LIFE360°

Technology not for the elderly? Communications expert Marika Borrelli answers.

conflicts that shaped the 2000s

7Tracking film scenes: the real v/s the virtual

Full Circle Reviews: Life 360° recommends

TO MEAT OR NOT TO MEAT: pros and cons of going vegetarian

Discover. Explore. Inspire

Contents

News 360° View

Life 360°

Full Circle

7Q

Quadrant: A peep into the winter Olympics; Why is the University and College Union unhappy?Need to snuggle? Now pay for it!Geeko: A sneak peek at the Samsung S5;A light to wake you up naturally;No Facebook? Try these alternatives

To meat or not to meat Is going vegetarian a better alternative? Tracking the scenes: through the streets or the screen? Following your favourite TV shows and movies using technology.‘Mirror, Mirror On The Wall; How Do I Look Today?’ Fighting the urge to eat for that perfect body and its consequences.Marriage changesThe evolution of marriage dynamics through the eyes of two generations

Capturing conflict 7 pictures depicting the most memorable conflicts since 2000 Wishing for a sunny dayChanges in climate are affecting people across the world. A look at how Cardiff is faring when compared with Beijing.

ReviewsThe latest top movies, books and exhibitions recommended by Life 360°

No technology for old men? Is the run towards the future, are we leaving the older generation behind? Marika Borrelli answers.

People 360°

Chen Li Anugraha Hadke

XiaoXian Lai Tiantian Li Xiaozhen Guo

Pooja Mahesh Sai Nan Xia Guyue Weng

Chenjie ShangEkta Rathi

Chetna Kapoor Denise Puca Rumela Basu

Cassie Jiang

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5 International “Facebook”

Samsung sings praise for S5

Image courtesy: Cuartopoder.es

Philips has launched a new light and sound light that claims to naturally wake you up. It gradually wakes you up in a more serene environment and hence you wake up more refreshed and energized. The light is bright yellow much like natural sunlight, the sound has two options that it can be set at. It also has a snooze option and hence you can get lazy and indulgent with it. Priced at £95 it’s worth a try if you wish to wake up calmer and not rudely awoken by the loud mobile alarm.

Wake Me Up light

Qzone—ChinaQzone is a social networking website established by Chinese company Tencent in 2005. It has 623.3 million users in China according to report in 2013. Users can not only write blogs, keep diaries, send photos, listen to music, and watch videos but also design and customise their zone based on their own preference.Cyworld—South KoreaCyworld is the most popular social network site in South Korea, started by an Internet service provider company in South Korea called SK Telecom since 1999. “Cy” is a paronomasia for relationship in Korean. Users can build up “friendships” with each other through their minihompy and minirooms decorated by purchasing virtual goods with cybermoney called dotori. Mixi —JapanMixi is an online Japanese social network website founded in 2004 and owned by Mixi, Inc. Users can make new friends based on common interests. It includes sending messages, writing diary,

commenting, organizing and joining communities, and inviting friends.VKontakte –RussiaVKontakte means “In contact”. It’s the biggest online network service in Russia. It began in 2006 with a multiple range of languages such as Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Belarus, and Israel. Its services comprise of private and public message contacts, groups, public pages and events, sharing and tagging images, audio and video, and browser-based games. It has 50 million unique users in Russia and the number is still growing. ZingMe-VietnamZingMe is the largest local social network website run by VNG Corporation, an internet company in Vietnam. Accord-ing to TechinAsia, its user number is twice of Facebook in Vietnam in 2011. Its service includes chatting, music, blogs, Zing farm and Zingplay which main-tains more than 1 million active gamers. Besides, there are over 7.4 million active user of ZingMe each month in 2013.

