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Who would have expected that a story about an 11-year-old boy wizard would turn into a multi-billion dollar business? Who would have thought that the series would still be so popular after a decade? Who could have anticipated that the child fans of the original story would loyally follow the series well into their 20s?

That’s the magic of the Harry Potter series. Now, with the release of the final ffxiv gil installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, fans must accept that the series is nearing its end.

It’s doubtful that popular culture will see anything quite like the Harry Potter phenomenon for a long time to come. Harry Potter’s impact has unquestionably been felt in both book sales and ff14 gil box office receipts.

But why has the series been so successful?

“The genius of JK Rowling was that she grounded the wish fulfillment of a real kid with magical powers in the context of the real world. You enter the runescape money fantasy with her,” Lionel Wigram, a production executive at Warner Bros, told the Los Angeles Times.

And, after 10 years, millions of fans seem to have enjoyed the FF14 Power leveling ride. “It’s a fantasy that’s also very true to life,” said Deng Hao, 22, a junior student at Shandong University who’s also a Harry Potter fan. “The special effects in the movies don’t outweigh the fact that it’s deeply personal,” said Deng. “It’s really about the characters.”

Jemima Owen, a 20-year-old college student in the UK, was in her final year of primary school when the first Harry Potter film was released. She recently wrote an article for FFXIV Power leveling The Observer from a fan’s perspective.

“Eleven-year-olds picking up the first Harry Potter book now will never understand the anticipation and yearning we felt as we waited three years for cheap ffxiv gil the release of the next installment,” she wrote.

“To say we ‘grew up’ with Harry, Ron and Hermione might be clichéd, but to me, the end of the series is like a farewell to childhood.”

Ultimate battle

No longer a mere boy, Harry Potter is drawing closer to buy runescape gold the task for which he has been preparing since the first day he stepped into Hogwarts: the ultimate battle with Voldemort.

The film begins as Harry, Ron and Hermione set out on rs gold their dangerous mission to track down and destroy the secret to Voldemort’s immortality–the Horcruxes. Without the guidance of their professors, the three friends must rely on one another more than ever.

Talent shows have been the rage in China since the success of the "Super Girl" national singing competition organized by Hunan satellite television from 2004.

This year, Shanghai`s Dragon TV pushed its own "China`s Got Talent" show, the local version of the UK series "Britain`s Got Talent", to the top of its audience ratings chart.

The lure of stardom

With the lure of stardom, many Chinese young people are starting to look at singing as a career option.

One is 21-year-old Ren He. Despite opposition from his parents, he closed the small restaurant he owned in his hometown of Tongliao, a ffxiv gil city in northern Inner Mongolia, and took a big part of his savings to pay for his course at the Lee Wei-song School of Music in Shanghai.

The music talent school offers a full time course for its "Asian Music Artist" class, with students taking in about four hours of different classes every day including ff14 gil voice training, studio recording, keyboard skills and dancing.

The full time course costs 24,000 yuan ($3,600) for half a year and is divided into junior and FF14 Power leveling senior levels for a full two-year course.

The school was founded first in Singapore by local musician Lee Wei-song in 1995, and FFXIV Power leveling the Shanghai branch was opened in 2007. Lee and his twin brother Lee Shih-shiong are credited with being pioneers of the Singapore xinyao music movement, a local music movement with a focus on songs about life in Singapore.

Lee Wei-song`s school later became famous for grooming one of Singapore`s most famous singers, Stefanie Sun.

His school now hopes to buy runescape gold unearth mainland China`s next singing superstar and expand its presence in other Chinese cities.

There are now more than a cheap ffxiv gil dozen similar professional singing schools in Shanghai alone, offering music courses to wannabe singers looking for a shot at fame.

Though TV talent shows have fuelled the boom in these schools, they are actually a double-edged sword, said Ethan Han, manager for the Lee Wei-song School of Music.

