Known as the China Edition, the car has been created in consultation with celebrated Chinese artist Lu Hao and features a host of unique features inspired by the country in which it will be sold.

The ignition button is carved from jade and insribed with the ancient Xiao Zhuan symbols for ‘engine start’, while other novel additions include a rev-counter marked with Chinese characters, a matching luggage set embroided with the route of the silk road – traditionally the most important trade routes in China – and an engraved plaque unique to each car.

The model comes with a special two-tone paint job, consisting of a Rosso Fuoco body colour and a contrasting grey roof, while under the bonnet is the same Enzo-derived 611bhp 6.0-litre V12 capable of rocketing the 599 from 0-60mph in 3.7-seconds.

Only a dozen examples will go on sale, but there’s no word on price just yet.

But that’s not all, a complete one-off of the China Edition, sporting a porcelain inspired colour scheme hand finished by Lu Hao himself, will be auctioned at a charity gala auction in Beijing this month.

The performance was nothing short of remarkable and an enjoyable way to experience Chinese culture live onstage.  The aim of Shen Yun is to present the beauty of traditional Chinese culture, a culture depicted as divinely inspired.

The afternoon was a very new experience and an opportunity for all to learn a great deal about Chinese culture, history and values in a fun and interactive way.

Shen Yun will be traveling to Canada to perform in Toronto Oct. 9–11.

The trip, sponsored by Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters, in partnership with the College Board, looks to build and expand Chinese culture and language programs in U.S. schools.

“We appreciate the support of Hanban, which has enabled more American students to learn the Chinese language, discover the vibrant culture of China and participate more fully in the cultural exchange between our two countries,” said College Board President Gaston Caperton.

“We hear a lot about China and about Chinese students and their educational success,” said one of the luck few. “After visiting their school and learning about their educational system, I understand their progress. I do believe, however, that comparing our achievements with the achievements of the Chinese is not valid. Our systems are entirely different.”

The US visitors saw students demonstrating ancient Chinese calligraphy and other forms of artwork. The U.S. contingent was also treated to several performances, including traditional dances and music played with traditional Chinese instruments. One student gave the group a little taste of home by singing the American pop song Because of You. 

Delegates returned to the US with books, maps and materials for learning Chinese, as well as a newfound level of interest in Chinese culture.

Despite Chinese being regarded as one of the hardest languages to learn, according to a 2008 field study, the number of Chinese programs in the United States has grown by almost 200 percent since tallies were last taken in 2004.

The assets owned by Chinese tycoon Wong Kwong-yu and his wife have been frozen since early August after an application by Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission.

Wong, also known as Huang Guangyu, is founder and ex-chairman of China’s leading home appliance chain, Gome Electrical Appliances. He is being investigated by mainland Chinese authorities in connection with a corruption probe that has already ensnared Chinese government officials. He is accused of stock price manipulation and other crimes.

His wife Du Juan, also under investigation, is reportedly being detained in China.

The court order in Hong Kong serves to prevent Wong, Du and the two companies through which Wong holds his stake in Gome from removing and dealing with the assets while SFC is investigating a share repurchase allegedly planned by Wong.

The regulator alleged that Wong had used the proceeds of the buyback of Gome shares worth 2.2 billion Hong Kong dollars ($284 million) between January and February 2008 to repay a personal loan of HK$2.4 billion ($310 million) to a financial institution.

It’s also the only venue in the Northeast, and 33,000 tickets for the show have already been sold.

The traveling exhibit, which was also previously at the British Museum, is said to be the largest collection of the life-size figures to ever leave China. The warriors were first discovered in the 1970s in the tomb of Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang, who is considered the first emperor of a unified China and whose rule began in 221 B.C. Nearly 1,000 figures have been excavated, but experts believe that the tomb may contain as many as 7,000 of the statues.

The traveling exhibit includes soldiers, archers, acrobats and animals, and 100 sets of artifacts including armor, weapons and bronze vessels.

