NANJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) — Xi Jinping and Ma Ying-jeou will shake hands in their historic meeting scheduled in Singapore on Saturday, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council said on Wednesday.

    The two-part meeting includes one session open to the media and another behind closed doors, said Zhang Zhijun, who is also head of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, when interviewed at the Zijinshan Summit for Entrepreneurs across the Taiwan Strait.

    According to Zhang, Xi and Ma, as "leaders of the two sides" of the Taiwan Strait, will exchange views during the closed-door meeting.

    After the meeting, press conferences will be held by both sides. Later, the two leaders are expected to attend a dinner, said Zhang.

    Zhang said the meeting will lift cross-Strait communication to a new high.

    The landmark meeting is a breakthrough in face-to-face exchange and communication between the leaders across the Taiwan Strait after the relationship became strained following the events of 1949.

    Zhang said the meeting will improve mutual trust and allow for an exchange of opinions on handling the cross-Strait ties.

    In addition, the meeting will help strengthen the 1992 Consensus(共识), which was reached in talks between the two sides in 1992 and recognizes the one-China principle, and safeguards the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties, according to Zhang.

    Zhang added that the scheduled meeting will also benefit regional peace and stability.

    Also at Wednesday's summit, Chiang Pin-kung, former chairman of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation, hailed the upcoming meeting between the two leaders as a milestone for cross-Strait ties.

    Chiang told the media that he believed the meeting will give a boost to the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties.

    Four years ago, Chris Nagele did what many other technology CEO have done before—he moved his team into an open concept office.

    His staff had been working from home, but he wanted everyone to be together. It quickly became clear, though, that Nagele had made a huge mistake. Everyone was distracted, productivity(生产率) suffered and the nine employees were unhappy, not to mention Nagele himself.

    In April 2015, about three years after moving into the open office, Nagele moved the company into a 10,000-square-foot office where everyone now has their own space — complete with closing doors.

    Numerous companies have accepted the open office. But we're 15% less productive, we have great trouble concentrating.

    Since moving, Nagele himself has heard from others in technology who say they long for the closed office lifestyle. It's unlikely that the open office concept will go away anytime soon, but some companies are following Nagele's example and making a return to private spaces.

    There's one big reason we'd all love a space with four walls and a door that shuts: focus. The truth is, we can't multitask(多任务化) and small distractions can cause us to lose focus for upwards of 20 minutes.

    What's more, certain open spaces can negatively impact our memory. We retain(保留) more information when we sit in one spot, says Sally Augustin, an environmental and design psychologist in La Grange Park, Illinois. It's not so obvious to us each day, but we offload(卸下) memories — often little details — into our surroundings, she says.

    Beside the cheaper cost, one main argument for the open workspace is that it increases teamwork. However, it's well documented(记载) that we rarely brainstorm brilliant ideas when we're just talk casually in a crowd.

    Every week in China, millions of people will sit in front of their TVs watching teenagers compete for the title Character Hero, which is a Chinese-style spelling bee (拼写大赛). In this challenge, young competitors must write Chinese characters by hand. To prepare for the competition, the competitors usually spend months studying dictionaries.

    Perhaps the show's popularity should not be a surprise. Along with gunpowder and paper, many Chinese people consider the creation of Chinese calligraphy (书法) to be one of their primary contributions to civilization. Unfortunately, all over the country, Chinese people are forgetting how to write their own language without computerized help. Software on smart phones and computers allows users to type in the basic sound of the word using the Latin alphabet. The correct character is chosen from a list. The result? It's possible to recognize characters without remembering how to write them.

    But there's still hope for the paint brush. China's Education Ministry wants children to spend more time learning how to write.

    In one Beijing primary school we visited, students practice calligraphy every day inside a specially decorated classroom with traditional Chinese paintings hanging on the walls. Soft music plays as a group of six-year-olds dip brush pens into black ink. They look up at the blackboard often to study their teacher's examples before carefully attempting to reproduce those characters on thin rice paper. “If adults can survive without using handwriting, why bother to teach it now?” we ask the calligraphy teacher, Shen Bin, “The ability to write characters is part of Chinese tradition and culture,” she reasons. “Students must learn now so they don't forget when they grow up.” says the teacher.

    Last week I did something that scared me. I stood in front of nearly 200 financial planners and I talked to them about why financial blogs are a good thing. I'm a confident writer. I've been doing this long enough that I know my strength and my limitations. I'm less confident as a speaker. I don't have time to pause to collect my thoughts. I'm not able to edit. I'm afraid of being trapped in a corner without being able to talk my way out. Basically, I'm scared to speak.