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The 2014 Winter Olympics ended on a lighter note as Russia joked about the opening ceremonies incident when one ring had failed to unfurl. The events held in Sochi, Russia ended with the hosts bagging 33 medals and United States of America bagging 28. The official mascots in the history of the games were first time decided by public voting and were a snow leopard, a snow hare and a polar bear. Events included ice hockey, snow boarding, luge, figure skating and various others.For more: http://bit.ly/1idJ83B

Games, fun and medals

Image courtesy: Newsfeed.time.com

The University and College Union an-nounced a marking boycott by lecturers across the UK from 28 April unless their demand of pay raise is realized. The lec-turers will not mark exams, coursework, dissertations and portfolios of work during the campaign. The Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) criticized its consequence of causing disruption to students’ exams and education.

The Mobile World Congress took place in Barcelona, Spain between 24 and 27 February 2014. Many new gadgets were launched during this summit. The crowd pleaser though was a smartphone released by tech-giant Samsung. The Galaxy S5 is said to have great sale figures, as it will be supported by great advertising and marketing strategies, the company’s Co-Chief Executive & President, J K Shin told his employees at the conference. Features such as a fingertip scanner, better camera and protection against water and dust make it a desirable phone.

Refusal to mark: Strike

Image courtesy: Eveningexpress.co.uk

A woman in New York City is charging $80 an hour to cuddle with a person. People are paying to cuddle with this lady as they feel lonely and need someone to connect emotionally with. The lady claims that these sessions invoke emotions in her clients and help them. These sessions are in no way sexually oriented and the clients are aware of that. Clients can opt for a variety of sessions and they are carried out at her studio apartment.For more: http://bit.ly/1mC49EF

Image courtesy: Valentine.philipmartin.com

Pay to cuddleScotland is struggling for its independence again. Scottish government has started the preparation of the referendum on 18th September, 2014. The website http://www.scotreferendum.com/ is set up by Scotland government to introduce the referendum and discuss the benefits and issues after the independence. It also has a Q&A section that answers the questions people have about this event.

Scottish Refrendum

Image courtesy: Philips

GeekoQuadrant

To meat or not to meat?Vegetarianism has become a part of mainstream modern life style. Is it possible to make it an alternative choice for non-vegetarians? By Guyue Weng

The stall was filled with a pleasant aroma of garlic and butter. The smell welcomes me into the

bustling riverside market. Deri Reed, a vegetarian chef based in Cardiff, invites me to try an arancini stuffed rice ball in the lovely Riverside Farmers’ Market.

Being an “ethical chef” and always keen to showcase the best vegetarian cooking, Deri sources ingredients from local farms and creates ingenious Welsh recipes. Although still in his early twenties, Deri already has over ten years’ experience of working in kitchens.

Deri began to run his own stall at the Riverside Market selling food freshly made in 2010. In March 2013, he started a pop-up Supper Club to get the community together for delicious vegetarian food and show people that “there are great alternatives which don’t need the use of meat.”

Why go veg?It is interesting, for non-vegetarians,to understand what leads people to exclude meat from their diet. And what does Deri’s definition of“ethical chef” mean?

“I became a vegetarian when I was 17 years old and kept it up for at least nine years, with one year as a vegan. I chose to avoid meat and animal products because

of an interest in animal rights related issues and environmental reasons,” Deri claims.

Compassion for animals becomes the main ethical reason for people to go vegetarian. Ruth Joseph, a 65-year-old grandmother in Cardiff, has been a vegetarian since the mid-1980s. Before that time, for every Christmas and Thanksgiving, she used to cook chicken, lamb and fish for hundreds of relatives and guests.

Ruth recalls: “It was so terrible to see so many animals dying at my hands.

I had seen too much cruelty and became concerned about animal suffering. Then I decided that eating meat is wrong.”

According to statistics from the National Vegetarian Society in the UK, over 2.5 million land animals are slaughtered daily and 600,000 tonnes of fish are killed each year. Obviously, like what Ruth felt: “Every time you eat a meatless meal you help save an animal from suffering and slaughter.” However, to Deri, “ethical” has a deeper meaning.

