China is fully prepared to export a full supply chain of high-speed railway technology, according to industry experts.

    China Railway Corp, the national rail operator, said exports of railway equipment and railway construction projects are proceeding well, and breakthroughs are being made in a number of projects overseas.

    Among the projects, the first full-chain commission, the Jakarta to Bandung high-speed railway in Indonesia, which includes technology, design, construction, equipment manufacture, supply of resources, operations management and staff training, has been granted a construction permit and work is proceeding smoothly.

    “China's railways have established a comprehensive and advanced technology system, which is able to provide overseas customers with solutions from many different perspectives, including financing, construction, operations, and research and development,” said Yang Zhongmin, the CRC's deputy chief engineer, who added that China's railway system is competitive in terms of technology and economy of use.

    According to Yang, the nation's railway equipment and infrastructure (基础设施) service businesses have entered markets in Asia, Europe, North America and Africa.

    Last year, Joko Widodo, president of Indonesia, and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, rode Chinese-made bullet trains.

    Yang Hao, a professor of rail transportation management at Beijing Jiaotong University, said China has a major advantage in that it is able to export a full range of railway technology: “For example, it is inconvenient to import the technology for the signaling system from one country and civil engineering technology from another.”

    On January 13, 2016, France became the first country in the world to pass a law requiring supermarkets to donate food that is approaching its expiration date (保质期) instead of throwing it away. The regulation that applies to supermarkets over 4,000 square feet requires stores to sign official donation agreements with local food banks.

    The law also makes it illegal for stores to pour water over nearly-expired food, or store it inside locked warehouses until it is picked up by the garbage trucks. These measures are often undertaken by supermarkets to prevent the hungry from searching for food through the dustbins.

    Though that may appear cruel, the stores claim they do it to avoid potential food poisoning that could occur if the product is on its way past its expiry. Those who do not obey the new law face the risk of heavy fines.

    Also, excess goods like yogurt or milk that are likely to go bad quickly are now allowed to be donated directly to the food banks. Though this has always been possible, the current process is long and complex, making it difficult for producers to give away the food in a timely manner.

    France's food banks are of course thrilled about the possibility of receiving extra food. Jacques Bailet, who heads a network of French food banks called the Banques Alimentaires, says that of the 110,000 tons of goods received annually, only 36,000 tons comes from supermarkets. Bailet estimates (估计) that just a 15% increase in supermarket donations would translate to over 10 million additional meals to feed the hungry each year.

    Though this is a great first step, Arash Dermabarsh, the activist responsible for the grassroots movement that led to the ban, is not done. He now wants to extend the law to other places like restaurants and also try to convince other countries in the European Union to pass similar regulations. These steps are necessary because of the over 9 million tons of food wasted in France; an astonishing 67% is thrown away by consumers, with supermarkets and restaurants making up the rest.

    The clearing of my parents' home has made me think about the importance, even centrality of books to the house's life and soul. The house, and our lives in it, would not have been the same without books. The force of the statement comes home to me as I see what happens when shelves are emptied. The rooms suddenly look uncomfortably bare.

    I always rather took it for granted that books furnished a room. The only rooms in our house without books were the dining-room and the bathrooms. Otherwise there were books everywhere: in all the bedrooms, in the drawing-room and in the piano room which became my parents' comfortable winter study.

    I couldn't help feeling that books were rather like people: some more formal and boring, others more entertaining; some simply for show, others with unpromising outsides but rich interiors. They did more, in fact, than furnish a room; they were companions who could offer insights, good advice.

    Now the books are being contributed (not all, to be sure, but very many), and I fear for their future, almost as if they were refugees (难民). “Habent sua fata libelli”, goes as the old Latin saying, originally written by Terentianus; it meant that the fate and future of books were determined by the capability of the reader. But the meaning of the phrase has been misunderstood by time and is now associated with the physical fate of particular books, how they have passed from owner to owner. This is how Walter Benjamin read the saying when he wrote his essay “Unpacking My Library”, which analyses the extraordinarily close relationship between a collector and his or her books.

