Amani Zhang

I love kids. Actually, that’s not always true. I love kids when they’re cute, sweet and fun to watch. Once they start crying or screaming I become all anxious and get completely lost about what to do.

But I loved every baby whose photo was sent to me during the last 16 months. On each of their adorable little faces I can see hopes and dreams – and lots and lots of love from their parents, families and friends. Each of them has made me like my work even more, and each of them has added beautiful colors to the magazine and brought joy to everyone who reads it.

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Join beijingkids families and Santa Claus for a day of indoor ice
skating at Beijing's newest ice rink at the Solana Mall!

Your RMB 50 per person ticket includes:

-- 120 mins skating

-- Skate rental

-- A visit from Santa Claus himself!

-- Small gifts for all kids from Santa!

-- Santa hats

-- Hot chocolate

-- A kid-friendly lunch at Solana's A Thousand And One Nights Restaurant

Advanced purchase and pick-up of tickets is required. Space is limited
to the first 180 people that sign up before Thursday, December 11th.

There will be no tickets available at the door.

Time: 10am-12pm(Ice Skating);
12pm-2pm (Lunch)

Date: Saturday, December 13th

Place: All-Star Ice Rink (Vivid Town, SOLANA)

全明星滑冰俱乐部
朝阳公园西路6号SOLANA蓝色港湾国际商区活力城

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Animation has come a long way from the first full feature animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Modern animated films are now incredibly realistic, creative and thought-provoking. The British Council is presenting a series of British Animation Awards nominees and award-winners five categories that film buffs, art lovers and animation dabblers should not miss! The best of the British Animation Awards Vol 7 (www.britishanimationawards.com) will be displayed as part of the Aniwow!2008 Animation Festival in Beijing (www.aniwow.org). Screenings include over 20 short and student films, animated commercial, TV graphics, sound and music, plus the unique artworks created especially for the British Animation Awards. Check out a few films below.

Date: Friday, Oct 24

Time: 8.30am-12.30pm

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Couples in Beijing who are hoping to get hitched on August 8, considered the luckiest day of the year by many Chinese people, can now go to local affair bureaus in their district to book the day for their marriage registration, according to an article on CRI Online.  

The reservation period is June 20- August 5, during which all the marriage registration bureaus in Beijing have a special service for booking to dengji (register) for marriage certificates on August 8, 2008. Brides and grooms-to-be can go to the bureaus during this time and submit photocopies of requested documents and photos, then return on August 8 and sign the marriage certificates. This way, the procedure only takes 1-2 minutes for each couple to get their marriage certificates. The local affair bureaus are expecting to process 50-100 pairs of newly weds per hour on August 8. 

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A Chinese survey conducted earlier this year shows that 295,000 kids in Beijing are overweight, according to www.china.org.cn. This worries experts at the Capital Institute of Pediatrics who ran the survey because of the diseases that obesity causes, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. 

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At a visit to Chaoyang Park this past Saturday, a sign at the gate said that due to “Children's Day,” kids under 14 years old could get in for free. Jealous of the xiaopengyou (little friends) that got to enjoy a whole day of free rides at the playground, I couldn't help remembering the Children's Day of my youth.

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When I see twins in the street—I usually do a double-take, no pun intended. But how about seeing a thousand pairs of them! At the Fourth Mojiang International Twins Festival held during May 1-3, over a thousand pairs of twins from China and overseas gathered in Mojiang County, southwest China’s Yunnan Province to celebrate this special festival for twins.

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Forget about all the reasons you and your family visit Chaoyang Park — the laidback environment, convenient facilities for people of all ages and the annual music events. Chaoyang Park’s coolest attraction, the CoolBaby Pet Leisure Center, is for dogs.

This is a haven for dogs and their people – its large and open fields make a perfect playground for dogs of all breeds to run around and interact with each other. Exercise outdoors with your dog by playing fetch or Frisbee. The center provides all kinds of training equipment to help dogs develop and improve their jumping, climbing and balancing abilities. A clean and safe dog pool has shallow depths for the timid dogs to get their feet wet and deeper waters so the natural swimmers can show off their skills.

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Since I registered on facebook a few months ago, I’ve frantically uploaded a myriad of photos of my cat, expecting my friends to leave loving comments on them every day, confirming to me that my cat is the most beautiful kitty in the whole world. This little hope of mine was thoroughly destroyed when, after all this time, only one person wrote a dishearteningly small line on one of the 200 plus pictures.

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It’s the season for skiing! If the dry weather inside Beijing isn’t satisfying you and your kids’ desire for snow, hit the slopes with beijing-kids at Nanshan Ski Resort --- the largest in the area and only 62km from Beijing! One of the area’s top ski resorts, Nanshan has ten well-groomed trails for skiers of all levels and a snowboard park (Nanshan Mellow Park) with a halfpipe, four kickers and six rails – all served by a quadruple chairlift, a double chairlift and nine T-bars. You’ll also discover a 1,318-meter-long toboggan run and even a snow football pitch!

No need to worry about the effort required for organizing the trip for your family, just hop on the bus and join other Beijing families for a fabulous day out on Sunday, January 20th! At only RMB 400/person, the ticket includes shuttle bus to and from the ski village, breakfast and lunch, equipment and outerwear rental, fully day lift pass an locker, all day access to beijing-kids’ snacks, free beginners ski or snowboard lessons (advanced signup required), beijing-kids hat and scarf, and a goodie bag full of surprises! Call beijing-kids at 5820 7700 ext. 853 or email marketing@beijing-kids.com for details and tickets. A few spots are still available, so what are you waiting for? Sign up now for an exciting day of fun in the snow!

For more information about Nanshan Ski Village, see www.nanshanski.com.