Just read an interesting article -
Red on Gold: Teaching Honglou meng in California - by Ronald Egan, on teaching this novel to UC Santa Barbara students who read no Chinese and have not studied about China before, as part of the University's General Education requirements.
Here are some of his observations:
- the students have a hard time with the many Chinese names
- it is hard for them to comprehend the elaborate web of obligations and prohibitions within which the Jias and their servants navigate their lives
- they are moved by the candor in presenting not just the material splendor and laughter in the Jia household but also the sadness, injustice, and anxieties therein
- the students appreciate how critical Cao Xueqin can be of his own world, whether it be the matter of male lust and adultery, bureaucratic corruption, the shirking of domestic responsibilities by senior members of the clan, insensitivity to the plight of servants, or abuse of personal power for illicit profit
- the youngs students are particularly gripped by the story of the sad fate of the young girls and the parallel account of the tragic end to the love between Baoyu and Daiyu
"On the final examination for the course, one of the questions asked the students to pick the one character in the novel they found the most interesting, to explain why, and to comment on the character's personality, strengths, and weaknesses. ... If a poll had been taken, I believe that Wang Xifeng would have been the students' favorite, with Jiamu and Baochai close seconds. The students were not very sympathetic to Daiyu. They found her moodiness hard to tolerate, and her fatalism hard to forgive. Baoyu remained for my students something of an enigma. Many students, especially the men, did not know what to think of his effeminate tendencies."
Had a similar poll been taken on Chinese readers of the novel, Wang Xifeng would probably also be a "favourite", since there is little doubt that she is an outstanding character created by Cao Xueqin. Similarly, they probably would not be very sympathetic to Daiyu - who would want a modern day Daiyu as girlfriend? The only difference, compared to the Californian students, would be that Baoyu's "effeminate tendencies" should present less a problem to Chinese readers, since they are more familiar with the concept of 公子 in Chinese literature.
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I wonder whether you have heard of a rather surreal film called Life is cheap, but toilet paper is expensive directed by Wayne Wang (王穎) and starring Cora Miao (繆騫人), Wang's wife. The film is surely not to everybody's taste, and I was shocked by Cora Miao - my screen goddess - mouthing a 7-word foul language!
H. Allen Orr says (
Basically, Sudoku is a puzzle which involves an 9x9 grid. This main grid is then divided into 9 3x3 sub-grids (or boxes). The rule of the puzzle, according to the 
David Hurwitz of 
「用毛筆沾墨書寫時，墨汁幹燥緩慢。如果在可以書寫多行的表面上寫字，行列最理想是由左而右，手才不致塗污書跡。但是中國的習慣竟然是相反的由右而左。可以推測是由於主要用單行的竹簡書寫，寫時左手拿著竹片，右手持筆，寫完後以左手持放，因偶然而習慣由右至左一一排列，故而成為中國特有的書寫習慣。竹片編綴後可卷成一握，故以卷稱書的篇幅。後來雖於紙上印刷，猶有以墨線隔間，就是保持片片竹簡的古老傳統」。