Wetland, the Kidney of Planet Earth. Wetlands are considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems. And they have the strongest purification capability of all ecosystems. However, the environmental importance of wetlands was only realized by human in recent decade or two.

China has 66 million hectares of wetlands, about 10% of world’s total. That ranks 1st in Asia and 4th in the world.

Welcome to the May 20, 2010 (#14) edition of china carnival.We have three posts today. Andy shares an excellent travel guide about the OTHER China (“Republic of China”, aka, Taiwan); Isabella talks about surging cosmetic surgeries in China.

Enjoy!

Among the “National Treasure” class collections of Zibo Museum in Shandong, there is a “Rectangular Bronze Mirror with Dragon Patterns” from West Han Dynasty. It was unearthed in 1978 at the Tomb of King of Qi of West Han Dynasty. It is the most precious relic among numerous relics and information discovered in that tomb.

“By the Butterfly Spring” is an interlude song from the romantic comedy film “Five Golden Flowers” produced by Changchun Film Studio in 1959.

The movie told the love story of a pair of Bai youth who made promise of love through antiphonal singing by the butterfly spring in Dali, Yunnan. At that time, the unique tradition of Bai people expressing love through antiphonal singing was still quite unfamiliar to other Chinese ethnics.

Today’s story is well presented in the short animated movie above. You might have already noticed its unique form — Ink and Wash Painting animated film. In 1960, ink-and-wash animated films appeared in China and caught the attention of the world as a breakthrough in the forms of expression and aesthetic conception in animated films.

The story told in this short film was told 2,200+ years ago in the Warring States Period. And it successfully prevented a deadly war between two states.