China Merchants Bank Co Ltd has teamed up with ride-hailing major Didi Kuaidi to provide automobile financing and expand its reach in China's booming mobile payment industry.

    The two have inked a comprehensive partnership, which includes a strategic investment by the former in the latter. Under the partnership, CMB will become the first bricks-and-mortar bank that can offer in-app credit card payments to Didi users. At present, users of Didi can only choose third-party payment solutions like WeChat Payment and Alipay to pay cab fares.

    Zhao Ju, vice-president of CMB, said the cooperation with Didi was an important step in its mobile Internet finance strategy. “CMB's mobile payment is going to enter a new chapter by leveraging Didi Kuaidi's vast user base,” he said.

    According to a report by China Internet Network Information Center earlier this month, Didi holds 87.2 percent of China's private car hailing market. The company said it has received 1.43 billion car-hailing requests on its platforms in 2015, which means 1.43 billion payments were made via smartphones.

    CMB is expected to use Didi to reach the core users of China's mobile payment market. Jean Liu, president of Didi, said many of the expats prefer payment by credit card rather than Alipay or WeChat. “The new partnership will help improve service quality and customer loyalty,” she said. The investment makes CMB part of Didi's existing investors, including Tencent Holdings Ltd, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and China Investment Corporation. Both of the companies declined to reveal the actual amount of the investment.

    Liu, who showed up on Tuesday for the first time in public after her treatment for breast cancer, said the cooperation with CMB is for the long run and “the capital investment is only part of it”.

    Under the partnership, CMB and Didi will cooperate on a wide range of initiatives on financial services and online-to-offline cooperation. Apart from the in-app credit card payments, the two companies are going to launch joint credit cards in late February and automobile financing services for Didi's car owners. CMB's branches across China are expected to help Didi recruit more drivers.

    “There is a lot of room for imagination in our partnership,” Li said, adding in future people may use their CMB credit card reward points to pay for the ride on Didi.

    Li Chao, an analyst with iResearch Consulting Group, said the partnership may not significantly boost CMB's mobile payment business. “Didi has educated the market for three years and its customers have formed the habit of paying by WeChat or Alipay. So I think CMB can only turn a very smart proportion of Didi users into its payment customer,” he said. “But the move shows that China's traditional banking industry is finally thinking out of the box and looking for outside partners in Internet finance competition,” he said.

    Statistics from Big-Data Research showed that more than 90 percent of China's 9.3 trillion yuan ($1.41 trillion) worth of third party mobile payment market is donated by Alibaba and Tencent.

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    Walk down the drinks section at the supermarket.Look in the drink cooler in your local convenience store.A new drink is taking up more and more space on the shelves，and that drink is water.Bottled water sales in the US rose to 1.7 billion gallons in 2010 for plastic bottles alone，compared to total sales of only 700 million gallons in 1990. Whereas bottled water was once associated only with the rich and the privileged (特权阶层)，it is now regularly drunk by people at all income levels despite the fact that the price of bottled water can be between 240 and 10,000 times higher per gallon than tap water.What accounts for this surprising increase in demand?

    Traditionally，people have drunk bottled water for health reasons.The practice of “taking the waters” originated with the Romans，who believed that a person developed a healthy mind by building a healthy body.Across Europe，drinking or bathing in mineral water has been associated with the power to cure various diseases.Health spas at Evian in France and Pellegrino in Italy began bottling water so that their consumers could continue their treatments at home.The consumers in the 21st century are also concerned about health.However，in America，where the habit of drinking bottled water is relatively new，the concern is often more related to the purity or sterilization (消毒) of the water than to its mineral contents.Americans are often worried about the effects of the chemical pollution and other contaminants on the water supply.Many Americans view bottled water as a safe alternative to tap water.

    Further reasons for drinking bottled water are its usefulness as an aid to digestion，as a complement to a good meal in a restaurant，and for taste.City tap water is often treated with chlorine (氯) to guard against harmful micro­organisms.Chlorine，as well as metals from pipes and tanks used to distribute and store tap water，can leave behind an unpleasant taste.

    A generation ago young people longed to become lawyers and doctors. Now they desire to be the next Oscar winner or famous pop star. But one university psychologist has pointed out that this is damaging our self-image and sense of self-worth. Over recent years people around the world have been suffering from an increasing fear of their own “insignificance”, according to Dr. Strenger of Tel Aviv University.

    He began a project on the phenomenon 10 years ago, after noticing an increase of fear in his own patients. His findings note hundreds of research projects that have recorded an unprecedented (前所未有) increase in levels of anxiety and depression. By using a wide-ranging framework Dr. Strenger thinks he has given the accurate cause. “The impact of the global entertainment network on the individual is to blame,” he said. “A new species—global man—is born and we are defined by our close connection to the global entertainment network, which has turned ranking and evaluating people according to wealth and fame into an obsession (狂热).”

