Al-Jazeera takes another look at children, this time at the 150,000 homeless children that the government estimates roams the streets of China. Our hearts are drawn to Wang Pan who wandered the streets alone for a year after his mother was put on death row for murdering his father (while he watched), and Guo Jianhua who himself was once an absent father and is today the founder of an orphanage in Shaanxi province. Recently on......

Tony Birtley of Al-Jazeera reports that between 70,000 and 200,000 babies, children and women are kidnapped each year around China. Baby boys are sold for as much as US$5,000 to desperate childless couples, and some of the abductees even end up overseas in the hands of foreign adopters. Police have had some success in breaking up child trafficking rings, but most of the anxious parents, like the ones interviewed in this report, can only wait.......

Tony Cheng of Al-Jazeera visits an old woman in Tokay village in Xinjiang who is only now experiencing electricity in her home for the first time in her life, thanks to the new solar cells that have been installed in homes around the region.......

Tony Cheng of Al-Jazeera pays a visit to Zhongdian County (中甸县) — which was renamed Shangri-La (香格里拉县) in 2001 to attract tourists — and finds that it is far from the mystical, harmonious valley as described by the British author in his 1933 novel Lost Horizon. Although the town is located hundreds of miles away from Lhasa, where riots earlier this year threatened to spoil the show for the Beijing Olympics, a heavy, military presence......

From Al-Jazeera: China's staunch support of Sudan's government has led some to question Beijing's involvement in the UN peacekeeping mission to Darfur. Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow reports from southern Darfur where, in spite of international skepticism, China has become the first non-African country to send all of its promised troops to the war-torn region.......

From Al-Jazeera:China is on course to join Japan and the US as a leader in the art of animation. Zhongnan Animation, is one of China's top animation studios — but fledgling at only 5 years old. There are approximately 1,000 employees working there and trying to compete in an industry dominated by Japan and the United States. As Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan reports, it is a lucrative market and China already has an audience of......

Last Wednesday's episode of The Riz Khan Show on Al Jazeera English dealt with Chinese industries in Africa. Khan hosted a debate among three experts on the subject: Richard Behar, an investigative journalist and author of an article this month in Fast Company titled "China Storms Africa;" John Afele, former director of the International Program for Africa at the University of Guelph; and David Shinn, former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia. The question on the......

This latest piece of excellent work from Tony Cheng of Al-Jazeera has some eye-opening footage of what life looks like in Nanjie village (南街) in Henan province, supposedly the last place in China that is run along Maoist lines, where everything has been renationalised and collectivised. The clip reveals that the "village" is really a town that doesn't look all too bad at all, but it also does leave us with a few questions in......

The last installment of Al Jazeera's series on China in the program People and Power investigates the Lhasa Express, the 4000 km train line linking Beijing with Lhasa. Exclusive interviews with members of the Tibetan government in exile and recently escaped Tibetan prisoners echo the familiar refrain that the Chinese government is encouraging a massive influx of Han Chinese to Tibet, but zero coverage of the flip side. In other Tibet-related news: Bloomberg: Acting......

China's new ban on plastic bags came into force on Saturday, June 1, but as Gerald Tan of Al-Jazeera finds out, the ban is not without its social cost. The Huaqing Plastic Factory, what used to be China's largest plastic bag manufacturer has closed its doors weeks after the ban was announced in January, and with that, 20,000 people lost their jobs.......

The official death toll in the Sichuan earthquake has been revised upwards to 32,477. Deaths have also been recorded in Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Henan, Hubei and Yunnan. Within Sichuan, the Mianyang and Deyang regions suffered the most fatalities, with estimated deaths of 11,874 and 10,341 respectively. 209,900 people are reported injured, and the final death toll is expected to exceed 50,000Four foreign teams from Russia, Singapore, Japan and Korea have been allowed in to take......

Al-Jazeera: The scenes of destruction and devastation, and the smell of death. Melissa Chan wins our thumbs-up once again with this report: AP catches up with the group of British tourists that have been rescued from the Wolong Panda Preserve: AP: "The focus of rescue workers is starting to shift to a recovery mission. The death toll is already approaching 15,000 and that number is expected to skyrocket. (May 15)" France24:"While the earthquake's death toll......

Melissa Chan of Al-Jazeera is one of several foreign correspondents currently in Sichuan Province and files this story from Juyuan Middle School at Dujiangyan (都江堰) where Premier Wen Jiabao was earlier.......

