From inside China, it often appears as if modern Chinese power is more aimed at erasing a painful past than at writing a dominant future. But there is one topic where the peace-loving Chinese seem worryingly militaristic: Taiwan. AFP/Getty Images hide caption

J.S. Bach's Cantata No. 171 is part of the Lehman Collection. The iron-gall ink Bach used to compose the piece has eroded the paper. Caroline Cooper hide caption

Syrians carry national flags during a candlelight vigil in honor of those who were killed in recent violence, in Damascus on Wednesday. It was the first officially sanctioned protest in the capital, and it comes just days after the regime allowed opposition activists to meet at a Damascus hotel. Muzaffar Salman/AP hide caption

Margaret Mitchell, pictured above in 1941, started writing while recovering from an ankle injury in 1926. She had read her way through most of Atlanta's Carnegie Library, so her husband brought home a typewriter and said: "Write your own book to amuse yourself." The result was Gone with the Wind. Al Aumuller/Telegram & Sun/Library of Congress hide caption

This handout photo released by the Cuban website www.cubadebate.cu shows former Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez reading Tuesday's edition of the state newspaper Granma in Havana on Tuesday. AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Chef Lao Wei Xiong cooks up a carry-out order for foreign reporters in the kitchen at al Maida restaurant in Tripoli. NPR hide caption