You're listening to News Plus Special English, I'm Marc Cavigli in Beijing.
Beijing's Forbidden City has expanded its closures from Monday afternoons to the entire day allowing enough time each week to maintain it.
The officials at the Forbidden City say the move aims at better preserving its relics.
They want to give the architectural and cultural relics a break. But it's not a break for the museum staff. In fact, there is a ton of work to do on Mondays so that the visitors can experience a safer and better Palace Museum.
The Forbidden City is a 600 year-old royal palace. It has about 1,000 chambers and is considered the largest existing ancient wooden-structure compound in the world.
The museum had been operating all year round since the 1980s. But it began to close its doors every Monday afternoon last year to allow for maintenance and housecleaning.
The first Taiwan-born giant panda is making her public debut in the city of Taipei. Her name is Yuan-zai.
The media and public alike are smitten by the cub, which is expected to generate well over 16 million US dollars worth of business for the city this year.
The 6-month-old panda cub has stolen the city's heart, with people snapping up a huge assortment of Yuan-zai-related merchandise.
The Taipei city government unveiled more than 30 pieces of panda products to mark her highly-anticipated first public appearance.
For starters, Colombian-style panda masks are given for free to children of all ages.
There has also been tremendous demand for the large panda teddy-bears that have been released. They stand 150-centimeters tall.
The joke around town is that the giant inflatable rubber duck touring Taipei, which deflated the other day, lost its air because it's jealous of the Panda.
Yuan-zai's parents arrived in Taiwan from the mainland five years ago.
