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New evidence has been found in an archeological site in Beijing, suggesting that the ancestors of modern human beings were able to use fire more than 600,000 years ago.
The findings were announced after archeologists spent three years excavating the Zhou-kou-dian fossil site, in the western suburbs of Beijing.
Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences discovered a fire site with the remains of sintering soil, and burned rocks and bones.
Some animal bones at the site were entirely carbonized and had turned black, a result of burning. Some fire sites are encircled by rocks and lime, resulting from limestone burning.
Fossils of "Peking Man" were discovered in the same area in the 1920s. An almost intact skull earned the place the title of one of the birth places of humans.
Ashes, burned bones and rocks, as well as charred seeds were also found in 1929, which was taken as proof that "Peking Man" knew how to use fire.
However, there has been skepticism which claims that the burning may have been resulted from naturally occurring fire.
The researchers say the new evidence is more convincing, because it has been found under the earth untouched, without weather damage. It shows that the "Peking Man" knew how to keep kindling and control fire.
This is NEWS Plus Special English.
Oxygen matters in the opening match of China's National Basketball League, the NBL, when players from the central plains had to inhale oxygen from time to time.
Members of Nanjing city's military team had to be substituted every minute and were forced to inhale oxygen once they sat at the sidelines. They were playing the local team in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, which lies at an altitude of 3,700 meters above sea level. The time of the game was cut short, from 12 minutes to 10 minutes for each period.
The local team won the match 53-32 in their NBL debut. Team Lhasa is the first ever professional basketball team in Tibet.
The NBL is a basketball league which operates parallel with the better known CBA, the Chinese Basketball Association, and is smaller in scale and has a shorter history. There are nine teams in the league for the 2015 season, while the CBA has 20 teams.
