Despite the sun, sea and sand, one of my most painful memories of growing up on a tropical island was the heat.
When asked, "What's Beijing like?" by friends and family who haven't visited the city, my response is invariably, "Four walls and a window."
After the pressure cooker of national exams, students are making the most of the summer vacation in a variety of ways.
The high school student gets off the train from Qingdao, Shandong province, and walks into a plastic surgery clinic in Beijing's central business district.
On this big night out, Gisele Bundchen, darling of the cameras, is decked out in diamonds from Van Cleef&Arpels.
Seemingly against logic, Yasuteru Yamada, 72, is eager for the chance to take part.
The United States' "national pastime" is played by few people in China, even in first-tier cities such as Guangzhou.
Mike Peters says "What's the fuss?" about the century egg, while Liu Yujie unmasks the myths behind this much-maligned Chinese delicacy.
Zhao Yuyi, a 42-year-old worker who has been making century eggs for more than a decade, explains the process that turns normal eggs into the deep, dark delicacy.
Pauline D Loh visits a restaurant named after a character from revolutionary writer Lu Xun's novels.
I've been canned from several jobs, but none involved a meeting with George Clooney, who plays corporate downsizing expert in the movie Up in the Air.