Sun Xiaobing, director of the policy and regulation department of the Chinese Ministry of Education, made the comment in response to a netizen’s question about compulsory English lessons before pupils went to senior high schools.

“Chinese should be able to communicate with people from other countries,” Sun said. “Training from childhood is a stitch in time that can save nine.”

The netizen claimed English took up too much of pupils’ study time and only a very small number of them would actually use it when they grew up.

“It is very ironic parents and students spend so much time and money learning something they don’t use,” the netizen said.

But Sun said foreign languages were not necessarily a tool for professional communication, but a necessity for daily life.

“Don’t you want to tour abroad? Don’t you want to talk to foreign friends during those trips?” Sun said.

“Also, at last year’s Beijing Olympics, we could talk directly with foreigners if we could speak their languages.”

Chinese pupils take compulsory English lessons from third grade in primary school all the way to college.

On a forum at china.com, about 98 percent of the readers agreed with a posting calling for the dropping of English as a compulsory course in primary and middle schools.

“My daughter has mixed English words with Chinese pinyin, which is pathetic,” another netizen said.

But Wang Jieting, a 26-year-old English teacher at a Shanghai college, said she endorsed an early start to learning foreign languages as she believed English was sometimes more important than Chinese in students’ future careers.

This was the case especially in big cities such as Shanghai with a large number of foreigners and multi-national companies, she said. “So, the earlier children start learning, the better.”

Using brain imaging, a University of Michigan study is the first to provide evidence that traditional Chinese acupuncture affects the brain’s long-term ability to regulate pain. The results appear online ahead of publication in the September issue of Journal of NeuroImage.

In the study, researchers at the U-M Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center showed acupuncture increased the binding availability of mu-opoid receptors (MOR) in regions of the brain that process and dampen pain signals – specifically the cingulate, insula, caudate, thalamus and amygdala.

Opioid painkillers, such as morphine, codeine and other medications, are thought to work by binding to these opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord.

Bana co-stars in “Funny People” as Clarke, who is the husband of star Adam Sandler’s ex-girlfriend. Clarke has just returned from China and is a fluent Chinese speaker. In the clip shown today, Clarke speaks in Mandarin with his children. He describes Mandarin as a “bloody odd language” in the movie.

Following the clip, co-host Joy Behar asked Bana what the meaning of “baba bu yao” was. Bana smiled and confessed, “I didn’t understand what it meant then, and I don’t understand what it means now.”

Show creator Barbara Walters asked, “Is that all you can speak?”

“That’s all I can speak in Chinese,” Bana said.

The 16th annual Asian Cultural Experience is set to be held Saturday and Sunday at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth. The festival brings together more than 1,500 volunteer participants and vendors celebrating Chinese and Asian culture.

It will feature food and cultural entertainment from all over Asia. The highlight will be a performance on Saturday night featuring music and dance from 15 countries.

There will be a variety of demonstrations, including Chinese calligraphy, woodwork, kite making, pottery, fruit and vegetable carving, origami.  Other highlights include two performance stages throughout the weekend, a raffle, a beer garden, karaoke.

The country’s rapid economic growth and expansion of Internet access in more areas has fueled a sharp increase in Internet users, totaling 338 million by the end of June, a government-sanctioned research group said Thursday.

That is a 13.4 percent jump since the end of 2008, the China Internet Network Information Center said in a report.

The latest U.S. Census Bureau’s figure says the population of the U.S. is just under 307 million. China’s population is more than 1.3 billion.

China’s population of Internet users has been growing at explosive rates despite government efforts to block access to material deemed subversive or pornographic.

But Internet penetration is still only 25.5 percent, the center said. The Pew Internet and American Life Project places U.S. online penetration at more than 70 percent.

Internet use on mobile phones has increased 32.1 percent since the beginning of the year to 155 million led by rising use by rural dwellers, the report said.

China this year rolled out its third-generation mobile phone service — which supports wireless Web surfing — which is expected to set off a new surge in Internet use.