“HEALTH for all and all for health” encapsulates the theme of the 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion, which will be held in Shanghai from Monday through Thursday.

The conference, co-sponsored by the World Health Organization and the Chinese government, will provide a forum for more than 1,000 leaders in politics, health and economic development to share their ideas about how to improve the wellbeing of the world’s 7.4 billion people.

The full theme of the meeting is “P...romoting Health in Sustainable Development Goals: Health for All and All for Health.”

THOUGH most people think of modern medicine and pill-popping as salvation against ailments and disease, China has a long heritage of relying on alternatives to restore and maintain good health, including traditional herbs, acupuncture, massage and special exercises

Sun Simiao, a famed physician in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), once said that a top doctor is one works to keep disease at bay, a mid-level doctor addresses the threat of imminent disease and a bottom-level doctor tr...eats diseases after they strike.

WERE it not for the persistent nagging of his wife, 71-year-old Yao Xiandi said he wouldn’t have given up his 42-year smoking habit, even after exams showed him suffering from high blood pressure.

His wife Cheng Meizhen, 65, took on the role of householder crusader after she joined a “health self-management group” in the Luyi community in the Changning District in 2009.

The group, mostly comprising people in their 50s, holds regular meetings, inviting doctors to speak to them..., sharing healthy recipes and participating in recreational sports activities.

SONG Honggen, 107, is the oldest known male living in Shanghai.

The former farmer lives with his 73-year-old daughter Song Hai’e and son-in-law in Loutang Town in Jiading. His wife died decades ago and he never remarried.

“My father has a good mindset and is warm-hearted,” said his daughter.

AMID a rapidly expanding elderly population, Shanghai authorities are working flat out to build a comprehensive healthcare system to serve the senior population.

In China, sons and daughters are growing older themselves and often find it hard to care for elderly parents. And many households with two wage earners can’t provide the round-the-clock care that their senior family members require.

The number of permanent residents aged 60 or older reached 4.36 million at the end of... 2015 and is expected to climb to 5.3 million by 2020. Seniors are forecast to account for 36 percent of the city’s permanent resident population by that year, up from 30.2 percent by the end of last year, according to the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.

The full video of a shocking incident at a Beijing wildlife park in which a visitor was killed and another injured by Siberian tigers was released on November 16.

On July 23 this year, a tiger attacked a 32-year-old woman, surnamed Zhao, after she got out of the car at Badaling Wildlife World. The tigers killed her mother after she got out to help her daughter.

Netizens suggested that Zhao might have got out of the car after an argument with her husband. But Zhao denied tha...t, telling the Beijing Youth Daily, that she got out of the car because she was feeling sick.

AN attempt to introduce a book-sharing scheme on the city’s Metro, similar to successful programs overseas, has run into immediate trouble — disinterest from commuters and disapproval from rail authorities.

Modelled on the UK’s popular Books on the Underground, China’s MoBook has distributed 10,000 books on trains, planes and car-pooling services in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.

While it was a big hit on WeChat and other social media after it launched, the reality has been... different. And some are concerned the books will simply end up in recycling bins.

THE dawn crow of roosters, the shouts of street hawkers, the hum of rhythmic chants and the aroma of pancakes and mutton...

Awakening in the exotic city of Kashgar, I felt the buzz of excitement and the pull of adventure far from my hometown of Shanghai.

Welcome to China’s westernmost city in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region near the borders with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. It is home to about 500,000 people, most of them ethnic Uygurs of the Muslim faith.

IN a bid to retain foreign talent educated in Shanghai, the city’s Education Commission will publish a list of available internships.

Yesterday, 11 companies and public institutions were recommended by local universities and internship openings will be published on the multi-lingual web site www.study-shanghai.org from next year.

Ding Xiaodong, vice director of the Shanghai Education Commission, said the new measure is intended to retain more foreign talent to stay in Shangha...i.

IN 2012, when ex-cop Frode Z. Olsen visited his alma mater in Copenhagen, it put him on a journey that was to culminate in a book four years later.

“Not the Slightest Chance” was published in Danish last week and records the stories of nine Danish men who volunteered to defend Hong Kong on December 8 and fought the Japanese until their surrender on December 25, 1942.

The title is former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s response to Hong Kong’s prospects if it went to... war against Japan.

GROSS merchandise volume on Alibaba’s retail platforms flew past 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) with just six minutes 58 seconds after the Singles Day shopping spree kicked off at midnight.

Last year, it took 12 minutes 28 seconds to break the threshold.

Alibaba staged a star-studded countdown gala last night in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, with celebrities such as David Beckham, Kobe Bryant, Scarlett Johansson taking to the stage to promote the biggest shopping event in C...hina.

CONSTRUCTION has started on a new Toy Story Land at the Shanghai Disneyland as its 7th themed land to open in 2018, the Shanghai Disney Resort said today.

Leadership from the joint venture’s two shareholders, The Walt Disney Company and the Shanghai Shendi Group, broke ground on the new themed land, in a sign of their confidence in the growing consumer demand for themed entertainment in China.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with Shanghai Disneyland’s first four months of operat...ion and couldn’t be more excited about our future in mainland China,” said Bob Chapek, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “We’re demonstrating our confidence by breaking ground on a new Toy Story Land that will be both authentically Disney and distinctively Chinese, delighting our guests for years to come.”

RESCUERS in the northern province of Hebei are racing against the clock to rescue a boy who has been trapped in an abandoned well for over 60 hours.

Over 500 rescuers and some one hundred excavators are working at the 40-meter deep dry well in Lixian County, Baoding City.

The boy, 6, fell down the well Sunday. As the 30 centimeter-diameter well was too narrow for any adult to climb into rescuers are digging out a well to reach the boy.