"It`s a dilemma because talent shows give a quick shortcut out from our school. Some talent shows judge you on your image and general package, and rs gold you do not have to sing very well. So they are not choosing the best singer," he said.

"We had a training class for contestants in a talent show in the past. It was for a month, they learn some things, they go compete and runescape money they stop studying here."

EACH and every one of us is responsible for the greenhouse gases we emit in our daily actions and choices. Therefore, combating climate change is going to take the combined efforts of everyone on the planet.

The average household carbon footprint in China is 2.41 tons of carbon dioxide annually. That`s enough to fill half an Olympic swimming pool.

Surprised? Well, here`s how you can work to reduce it:

1.Get started by calculating your own carbon footprint. This will give you a ffxiv gil starting point from which to begin monitoring your progress. You enter details such as what sort of apartment you live in, your personal energy use and travel habits.

2. Each week, choose one day when you don`t eat meat. Meat uses up lots of energy because it takes a long time to produce. Animals produce methane, which is another dangerous greenhouse gas, when they burp and fart.

3. Only buy the amount of food you need and if there are leftovers, get creative. For instance, make them into a soup. Ask to take food home from restaurants if there`s some left, but remember to take your own ff14 gil container to avoid using a disposable carton.

4. Find out what the recycling options are in your area. Then make sure you keep items such as paper and plastic bottles separate so that they can be recycled. There are places where you can recycle electronic appliances and FF14 Power leveling batteries. Make sure you find them.

5. Conserve energy by using efficient light bulbs. They use about one-third of the energy of normal bulbs and last 10 times as long.

6. Only turn the water heater on when necessary, and FFXIV Power leveling adjust temperature controls to avoid overheating. Put a lid on a pan when boiling water.

7. After use, waste water has to be treated, and some methane from sewage escapes into the atmosphere. Take showers rather than baths and reduce your shower time by two minutes. This will save water and give you an extra two minutes in bed.

8. When using the washing machine, be sure there`s a full load and cheap ffxiv gil turn the temperature down if it`s not really grubby.

9. The greediest home device along with the washing machine is the fridge. Make sure it`s as efficient as possible by keeping it out of direct sunlight and away from the oven or heater. Don`t put food in when it`s still warm.

10. This is obvious, but essential: switch off all appliances when you`re not using them. This includes lights.

11. There`s no point having the heat up high while the wind`s blowing in under the door or rs gold sneaking in through the window. Reseal all window frames to keep the heat in.

12. Only print things out when necessary, and print double-sided and reduce the margins.

13. Take your own mug and cutlery to work. This saves throwing away disposable cups and
buy runescape gold containers - but that could be outweighed by washing your cutlery. So, pay attention to how you use water when washing your dishes.

14. Food production eats up lots of energy. When you buy food, go local rather than imported, and get fresh vegetables instead of frozen.

15. Look for reusable, recyclable, biodegradable items and remember to carry your reusable shopping bags!

16. Try to buy high-quality, long-lasting products even though they may cost a little more. A laptop is more efficient than a desktop, and a small screen TV is better than a big flat-screen.

17. Don`t purchase unnecessary clothes, and runescape money be careful about the materials you buy. Wool and cotton fabrics have a really high greenhouse gas impact. Manmade fibers such as polyester are a better choice.

18. All motorized travel is carbon-intensive. Buses and trains are better than cars, but walking or cycling is better still. It`s also better for your health and cheaper.

19. Air travel is an environmental disaster. As well as carbon dioxide, planes emit nitrogen oxide, another nasty gas.

20. Chris Goodall says: "Study the issues. Understand the options available to China. Get involved in the debates about what to do. Find ways of using the country`s immense skills to provide answers to the rest of the world. If climate change goes on unchecked, China will not be able to feed itself. Water will run out. We have no choice. We have to act."

21. Find out about local groups that are committed to combating climate change. Stay informed, get involved, and spread the word.

As the Hollywood blockbuster Inception wowed audiences around world, more and more people are interested in dream exploration.

