Grand Slam

(XINHUA)

Li Xiaoxia, a Chinese table tennis player, recently won both the women's singles and doubles events at the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships in Paris, recording a grand slam.

Li won the women's singles at the 2008 World Table Tennis Championships and the 2012 Olympic Games. She also championed the table tennis team event at the 2012 Olympics.

Born in 1988 in northeast China's Liaoning Province, Li started to play table tennis at 8.

Rock Climber

(CFP)

Jean-Michel Casanova, a rock climber from France scaled the 172-meter-tall metal elevator frame in Zhangjiajie, a scenic spot in central China's Hunan Province, on May 18.

Casanova climbed the structure in 68 minutes equipped with only hiking shoes and a waist pack containing climbing chalk. The structure is the highest outdoor sightseeing elevator in the world.

Casanova was a stunt double for the flim Iron Man 3.

"Stricter oversight of the elevator industry is needed. Otherwise it won't be surprising if there are more fatal accidents."

Xu Ronggen, Secretary General of Beijing Chamber of Elevator Commerce, responding on May 15 to an accident that killed a 24-year-old woman in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province

"A clear and comprehensive food safety standard is needed to pave the way for promoting insects as food."

Gao Xiwu, an entomologist at the Chinese Agricultural University who specializes in the economic value of insects, on May 16

"In China, the breast-feeding rate in the past decade has dropped by 20 percent, which has posed great difficulties in promoting the development of breast milk banks."

Hu Min, Secretary General of the Ningbo Breastfeeding Association, an NGO that tried in vain to establish China's first breast milk bank in 2008, on May 15

"Beijing has the best medical and academic resources compared with other cities, but it's not necessarily the most habitable."

Huang Hui, a 27-year-old software engineer from Beijing, responding to a report released by the National Academy of Economic Strategy on May 19 that found most first-tier cities in China to be barely suitable for living due to their poor environmental track record