“At Ethical Chef we are strictly vegetarian, which is a big step towards reducing your carbon footprint. For example, it normally takes thousands of litres of water more to produce a kilo of beef than to grow the same quantity of grains, vegetables or pulses. Eating less meat helps conserve land and water and protect the oceans. ”

Health and nutritionAlthough research show that vegetarians are less likely to suffer from obesity, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure and other diseases, when asked if they feel any contrast between their present eating habits and their non-vegetarian period, Ruth and Deri insist that being a vegetarian hasn’t had any effect on their health, neither worse or

better.However, as a chef, Deri emphasizes

on the importance of a balanced diet. He always tells his customer that as a vegetarian, he must eat more diverse food and has to be pretty resourceful to find alternative sources of protein and microelements.

Bex Gingell, organizer of Cardiff and the Vale Vegetarian Group, as well as a nutrition adviser of the Vegetarian Society, suggests a diet low in saturated fat, and high in whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables.

“Being vegetarian means getting the nutrients that are associated with the conventional diet of meat, poultry, fish and seafood from other sources. For example, protein in a vegetarian diet can come from a range of different sources: pulses, such as peas, beans, lentils and botanically speaking, peanuts, are

Vegetarian options suggested by Deri Reed

Proteins: eggs, dairy products soya products, non-dairy soya milk and vegan cheese

Iron and zinc: leafy green vegetables, nuts, seeds, pulses, fruits, dried fruit

Vitamin B12: eggs, dairy products, fortified yeast extract and cereals

Vitamin D: fortified margarine and breakfast cereals, dairy products and sunlight on the skin

Essential fats: nuts and seeds such as walnut, linseed, hemp, rapeseed and flaxseed

“Interested in being a

vegetarian? Reduce the

amount of meat and fish you

eat”

excellent inexpensive sources of protein and also contain minerals such as iron, zinc and calcium,” Bex suggests.

Every meal helpsAfter finishing Deri’s rice ball, I was also suggested to try his vegetarian recipes. “Personally I don’t think vegetarians should be treated like a special group. Vegetarians and non-vegetarians are two paths of the current lifestyle. Maybe people have the instinct of eating meat, but they will also realize the benefits of being a vegetarian, just like sense and sensibility in our body. If you are interested in becoming a vegetarian, you can start by reducing the amount of meat and fish that you eat,” he adds, “Every meal helps. Don’t be too hard on yourself, just keep trying!”

“Being vegetarian

is a big step towards reducing

your carbon footprint.”

Clockwise from top left: Carrot and sunchoke soup; Arancini stuffed rice balls; and Bul-gar wheat and coriander yogurt prepared by Deri Reed at Ethical ChefPhoto Courtesy: Guyue Weng

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Life 360°

Geng Liang talks about her “detective” scene tracking of Sherlock Holmes on Google Earth.

1. Tell us something about yourself and your work. I finished my PHD program in Chemistry and work as a researcher. Sometimes I’m geek, passionate about delving things which are not quite useful but interesting. I might be somewhat a goof-off.

2. How does it feel to track the locations via the screen? I feel a detective in myself when tracking those clues and inferring the position of the actors on Google Earth, and never forget the signs on the walls and window frames! At the same time it enriches my knowledge of the culture and history of the country, the cities and buildings. Somebody said “a place without a story feels icy”; the stories move and drive me there, virtually.

3. What’s the most impressing scene for you? The house in Penarth where the drugster kills his brother-in-law and throws his body on top of the train (In S1E3), as I had spent several weeks searching Google Earth inch-by-inch.

4. What does the Guide book mean to other people? People are using it as a travel guide, a nd those who can’t travel to Britain could use it to search on Street View. It’s really enjoyable and different; you may feel “oh, this is reality.”

5. How do you interpret “Virtual travel”? The technology like Google Earth and Street View make the travel possible for people who can’t travel abroad. It’s cool, but it can’t replace a physical travel or offer real experience.

6. What are the similarities and differences between you and the Fangirls? The difference is I’m not in the UK, and similarity is if I were there I would definitely travel like them, too (laugh).

7. What do you want to say to them? I can hardly access their website in China, that’s a pity! I may ask them what are the feeling and experience of really being there and taking those creative photos.

Tracking the scenes: through the streets or the screen?

