Tulou, the special residential architecture of Fujian Province was included on the UNESCO's World Heritage List during the 32nd session of the World Heritage Committee in Quebec, Canada.

    In the fourth century, Han Chinese living in the Central Plains area began to migrate south, gradually gathering in Fujian and forming the Hakka communities. As a defence against enemies, the Hakkas chose to live in compact (紧凑的) communities, and the tulou was their preferred houses. Tens of thousands of such earthen structures were constructed in Fujian Province.

    Most tulous are to be found in the valleys, surrounded by high mountains, and some are in the depths of the great mountains. Most are three to four storeys high, and look like circular blockhouses (堡垒). Rooms on the first floor are used as kitchens, rooms on the second floor are used as barns (谷仓), and rooms on the third and fourth floors are for bedrooms and living rooms. For defensive purposes, the rooms on the first floor have no windows.

    Raw materials for the tulou were obtained locally. Their main building material was a mixture of clay, sand, lime and water, and egg whites, brown sugar and rice water were added as adhesive agents (粘合剂). It was then mixed to form the walls. Once they dried, the walls were so hard that driving a nail into them would have been difficult. Fir branches, which are extremely strong and do not rot, were used to strengthen them, and many centuries later they have remained their original look.

    Tulous are located in a region where earthquakes happen frequently, and their circular construction helps them resist the regular shocks.

    The proven design even inspired one famous Peruvian architect, who paid several visits to Yongding, to build a tulou back home. Not long after, an earthquake struck only 10 kilometers away, and while all the houses around the earthen building fell down, his tulou remained.

    In the coming months, we are bringing together artists from all over the globe, to enjoy speaking Shakespeare's plays in their own language, in our Globe, within the architecture Shakespeare wrote for. Please come and join us.

National Theatre of China   Beijing Chinese

    This great occasion(盛会) will be the National Theatre of China's first visit to the UK. The company's productions show the new face of 21st century Chinese theatre. This production of

    Shakespeare's Richard III will be directed by the National's Associate Director，Wang Xiaoying.

    Date & Time Saturday 28 April, 2.30 pm & Sunday 29 April, 1.30 pm & 6.30pm

Marjanishvili Theatre Tbilisi | Georgian

    One of the most famous theatres in Georgia, the Marjanishvili, founded in 1928,appears regularly at theatre festivals all over the world. This new production of   It is helmed（指导）by the company's Artistic Director Levan Tsuladze.

    Date & Time Friday 18May,2.30pm & Saturday 19May,7.30pm

Deafinitely Theatre  London | British Sign  Language （BSL）

    By translating the rich and humorous text of Love's Labour's Lost into the physical language of BSL, Deafinitely Theatre creates a new interpretation of Shakespeare's comedy and aims to build a bridge between deaf and hearing worlds by performing to both groups as one audience.

    Date & Time Tuesday 22 May,2.30pm & Wednesday 23 May,7.30pm

Habima National Theatre Tel Aviv | Hebrew

    The Habima is the centre of Hebrew-language theatre worldwide ,Founded in Moscow after the 1905 revolution, the company eventually settled in Tel Aviv in the late 1920s,Since 1958, z& they have been recognised as the national theatre of Israel .This production of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice marks their first visit to the UK.

    Date & Time Monday 28May, 7.30 & Tuesday 29 May,7.30pm

    Is smile just a facial expression? Of course not! It is not only used to express pleasure, affection, and friendliness, but also the commonest way to show our good will perfectly without saying anything. A Chinese saying runs： “Never hit a person who is smiling at you.” It is a time-proven fact that smile is a language all its own—a universal language—understood by the people of every nation in the world. We may not speak the same tongue as our foreign neighbors, but we smile in the same tongue. We need no interpreter for thus expressing love, happiness, or good will.

    One day while shopping in a small town in southern California, it was my misfortune to be approached by a clerk whose personality conflicted with mine. He seemed quite unfriendly and not at all concerned about my intended purchase. I bought nothing, and marched angrily out of the store. On the outside stood a young man in his early twenties. His expressive brown eyes met and held mine, and in the next instant a beautiful, brilliant smile covered his face. The magic power of that smile made all bitterness within me melt, and I found the muscles in my own face happily responding. “Beautiful day, isn't it?” I remarked, in passing. Then, obeying an impulse(冲动), I turned back. “I really owe you a debt of gratitude,” I said softly. His smile deepened, but he made no attempt to answer. A Mexican woman and two men were standing nearby. The woman stepped forward and eyed me inquiringly. “Carlos, he no speak English,” she volunteered. “You want I should tell him something?” At that moment I felt changed. Carlos' smile had made a big person of me. My friendliness and good will toward all mankind stood ten feet tall. “Yes,” my reply was enthusiastic and sincere, “tell him I said, 'Thank you!' “Thank you?” The woman seemed slightly confused.

