新闻纵贯线 The Beijing Hour updated 20:00 2015/02/20（打印版）

Beijing will have light snow tonight, with a low of minus 1. The weather will be hazy tomorrow, with a high of 7.　

Meanwhile Shanghai will be rainy tonight, with a low of 10, it will see slight rain tomorrow, with a high of 13.

Chongqing will be overcast tonight; 12 degrees the lowest, tomorrow will also be overcast with a high of 18.

The snow has forced closure of several local expressway sections and delayed a large number of flights.

Expressways heading for Hong Kong, Macao and Kunming from Beijing were closed temporarily as the snow made roads impassable.

In Shanxi, the closure of highways caused a lot of inconveniences to the commuters who were on their way to visit their relatives and friends.

"I got married on February 14, and today I'm getting back to my birth families. We can't drive on highways due to the heavy snow, which means we won't be able to get back until 4 or 5 p.m."

In the meantime, highways in Northern Province of Hebei and southwestern city of Chengdu were also closed due to continuous snow, rainfall and fog.

On the highway linking the capital to its neighboring city of Chengde, five accidents have been recorded today due to the snowy weather.

Homes have been damaged and power lines have been downed as a powerful cyclone smashed into northeastern Australia today.

Cyclone Marcia began crossing over small towns along the east coast of Queensland state, packing winds of up to 285 kilometers per hour.

The cyclone was downgraded from the highest rating of category 5 to a 3 as it continued to cross the coastline.

But it left a trail of destruction in the towns of Yeppoon and Rockhampton with roofs blown off homes and broken trees littering the streets.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in Adelaide that his government will do all it can to assist the Queensland state government.

"My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Rockhampton, Gladstone particularly, because these are the areas that are currently being most impacted. Obviously at a time like this, it's important for Australians to listen to emergency warnings. I have been in contact with the Queensland Premier's office just before coming here to let her know that the Commonwealth stands ready to offer all possible assistance to the emergency services in Queensland."

Finance ministers from Eurozone countries are preparing for a vital meeting in Brussels to solve the crisis over Greece's bailout.

The Greek government has asked to extend its loan agreement by six months in order to give all sides more time to hash out a more permanent deal.

Germany's vice-Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel says the agreement lacks the concrete measures Athens needs to take to get its debt under control.

"I advise that in the next few days, and tomorrow especially, concrete measures ought to be agreed on. This letter can only serve to get further talks started, but it's not sufficient to make financial promises based on it."

The new Greek government came to power last month on a pledge to eliminate the austerity measures the country has been enduring as part of its 340-billion US dollar loan package.

Without additional funding, Greece will default on its loans and will be forced to leave the Eurozone.

The Greek Parliament is due to vote on a series of social reform plans that disregard its bailout obligations.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says his administration welcomes Chinese investment into the country.

Tipras made the comments during a visit to the Chinese naval fleet at the local port of Piraeus.

"We place special emphasis on the existing Chinese investments in Greece, including the important activities of COSCO at the port of Piraeus. We pay special attention to Chinese investments which we want to support and strengthen as a common interest and benefit for both our peoples."

The Tsipras administration has halted privatization projects launched by previous Greek governments.

This includes a previous plan to privatize two-thirds of the Piraeus port, where Chinese group COSCO maintains a strong presence.

However, an official with COSCO in Greece says its operation of a pair of container terminals at Piraeus is not affected.

Many people around the world, including some important celebrities, have been involved in celebrating the event.

British Crown Prince Charles and his wife have visited London's Chinatown to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year.

"Happy New Year! Trouble is, I cannot tell the sheep from the goat, so I have to hedge my bet. But can I just say how thrilled I am to be able to join you to celebrate the Chinese New Year. "

They unveiled a newly-built Chinese Exchange center, which was established to help facilitate the exchange of Eastern and Western culture.

In Thailand, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and ex-Prime Minister and President of the Democrat Party Abhisit Vejjajiva, have come to Chinatown in Bangkok to celebrate the Chinese New Year with local people.

"I am here in the Chinatown in Bangkok. I'd like to wish all of you a very happy Chinese New Year. May this year be a prosperous and happy year for everyone."

The princess would visit the place and sit on a float to cruise the road on the first day of each Chinese Lunar New Year.

The whole place has been decorated with Chinese red lanterns and Chinese traditional snacks have been on sale there.

Over to Dubai, a celebration has been held near the BurjAl-Arab Hotel with activities including dulcimer performance and making sugar figurines.