Three girls travel for hundreds of miles tracking and framing shooting scenes, both in the real world and a virtual one. They show their creativity and great love of TV and film. By Cassie Jiang

Images: Geng Liang, Tiia Ohman, Satu Walden

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Tiia Ohman shares her and Satu’s exploring experience of traveling and sceneframing

1. Tell us something about yourselves and your jobs. I’m a professional photographer, Satu used to work for an event organizer back in Finland. Sometimes I just forget where we’re going or when we are leaving, stuff like that, then Satu will be there telling me.

2. What do you enjoy most about sceneframing? We’ve gone to places that aren’t mentioned in tourist guides, but then they turn out to be these amazing, mind-blowingly beautiful locations. And we’ve met such interesting people - both fellow fans and locals in small cities.

3. What’s the most impressing scene for you? There’s this scene on Doctor Who where (Dunraven Bay, Wales) the Doctor comes to say his last goodbyes to Rose. It (the beach) is huge, beautiful, looks like another planet with all the strange rock formations and everything. We were both speechless and cried a little.

4. What does your works mean to other people? My favourite is that I get to take photos- which is my life’s passion - and then tell people about our travels, and maybe a few of them get to go to places they wouldn’t have known of otherwise.

5. How do you interpret “Virtual travel”? Of course, it’s not the same thing as actually visiting these places, so I really really hope she (Geng Liang) can make the trip someday. Maybe we’ll get together and tour the locations together!

6. What are the similarities and differences between you and Geng Liang? I can kind of imagine her being excited about spotting a filming location, the same as us. It’s a weird, happy feeling that can’t be explained. But of course, actually standing there in the same spot is a totally different thing.

7. What do you want to say to her? We’ve seen your pictures; that’s so cool! It seems to us that people will notice if something you do comes straight from your heart and they’ll support you through it! Maybe we’ll see you on the road someday, somewhere!

Tiia Ohman and Satu Walden are travelling around the UK to trace the filming scenes of their favourite movie heroes, while Geng Liang, sits in front of her computer doing the same in a virtual world. They exchange their experience of real v/s virtual

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Life 360°

‘Mirror, Mirror On The Wall;How Do I Look Today?’

Body image has become an obsession for young people, especially with the rise

of social media. This ‘obsession’ as a result has led to many of them putting their

health at risk. This may lead to the development of eating disorders, in attempt

to look good. By Pooja Mahesh

Pose, smile or pout, click! And upload it on every social networking platform conceivable.

Someone conscious of their body and how they look becomes more aware or conscious of the supposed faults they have in comparison to their friends or even popular celebrities.

Social Media has become our life and looking good on it has become a priority. This makes it difficult for many young people to make a decision as to what is okay what is not okay and as a result it blurs the line. This leads to many complications and creates a friction between the ideal and what in fact, is the reality. Consequently, the social media and other media platforms can be seen to be disseminating a certain image of ‘looking good’.

Keira Marlow is a 22 year old who overcame an eating disorder a few years ago. She says, “I think that social media can sometimes trivialize the seriousness of eating disorders, as it is so easy now for photos of thin celebrities/models to be posted everywhere and these aren’t what regular women look like and many of these thin models would be suffering from health problems, yet there is never any mention of those things. The accessibility of social media means that any young vulnerable person can have instant access to it and the more they see the more they could start to feel that those photos or ‘normal’ and can feel pressured to look like that.”

Being perfect, offline and online, can be seen with the case of the hashtags, #thinspo and #thinspiration, which appeared alongside pictures on the popular photo-sharing application, Instagram last year. When it was briefly banned by Instagram after heavy criticism, they stated,“…any account found encouraging or urging users to embrace anorexia, bulimia, or other eating disorders; or to cut, harm themselves, or commit suicide will result in a disabled account without warning.” Pictures containing the hashtags now come with a content advisory of eating disorders. With regards to this issue, Keira said that she was glad Instagram banned the hashtags and that, “any type of thinspiration is wrong and should not be encouraged due to the serious health problems and risk of even death that eating disorders can cause.”

