Every night was a soldout crowd.

The Yanshuei Beehive Fireworks Festival in the south of Taiwan is the third largest folk celebration in the world. A parade of palanquins circling the city, setting off thousands of rockets that create a deafening bee-like buzzing sound. This ‘baptism of fireworks’ is supposed to ward off troubles and bring good fortune for the year.

An official, one of the many provincial deputies charged with the carrying of tribute to the Court at Hsi-an, returning thence to his post at Soochow, sent to a friend at Peking a detailed description of the life of the Court in exile, from which the following extracts are taken.

We'll be learning the rudiments of thermodynamics next week.