1st Ministerial Meeting of China-CELAC Forum

January 8， Beijing： Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during the opening ceremony of the 1st Ministerial Meeting of ChinaCELAC （Community of Latin American and Caribbean States） Forum at the Great Hall of the People. Xi noted that ChinaCELAC pragmatic cooperation has been expanded since his visit to the region in July 2014 and that he was glad to see a series of cooperation initiatives actively implemented. During last years visit， Xi and CELAC leaders announced the establishment of the China-CELAC forum. During the two-day forum， three major documents were released： a cooperation plan for next five years， the Beijing Declaration， and Regulations for the ChinaCELAC Forum. Established in December 2011 in Caracas， Ven- ezuela， CELAC is a block of 33 countries including all of South and Central America， several Caribbean countries and Mexico. Kim Kyung-Hoon/REUTERS

Beijings 2022 Winter Olympic Bid

January 6， Lausanne， Switzerland： Chinese Olympic Committee （COC） Chairman Liu Peng（left） submits Beijings bid files for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games to International Olympic Committee （IOC） Sports Director Christophe Dubi （right） at IOC headquarters. Beijing intends to co-host the games with Zhangjiakou， a Hebei city some 200 kilometers northwest of Beijing， if it wins the bid. Ice sports will compete in Beijing while snow events will be held in Zhangjiakou. On July 7， 2014， the IOC Executive Board unanimously chose Norways Oslo， Kazakhstans Almaty， and Beijing as the three finalists for the 2022 Winter Olympics. However， Oslo withdrew its bid due to a lack of domestic support. The IOC will dispatch its evaluation commission to visit each city in February or March. The final vote by the IOC on the 2022 host city will take place in Kuala Lumpur， Malaysia， on July 31， 2015. IC

Shanghai Mourns Stampede Victims

January 6， Shanghai： Flowers are placed at the Bund in memory of those killed in a stampede during a New Years Eve celebration. Braving freezing temperatures and drizzle， mourners laid flowers and winter clothing at Chen Yi Square near the Bund area. The day marked the seventh since the tragedy. In China， the seventh day after any death marks the height of mourning. The disaster occurred at about 11：35 p.m. on December 31， when tens of thousands of revelers gathered to welcome the New Year. The stampede left 36 dead and another 49 injured before 2015 dawned. Ding Ting/Xinhua

Li Ka-shing Retakes Richest Asian Crown

January 9， Hong Kong： Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing （right） and his son Victor Li Tzar-kuoi attend a news conference on the reorganization of Lis business empire， Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa. Li Ka-shing regained his position as Asias richest person when shares of Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd. experienced their greatest surge in 17 years after the announcement of his plan. The 86-year-old Hong Kong tycoon is worth US$30.8 billion based on the current price of his shares， ranking him almost $3 billion ahead of Alibaba founder Jack Ma， who was worth US$28.2 billion as of Friday， according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Li proposed restructuring the assets of his companies into two new listed entities with specific focuses： one on real estate and the other on telecommunications， retail and energy. He declared that the resulting streamlined structuring of the listed companies under his control will make it easier for investors to choose specific businesses in which to invest. Tyrone Siu/REUTERS

Canada Heralds Year of Ram with New Stamp

January 8， Toronto， Canada： A collector raises his Year of the Ram stamps at a Toronto post office. Canada Post issued Year of the Ram domestic and international stamps and collectibles in celebration of the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year. The Year of the Ram stamp is the seventh of the second twelve-year series which started in 1997. Canada Posts Commemorative Stamp Program has been running for 160 years since Sir Sanford Flemming designed the Three-Penny Beaver stamp in 1851. Zou Zheng/Xinhua

31st Harbin Ice Festival

January 5， Harbin， Heilongjiang Province： The 31st Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival kicks off shortly after the new year dawned and will last until the end of February when the ice begins to melt. Themed“Charming Chinese Dream in Fascinating Icy Harbin”， the event features a variety of chilly activities related to tourism， culture， fashion， economics， trade and sports and attracts visitors from around the world. Originally an Ice Lantern Show first launched in 1985， the Harbin Ice Festival has become one of the worlds four biggest ice and snow festivals alongside the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan， the Quebec Winter Carnival in Canada and Norways Ski Festival. Kim Kyung-Hoon/REUTERS

Summer Palace Ice Rink Heats Up

January 11， Beijing： Tourists enjoy the frozen surface of Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace. After a decadelong closure， the ice rink atop Kunming Lake reopened to the public on January 1， 2015. Winter sports enthusiasts of all shapes and sizes couldnt help but join the fun， with the elderly especially seeming to unthaw their youths. IC

Eye on the Finger

January 9， Hangzhou， Zhejiang Province： Students roll their eyes to follow their fingers as part of a new exercise. The eye exercise， considered safe and effective， has been adopted at a primary school in Xiasha district of Hangzhou this semester. Instead of traditional acupressure， students roll their eyes back and forth while staring at their fingers. The school claims that the multi-dimensional visual exercise stimulates eye muscles and enhances the conductive function of brain neurons to improve eyesight. Traditionally employed exercises are much harder for students to perform correctly.