    I gave her arm a friendly pat as I turned to leave. “Just tell him that.” I insisted. “He'll understand, I am sure!”

    Oh, what a smile can do! Although I have never seen that young man again, I shall never forget the lesson he taught me that morning. From that day on, I became smile-conscious, and I practice the art diligently, anywhere and everywhere, with everybody.

    Facebook is an American online social media and social networking service. The Facebook website was launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg, along with fellow Harvard College students and roommates.

    The founders had limited the website's membership to Harvard students at first; however, later they expanded it to various other universities, and eventually to high school students as well. Since 2006, anyone who claims to be at least 13 years old has been allowed to become a registered (注册了的) user of Facebook, though differences exist in the youngest age requirement, depending on local laws. Facebook has more than 2 billion monthly active users as of June 2017. As of April 2016, Facebook was the most popular social networking site in the world, based on the number of active user accounts.

    Facebook may be accessed by a large range of desktops, smartphones over the Internet and mobile networks. After registering to use the site, users can create a user profile (简介) showing their names and so on. Users can add other users as "friends", exchange messages, post photos and so on.

    Facebook makes most of its income from advertisements which appear on screen, marketing access for its customers to its users.

    Shellharbour City Library provides a range of Library Special Needs Services for people who are unable to access our library service in the usual way. As long as you live in Shellharbour City, we'll provide a full range of library services and resources including:

    ● Large printed and ordinary printed books

    ● Talking books on tape and CD

    ● DVDs and music CDs

    ● Magazines

    ● Reference and information requests

You will be asked to complete a "Statement of Need" application form which must be signed by a medical professional.

    Home delivery service

    Let us know what you like to read and we will choose the resources for you. Our staff will deliver the resources to your home for free. We also provide a service where we can choose the resources for you or someone instead of you chooses the things from the library. You can also choose the resources you need personally.

    Talking books and captioned videos

    The library can provide talking books for people who are unable to use printed books because of eye diseases. You don't have to miss out on reading any more when you can borrow talking books from the library. If you have limited hearing which prevents you from enjoying movies, we can provide captioned videos for you at no charge.

    Languages besides English

    We can provide books in a range of languages besides English. If possible, we will request these items from the State Library of NSW, Australia.

    How to join?

    Contact the Library Special Needs Coordinator to register or discuss if you are eligible (合适的) for any of the services we provide­Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 9am­5pm on 4297 2522 for more information.

Every four or five years, vast quantities of warm water build up along the west coast of South America. This phenomenon, El Nino, creates storms that cause destructive floods. The result is costly.

Modern farmers come to terms with El Nino. They use money saved in good years to rebuild in bad ones. But history suggests it need not be like that. In a paper published recently, Ari Caramanica, an archaeologist at University of the Pacific, in Lima, shows how it used to be done. And the answer seems to be, "better".

Dr Caramanica and her colleagues have been studying the Pampa de Mocan, a coastal desert plain in northern Peru. Pampa de Mocan is not suitable for farming. Its soil contains little organic matter and the annual rainfall in non-Nino years is usually less than two centimeters. Today's farmers therefore depend on canals to carry water from local rivers to their fields.

It had been assumed that ancient farmers had a similar arrangement — and so they did. But Dr Caramanica also found eight canals that could carry water far beyond the range of modern farms. She thinks that they were intended to guide the floodwaters arriving during Nino years. Around a quarter of the ancient agricultural infrastructure of this area seems to have been built only for managing Nino-generated floodwaters.

Evidence from pollen supports this theory, revealing that Pampa de Mocan produced lots of crops in some years, while remaining nearly barren in others. The team also uncovered two cisterns in the area serviced by the extended canals. These, probably, were used to store extra flood-water.

These findings suggest that, rather than resisting El Nino, early farmers in Pampa de Mocan were ready to make use of it when it arrived. Modern farmers might do well to learn from them.