The Body’s Image How you perceive your own body is important and this has been identified as the body image. It refers to a person’s aesthetics and sexual attractiveness of their own body. Societies have been seen to place great importance on the beauty of the human body and often, the person’s perception of their own body may not correspond to society’s

standards. The body image, over time, has become something of prime importance, because the emphasis is placed everywhere.

It is thought that a person’s body image partly can be the product of their personal experiences, personality and various social and cultural forces. They view their own physical appearance in relation with others or with what is considered the ‘cultural ideal’ and this shapes their body image. How they view their own body image can differ from what others perceive them to be.

Teens AffectedThe most affected are young girls, who suffer eating disorders because their body images have been disproportionately distorted by what they see every day on social media. It is the one platform which has made the world a smaller place and everything you see is something ‘ideal’ and what, presumably must achieve.

A recent study published by the government’s Health and Social Care Information Centre revealed that there has been a rise in the number of young people being treated for eating disorders have increased by 8% (as of October 2013), with the average age of those being treated as in-patients is 15 for girls and 13 for boys.

More Specialist ClinicsWales, in particular, is seen to have little or no support for those suffering from eating disorders.

Keira says, “If there was a specialist hospital in Wales then people could receive treatment earlier and would not have to wait until they got to such a dangerously low wait in order to be considered for treatment in England.”

However as the beds for in-patient care at these clinics in England is limited, it could mean that people would have to wait for a long time to get the necessary care.

This led her to petition for more specialist clinics in Wales. With over 500 people signing it, it went to be considered by the Welsh Assembly and the Health Minister. It was unsuccessful; however another petition to increase

Image courtesy:Keira Marlow (left)

Recognized Eating Disorders

People suffer from Eating disorders in various forms, with the common ones being Anorexia and Bulimia. There are, however, not the only ones to be classified under Eating Disorders. The following are the ones that are currently being recognized by the ICD-10 and DSM IV-TR*:

Anorexia Nervosa – The Person refuses to eat and is unable to maintain a helathy weight. Fears gaining weight and has a higer risk of death. Bulimia Nervosa – Person binge eats and is followed by compensatory behaviour such as self-induced vomiting .Binge Eating Disorder – The person compulsively eats without any compensatory behaviour. A common form.Pica – The person compulsively craves to eat, lick or chew non-food items or foods lacking nutritional value like chalk. Eating Disorders not otherwise specified – Here, the person exhibits a mixture of any type of Eating Disorders. Can be seen to be engaged in anoreic and buliemic activities.

* ICD - International Statistical Classification

of Diseases and Related Health Problems

DSM-IV-TR - Diagnostic and Statistical

Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (Text

Revision)

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Life 360°

funds for CAMAS, which helps young adults under the age of 18 with eating disorders, was successful. The fund helps them financially and helps them to get the treatment they need. Keira explains that the increase of funds, £250,000, is significant and is a step in the right direction.

Triumphing Eating DisordersKeira has overcome her Eating Disorders in spite of relapses. She advices, “being ‘thin’ does not represent perfection but more as a cry for help, instead try and focus on the things in life that mean things to you or that you want to make memorable, such as your family and friends, starting your own family in the future, getting your dream job, all, of which will be possible after recovery.”

Eating Disorders are life-threatening and must not be taken lightly nor must it engaged in jest. Although many are exposed to thin models or celebrities or even friends, eating disorders are in no way a means to achieve one’s end, especially if you want to get ‘thin’ fast.

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in this era. Our marriage is a life-long commitment as our traditional vow says: “hold your hands and get older together.” If there are no big conflicts, we won’t consider divorce, especially when we have children. Divorce will not only affect healthy growth of children but also tarnish the reputation of a woman. Besides, it’s a common view that second marriage is less likely to be happier than the first one.”

Xian XIA, 49, Father“When my career was settled, I started to consider marriage. I fell in love with my wife and began our relationship of marriage. As a man, I feel greater responsibility in marriage.

