Pigs and Puccini

From 200 B.C to the fall of Rome, the Chinese and Roman empires were the world's two great civilizations. They knew each other only from afar. Marco Polo bridged the gap in the 13th century, but when he published his Travels in 1299, many Italians found his descriptions of China too weird to be true. Pity: the Chinese and Italians have much in common.

Noodle Nations

The discovery of 4,000-year old spaghetti in northwestern China this year probably closes the centuries-old debate on which culture invented noodles. But Italy gets credit for adding parmesan.

They love their mothers!

In both countries, a mother is a boy's best friend--even when the boys are in their 40s.

They love their pigs, too!

Italians and Chinese have long known how to eat everything in a pig but the squeak. And if Europeans think that Parma or San Daniele defines hog heaven, they haven't tried a Yunnan ham. Chinese salami, alas, needs some help.

It's not over until...

The most enduring operas in the world are Italian and Chinese. China's got the better makeup, Italy the more hummable tunes. Crossover moment: Turandot.

Extracted from Newsweek.