Disney has picked Chinese actor Liu Yifei to play Mulan in an upcoming film, following accusations against Hollywood of ‘whitewashing'.

    Several Hollywood films have faced criticism in recent months for featuring white actors in Asian roles. Recent films accused of whitewashing include the Hollywood remake of Japanese anime Ghost in the Shell, which had Scarlett Johansson in the main role which was originally Japanese, and Chinese epic The Great Wall which starred Matt Damon as its lead character. Earlier this year, British actor Ed Skrein who was cast as an Asian character in the upcoming Hellboy remake pulled out of the film so that the role could be “cast appropriately”. It then went to Korean-American actor Daniel Dae Kim.

    The live-action adaptation of the 1998 cartoon movie will tell the tale of the well-known Chinese heroine Hua Mulan. Mulan pretended to be a man to fight in the army to spare her weak father from being forced into the army.

    The film has been under careful examination since it was announced that Disney intended to remake Mulan. An online campaign calling for an Asian actress in the role attracted more than 100,000 signatures before it was shut on Thursday.

    Liu, nicknamed “Fairy Sister” for her delicate looks and previous roles in fantasy dramas, is well-known as an actress, model and singer in China. The 30-year-old is said to be fluent in English, having grown up partly in New York. The Hollywood Reporter said she was picked out of nearly 1,000 candidates for the film.

Disney's announcement on its blog about Liu's casting was met with delight on Twitter as well as on Sina Weibo, China's microblogging network. Many online celebrated it as a win for diversity in Disney films. Chinese-American actress Ming-Na Wen, who voiced Mulan in the original animated movie, also gave her stamp of approval. Chinese netizens congratulated Liu, with many praising Disney's choice. One commenter said, “Needs to know martial arts, can also speak English, has star quality - it definitely should be Liu Yifei.”

    It is 6:00a.m.on the first day of the school year. In Chery brook Technology High School, mathematics teacher Eddie Woo is already at work.

    One of the first things before the first bell rings is to set up his tripod（三脚架）and iPad in the middle of the classroom. “I'm Mr. Woo. I record my lessons. I record all of them. In fact, I'm about to record this one,” he explains to his new maths class.

    He started posting videos online in 2012 for a student who was sick with cancer and missing a lot of school, so he started sharing them across the country and beyond. Wootube now has more than 38,000 subscribes(用户) and has attracted almost 4 million views worldwide.

    Cherybrook Technology High School principal(校长) Gary Johnson said Mr. Woo was helping maths teachers in Australia and making maths popular again. “He has an ability to simplify(简化) maths to a level where kids can really understand it.” Mr. Johnson said.

    12-year-old student Emily Shakespear said Mr. Woo's teaching style made maths easy and interesting. “I don't want to say it, but he sucked me into maths,” she said. Owen Potter, who attends high school in Cobar agreed. “It's difficult to understand how someone in Sydney can influence thousands of people across the whole country,” he said.

    Mr. Woo won the 2017 University of Sydney Young Alumni Award for Outstanding Achievement, and he was one of 12 Australian teachers honored at the Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards.

    Nowadays wind is useful. Think about the different ways that people use the wind. You can use it to fly a kite or to sail a boat. Wind is one of our cleanest and richest power sources, as well as one of the oldest. Evidence shows that windmills began to be used in ancient Iran back in the seventh century BC. They were first introduced to Europe during the 1100s, when armies returned from the Middle East with knowledge of using wind power.

    For many centuries, people used windmills to grind wheat into flour or pump water from deep underground. When electricity was discovered in the late 1800s, people living in remote areas began to use them to produce electricity. This allowed them to have electric lights and radio. However, by the 1940s, when electricity was available to people in almost all areas of the United States, windmills were rarely used.

    During the 1970s, people started becoming concerned about the pollution that is created when coal and gas are burned to produce electricity. People also realized that the supply of coal and gas would not last forever. Then, wind was rediscovered, though it means higher costs. Today, there is a global movement to supply more and more of our electricity through the use of wind.

    There are two types of people in the world. Although they have equal degree of health and wealth and other comforts of life, one becomes happy and the other becomes unhappy. This arises from the different ways in which they consider things, persons, events and the resulting effects upon their minds.

    People who are to be happy fix their attention on the convenience of things: the pleasant parts of conversation, the well prepared dishes, the goodness of the wine and the fine weather. They enjoy all the cheerful things. Those who are to be unhappy think and speak only of the opposite things. Therefore, they are continually dissatisfied. By their remarks, they sour the pleasure of society, offend (hurt) many people, and make themselves disagreeable everywhere. If this turn of mind was founded in nature, such unhappy persons would be the more to be pitied. The intention of criticizing (批评) and being disliked is perhaps taken up by imitation (模仿). It grows into a habit, unknown to its possessors. The habit may be strong, but it may be cured when those who have it realize its bad effects on their interests and tastes. I hope this little warning may be of service to them, and help them change this habit.

    Although in fact it is chiefly an act of the imagination, it has serious results in life since it brings on deep sorrow and bad luck. Those people offend many others; nobody loves them, and no one treats them with more than the most common politeness and respect. This frequently puts them in bad temper and draws them into arguments. If they aim at getting some advantages in social position or fortune, nobody wishes them success. Nor will anyone start a step or speak a word to favor their hopes. If they bring on themselves public objections, no one will defend or excuse them, and many will join to criticize their wrongdoings. These should change this bad habit and be pleased with what is pleasing, without worrying needlessly about themselves and others. If they do not, it will be good for others to avoid any contact (接触) with them. Otherwise, it can be disagreeable and sometimes very inconvenient, especially when one becomes mixed up in their quarrels.

    Going to university is supposed to be a mind-broadening experience. That statement is probably made in comparison to training for work straight after school. But is it actually true? Jessika Golle of the University of Tubingen, in Germany reports in Psychological Science this week that those who have been to university indeed seem to leave with broader and more curious minds than those who have spent their immediate post-school years in vocational (职业的) training for work. However, it was not the case that university broadened minds. Rather, vocational training for work seemed to have narrowed them. The result is not quite what might be expected.

    Dr. Golle came to this conclusion after she and a team of colleagues studied the early careers of 2,095 German youngsters. The team used two standardized tests to assess their volunteers' personality traits (特点) including openness, conscientiousness (认真) and so on, and attitudes such as realistic, investigative and enterprising twice, once towards the end of each volunteer's time at high school, and then again six years later. Of the original group, 382 had to make a choice between the academic and vocational routes, and it was on these that the researchers focused. University beckoned for 212 of them. The remaining 170 chose vocational training and a job.

    When it came to the second round of tests, Dr. Golle found that the personalities of both groups had not changed significantly. As for changes in altitude, again, none were noticeable in the university group. However, those who had chosen the vocational route showed marked drops in interest in tasks that are investigative and enterprising in nature. And that might restrict their choice of careers.

    The changes in attitude that the researchers recorded were more worrying. Vocational training has always been what Germany prides itself on. If Dr Golle is correct, and changes in attitude brought about by the very training are narrowing people's choices that is indeed a matter worthy of serious consideration.