Dreams are reflections of humans’ inner spaces and ffxiv gil a connection between human subconscious and consciousness. And in human civilizations, dreams have always been regarded as a mystery. In primitive tribes, dreams were thought to be the indication of God or the haunting of the devil.

Ancient Stories about Dreams in China

Dream culture is an important part of ancient Chinese culture. There are many ff14 gil ancient stories about dreams in China, and the most famous one is Zhuangzhou Dreamt of Butterfly.

There are also some other stories on dreams such as Golden Millet Dream and Jiang Yan dreamt about the blooming of his writing brush.

The Book Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams

Dream interpreting is popular in China, and the most famous FF14 Power leveling reference for dream interpreting is the book Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams.

Ancient Chinese people thought that dreams can imply auspicious and inauspicious things. The book Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams was usually used as a reference for FFXIV Power leveling ancient people to interpret their dreams. Since different dreams have different meanings, people can get implications of auspiciousness or inauspiciousness by interpreting them, as ancient people had the idea that dreams were the implication from God.

Dream Interpreting Has Some Scientific Basis

Actually, dream interpreting is not totally a superstition. It does have some scientific merit.

1. Dream is the reflection of fact. Many dreams are actually the repetition of things that happened in an awakened state.
This kind of dream can be easily understood without dream interpreting.


2. Dream is the body’s self-implication. Traditional cheap ffxiv gil Chinese medical science stated that dreams are related to the health condition of human’s bodies. When Yin and Yang are unbalanced, dreams come into being. According to Chinese philosophy, Yin and Yang were two opposing principles in nature: the former negative, the latter positive. Yin is female and Yang is male.

If someone dreamt that he or she was roasted by a big rs gold fire and it is too hot to bear, it means the body’s inner heat is too strong. As a result, he or she may easily get angry or nervous.

3. Dreams are usually contrary to the facts, which coincide with the philosophy that things will develop in the opposite direction when they become extreme.

Based on the experiences and runescape money practices, an anonymous author wrote a book for interpreting dreams and predicting the auspiciousness and inauspiciousness, which was named Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams.

As ancient Chinese peoples’ wisdom and experiences crystallized, Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams became less regarded as a superstition. To some degree, it is buy runescape gold scientifically reasonable. Handed down over thousands of years, the profound book still has many mysteries waiting for us to explore.

2010 has been a dynamic year full of constant changes, energy and ideas. With 2010 disappearing over the horizon, we look forward to 2011 and perhaps a shift to a runescape money gentler pace of change. China’s economy is expected to move into a sustainable mode. Environmentally-minded global citizens pray that 2011’s climate change talks in South Africa will be successful.

China seeks sustainability amid global crisis

Amid the global financial crisis, China saw steady economic growth in 2010. International Monetary Fund statistics show that China will replace Japan this year as the rs gold world’s second largest economy in terms of its overall GDP.

But in the 12th Five-Year Plan which begins in 2011, China will possibly lower its GDP growth rate target. The move, experts said, reflects the industrial sector’s change of focus to quality.

The consumer price index (CPI) accelerated to buy runescape gold a 28-month high of 5.1 percent in November. Next year, to control rising prices, China will shift its monetary policy from “moderately loose” to “prudent”. Banks will lend “reasonably,
moderately and steadily”.

China is also determined to maintain housing prices at a ffxiv gil reasonable level next year, and will start to build 10 million units of government-subsidized housing in 2011, nearly double this year’s 5.8 million units.

On the global stage, “adjustment” was the buzzword for ff14 gil major economies in 2010. The US struggled to overcome economic flaws accumulated over the years. Europe fought two debt crises, and emerging economies tried to fend off potential inflation risks.

Given the slow recovery process and daunting policy challenges, growth prospects for 2011 are hardly optimistic.

Zhang Xiaowei, 19, East China University of Science and Technology

My monthly expenses have increased by 20 percent this year. Many of us are wondering: should we ask our parents for more money?

