Staff dressed in a panda costume chats with a tourist at at the panda-themed hotel which has opened at the foot of Emei Mountain, Southwest China's Sichuan province, Feb 25, 2013. The hotel is reportedly the first panda-themed hotel in the world. [Liu Zhongjun/Asianewsphoto]

Nearly 800 students at a middle school in Hefei, Anhui province, play waist drums to celebrate the new semester on Feb 25. The school has made waist drum performance, a traditional Chinese folk art, a highlight of its campus culture. [XIE CHEN / Asianewsphoto]