News in Brief:

New evidence proves that Chinese people DON'T actually use tones when they speak.

A new report based on solid scientific methods has revealed what many of us Mandarin learners have suspected for a long time: Chinese people never actually use tones when they speak. A spokesman for Qinghua university had the following to say of the report: "I west-king arrive-fake return periodical-island this axe question-curtain".

Valentine's Day great!

A series of Beijing expat magazine editors have expressed their delight at the existence of Valentine's day. "Without it, we would literally have to think up something to go in the magazine," stated one, who asked to remain anonymous as he spoke to us from the City Weekend HQ. "December is easy with its Christmas and Thanksgiving, and this year, January was covered by Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day saved February, so we only have to really do any work starting from March. I can't wait until the Moon Festival and Hallowe'en. From ?" admitted another, in a letter bearing a postmark the same as the Metrozine office.

Fireworks are great fun!

Fireworks are brilliant, according to figures released after the Chunjie holiday. It turns out that the people really like them and (OK, that's enough News in Brief. - Arabella)