It’s like another career which I can’t fail. Marriage brings me a sense of accomplishment and my own family. It also shows responsibility towards our parents’ will of carrying on the family line and upholding the family honor. Our generation is still very conventional. It’s like a rule to get married, have children and support a family, step by step. Bearing the other one’s shortcomings and sacrificing part of our individualism are what we are supposed to do for marriage. The lucky thing is that my wife and I have the identical expectations about the future which we can fight for together. When we were young, we had romance in marriage. Though we also had disputes in our marriage, we tried to defuse the tensions instead of ending the relation. Compared with the present youth who are more independent and

The divorce rate is rising in many countries as shown by the latest statistics from an official American institution and United Nation. The highest rates of divorce still lie in America and Europe. UK is the fourth highest divorce rated country. According to the latest data of Nation Master, UK has a divorce rate of 3.08 per thousand people. As Harry Benson, Communications Director for the Marriage Foundation analyzed, rising cohabitation and the lessened stigma of getting divorced has become a common phenomenon in modern UK.

In the meantime, some Asian countries such as South Korea, Japan and China are catching up. Though the civil administration of Beijing has declared the divorce rate of 39% in 2012 as a mistake of the media, the increase in divorces is undeniable. According to official data, the increase of divorce rate in China exceeds that of marriage rates in 2012. Lots of experts point out that the change in the concept of marriage is a main reason of divorces increasing in China.

In China, generation gap is widely recognized and accepted. Though China used to be a very conservative country, with the development of its international trade and communication, younger generations’ attitude about marriage is becoming very open-minded as compared to their parents or grandparents. The change in understanding and views about marriage is apparent. An interview of two generations of the same family demonstrates the divergence.

Hua Ge, 44, Mother“In our times, once married, we never think about divorce. Marriage is not just about two people but getting two families connected. It also means two young people supporting each other’s career for a better future and sharing pain in the tough struggle. Meanwhile, when we are young, we raise our children giving them education and send them to college. After they find their jobs and build up their families, we are already old and spend our latter years in comfort. It’s a mindset of our generation. We don’t end marriage as easily as people

Marriage changesDifferent attitudes to marriage over generations explain the increase of divorce rate By Sainan Xia

. . . marriage is a life-long commitment as our traditional vow says: “hold your hands and get older together.”

self-aware, couples of my age are more willing to compromise and understand the different personalities and opinions in a relationship rather than getting divorced. Generally, we don’t think about divorce. Except for the factor of children, in the past, Chinese people have regarded divorce as a shame and the failure of marriage as a failure of life. We believe love leads to marriage and responsibility maintains marriage. But most young people base their marriage on love without notion of breeding or responsibility.”

Chu XIA, 24, Daughter, UnmarriedMarriage results from mutual love. I won’t be too obsessed with marriage. It is an option. We get married because of love which makes us eager to set up a family with the other. Once married, we’ll be responsible for the family, but we don’t need to prison each other in a marriage if there is no love but endless tolerance in it. Second marriage is more acceptable to the society now. The happiness of our own life is the most important thing which makes the social discourse insignificant. Love is the premise of responsibility and respect that are essential to sustain a marriage.

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Life 360°

Number of divorces (2010)

China: 2,680,000

Japan: 251,378

United States of America: 872,000

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: 132,338

Source: http://data.un.org/Divorce rate has been on the rise for the past seven years in China.

Image courtesy: nipic.com

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Wishing for a sunny day2014 February, Wales, U.K

Over the past few weeks, Wales has experienced a series of extreme weather conditions. Parts of the

country have been hit by heavy rain and strong winds which affected many local communities suffering from a hard living situation. What is more, it is reported that a wind speed of 108mph has been recorded in Wales.

Unfortunately, the strong wind caused widespread structural damage, bringing down trees and also leading to loss of power supplies. According to a walesonline.com report, around 94,000 homes in Wales were without power. Falling trees blocked roads that transportation had to shut down.

Extreme weather conditions in Wales and pollution spreading in Beijing are reminding the public the importance of seeking a comfortable living environment.By Chen Li

“I have never been through such strong winds in my whole life,” says Dave Jones, a taxi driver, “Over the past days, my wife has been very worried about my safety every time I go for work. Sometimes I felt like I was driving in the F1 when the wind was coming and screaming outside my car.”

