A painter was drawing a lion head body painting on a model during the auto show on March 15, 2015. The local 2015 auto show was held in Xuchang Stadium in Xuchang, Henan Province, China. The exhibitors tried a variety of ways for promotion and attracting people's attention. Some exhibitors were giving gifts to the people scanning their QR codes and add them onto friends list. An auto company has invited young s*x underwear models and drew body paintings on the girls. (Photo by Xu Zhongxin/Sipa Asia)

Music student Daniele Gonzalez, (centre row, L), and Australian musician Susie Park from the Minnesota Orchestra (centre row, 2nd L), react during a rehearsal in Havana, May 15, 2015. The Minnesota Orchestra will offer two concerts in Havana and is the first major U.S. orchestra to play in Cuba since 1999. The trip cost nearly $1 million. It was underwritten by Marilyn Carlson Nelson, an heir to the Carlson hotel company fortune, and her husband Glen. The U.S. government gave special permission for a direct charter flight from Minneapolis to Havana for the event, putting 4 tons of equipment and 160 people on an Airbus 330. (Photo by Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)

Do you think that history is a science? Well, not exactly. First, and foremost, history is the state's “legend of wars”, it’s official regalia. Of course, public historians are not interested in scientific truth – quite the opposite. In this respect, any attempt to present a state’s history as altruistic and benevolent as possible is welcomed and encouraged – as opposed to any revisionism attempts that may be more accurate. In this matter, Chinese have surpassed us all – they revised in highly creative manner (but rather shamelessly) the technology already invented by Europeans, a process that resulted in oldest state on the planet. Here is an interesting paradox: ask any sinologist about the Middle Kingdom during second century B.C., and he will describe it to you in such a vivid manner as if he has been living there all his life – but as soon as you will ask him to describe Chinese history in the 19-20th centuries… let's say, his eagerness will be greatly diminished. However, we will discuss China in a different article, and in the meantime we will try to understand how exactly historic “legend of wars” is formed and functions – based on a specific and well-known example. A great example is Ferdinand Magellan's first voyage around the world.

Palestinian barber Ramadan Odwan styles and straightens the hair of a customer with fire at his salon in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip February 2, 2017. In Ramadan Odwan's barbershop in Gaza, hair isn't just blow-dried, it's blowtorch-dried. “People have gone crazy about it, many people are curious to go through the experience and they are not afraid”, he told Reuters. “People here love adventures”. (Photo by Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

Fossilized whale bones are on display outside the Wati El Hitan Fossils and Climate Change Museum, a UNESCO natural World Heritage site, on the opening day, in the Fayoum oasis, Egypt, Thursday, January 14, 2016. Egypt has cut the ribbon on the Middle East's first fossil museum housing the world's largest intact skeleton of a "walking whale" in an attempt to attract much-needed tourists driven off by recent militant attacks. The construction of the much-hyped Fossils and Climate Change Museum was covered a 2 billion euros (2. 17 billion dollars) grant from Italy, according to Italian Ambassador Maurizio Massari. Its centerpiece is an intact, 37-million-year-old and 20-meter-long skeleton of a legged form of whale that testifies to how modern-day whales evolved from land mammals. The sand-colored, dome-shaped museum is barely discernible in the breathtaking desert landscape that stretches all around. (Photo by Thomas Hartwell/AP Photo)

Wednesday March 8 marks International Women's Day, with festivals, concerts and exhibitions among the numerous events planned around the world to celebrate the achievements of women in society. The annual event has been held since the early 1900s and traditionally promotes a different theme each year, with this year's edition calling on people to #BeBoldForChange and push for a more gender-inclusive working world. Reuters photographers have been speaking with women in a range of professions around the world about their experiences of gender inequality. Here: Yolaina Chavez Talavera, 31, a firefighter, poses for a photograph in front of a truck at a fire station in Managua, Nicaragua, February 22, 2017. (Photo by Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters)

Chinese women wear protective masks as they are dressed in traditional clothing from the Qing Dynasty era outside a park on March 29, 2020 in Beijing, China. A limited section of the iconic tourist site was re-opened to the public this week allowing a smaller number of visitors to reserve tickets online in advance and to enter after passing health screening. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Bottles of vintage cognac, with a royal warrant stamp, are seen in storage inside Berry Bros and Rudd wine merchants in central London, Britain, August 21, 2015. Berry Bros. & Rudd, which started as grocers over 300 years ago in St. James's, central London, has two royal warrants. Every year Queen Elizabeth grants about 20 royal warrants, the gold emblem of the British monarchy, in a practice dating back to medieval times. The warrant holders can display the certificate and use the royal coat of arms in their marketing. The warrants lasting five years can help businesses break into new markets overseas, using their role as supplier to the royal family as a gauge of quality. On September 9, Queen Elizabeth will overtake Queen Victoria as Britain's longest-serving monarch. (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)