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This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.

China has launched the Silk Road tourism year in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, to attract more visitors on the ancient Silk Road which linked China with central Asia.

Every year the China National Tourism Administration sets a theme for tourism promotion. Inspired by the Silk Road, China will promote western provinces for their rich culture and tourism appeal.

Officials say the Silk Road tourism year will facilitate regional cooperation, deepen mutual understanding and establish mutually beneficial ties for all related countries.

Shaanxi Province is investing more in tourism and cementing its position as the starting point of the Silk Road.

This is NEWS Plus Special English.

Apple has opened a new store in Henan Province, the first in central China, bringing the number of Apple stores on the Chinese mainland to 13.

The new store is located in downtown Zhengzhou, the provincial capital.
Market observers say the opening marked an important step on the layout of Apple's retail chains in China. The city is also home to Foxconn, an Apple production facility and Apple's main supplier.

The observers say Apple will take advantage of this shorter and more convenient logistic channel; and Henan Province, with a population of more than 94 million, is no doubt a tempting market.

Earlier this month, a report from investment banking firm UBS showed strong demand for Apple's latest iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus smartphones which had helped the Chinese market outsell the United States for the first time.

The demand for the IPhone has seen outsized growth in China. China constitutes as much as 35 percent of shipments in the last quarter of 2014, higher than the ratio of the U.S. market. During the same period last year, China's market share was 22 percent.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said during a trip to China in October that it's just a matter of time before China "becomes Apple's biggest revenue contributor".

Cook also said Apple will increase the number of Apple stores in China, from 15 to 40, in the next few years.

This is NEWS Plus Special English.

A high-tech show in Beijing and Shanghai will take Vincent van Gogh's work to new dimensions.

This year marks the 125th anniversary of the death of the Dutch painter and art legend.

A multimedia show in Beijing and Shanghai will be launched to celebrate Van Gogh's short-lived yet prolific career. The exhibition also aims to challenge the audience's preconceptions and help viewers better appreciate Van Gogh's artworks.

The show "Van Gogh Alive" creates a multi-sensory experience. Within 35 minutes, it projects more than 3,000 high-resolution photos on 40 huge screens, the columns and floor of the exhibition venues.

The images display Van Gogh's canvases, sketches, drafts and letters written mostly to his younger brother, Theo.

The Australian exhibition-producing company Grande Exhibitions designed and premiered "Van Gogh Alive" in Singapore in 2011. Technicians dissected and magnified different parts of Van Gogh's paintings to showcase how he handled layers of colors.

They also animated some details. For example, they made the crows in "Wheatfield" come alive using real crows. The landscape believed to be Van Gogh's last work. They also activated a train in one of his drafts, which runs on the 4-to-7 meter-high screens.

The show will begin with displays of a series of Van Gogh's self-portraits and narration in five chapters of his whole life, both in the Netherlands and France. His signature works that appear include "Starry Night", "Sunflowers" and "Cafe Terrace at Night".

Van Gogh was born in 1853 and died in 1890.

You are listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.

A new study has found that physical activity has intrinsically rewarding effects.
Researchers in Germany have studied the influence of sport on the adaptability of the brain, and published the results in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Animal experiments showed that if rodents have access to a running wheel, they run voluntarily for many miles per day.

The study also found that voluntary running may extend the period of youthful adaptability in the brain into adulthood.

What's more, this type of youthful adaptability can be restored even in adult mice at an age in which the visual cortices plasticity usually does not exist anymore.

The study reveals that a few days of voluntary training in the impeller are enough to allow changes in the brain. This shows that it is never too late to benefit from exercise.