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

    It is not easy getting the attention of tourists away from the well-known white sandy beaches of Byron Bay. But in this relying Australian surf town, a solar (太阳能的)-powered train might just do a good job.

    Opening to the public in December 2017 along a 1.9-mile-long stretch (一段) of track that sat abandoned for more than a decade, the Byron Bay Rail Company has breathed new life into a pair of disused railcars dating back to the 1940s. They're now used to transport passengers between Byron Bay's central business district and the North Beach area. After remaining in service as part of a regional passenger rail network until the early 1990s, the aging railcars were out of service and sat uncared for — almost destroyed by time and unpleasant Aussie climate — in a railyard for more than 20 years. You'd never know it by looking at these nearly 70-year-old workhorses today, though: they've been decorated, equipped, topped with custom-made photovoltaic panels (定制的光电池板) and rearranged to accommodate up to 100 seated beach goers.

    It's those train-top PV panels that truly set the Byron Bay Rail Company's flagship train apart from other heritage rail restoration projects.

    Drawing additional power from a 30-kilowatt solar array (阵列) located atop the train's storage building, the tain is said to be the first in the world to be completely powered by the sun. Solar energy caught by the 6.5-kilowatt train-top solar panels is stored directly in an onboard battery system that powers motors, lighting and the like. When stopped at its home platform, the train pushes into chargers for quick battery top-offs with electricity produced by the storage building's rooftop solar array. The 77 kilowatt-hour battery can hold enough juice for 12 to 15 runs on a single charge. During long periods of cloudiness when the solar arrays don't get enough sun, the train uses the main electric network, supply using renewable energy sold by community-based service Enova Energy.

    The Byron Bay Rail Company's first-in-the-world folly solar-powered train is a good example of historic rail preservation with a 21^st century development. Operating as a not-for-profit company, the Byron Bay Rail Company also expected the AU$4 million line to be a way to relieve traffic jam between downtown Byron Bay and the rapidly growing North Beach area. Really, there's no bigger unpleasant thing than sitting in bad traffic for 40 minutes trying to get to the beach.

    We bet that on cold winter days, many of you love to stay in your warm home and, every now and then, come out into the kitchen for a snack. Unfortunately, plenty of small insects like to do the same thing! Winter is the time when small insects enter your house without an invitation. The season can be difficult for such creatures. In winter the air is cold, the ground is hard and many trees have no leaves. So small insects do what they have to do to survive.

    Monarch butterflies head south to warmer climates. Ants crowd in deep underground colonies and eat food they have been storing all year. Many insects go into a deep sleep called diapauses. There're different kinds of diapauses, but all are similar to hibernation, a time when bigger animals become inactive in the cold. Insects go into an inactive period, too, but it often isn't when the temperature drops.

    They rely on more dependable signals in the environment. For example, many insects can tell how much sunlight there's each day. They use that to tell themselves when to shut down. Insects are cold-blooded, meaning that their inside temperature is the same as the outside. They can't move much when it gets below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. So they search for any warm place.

    They're looking for protection. These guys have been doing this for 300 million years, so they don't really know they're coming into your house. The home is a recent event in terms of their evolutionary (进化的) behavior. They enter through tiny cracks or come in unnoticed on your clothes or shoes. Remember that they may be entering your homes for warmth and food, but they don't care about humans.

    The pupils of Grangetown High have been busy getting to know their newest and tallest classmate — a 7-meter-tall giraffe outside their school.

    The giraffe is a huge sculpture (雕像). The school's headmaster noticed it in an artist's garden as he drove past one day, and thought it would be perfect for his school. “I knew everyone would love it," he said, "because our basketball team is known as the Grangetown Giraffes, and they wear giraffes on their shirts. So I asked them to write to the artist, asking how much it would cost to buy the giraffe. He was very kind and got it ready to deliver (递送) in six weeks — all for nothing! It was expected to arrive one Sunday morning, so that the pupils would see it when they got to school on Monday — at that time they had no idea that we were getting it."

    The artist, Tom Bennett was a university professor of chemistry before he retired in 2012 and only took up metalwork a couple of years ago. "I've always drawn pictures," he said. I can even remember doing it on my first day at school — I drew a horse. I wanted it to be the best horse picture ever, but I don't think I succeeded."Tom's first metalwork was a bicycle on which he and his wife could go cycling together, “It was the most uncomfortable bike ever created," he said, "so I gave up making bicycles and went into sculpture instead."

    Meanwhile the pupils at Grangetown High are very happy with their new classmate. "We're going to hold a competition to give it a proper name," said one girl. "Everyone likes the expression on its face, so perhaps that will give us some ideas."

    High school was a hard time for Me in the beginning because I had just moved to a small town and knew basically no one. I loved to play basketball but was afraid to go to tryout (选拔)for the school's team because I didn't know anyone. One day all that changed when I missed the bus home and decided to shoot baskets on the school playground to kill time. The coach Mr Colbath had been watching me make various baskets and was pretty impressed with my moves.

    He came up to me and asked me who had taught me to play like that. I told him that my dad had taught me how to play basketball. He asked me if he would see me at the tryout on Friday, but I said no and told him why. He told me to have a try because I played very well and would maybe make some friends on the court. After thinking for a few minutes. I finally decided to have a try.

    On the day of the tryout, the coach came, found me and helped me practice before the tryout. He helped me a lot and I did very well at the tryout and many members of the team were quite impressed. I did make the team and over the next few years the coach helped me both on and off the court. He helped me do my math which I had such a difficult time with and he even taught me how to live independently.

    I will never forget Mr Colbath. He really inspired me and changed my life. I would not be the person that I am today if he had not taken such an interest in me when I was in high school.

    A year back I received a full scholarship to attend the University of San Francisco. All of my hard work had paid off. My mom had spent a lot in my attending a private high school, so I made sure to push myself: I volunteered, got involved in various clubs, and graduated with honors. I was so excited to start a new chapter(篇章)of my life. I had totally packed two weeks before it was time to leave.

    Soon enough, the big day came, but it wasn't like what I had thought. The first two weeks were the most difficult days of my entire life. Every night I would cry myself to sleep. I was so homesick and I didn't know how to deal with my broken heart. To distract myself, I threw myself into my studies and I applied for a ton of jobs. In any remaining free time, I started forcing myself to the gym. I wanted to keep every part of my day busy so I wouldn't think how lonely I felt.

    Soon after, I began to limit food, and then I became worse. Finally, I went to see a doctor. When the doctor weighed me, I was crazy about the number of my weight. So I continued to lower my goal, and convinced that controlling this number was the solution for my homesickness. But when I was told that I had no choice but to spend time on my studies. I quickly started recovery in my mind.

    How could I do? I told myself that school was what I was best at. I decided to get rid of my homesickness and took exercise actively. My first term of college had passed by at last and I had gotten straight A's. That's why I want to share my story－to help other students feel less lonely.