Nearly half of all natural world heritage sites are threatened by harmful industrial activities, such as oil and gas exploration, mining and illegal logging, according to a new report released Wednesday by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The report, titled "Protecting People through Nature: Natural World Heritage Sites as Drivers of Sustainable Development", detailed global failures to protect UNESCO World Heritage sites. According to the study, 114 natural and mixed World Heritage sites out of 229 either have…

So you’ve decided to run the Great Wall Marathon. Are you insane? Even on a perfectly flat racecourse, 26.2 miles (42km) is no easy feat, and the Great Wall Marathon is definitely not your average marathon. In addition to covering all that horizontal distance, you’ll also be scaling a mountain and climbing 5,000+ steps. The sheer difficulty of running this trail is reflected in the amount of time it takes to complete; the course record for the Great Wall Marathon…

BEIJING - China held a large-scale rehearsal for the Sept. 3 military parade from Saturday evening to Sunday morning in Tian'anmen Square and along the Chang'an Avenue in downtown Beijing. More than 10,000 servicemen and servicewomen, about 500 military vehicles and nearly 200 aircraft attended the rehearsal, Xinhua learned from a military source. All formations, including foreign troops and World War II veterans, were present while about 35,000 guests observed the parade. The rehearsal was "smooth and orderly" and achieved…

Beijing's Palace Museum will be forbidden to visitors from August 22 to September 3, the museum's ticketing website shows and tourism industry sources confirmed Wednesday. Now limited to 80,000 visitors per day, the website for the museum more popularly known as the Forbidden City shows that no tickets are for sale beginning August 22. Tourism industry sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to the Beijinger that the Forbidden City, the former home of China's Ming and Qing Dynasty emperors, is…