Lake Kanas lies near the Altai mountains,in Xinjiang,China. It is China’s deepest freshwater lake. About 117 different kinds of birds live along it.

There is a large population of  Tuvans in the area.

There have been sightings of large lake creatures in the waters. A video was taken and shown in the local Chinese media where numerous unidentifiable creatures can be seen. And the water’s colour of the Kanas lake changes incredibly oftentimes.

Wolong National Nature Reserve  is a protected area located in Wenchuan country, Sichuan Province.Wolong National Nature Reserve houses more than 150 highly endangered giant pandas.On 5.12 earthquake,3 pandas were missing,5  staff members were killed,14 houses were all damaged.

Here is a picture of a panda seeing a policeman after the earthquake.

Though the other 86 pandas in Wolong had no casualty,the origin place of the pand’s  food,bamboo,was affected by the earthquake.

The wild giant pandas are still at risk.Concern about the lovely ancient animal,giant panda.

中文

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    It is said that there are two Chinese Valentine’s Day,one is on  lunar July 7th,the other one is on lunar January 15th which is celebrated as Lantern Festival.

    It was an interesting 15th day this year. The full moon appeared larger and brighter than usual because it has come closest to the Earth than at any time since 1957. It was about 305,000km from Earth as compared to the average distance of 350,000km.

Lantern Festival often marks the end of the Chinese New Year.This day’s important activity is watching lanterns. Lanterns of various shapes and sizes are hung in the streets, attracting countless visitors. Children will hold self-made or bought lanterns to stroll with on the streets, extremely excited.

    In the daytime of the Festival, performances such as a dragon lantern dance, a lion dance, a land boat dance, a yangge dance, walking on stilts and beating drums while dancing will be staged. On the night, except for magnificent lanterns, fireworks form a beautiful scene. Most families spare some fireworks from the Spring Festival and let them off in the Lantern Festival. Some local governments will even organize a fireworks party. On the night when the first full moon enters the New Year, people become really intoxicated by the imposing fireworks and bright moon in the sky.

Here is a fireworks shot in Harbin.

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is often called the Lunar New Year, especially by people in mainland China and Taiwan.

Here is the picture from Tom Carter,taken in Beijing

2009  is “The year of  the ox” according to the Chinese animal sign.Ox ,牛,is pronounced NIU in Chinese，the same as the NEW.So Happy Niu Year to the world!

China photo from Robert Daboss

Photos from Guangxi