What's on in Beijing

    Discover the best things to do in Beijing with our weekly introduction of art and exhibitions, music, performances and trending activities around town. To recommend an upcoming event or activity, please contact li-ping(@chinadaily.com.cn.

Jersey Boys

    Jersey Boys is a Broadway musical that dramatizes the rise and fall of Frankie Valli and the 1960s rock 'n' roll group Four Seasons.

    According to Selladoor Worldwide, the group's Beijing tour will see a brand-new production of the musical. Since its 2005 premiere in New York, the musical has won 57 major awards worldwide.

    2:30 pm to 7:30 pm, Jan. 5 to Jan. 13. Tianqiao Performing Arts Center, 9 Tianqiao Nandajie, Xicheng District. 400 - 635 - 3355.

Ticket: 199 - 1 299 yuan($ 30 - $ 200)

    London Philharmonic Orchestra set to thrill Beijing

    The London Philharmonic Orchestra will give two performances in Beijing on Jan. 5 and 6.

    Under Russian conductor Vasily Petrenko, the orchestra will perform pieces by H. Berlioz's and P. I. Tchaikovsky's.

    7:30 pm, Jan. 5-6. Concert Hall, National Center for the Performing Arts, 2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng District. 010 - 6655 - 0000.

Ticket: 380 - 1 680 yuan

Works of Chinese master woodcarver

    A solo exhibition of Chinese woodcarving master Lu Guangzheng is underway at the National Museum. The exhibition is a showcase of traditional woodcarving techniques unique to the city of Dongyang, East China's Zhejiang Province.

    9 am - 5 pm (closed on Mondays), through Jan. 21. National Museum of China, 16 East Chang'an Avenue, Dongcheng District. 010 - 6511 - 6188.

Ticket: Free

Large-scale (大型的) immersive show

    The large-scale show Memory 5D +, directed by Ulan Xuerong, is ongoing in Beijing from Jan. 4 to 7. The show follows the emotional entanglement (纠结) between black and white spirits, representing yin and yang, and the flora girl.

7:30 pm, Jan. 5; 2:30 pm/7:30 pm, Jan. 6; 7:30 pm, Jan. 7. Beijing Exhibition Theater, 135 Xizhimenwai Dajie (Street), Xicheng District.

Ticket: 180 - 1 080 yuan

    Low-Cost Gifts for Mother's Day Gift

    Gift No. I

    Offer to be your mother's health friend. Promise to be there for any and all doctor's visits whether a disease or a regular medical check-up. Most mothers always say “no need,” another set of eyes and ears is always a good idea at a doctor's visit. The best part ? This one is free.

    Gift No. 2

    Help your mother organize all of her medical records, which include the test results and medical information. Put them all in one place. Be sure to make a list of all of her medicines and what times she takes them. “Having all this information in one place could end up saving your mother's life,” Dr. Marie Savard said.

    Gift No. 3

    Enough sleep is connected to general health conditions. “Buy your mother cotton sheets and comfortable pillows to encourage better sleep,” Savard said. “We know that good sleep is very important to our health.”

    Gift No. 4

Some gift companies such as Presents for Purpose allow you to pay it forward this Mother's Day by picking gifts in which 10 percent of the price you pay goes to a charity (慈善机构). Gift givers can choose from a wide variety of useful but inexpensive things —- many of which are “green” —- and then choose a meaningful charity from a list. When your mother gets the gift, she will be told that she has helped the chosen charity.

    After a homeless man offered a college student in England all the money he had so she'd be able to get home safely, the woman is paying it forward—in a massive way.

    The story began in early December. It was about 3 a.m. and Harrison-Bentzen was panic. “I came out after a student night out and realized I didn't have any battery on my phone. I'd lost my friends,” the 22-year-old told BBC Radio 5. She'd also lost her bank card, she discovered, and she had no money.

    Just then, a homeless man, known only as Robbie, approached the young woman and asked her if she needed help. He reached into his pocket and pulled out all the money he had—loose change amounting to about $4.60. He insisted that Harrison-Bentzen take it to pay for a taxi so she'd get home safely.

    Harrison-Bentzen, a student at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, England, says she refused to take Robbie's money and found another way to get home. But following her encounter（偶然相遇）with the generous man, she says she couldn't get him out of her mind.

    For the next few days, the student searched for Robbie, driving around the streets with her mom and using social media in an attempt to locate the man. In that time, Harrison-Bentzen says she learned more about Robbie and discovered that he actually had a reputation for helping strangers.

    Finally, after four days of driving around Preston, Harrison-Bentzen found Robbie. She was determined to do something to help change Robbie's life.

    So, earlier this month, the student launched a fundraising campaign in Robbie's name. She explained that she would be spending 24 hours on the streets, so as to “understand the difficulties” that the homeless face on a daily basis.

    Harrison-Bentzen says she had initially（最初）hoped to raise about $780 with her campaign. Her expectations, however, were quickly blown out of the water. As of Thursday morning, 4,800 people have donated almost $50,000.

