Word: yan
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...Olympics. Even the tennis cognoscenti, who easily negotiated the tongue-twister names of the blond, leggy Russians who have come to dominate the tour in recent years, knew little about Sun Tiantian and Li Ting. Today, they have been joined by another pair, Zheng and her fellow Sichuan native Yan Zi, who captured three doubles titles last season. In singles competition, a baby-faced 20-year-old named Peng Shuai last year reached China's highest-ever world ranking, 31, by trouncing top-10 players such as Kim Clijsters and Elena Dementieva. Peng even made the semi-finals...
...women?currently required to hand over up to 65% of their earnings to the state?were obliged to skip Wimbledon last year in order to train for the National Games, a domestic version of the Olympics. "We believe that winning the National Games is the greatest joy," says Yan, who won the national doubles title with Zheng in October. "Foreigners are more individualistic and care about their WTA ranking, but we feel proudest when we do something good for our province or our country." Such national spirit is rare in the hyper-competitive world of pro tennis...
...Peng's teammates, though, her previous stint in America is a source of envy. "I wish I could train with the world's best, but I'm too old now," says Yan, 21. "Maybe the next generation of Chinese tennis players can do that." Teammate Zheng, who jokes that she prefers singles tennis to doubles competition because it's more lucrative, is more practical. "In the U.S. you can buy so many nice clothes," she says. "There's just a lot more choice there." Even after all these years, sometimes it's still about the clothes...
INDICTED. ZHAO YAN, 43, New York Times researcher; on charges of revealing state secrets; in Beijing. While the indictment does not refer to a specific story, Zhao was arrested in September 2004, days after a Times report correctly predicted that former President Jiang Zemin was about to step down from his post as head of the military. Zhao, whom the Times has said did not provide the newspaper with state secrets, faces a 10-year prison sentence if convicted...
...pages about sex from the textbooks," says Hu Peicheng, secretary-general of the China Sexology Association in Beijing. With little knowledge of birth control, an increasing number of unmarried women are getting pregnant in a culture in which single motherhood is still taboo. A survey by Shanghai medical researcher Yan Fengting found that 65% of urban women undergoing abortions in 2004 were single, compared with just 25% in 1999. Rates of sexually transmitted diseases are skyrocketing too, with HIV infections growing most quickly among Chinese 15 to 24 years old. Brothels barely disguised as beauty salons crowd the streets...