A huge ancient-style Chinese character of 'goat' also appeared on the outer wall of the hotel to celebrate the Year of the Goat.

Top Tennis player Roger Federer also extended his New Year greetings in Mandarin Chinese at the scene.

Over to the U.S., the collection of some programs of CCTV's 2015 Spring Festival Gala has been broadcast on the big screen of Times Square in New York City.

Those fabulous programs include acrobatics, singing and dancing, and short plays, and a subtitle introducing CCTV Spring Festival Gala is also on the screen.

"I think it's pretty great because it's different from us, but it's a second party for you, almost like Carnival in Brazil, big parties, lot of colours."

New stats are suggesting nearly one-in-three people turned on CCTV or the internet on Wednesday night to watch this show.

Combined with online views, its estimated around 30-percent of China's population, or around 450-million people, sat down to watch this year's event.

CCTV also, for the first time, aired the program for an international audience, with 10 different foreign broadcasters carrying the Gala.

For more on this, the Beijing Hour's Paul James spoke earlier with Mike Bastin, Director of The China Business Centre based in London.

That is Mike Bastin, Director of The China Business Centre based in London, speaking with the Beijing Hour's Paul James.

With the Chinese New Year just beginning, Pandora has created pieces that are specifically targeted at the Chinese market.

Red and gold represents luck and prosperity in China, and these colours are lavishly incorporated in the design of Pandora's signature bracelets.

"To celebrate the Chinese culture, we have in mind the importance of a special meaning to the culture. Red and gold are the colours that signify happiness and good fortune. The gold ingot and fortune bag symbolise wealth and prosperity, the Chinese doll is designed with the traditional red Mandarin gown known as Qipao, which represents oriental beauty and elegance."

Other brands are keen to meet the demands of both men and women in this rapidly expanding market.

"Although it (the brand) is originated from Switzerland, we have a long history with Chinese market. We were selling the watches and clocks to the Chinese emperors since the 18th century. So that's why we have this idea to launch a Chinese New Year zodiac, it was since 2012, which was the year of dragon. We have a very good feedback from them, and since then, we have established a new tradition, and we celebrate the dragon, and snake, and horse and this year is the year of goat."

The expansion of the Chinese economy in recent years means it's not just the emperors who can afford these elaborate time pieces.

Hong Kong based jewelry brand Chow Tai Fook has launched solid gold sheep ornaments, the largest of which weighs almost 400 grams and costs around 20,000 US dollars.

The gold sheep symbolizes success and is very popular. Although global gold prices are dropping, sales of gold products in China remain stable.

The amount of polished diamonds imported into China has declined for a fourth consecutive month.

Last month, the country imported polished diamonds worth more than 150 million U.S. dollars, down 24 percent compared with the previous January.

Last year China's diamond consumption hit a record high thanks to robust growth in the first three quarters.

Polished diamonds worth more than 2.2 billion U.S. dollars were exported to the country in 2014.

China is now the world's second-largest diamond consumer and fourth-largest rough diamond trader.

Spending by overseas visitors in New Zealand rose by 13 percent last year, to over five billion U.S. dollars.

The Chinese market passed seven hundred fifty-three million U.S. dollars in expenditure, up 50 percent from the previous year.

Significant increases in total spending was also seen among visitors from the United States, up an estimated 32 percent, and Britain, up 29 percent.

The survey showed an 8-percent drop in spending by visitors from Australia, the country's biggest tourism market.

With the arrival of the Chinese lunar new year, we're bringing you a series of special reports highlighting some of the significant changes which have taken place in China through 2014.

In today's report, we focus on traditional operas. As most traditional operas in China are desperately fighting for survival, a small local opera troupe in central Hunan province is coping fairly well. Their success story? Reform to adapt to local needs in modern times, plus government support for outstanding work.

Yet another Saturday show in Yongxing County. Farmers from Aitang Village pack the local theater. A three-day temple fair is underway. On the stage, actors and actresses wearing painted faces and costumes sing arias of local Huagu opera.

Huagu opera originated in Hunan more than 200 years ago. The plays feature everyday rural life in the local dialect.

This time, they stage the show to celebrate the construction of a new village temple. As such, the opera-singing is more than just a form of entertainment. It is also a ritual for celebration and social gathering.

During intervals, villagers who worked on the temple project are invited on stage to receive blessings.

After the first show wrapped up, hundreds of villagers gather outside of the theater and have lunch together, waiting for the afternoon session to start.

When night falls, the performers remove their traditional make-up and pick up electric guitars, singing pop songs to a pounding disco beat.

