A Japanese chef competes with Chinese chefs during a Chinese pasta cooking contest in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, Sept 19, 2013. Organized by the international exchange service center in Xi'an, a governmental organization, the contest aims to strengthen communication over traditional Chinese pasta cooking methods. Those methods were carried to Japan by Japanese Monk Kukai, who traveled to China in AD 804, to study Esoteric Buddhist practices in the city of Xi'an (then called Chang'an) during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907). [Photo by Yuan Jingzhi/Asianewsphoto]