellers have lived on the margins (边缘) of mainstream Irish society for centuries. Efforts have been made to bring the community into mainstream culture by settling ( 安置) them into government housing and enforcing school attendance. But even living among “settled people”, they face ongoing unfair treatment.

To get access to the community, Kaufmann first asked for help from human rights groups, but failed. Then she decided to do it the hard way. On her next trip to Ireland, she simply went to the community. 

A young woman came up, speaking poor English. Kaufmann decided to lay her cards on the table. “I told her that I knew who they are and was interested in how they live,” Kaufmann says.

“The woman was totally surprised, but finally her family invited me for a cup of tea. I asked them if I could stay with them,” Kaufmann says. “They laughed, as if to say, ‘Yeah, right.’”

One of the family members — a young mother who took a particular shine to Kaufmann — began teaching her Gammon, their unwritten language. “She tried to teach me words to say if the men are being rude,” she says. “She tried to make me feel more comfortable.”

The men gradually accepted Kaufmann and allowed her to photograph them. She was able to photograph them as an observer of their everyday lives — lives, she says, that are filled with a lot of free time. As Ireland becomes less agrarian (农业的), the Travellers’ work as horse traders, farm laborers, etc. has become more scarce (稀少的).

“On the one hand life was so sad and boring because everything their lives depended on wasn’t there anymore. On the other hand there was this freedom — they live their lives in their own way,” Kaufmann says.