But I regard it as an opportunity for college students to learn to cheap ffxiv gil manage our money better. I used management software to plan my income and spending. I researched credit cards and buying in installments. Rising housing prices have changed my attitude to life. Renting, which doesn’t tie you down to one place, is better than buying.

Deadly 2010 gives climate warning

People say 2010 was the year when the Earth struck back. Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, snow storms, landslides and FF14 Power leveling droughts killed at least 250,000 people, globally.

2010 has been the deadliest in more than a generation.

This year’s disasters are a warning of things to come, unless we deal with the challenge of climate change.

In December, UN climate change talks in Cancun, Mexico, produced a FFXIV Power leveling modest deal that takes forward efforts to cope with climate change.

Countries agreed to prevent deforestation and promote the transfer of low-carbon technologies to developing countries.

There was also an agreement to set up a green fund by 2020. However, governments failed to reach agreement on how far overall global emissions should be cut.

The most difficult decisions have been left for the next climate conference in Durban, South Africa, in December 2011.

Durban will be the last chance to save the Kyoto Protocol, the only existing, legally binding treaty, which expires in 2012.

Xiao Yibo, 18, Northeast Agricultural University

The natural disasters in 2010 make me feel unsafe in this world. I fear I may find myself amid the debris of an earthquake one day. Or some pandemic disease may break out in a heavily polluted area.

Leaving aside my fears, I put my hope in global efforts to reduce the harmful effects of disasters and to rescue the victims. We young people should lead low-carbon lifestyles. I prefer to take a walk rather than a drive, and use little air-conditioning in the summer.

Forget flowers and chocolates. Some urban guys are now learning that the way to a woman’s heart is not through giving presents or displays of natural charm. Instead, it’s a skill – with rules to be learnt, theory to be studied and practice to be done.

We’re talking about professional ffxiv gil pick-up artists (PUAs), or at least those men who follow the rules set down by these so-called experts.

“There is a severe lack of ff14 gil love education in China,” said Wu Jiamin, or Tango, 26, a Chinese-American PUA in Beijing.

As a result, “boot camps” where shy, awkward wallflowers can learn to become FF14 Power leveling love machines have mushroomed in major cities. PUA boot camps originated in the US, and usually attract rich, personable and well-educated urban professionals.

The price of a three-day course, which usually includes workshops and FFXIV Power leveling real-life hook-up training, ranges from 2,500 to 4,500 yuan.

For men aged between 20 and 45, finding a woman is becoming an urgent mission. According to the National Population and Family Planning Commission, there will be 30 million more men in that age category than women in China in 2020.

The desperation to mix with the opposite sex is clear from the number of dating shows on television this year. Often, though, men play the passive supporting roles in these programs.

“Men seldom admit that they have dating problems. Their self-confidence is fragile like an egg,” said Wu.

However, Le Jia, 35, a relationship consultant on You Are the One , Jiangsu TV’s popular dating show, says that dating programs provide chances for cheap ffxiv gil young men. However, many don’t know how to present themselves properly. This is where the PUA boot camps come in, teaching men skills as diverse as grooming and speaking.

In a PUA class, men learn that the standard reply to rs gold the woman’s “Why do you like me?” is: “Well, there are so many beautiful women here, but you are the only one with a friendly vibe. I really want to talk to you.”

“First, you beat her pride a little bit by saying there are many buy runescape gold beauties. Then you praise her in a comfortable way,” said Tango, referring to a classic technique called a “neg”.

But what happens once a guy gets the girl’s number?

PUAs say that their techniques, though good, aren’t a guarantee of long-term success in a relationship. Wu claims that men often sour possible relationships by paying for everything and basically making themselves “slaves”.

“Do you leave any space for her to show her love?” said Wu.

For Ruan Qi, 41, a Beijing-based dating adviser, dating should be enjoyable and runescape money not damaged with material worries and concerns. It attracts him to study the trade.

“I believe men should enjoy the whole process of dating and loving. Money should not be the *overriding factor,” said Ruan.