    Springtime In Paris

    Departure: May 5, 12, 19 and June 9

    4 days for £129 per person

    Paris in the springtime was, is and always will be something rather special. Why not experience it for yourself with this excellent break for four days? This attractive city has something to offer everyone and with prices at just ￡129, it's great value too.

    Your break begins with executive coach transfer from regional pickup points and travel to Paris is via cross-channel ferry, arriving at your hotel in the evening. The hotel is an excellent quality one with private facilities in all rooms: satellite TV, radio, telephone and alarm clock. It has a bar and restaurant and is situated about two miles south of Notre Dame enabling you to explore Paris with ease.

    The following day, after continental breakfast(included), the coach takes you on a comprehensive sightseeing tour of the city, during which you will see the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, L'Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, and in fact almost every famous landmark you have ever heard of. You then leave Paris and take a short drive to the magnificent Palace of Versailles, the home of Louis XIV. The tour ends mid-afternoon back in Paris where you will have the remainder of the day at your leisure. In the evening there is a "Paris By Night" tour showing you the beautiful buildings with bright lights.

    Day three takes you to Montmartre, perhaps the most picturesque of Paris and home of the Saere Coeur and the Moulin Rouge. In the afternoon you are free to explore this beautiful city as you wish, perhaps a pleasure voyage on the River Seine, wander around the picturesque gardens or look through among the antique shops. In the evening you will have the opportunity to visit the best nightclub in the city, the splendid Paradis Latin. On the final day we're back to the U.K. via channel ferry.

    Included in the price of ￡129 per person

    Return executive coach travel to Paris

    Return ferry crossings

    3 nights accommodation in a twin bedded room in a Central Paris hotel with private facilities

    Continental breakfast during your stay

    Guided sightseeing tour of "Paris By Day" and "Paris By Night"

    Visit to Chateau of Versailles (admission not included)

    Tour on Montmartre

    Services of an experienced bi-lingual tour guide at all times

    The world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago. A study published in the journal “Nature Sustainability” said that recent satellite data reveals a greening pattern that is strikingly prominent in China and India. The study shows that human activity in China and India dominates this greening of the planet, thanks to tree planting and agriculture. The effect comes mostly from ambitious tree-planting programs in China and intensive agriculture in both countries.

    “China and India account for one-third of the greening,” said lead author Chi Chen of Boston University. “ That is a surprising finding, considering the vague idea of land degradation (毁坏) in populous countries from overexploitation,” added Chen.

    China alone accounts for 25 percent of the global net increase in leaf area with only 6.6 percent of global vegetated area. The greening in China is from forests (42 percent) and croplands (32 percent), but in India, it is mostly from croplands (82 percent) with minor contribution from forests (4.4 percent).

    China's outsized contribution to the global greening trend comes in large part from its programs to conserve and expand forests with the goal of preventing land degradation, air pollution, and climate change.

    “Once people realize there is a problem, they tend to fix it,” said Rama Nemani, research scientist and co-author of the study. “In the 1970s and 80s in India and China, the situation around vegetation loss was not good. In the 1990s, people realized it, and today things have improved. Now we see that humans are contributing.”

    Land area used to grow crops is comparable in China and India—more than 770, 000 square miles—and has not changed much since the early 2000s. Yet these regions have greatly increased both their annual total green leaf area and their food production.

    This was achieved through multiple cropping practices, where a field is replanted to produce another harvest several times a year. Production of grains, vegetables, fruits and more have increased by about 35%～40% since 2000 to feed their large populations.

    Whales, like all mammals(哺乳动物),need air, and come to the surface to breathe through a blowhole. A drone(无人机)that floats over the blowholes of humpback whales as they are making annual journey along Australia's east coast is being used by Australian scientists for collecting nasal mucus(鼻腔粘液)of whales.

    Vanessa Pirotta, a biologist at Macquarie University says that nasal mucus indicates the health of the whale. "It is the biological mixture that you see as a whale takes a breath as it surfaces from the water," she said. You can hear sounds of sharp breaths as a whale breathes because, after all, they are animals like you and I. So as they take a breath it is a lot of lung bacteria coming out from their lungs, which we can collect to provide a brief idea of whale health.

    Australian researchers have attached a special dish that is used in scientific tests to a drone which flies through the whale's nasal mist. As a whale comes to take a breath—you can actually see it coming to the surface on really good weather days —the drone then lowers, the dish is then opened, collecting nasal mucus for later research.

    The research could help to solve one of the secrets of another impressive creature of the deep —the Southern right whale. Its numbers have recovered on Australia's west coast since hunting became suppressed but its population on the eastern seaboard remains stubbornly low.

    In the past, studies into whale health had to rely on examining whales that were either killed or those whales that had been trapped on a beach. Drones allow scientists to collect nasal mucus from free-swimming whales to gather information in a safe way.