    As humans we naturally measure ourselves by those around us, but now we live in a “global village” where we are comparing ourselves with the most “significant” people in the world - and finding ourselves not good enough. Today, even high achievers constantly fear that they are insignificant when they compare themselves to success stories in the media. “This creates highly unstable personality and an unstable society,” Dr. Strenger said.

    Dr. Strenger says people should stop measuring their achievement through the cultural fantasies of rich and famous people. The remedy (治疗方法) is a process that he calls “active self-acceptance” through a continuing search for self-knowledge through life. The fear of insignificance can only be overcome through strong individual and cultural identity over and above measurable achievement. “People should invest time and thought in their personal growth from different aspects in the same way they invest in medical studies and law school,” Dr. Strenger advises.

    While Black Friday and Cyber Monday help start the holiday shopping season, Giving Tuesday, which will be observed on November 28, attempts to inspire the season of giving. Now in its sixth year, the charitable(慈善的)day uses the power of social media to encourage organizations and individuals to donate funds or resources to worthy causes. Its mission is to bring positive change to communities through giving.

    Though devoting just one day to a worthy cause may not seem much, Giving Tuesday makes a surprisingly significant impact. In 2015,ORGANIZE,an online organ donor program asked people to “Give with your Heart”,by becoming registered donors. Thousands of Americans listen to the cry for help, resulting in one of the largest digital donor drives in US history.

    That same year, the Cleveland Library and the Pratt Library in Baltimore competed to see who could encourage more donations. While the Pratt Library won with a $41,000 acquisition, the Cleveland Library was able to raise a fairly large amount for its programs as well. In 2016, the University of Michigan encouraged students and friends to donate to hourly challenges. They raised an amazing $5.5 million! The university hopes to recreate the magic this year, with a virtual celebration to mark the institution's 200th anniversary.

    Giving Tuesday is not just a US phenomenon, but a global movement. In 2016, 98 countries participated in the event, raising $177 million, a 44% increase over 2015, when 71 nations collected $116.7 million. These numbers can only increase as the day gains further recognition.

    Though donating funds is a great way to help, there are numerous other ways to support your local community. You can give back by volunteering at a nearby nonprofit or food bank. Social media experts can do their share by spreading the information and inspiring their colleagues to get involved. Another great way to celebrate Giving Tuesday is by helping those closest to you, whether that's assisting a family member with chores or helping a neighbor with yard work.

    Every time a new year is coming, people set out to better themselves. They promise they will lose weight, find a new job, or maybe even take that vacation they've always talked about. But why do we make these promises to ourselves, and where did this tradition come from? Why does this tradition live on when so many people fail to keep the resolutions(决定) they made? Well, we can start by blaming the ancient Babylonians.

    Around 4, 000 years ago in Babylon, the earliest recorded celebration honoring the coming of a new year was held. Calendars weren't as they are today, so the Babylonians did it in late March during the first new moon after the Spring Equinox(春分). The festivities were meant for the rebirth of the sun god, but the Babylonians made promises in order to please their gods. They felt this would help them start the new year off well.

    Resolutions continued on with the Romans. When the early Roman calendar no longer synced(同步) up with the sun, Julius Caesar decided to make a change. He consulted with the best astronomers and mathematicians of the time and introduced the Julian calendar, which more closely represents the modern calendar we use today. Caesar declared January 1 the first day of the year to honor the god of new beginnings, Janus. The Romans celebrated the New Year by offering sacrifices to Janus.

To this day, the traditions of the ancient Babylonians and Romans continue around the world. So much that Google launched a Resolution Map in 2013 where people could add resolutions and see others adding theirs in real time. However, no matter how many people participated in Google's project, the numbers are bleak when it comes to the number of people who maintain their resolutions—-only eight percent of people are successful in sticking them out.

    The Trans-Siberian Railway is a single train line that crosses nearly the complete length of Russia, from Moscow to Vladivostok. It covers a total of 5,772 miles, running from Europe to Asia. Unlike the longest flight in the world, which just began transporting passengers in 2018, the Trans-Siberian Railway started its business in 1916.

    Anyone who has taken this long journey, or even just part of it, will tell you that it travels at a rather slow speed, passing through some amazing, remote areas of Russia. You don't have to make the full journey without stopping. Instead, you're suggested to get off where there are attractive views, since it stops in some pretty fantastic places. But you certainly can take the full journey non-stop. If you do, the trip will take about 144 hours—six full days!

    You can book tickets with travel agencies. You can also make the booking online and tickets will be sent to your hotel or personal address. Children under 4 years old accompanied by adults can travel free, but cannot take up a seat. A child ticket needs to be bought if you want to get a seat for the child.

    There are longer railway services in the transportation world, but only one of them is a passenger line as some longer routes transport goods, not travelers. This railway may not be the fastest or the most modern, but it's clearly still an important player in the transportation world!