Gucci and Seven Dog Charms.You may be familiar with the story of “Snow White and Seven Dwarfs”,undergarment, but do you have ever heard of the story of Gucci and seven dog charms. tiffany jwelleryAfter the hit of the movie Quill and 101 Dalmatians, many people gained more love toward their pet dogs and want to bring them along them. To meet with this eager wish, Frida Giannini, the creative director of Gucci,brings us seven charming cute dogs

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WITH visionaries like Lady Gaga around, there's a feeling that we should all be making more effort with our headgear - especially as the class of 2010 are thermal underwear redefining the art of millinery with wit, emotion and technical skill.

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Harvy Santos danced with the Hong Kong ballet before beginning a course with the Queen Mother's milliner. His balletic background plus a ragbag of influences (from steam-punk to archery) inform his elegantly energetic work. Meanwhile, Camille Roman of Tour de Force cites the bizarre 'hair hats' of avant-garde Japanese artist Nagi Noda as a major influence on her surreal designs.

Thinking of the surreal - if you spied a giant feather Mohawk bobbing about at one of this summer's more stylish underclothes festivals (think Secret Garden or Kimberley), chances are it was by Tammi Willis, the chatelaine of West London club Ginglik and pal of model Olivia Inge.

Naturally vintage looks are major reference point too. Milliner Janine Basil found her beloved vintage hats were too fragile to wear - and contemporary efforts frankly dull - so she started making her own cartoony creations. Meanwhile, Feather Fancies' Paula Eastman adores Forties styles. The former theatrical costumer names Paloma Faith as her dream client: "You watch a person wearing a hat and because they have made the effort they stand differently, their poise is more confident and they radiate a certain something."

So, how to carry it off these bold creations? Prepare for stares and, Camille Roman advises, have "a sense of humour." Tammi adds, "Hats are a great way to stand out and be extrovert at exactly the same time as giving you something to hide behind (or under!)" undergarment Just think: 'What would Gaga do?'

Beijing launches a series of promotional activities for the upcoming census. Foreigners, as well as people from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, will be included for the first time. Photo: CFP

By Ji Beibei

The latest national population census is just two months away, and thousands of census takers are faced with a new challenge: getting information from foreigners, who will be included for the first time.

To avoid any potential miscommunication, census offices in some cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, have prepared materials in English and other languages.

China has conducted five censuses since 1953. But unlike all the previous ones, the census from November 1 to 10 will cover foreigners who have lived in the country for more than half a year.

"Checking on foreigners' information is an international practice," Zhang Xuying of the China Population and Development Research Center told the Global Times Thursday.

Zhang said the situation today was very different from that of the 1980s, when there were only a few foreigners living in China.

"Over the past decade, the number of foreigners in China has increased, and some of them have been in the country for a long time. It's time to gather some statistics about how many foreigners live and work in China so that the government can draw up the corresponding public service policies," he said.

However, some foreigners say they have not received any notification from the government and are confused about what questions they will be asked.

Leif Rogers, a 38-year-old American, who has lived in Jinzhou, Liaoning Province for five years, is one of them.

"No one informed me of the census. And my foreign friends living here don't know there will be a census involving us," he said.

Sunny Lim, a 35-year-old Malaysian who has worked in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province as a college teacher, shares similar concerns. "I did not receive any notice from the local government. Instead, I got the news from an English newspaper," he said.

Speaking the language

Critics have expressed concerns over the fact that census takers only speak limited English, some unable to manage anything more than the words "passport" or "thank you," raising doubts over whether they will be able to obtain the information required.

In August, Beijing began month-long preparations by sending volunteers door-to-door offering notifications of the coming census and asking basic information. Shanghai will launch a similar move on September 15.

An official surnamed Wang with the Beijing census office told the Global Times that the notifications have been translated into English, French, Russian, Korean and Japanese. "Also, the questionnaire for foreigners is in Chinese and English," Wang said.

Yu Xuming, an official with the census office in Shanghai, said about 100,000 census takers are being trained for the task.

"The registration form for foreigners will be simple and bilingual," Yu said.

The city of Qingdao, Shandong Province isn't taking any chances, hiring translators to accompany the census takers.

However, an earlier report by the Global Times said some foreigners in Beijing were not all that receptive to the idea. Some said they would not let census takers enter their homes out of privacy concerns, or more pertinently, because they have no residency permit.

One foreigner said he would just give several hundred yuan to send the census takers away, while another even said she would deter volunteers by speaking in Greek.

Just the facts

Under Chinese law, foreigners and people from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have to register at a local public security bureau (PSB) or with hotel management within 24 hours of arrival on the mainland.

Foreigners will have to repeat the information they give to the PSB by giving census takers their name, gender, nationality, passport and visa details, address and contact details of their landlords, a census taker surnamed Wang in Beijing said. "There are no questions about religion or income," he said.

Rogers said he was happy to give information to the census takers. "I'm happy to do it because it means the government sees me as a citizen and cares about me," he said.

Another American in Beijing, who identified himself as James, already received census takers during the preparation exercise.

"I think it is okay to offer my information. They already got my personal information when I applied for the temporary residence permit," he said. "The census takers took information about my passport, visa and temporary residence permit. It takes very little time and is quite informal."

Zhang, the researcher, said the country is not doing enough to promote the census, adding that there has not been enough publicity or coverage of the exercise, while some local citizens have no interest in it altogether.

