File photo shows Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan leaves Peking University with his wife Lien Fang-yu during their visit in Beijing in 2014. [Photo/China Daily] The upcoming visit of Lien Chan, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang in Taiwan, to Beijing next week shows a gesture to ease tensions across the Taiwan Straits, a scholar said on Friday. Lien will lead a delegation to visit the mainland from July 12 to 14, An Fengshan, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, announced on Friday. Following the stop in Beijing, the delegation will visit Liaoning, Jilin and Zhejiang provinces, he said. Lien is also chairman of a foundation on cross-Straits peaceful development. According to Taiwan media, the delegation has about 50 powerful figures from the island, including Terry Guo, founder and chairman of Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer and major suppler for Apple. Lien's visit comes amid rising tension between the mainland and Taiwan, as Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen has failed to recognize the 1992 Consensus, which embodies the one-China principle, and her right-hand man, the island's executive head Lai Ching-te, publicly called himself a Taiwan independence worker. Scholars have noted that Tsai's recent behavior, such as calling on the international community to constrain the Chinese mainland, courting foreign support and creating hostility among people from the mainland and Taiwan, will enhance confrontation in cross-Straits relations. Wang Hailiang, a Taiwan studies researcher at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said Lien's coming visit is more likely a symbolic gesture that shows Lien's stance to help ease the tension between the mainland and Taiwan. But Lien is no longer the leader of the KMT and the impact of his visit may be limited, Wang said. Lien, who retired as KMT chairman in August 2005, has been an important figure in the history of the relationship between the Communist Party of China and KMT, and in the history of cross-Straits relations. In April 2005, as then KMT leader, he visited the Chinese mainland and met Hu Jintao, then general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, breaking the ice that had existed for half a century. It was the first meeting for leaders of the two parties since 1949. After that, Lien visited the mainland a dozen times, and met general secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping in 2013, 2014 and 2015. wristband designprinted wristbandscheap custom wristbands
A couple have wedding photos taken in Xitouxia, a fishing village in Xiamen's Siming district.Photos Provided To China Daily Whether you come or not, the host is not there. That is the slogan of a store called Nest in Xiamen, Fujian province, which provides a sharing space for visitors to drink tea, read books, meet friends and kill time, all for free. Along the narrow corridor of Nest reside shelves of old books and paintings. Walking up the even narrower spiral staircase, visitors will find a bright and broad roof with a wooden tea table, some fine china cups and several green bonsai. We have no product or service here. The guest is also the host, said Shao Ye, co-founder of the store. He said since the store's opening in 2014, visitors have not taken anything away from the store. Instead, many of them brought tea, cofee beans and snacks to share with others. A store without consumption makes tourists more relaxed and free. Xiamen is a city of civilization which can realize this idea, Shao said. Xiamen has attracted many young people due to its romantic cultural elements and friendly citizens, according to Zeng Liangliang, a tour guide who has worked in the city for 12 years. The piano museum on Gulangyu Island and the Furong Tunnel in Xiamen University, decorated with pictures painted by college students and the dancing team of the Xaobailu Art Theater, show a colorful city of culture and art, she said. Most of the tourists on my team were young people, along with some older people seeking a warm place to stay in winter, she said. Ninety-five percent of visitors said they were satisfied with the trip. Zengcuoan village, once a small fishing village dating back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) near the coastline of Xiamen, has transformed itself into a gathering place for cultural creativity. Along the narrow road, more than 1,200 creative cultural stores and hotels welcome more than 10 million visitors every year.
