We're delighted to belatedly tell you what your great efforts at The Beijinger 2011 Charity Super Quiz raised. The grand total was a whopping RMB 28,042. Well done to everyone involved. We'd like to thank everyone who came out and attended the event. We'd like to thank the quizmasters (and Tuba John) for helping and Chocolate for hosting. Most of all, though, we'd like to thank the Holt Ping An Medical Foster Home for the good work they are doing with the money that you all raised.

Last week we launched our first-ever writing contest, asking you to describe your Beijing in six words. The entries so far have been of a refreshingly high standard. However, we know that you've all got a little more left in the literary tank. You've got until 9am on Thursday, February 16 to tell us your tiny stories.

You can enter as many times as you like. The only rules are that each of your entries must be six words long – and that all of the words must be in English. Send them to sixwords@thebeijinger.com.

We’re not long into the Year of the Dragon and the big chains are already putting the drag into it. Starbucks, Pizza Hut and McDonald's have riled netizens for raising prices on many of their products China-wide. The increases may seem small (the odd kuai here or there) but is it a sign that more retailers will be raising prices in the year ahead? An article on ABC News, reporting on Starbucks' similar pricing increases in the States, certainly seems to think so; they've listed another 11 things that American consumers can expect to pay more for in 2012.

Do you remember what you were doing at around 10am in the morning on Sunday, October 23 last year? Little did we all know that it could have been our last moments on Earth.

At some time between 9.45 and 10.15am Beijing time on October 23, 2011, a German satellite entered the earth’s atmosphere and took around 15 minutes to hit the Earth. What we didn’t know until just recently is that Beijing came very close to being the site of the collision. According to London’s Daily Telegraph, the head of the European Space Agency’s debris team, Heiner Klinkrad, has now divulged, "Our calculations showed that, if Rosat had crashed to the ground just seven to 10 minutes later, it would have hit Beijing."

What does that mean?

Balls, balls, balls. It's been quite a week of sport and it promises to be a sport-tacular weekend. Read on for more on what's on to watch, what's been going on and how you can get involved. Let's start with the 500-pound linebacker in the room. The Super Bowl takes place at 7.30am on Monday. Here's a list of where you can pack yourselves in and decide whether the best New is England or York.

We're delighted to launch our first-ever writing contest. You're all invited to enter. In fact, to make sure that the competition is open to everyone, we've given it a bit of a twist. All we want from all of you budding wordsmiths is just six words.

Smith brought the world the Six-Word Memoir. Before that, as legend would have it, Hemingway wrote his best work in just six words: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

You too can wow the world in six little words. Your story could win you worldwide fame, VIP status and a new life. Well, maybe not all of that ... but you will get your words in print as well as prizes from us and our friends at The Bookworm International Literary Festival (BLF). Read on to learn more.

Love is … in the air, although you might not be able to see it among the particulate matter.

Who do we want to be our Valentine? Take a guess.

We Heart Beijing. How do we love thee? In our Cover Feature we count the ways.

We're well aware three days into this work week that we're not on holiday but everyone seems to like these caption contests. Let's have some more fun with this one. All you have to do to win something drawn at random from our prize cupboard is create a caption for the above photo. Leave it as a comment below. The best - as in the one that we like the most - will be determined the winner. The competition is open until we can open the prize cupboard. Good luck. Winners will be picked by the end of this week ... and there really are prizes to be won.

The preliminary fixture list for the upcoming season of the Chinese Super League has been announced. Beijing Guoan are scheduled to start with a home game against Guangzhou Fuli on the weekend of March 10/11 and then follow it up with an early season grudge match against Shanghai Shenhua on March 16. It doesn't really get any better than Friday nights watching Beijing take on Shanghai under the floodlights - and with their new signings including the likes of Nicolas Anelka and Guoan's Joel Griffiths there's added spice. Come on you greens.

Below are some big games to look out for and Wild East Football have started to list the the full season here. Bear in mind that this is preliminary and subject to change. One factor that will certainly affect it is Beijing's AFC Champions' League progress (or not, based on previous campaigns).

While everyone's still on holiday (if you are lucky enough to not be in work today) we thought we'd let you have some fun and give you the chance to win some prizes. All you have to do to win something drawn at random from our prize cupboard is create a caption for the above photo. Leave it as a comment below. The best - as in the one that we like the most - will be determined the winner. The competition is open until everyone's back at work on Monday. Good luck. Winners will be picked as soon as we tire of deleting a week's worth of email spam.