"Many fail to realize the importance of population statistics, which can offer important information for governments to decide policies and resource distribution, such as whether a community needs a kindergarten or healthcare institutions," he said.

The census will reportedly cost about 8 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) and involve more than 6 million census takers. The results are expected to be released in April or May 2011. 

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The "pambassadors" or panda keepers will earn the privilege of looking after a group of the bears for the month of October at the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Pandas in Sichuan Province.

By Duan Wuning

A global campaign that seeks six Giant Panda lovers who will get a rare chance to chase the endangered species in the wild kicked off at the Chengdu Living Water Park inside the Expo Park Monday, using the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai as a backdrop to shine a light on China's most iconic and beloved bears.

The "pambassadors" or panda keepers will earn the privilege of looking after a group of the bears for the month of October at the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Pandas in Sichuan Province, a 106-hecatare plot of land that is currently home to 83 pandas. With just six pandas rescued from the wild, the reserve was established in 1987.

With the intention of raising awareness about the plight of the Giant Panda, the program is being organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature, formerly the World Wildlife Fund, except for in the US, where the founding name of the organization has been retained.

"We're hoping that the Expo can help educate more people about the Giant Panda," Dr Zhang Zhihe, director of the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Pandas, told the Global Times Monday. "We want everyone to know that pandas are more than just cute animals; they're endangered and that has a lot to do with the actions of mankind over the years."

Panda lovers wanted

Panda enthusiasts from across the country and around the world are invited to apply for the job that will offer them the unique opportunity to live alongside pandas, of which some 300 live on reserves around the world, many of which were gifted to foreign countries by China. The majority of the world's only remaining 1,600 pandas living in the wild are in western China.

Applicants aged 18 to 40 from all walks of life are invited to apply by uploading an introductory video of themselves or by registering through a panda care educational game on the www.pandahome.com website.

A panel of experts will narrow the list down to 60 candidates. Online users will then vote for 12 finalists, who will attend a week of panda training in Sichuan's capital Chengdu. The finalists will then take part in a competition that will be broadcast live on television stations around the country on September 29, when six winners will reach their fate.

Cause of a lifetime

During their stay on the reserve, the panda keepers will blog about their experience to further promote the cause. Among the highlights, they will see the birth of several panda cubs that are due during October, and have the opportunity to chase bears in the wild, a method being used by researchers to assimilate bears raised on the reserve to survive once they are released back to the natural outdoor habitats.

"We're desperately trying to get the pandas born on the reserve ready to be sent back out into the wild," said director Zhang. "If this doesn't work, our efforts will be hopeless because then it's only be a matter of time before the bears become extinct." 

The Giant Panda was first listed as an endangered species in 1986 by the World Conservation Union, several years before which China began caring for pandas on reserves in 1953. But industrial development over the years has continued to destroy much of the natural outdoor habits for the Giant Panda, a situation that researchers are working to reverse, said Zhang.

"We hope to achieve balance in the future, one that will allow humans to live a good life without damaging the natural habitats of pandas," he added.

Language no barrier

Zhang said that foreign panda lovers who cannot speak Chinese should not be discouraged from applying as interpreters can be used for non-Chinese speakers chosen for the task.

The first foreign panda keeper at the reserve, Abe Nobuko, 26, from Japan, who studied Chinese before she began tending to the pandas in early 2009, described her experience as a dream come true.

"The work is a lot harder than I thought it would be, but it truly is an amazing experience, and a wonderful way to get access to such comprehensive field work," she told the Global Times Monday. "I hope that more foreigners can come, because that would help get the whole world involved in saving this endangered species."

According to Zhang, the program aims to groom future panda keepers, and those who selected who perform well, might be given the chance to stay and work longer on the reserve once the month ends.

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Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said on Saturday that he was in favor of expelling from the country "all European Union (EU) citizens" that had violated basic requirements for living in Italy.

In an interview with daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, Maroni stressed he strongly supported "the possibility of extending the push-back policy of illegal immigrants to all European citizens who breach the EU directive on the minimum conditions for living in another member state, including a minimum wage, a decent lodging and not weighing on the state's welfare system."

"For example, many gypsies are EU citizens but do not respect any of these requirements," he noted, adding that "expulsions should be allowed for all EU nationals, not only gypsies."

In brief, the minister aims to treat as illegal refugees all Europeans who are not working and contributing to the economic well-being and growth of Italy, but merely a burden on taxpayers' money.

Citing French President Nicholas Sarkozy's hard stance with regard to the expulsion of all gypsies "copying Italy's model," Maroni announced that he was "ready to do more" in the fight against illegal immigration by the introduction of "tougher measures."

Italy had recently sponsored a similar procedure of expulsion for illegal EU immigrants, but the European Commission blocked it, said the minister.

"Now we will return on the issue, which will be at the center of the next EU interior ministers' meeting scheduled for Sept. 6," he said.

The center-right government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has put the fight against illegal immigration at the top of its political agenda, implementing a controversial policy whereby sea refugees intercepted in territorial waters are pushed back.

In two years, sea landings have dropped by 88 percent. But gypsy immigration remains a critical issue after a woman was raped and killed in Rome. Several illegal camps have been dismantled by the authorities and the inhabitants moved elsewhere.

Italy's problem, however, is that many gypsies possess Italian citizenship, Maroni pointed out. 

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