    When I deal with the books that many are going to charity shops, I hope they will find good homes, I can't help wondering if my generation is the last that will oversee such a process. Books are disappearing, as more and more are bought in electronic form and exist only as bytes of information on e-books or other devices. Does this matter? Could books become more spiritual, as they lose their physicality?

    I was in the Sants Cruz Mountains not long ago, speaking and singing at a women's conference. We were focusing on the theme of loving others in practical ways through our gifts, and something in particular happened during one of the sessions（会议）will remain imprinted in memory.

    A young Syrian woman (Lilith) was invited to the conference at the last minute, and everyone seemed surprised and delighted that she'd actually come. Just a few days earlier, Lilith had fled her country and found refuge with one of the women attending the conference. As an Orthodox Christian in Syria, she and her loved ones had become attacked targets of violent terrorist groups in the country's ongoing civil war.

Lilith had witnessed horrors no one of her young age should ever see. Despite the further danger it presented, she'd decided to leave her home and her family to find safety here in America. Knowing some of her story, and seeing her sitting through the sessions at the retreat（畏缩不前）—head, covered in a scarf, bowed toward the floor—broke my heart.

    Lilith's story touched all of us, including Pam, who was quilt maker. Pam had just finished a beautiful quilt, and had brought it with her. She, along with a few of the leaders, decided to give it to Lilith as a symbol of their comfort and love.

During our last session, Lilith was called forward and prayed over, hugged, and wrapped up in that beautiful quilt. I thought of the many hours Pam undoubtedly spent working on it, and the terrible events that led Lilith to this moment—surrounded by the beauty and love quilt embodied. I wept. When they told her it was for her, she wept.

    Metropolis Book Club

    Membership:

    All you need to do is fill out the order form at the bottom of the page, select your first order from our book list and then post the completed form back to us.

    Special offers for new members:

    As a special offer, you may choose any reduced-price books from our new members' book list, to the value of 100 yuan in total.

    Tick the box on your form to order a free watch.

    Join before the end of this month and you receive another free book carefully chosen by our staff.

    Order an audio-book from the many on offer, at half the recommended retail price.

    When you've joined:

    As a member you get around 50% off the publisher's price of every book you buy, and what's more, they come straight to your door. Your free club magazine arrives once a month to keep you up to date with the latest best-sellers we've added to our list. On the Internet, you can find all our titles for the year at our exclusive members' website. Our website also has a book swap service where members can request or offer books for exchange.

    Being a member:

    All you have to do is order four books during your first year. After that, you can decide on the number of books you wish to take.

    In each of your monthly club magazines, our experienced staff choose a "Book of the Month" for you, which is offered at an extra-special price. If you do not want this book, just say so in the space provided on the form and send it back to us. We always send the book if we do not receive this form.

    Once we receive your order, your books are delivered within one week. And remember, you have up to a fortnight to decide if you wish to keep the books you have ordered. If they aren't what you expected just send them back!

    Once upon a time, there was a little boy who wanted to meet the king. He set off, walking towards the king's castle. After many years of walking, the king's castle came into his view. However, as the boy drew closer to the outside of the castle, the guards took notice of him.

    "Get out of here!" commanded the guards.

    Well, the little boy didn't have to be told twice. He turned...and ran right away. All he wanted to do was to tell the king wonderful things, and see all the beautiful things in the king's house. But he couldn't even get near the castle! The boy finally stopped running, sat down and cried.

    A young man happened to be coming down the path at the very moment. He saw the little boy and came up. "What's wrong, young man?" he asked.

    "Sir, I walked and walked just to see the king. But these guards made me frightened. I wanted to tell the king how lovely everything is and just tell the king that I just wanted to see him!"

    The man looked at the little boy thoughtfully. "Look, why don't you try again. Don't lose heart. I'll come with you this time."

    The little boy got up and took the man's hand. The king's guards spotted them.

    "Look, mister, we don't have to do this...I don't want you to get hurt. We can just turn around now."

    The man held the little boy's hand and went on. The boy really thought the man might be crazy until he looked back up at the guards. They were all smiling now. The little boy was surprised.

    "Who are you?" asked the little boy in surprise.

    "Why, I'm the king's son. You can enter the castle and be with the king," said the man.

    The little boy broke into a huge smile.