    It would be easy to simply refuse the chances that come my way. When somebody asks me to speak in front of a group, I could say "no". When radio and television stations call for an interview, I could say "no". But for the past two years, I've been following my own policy to say "yes" to new chances.

    To say "yes" is to live in fear. My goal is to continually improve myself to become better than I am today. One way to do that is to do the things that scare me, to take them on as challenges, and to learn from them—even if I fail.

    In mid-November, a local station asked me to appear on live television. "I realize it's short notice," the producer wrote, "but we'd love to have you on the show if you're available tonight." I was frightened. I thought about recent taped television interviews that I had hated. I was afraid of what might happen.

    But I also thought about the things that had gone right. I thought of how my speaking skills had improved over the past year. And then I thought of the book I was reading, a book that I had bought for $1.29 at the local store. The Magic of Thinking Big was a huge bestseller during the 1960s. Written by Dr. David Schwartz, a professor at Georgia State University, the book contains dozens of practical tips on how to take risks to achieve big goals. Schwartz argues that nobody will believe in you until you believe in yourself.

    So when the television producer asked if I wanted to appear on his show, I thought big. "Sure," I said. "I'll do it." I acted confidently, but on the inside I was frightened. What I needed was techniques to build up my confidence and to overcome my fear.

    Fabien Cousteau was born with deep love for the ocean. His grandfather and his father were ocean explorers and documentary filmmakers. Fabien spent his early years on his grandfather's ships. Today Fabien follows in his family's footsteps to protect the planet's endangered ocean life. With his vast knowledge and experience, he tries to strike a balance between environmental problems and market economies.

    Fabien is well known for his study of sharks. During 2000-2002, he created a TV special called Attack of the Mystery Shark based on the shark attacks that occurred along the New Jersey shoreline in the summer of 1916. Then in 2003-2006, with the help of a large crew, Fabien created a shark submarine (潜艇) that enabled him to put himself inside the shark world, providing people with a rare view of the mysterious and often misunderstood creatures.

    For the next four years (2006-2010), Fabien was part of a series called, Ocean Adventures, which offered a rare look into some of the most fantastic ocean species (物种) and environments.

    In 2010, Fabien started Plant A Fish, a nonprofit project for children to help restore local water ecosystems by replanting key ocean species. Save the world, one fish at a time. The project is still in progress now and its final goal is to plant 1 billion "fish" worldwide.

    From June 1 to July 2, 2014, Fabien and his team spent 31 days underwater to research how climate change and pollution are affecting the oceans. Fabien's Mission 31 broke new ground by going deeper, longer and further, exposing (显露) the world to the adventure and the mystique (神秘) of what lies beneath.

    Fabien is currently working on a documentary film about the adventures of Mission 31, as well as building an Ocean Learning Center to provide children around the world with the opportunity to learn about oceans and engage with ocean explorers directly through social media.

During one of the earliest performances of "Peter Pan," the much-loved fantasy play for children, a small boy was invited to watch the production from the balcony. Afterwards he was asked what he liked best about the play. The pirates? The crocodile? Peter Pan flying through the air? The child's response was surprising: "What I think I liked best was tearing up the program and dropping the bits on people's heads".

The audience who left the theater with bits of paper in their hair probably wouldn't agree with the boy on the best part of the play. Neither would the caretakers in charge of cleaning the theater afterward. But when J. M. Barrie, the creator of "Peter Pan," heard the boy's comment, he was delighted. He wasn't offended that the boy hadn't paid closer attention to the play. Instead, he considered it one of his favorite reactions to his work.

All of us have to deal with decisions made by others – their words, actions and attitudes – that could be considered offensive. This can be particularly difficult when we feel that the values and traditions we hold dear are being rejected or even laughed at.

But just as someone might choose whether or not to do something offensive, we can choose whether or not to be insulted (侮辱). We can choose to give others the benefit of the doubt and not assume mean intent behind their actions. We can love people even if we do not love their choices. After all, isn't it more important – though perhaps more challenging – to love a person than to love words or actions?

Accepting people does not mean approving of or forgiving their decisions. It does not mean giving up our own rights to think and act differently. Nor does it mean we will never feel sad or hurt or disappointed. But at a deeper level, we can be at peace if we focus on love – for love has the power to overcome our disappointment, frustration and pain. And who knows? Our love may even soften a heart. But even if it doesn't, the best approach is still to let love, peace, patience and kindness rule the day.