When you think of a national park, you generally picture fresh air and wild animals, right? Well, now you're going to have to add tea shops and something called "the Tube" to your definition, because London, England has signed up to be the first "National Park City."

London was established by the Romans around 2.000 years ago and has been continually inhabited (居住于) since then. In all that time, however, nobody had the idea to replace all the parks with big box stores or high buildings, which means London already has a much lower urban density (密度)than most of the worlds cities. Nowadays about a third of the city is green space,

In July 2019, London announced its willingness to become the world's first National Park City. Now the city is moving toward the goal of achieving 50% green space by the year 2050 by connecting and expanding public parks, greening up unused parking lots and the private yards of existing and new houses, fixing some green roofs on existing buildings and even cutting holes in fences for wildlife to pass through.

"Inspired by the aims and values of our precious rural national parks, the London National Park City is basically about making life better in the capital through both small everyday things and long-term strategic thinking." Daniel Raven-Ellison, who began the campaign to make London a National Park City six years ago said in a press release. "We’ ve been doing that in London for centuries, which is why London is so green and diverse.”

London will have a much easier job achieving this type of green transformation than more densely-urbanized cities like Paris and New York, which have 10% and 27% greenspace respectively. But that doesn't mean it's not possible--- the National Park City Foundation hopes to employ 25 more cities in addition to London by the year 2025. Glasgow. Scotland and Newcastle upon Tyne in northeast England are both currently considering becoming National Park Cities.

A South-African female engineer has become an inspiration for other women looking to succeed in fields led by men, after photos of her constructing an extension to her house went so popular on social media.

Last month, South Africa celebrated Women's Month and a 26-year-old woman from Pietermaritzburg became the unlikely poster girl for this year's celebration, after photos of her single-handedly working on an extension to her house went popular on Facebook and other social networks. The pictures showed the woman preparing the cement, making all the measurements and piling the building blocks all by herself, which not only won her a lot of praise, but also empowered other women to follow their dreams even if the difficulties are against them.

South African website Briefly managed to track down the woman of the photos, who turned out to be a trained civil engineer named Zama Philisiwe Zungu. She inherited the passion for construction from her father, who is also a builder, and made the decision to become an engineer in 2014, getting into the Umgungundlovu TVET College in her home city.

Zama said that she had never worked in construction before, but that the practical exams she had passed during college gave her the confidence that she could build the extension to her house by herself. “This is what I am good at,” the 26-year-old said. “Renovating my home is very fun and exciting at the same time; practices are more fun than theory.”

Zama dreams of one day running her own construction company and plans to empower more women in the engineering industry. “Always put your best in everything that you do and never underestimate the power of pouring your heart in what you do. Always seek to improve and empower yourself.” Zama advised other women.

The war epic The Battle at Lake Changjin, one of the most expensive films ever made in China, shot to the top of the weeklong National Day holiday box office, promoting the domestic film market to rebound (反弹) after being inactive for more than two months.   

With three outstanding directors — Chen Kaige, Hark Tsui and Dante Lam — the 176-minute-long film follows Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPV) who joined the battle, which turned the tide of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-1953).   

With the number of cast and crew reaching an unprecedented scale of more than 12,000, the movie recreates the cruel conflict on the Korean Peninsula (朝鲜半岛) amid the extremely cold winter of 1950, when temperatures lowered to the level in 50 years. The movie’s production involved more than 80 visual-effects companies domestically and abroad, with the script being revised 37 times. Breaking over 10 records, the movie has raked in around 2 billion yuan ($310 million) since its opening on Sept 30. It accounted for around 75 percent of total holiday income, which had reached 2.67 billion yuan as of Monday, according to the movie information tracker Beacon. The film has also collected millions of reviews and clicks on several of the country’s most popular social media platforms, including Weibo and Douyin, with most commenters praising the moving tale and saying it stimulates their national pride, making them want to show their respect for the CPV heroes who sacrificed their lives. Some netizens said the film reminds them, amid the current China-US tension, to cherish today’s peaceful life.

Most analysts said the movies’ commercial success has lived up to the industry’s estimation, giving cinema operators a sign of revival. “With a lot of details to recreate historical reality, The Battle at Lake Changjin has raised the bar for Chinese war films to a new high level, signaling the progress that the domestic industry has achieved,” said Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Association.   

But compared with the same period in previous years, the shortage of appealing, medium-budget films has reduced the variety of genres (体裁), which will not be good for the long-term development of the Chinese film industry, Rao added.