“You can see fallen trees somewhere and broken umbrellas along the streets, and people barely being able to move forward,” Jones recalls, “the same unusual situation happened in summer six months ago, which was recorded as the hottest summer Wales has ever seen.”

Mark Cross, a paramedic who works at a private ambulance service said, “During those days, the calls for

to more than 300. However, this was just the beginning of the pollution, few days later, it was getting worse.

“I came to Beijing to fight for my dream and life,” Gao Yue, a 26 year-old junior editor working in Beijing questions, “but what if I cannot even be free to breathe here.”

“When I first came to this city, I could still remember the blue colour of the sky,” Gao sighs, “I make myself promises to build a home here. But now, I have to struggle to be healthy.”

That is not what I had expected. I can even smell and feel the dust in my noise when I am on my way to work.”

Since 2013, Beijing has witnessed the poorest quality of air than ever before.

emergency help were nearly double than usual. Some people even got injured by signs that fell on top of them while walking on the streets.”

At the same time, when Welsh people were struggling with the storm attacks, people who are living at the other side of world were also suffering from another unexpected weather condition, caused by air pollution.

2014 February, Beijing, ChinaOn the Chinese New Year Eve, the whole city was lit by fireworks to celebrate and welcome a new year. However, the next day, the quality of the air in the city has been seriously polluted due to the smog of fireworks. The index of PM 2.5 reached

What is PM 2.5?

PM 2.5 refers to the level of particulates moving in the air associated with the Earth’s atmosphere.

The indexes are based primarily on measurements of a potentially deadly particulate matter which will affect human’s health.

Left: A policeman manages traffic on a hazy summer day in Beijing.Photo courtesy: © China Daily China Daily Information Corp - CDIC / Reuters;Below: A little girl standing in front of UNIQLO Photo courtesy: Feng

PM 2.5 has become a hot issue for the Chinese public. With the deterioration of the condition of the air, Beijing is taking steps in order to try to curb the severe pollution. For example, ordering cars off the roads, controlling factories to slowly shut down, and warning citizens to avoid activity outside.

The Wangs are a local family settled in Beijing for more than thirty years. Recently, they have been worried about their little five-year olds son, Yuanyuan, who had been diagnosed with pneumonia due to the heavy and dirty smog. According to the doctor, Yuanyuan suffered respiratory infection, indicating that the air pollution is the main reason for his disease.

“I am very worried about my son, he is just five year olds,” Wang Qin, Yuanyuan’s father says, “I have been

living in Beijing since I was born. I never expected that my son will have to suffer from illness just because he goes out and has fun.”

Yuanyuan is getting better now. He has been home from the hospital after three weeks’ treatment. But when will Beijing become better?

With the progress and development of technology and society, we keep trying ways that might lead us to live a better life. But we have to face the fact that we are beginning to suffer from what we did. Haze in Beijing is a perfect example. It is very comforting to see that many people have started to realize the importance of fighting for a comfortable living environment. When we are looking for long-term development, please remind ourselves to wish that tomorrow be a sunny day.

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360° View

Zero Dark ThirtyThe terrorist attacks in 2001 changed the world. Ever since America went all guns blazing to look for the man responsible for it, namely Osama bin Laden. Zero Dark Thirty is a long, slow and clever movie, much like the actual capturing of the man himself, that walks you through the entire process of annihilat-ing the world’s most wanted terrorist. Directed by Katherine Bigelow, it won many

For all its tremen-dous production values, George Clooney’s The Monuments Men is a profoundly frustrating and unsatisfying film. Based on the non-fiction book, The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, by Robert M. Edsel,

nominations and bagged a few awards as well. Jessica Chastain played a CIA analyst and her role of a woman in a man’s world is inspiring, if not for the sheer curiosity of how it is that Laden was brought down. Chastain plays Maya who has compassion and is humane but becomes numb and wants to be avenged. Going on a limb and pursuing your gut and a whole lot of gore forms Zero Dark Thirty and is worth more than a few hours of your time.

the film follows an allied group, the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program, tasked with finding and saving pieces of art and other culturally important items before their destruction by Hitler during World War II. One of the film’s main problems is that fine art and action simply don’t go together well.