Guofei, deputy director of the troupe, says pop songs are designed to attract young people although most audiences are middle-aged and the elderly.

"We diversify the variety of our shows to attract the younger generation. We also perform in schools to let students get to know the traditional art."

Set up in 1957, Yongxin Huagu Opera Troupe is the largest of its kind in the region. With 43 members, the troupe gives around 250 shows each year.

But back in the 1990s, as China initiated the first stage of reforms for the cultural industry, government subsidies were cut off, forcing art groups to compete for market. The Yongxing troupe was once on the verge of dissolution and only managed to recruit 10 new members in ten years. But it outperformed most other Huagu troupes by staging more than 60 news shows about local anecdotes, giving shuttle performances in villages and attending social activities.

On the other hand, it also took part in state and provincial-level art festivals, winning more than 20 national awards and over 100 regional awards with new plays depicting rural life today.

All this helped win back local government subsidies, equal to about half of its revenue. Chen Ziqun is the deputy head of the county's Culture Bureau.

"We offer subsidies to art troupes which join government programs to perform in rural areas. At the county level, we organize culture performances and educational campaigns every year, also with subsidies for art troupes."

Government support also covers one-third of the troupe's staff salary. For additional needs, they go commercial, performing for birthday parties, weddings, and funerals, as well as corporate promotion. Troupe Director Liu Shengyun explains.

"Companies such as China Unicom and China Mobile have invited us to perform for their promotional campaigns. Those performances are paid at better prices. For temple fairs, we get around 3,000 yuan per show, but for commercial events, we can usually get 8,000 yuan. "

Better paid, but there's fluctuation. Yongxing County is known for its metal recycling industry. The sector accounts for over 54 percent of the local GDP. When prices of gold and silver plummeted around the world, businessmen in Yongxing cut their spending on non-necessities such as entertainment.

This year, the troupe only receives about half of the invitations to perform on private functions than last year.

To look for a bigger market, it plans to join an inter-regional opera alliance so as to take its shows beyond the region.

But for Liu Shengyun, the essence of a good troupe is about having better scripts. And he is facing the dilemma – spending more time on marketing, or script writing.

"It will cost at least 150,000 yuan to ask someone to write a show. So I write scripts myself. But my schedule is too tight. For example, at the temple fair season, we have to perform over 100 shows every year. That means three shows every day within two months. This is exhausting. So now I can only write about one to two new plays a year and adapt three to four old ones. The problem is a good play needs more time to contemplate and to rehearse."

To ease financial pressure, Liu Yunsheng plans to apply for the state-level intangible cultural heritage designation for his troupe. If successful, the troupe could receive a state subsidy of 800,000 yuan annually. The Yongxing troupe is now classified as a city-level intangible cultural heritage asset.

For audiences, Huagu opera means local stories, local music and local dialect. It's part of their life.

"It is our troupe. Everything is good, the stage, the performance, the atmosphere, everything. "

There're more than 200 types of local operas across China. As reforms continue, the central government encourages local governments to purchase services from cultural organizations, offer subsidies to original plays, and support the commercialization of leading troupes. That means Liu Yunsheng and his team must work even harder, to prove their popularity, worthy of continued government support.

Rafael Nadal kept rolling in his first clay-court of the season with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta to reach the quarterfinals of the Rio Open.

Nadal failed to convert three set points in the 10th game, but finished off the set by breaking Carreno Busta in the final game.

In the second set, Nadal broke in the eighth game to lead 5-3 and then served out the match in humid weather.

"A tough match. The conditions, with a lot of humidity, it's hard. It's always tough playing in these conditions. But well, I think the match was positive. I think there were good moments and not so good moments against a tough opponent. An opponent who played aggressively, who played well, who played decisively at important moments. And on top of that we know each other well."

Nadal faces No. 6 Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay on Friday, while No. 2 seed David Ferrer of Spain goes against Juan Monaco of Argentina.

Number three seed Caroline Woznaicki reached the semi-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships, following a 7-5, 6-0 victory over Italian tenth seed Flavia Pennetta.

In the opening set, neither player was comfortable on serve - there were five breaks as they shared the first ten games.

Woznaicki held to love take a 6-5 lead, but Pennetta couldn't force a tiebreak and Wozniacki closed out the set on the first of her two break points.

The first set took more than an hour, but the second lasted just 29 minutes as the Dane reeled off eight games in a row to win 7-5, 6-0.

新闻纵贯线 The Beijing Hour updated 20:00 2015/02/20（在线收听）