The Monuments men

“The Eight Essential Steps to Conflict Resolution: Pre-serving Relationships at Work, at Home and in the Community”teaches practical ways to handle disagreements in daily life, to prevent disputes in the future and help both parties learn from conflicts. Everyone can benefit from it for harmonious relationships around them, since the solutions are explained step by step with specific cases. Read a few pages as relaxing to learn something that can definitely improve your life quality.

Get your personal adviser on conflicts

Slinkachu is a photographer living in London. He is good at using tiny toys fixing into daily life scenes, such as street corners, restaurants and stations. Slinkachu takes advantage of the technology of macrophotography to create an interesting and dynamic perspective of facing the social issues. Slinka-chu’s the most well-known project named as “little people, big world” has well illustrated the social reflections he wants to express to the public. Those photos focus on the most heating conflict issues in contemporary society, including wars, drugs, and crimes. Hopefully, Slinkachu’s works could draw public’s concerns to existing social problems in a creative and unex-pected way.

“Little people, big world”

Clockwise from top left: Movie posters, copyright Imdb. Two toy men making drug deals, copyright Slinkachu.com. Book cover, copyright dudleyweeks.com

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No Network for Old Men?There is a commonplace about young people being addicted to technology and adults refusing to use it. But is it still true nowadays? Marika Borrelli, journalist and expert on communication explains how the generational gap has evolved. By Denise Puca

Is there any difference in the way the pre-internet generation and the digital born use new technologies?One of the main differences concerns the idea of simplification. If you consider the number of apps people have on their smartphones, or the number of friends on Facebook, you have to analyse a phenomenon called decluttering. It means deleting what is considered as useless, and it is only done by new generations, as they believe in the concept that less is more. We keep adding, because we are used to having things full of other things, just like a Swiss boxcutter. It is the new generations that prune, we like to have more.

Some studies suggest that young people tend to use text messages in workplaces, rather than emails and phone calls. Does this happen in journalism as well?In our field it is much easier to commu-nicate, send files and pictures through

the app Facebook Messenger. It reaches people way more easily, and I am now used to sending my articles and pictures with Messenger. I stopped sending them by email because most of the time the editorial staff do not even check their email, since it is so full of spam that it becomes easier to use an app. Let’s focus on Facebook. Is it true that young people tend to care less about the privacy issue?It is partly true. Young people often do not feel they have something to be “ashamed” of, or something to hide. But it is more of a problem for the older generations. They do not immediately realise that Facebook can be “danger-ous”, or better “intimate”. But as soon as the first problems start to appear, then they react.

So do older generations tend to control less what they post on Face-book?It is hard to tell people in advance that those posts can create problems, also because there is no tutorial. But one then learns. I do believe that you will only find what you post. If you put smart posts, you will have a positive return.

Why is Facebook so useful for older generations?It is fundamental to stay in touch with children and grandchildren who do not live with them anymore. More than

Skype. I almost feel it as prehistory, when my sister, who was in Rome, used to have a Skype date with my mother. And she took it so seriously, arranging her hair and sitting without even turning her head. It seems like long time ago, but actually it’s not.

Everyone loves social media. But are all the generations addicted to them in the same way?There are different uses of course. Young people tend to use social media only to stay in touch with the group that they already have in real life. Unless they need to promote something. And this system works! For the other generations, instead, social media are still used to look at the pictures of one’s old schoolmates… Basically to gossip and get a better self-esteem!

Nothing different from what people do in real life then.Absolutely. Facebook, in particular, does not do anything but revealing what peo-ple usually do in real life. You will not find anything different.Journalist and communication expert Marika Borreli.

Image courtesy: Marika Borrelli. Top picture, image courtesy: Philip Ashon

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7Q Full Circle Reviews

“The greatest conflicts are not between two people but between one person

and himself.”

- Garth Brooks