Leading political scientists Kishore Mahbubani of the National University of Singapore, Prof Barry Sautman of the University of Hong Kong, and Dr Chandra Muzaffar of the University of Science Malaysia provide much food for thought in this latest discussion on how China is dealing with the pressure of protests as the Olympics draws ever nearer on Al-Jazeera's 101 East.......

From Al-Jazeera: "The Olympic flame has landed in Hong Kong, arriving back on Chinese soil, but it hasn't yet outrun the controversy that disrupted much of its journey around the world." From Al-Jazeera: "China has imposed a partial ban on smoking in public places in line with its aim to hold a smoke-free Olympic Games. Melissa Chan reports from Beijing." From AP: "Actress Mia Farrow was briefly questioned at Hong Kong's airport Thursday before officials......

Al Jazeera: "Transformed from being the land of bicycles into a land of cars, China's booming economy is driving up demand at a time when car sales are slow elsewhere in the world. Al Jazeera's Tony Cheng visited the Beijing motor show which showed much promise in making China the future of the automotive industry." Al Jazeera: "More than 80,000 people were killed in traffic accidents in China last year, making the country's roads the......

This Sunday, kick back and enjoy this discussion on press freedom in China on Al-Jazeera's 101 East. The show begins with an excellent backgrounder on the current state of press freedom by Tony Chen who interviews people like Melinda Liu, Newsweek's Beijing bureau chief and president of the Foreign Correspondents Club of China; former CCP official Bao Tong who is now under house arrest, and Huang Tianliang, the former chief editor of Bai Xing......

From Al-Jazeera:The UN has said that emerging economies face challenge in achieving growth without damaging the environment. Tony Cheng reports on Chinese factory workers in Henan province, paying a high price for the country's push to go green.......

From Al Jazeera English: Tenzin Wangmo Dunchu, EU representative of the Tibetan government in exile, joins Sir David and discusses the Tibetan protests, violence and deaths that resulted from them. She tells Sir David that the accusations against the Dalai Lama by the Chinese government are false and go against his teachings. The Chinese government has suggested that the Dalai Lama is responsible for the Tibetan protests and violence. She says an investigation team should......

From Al-Jazeera English:The Beijing Olympics are still 5 months away but they're attracting attention for all the wrong reasons. Human rights campaigners have been staging protests, demanding China be called to account for its human rights record in Tibet. Owen Fay reports on protests designed to place pressure on Beijing. Related stories: New York Times: Tibetan Marchers Arrested in India AHN: Tibetan Exiles Embark On Hunger Strike In India To Protest Against Arrests International Herald......

Al-Jazeera has followed up on the Yilishen ant farming incident, a massive investment scandal that conned thousands of Chinese (and as many as one million by some reports) out of their life savings. He also got into some trouble with the local police while on location at Yilishen's now-vacant office building. Four years ago, Yilishen got into trouble with the US Food and Drug Administration for selling "dietary supplements" that included Sildenafil, the active drug......

With 276 metric tonnes of gold produced in 2007, or over a tenth of the world's supply, China may now be the world's largest producer of gold, but as Tony Cheng of Al-Jazeera finds out, it will not be the world's largest exporter anytime soon because all that gold is being snapped up by the Chinese at home.........

This week on Shanghaiist Sunday Show, we turn on our eye to the refugee issue and bring you not just one but two documentaries. The first documentary is a show on Al Jazeera's 101 East which features Tibetan refugees trying to get out of China and the second one is a show on North Korean refugees trying to come into China. In this report, Al Jazeera's Teymoor Nabili speaks to Tenzin Choephel, a Tibetan journalist......

The last time an anchor from our favourite TV channel made it to the news, he created such a brouhaha that culminated in the eviction of one coffee company from the Forbidden City. In the news this time is New Zealand-born anchor Edwin Maher who for many years before arriving in China was a weatherman with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The Los Angeles Times published a profile of Maher that started it all off. It......

China to report military data to UN [Al Jazeera] China says it will provide the United Nations with information on its military spending and arms deals for the first time in more than a decade. Beijing launches food safety crackdown [Washington Post] Beijing is targeting unlicensed restaurants and checking the quality of many foods in a crackdown on unsafe products less than a year before the city welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors to the......

Tokyo, Japan - China Airlines apologises for inferno horror [Channel News Asia] The head of China Airlines on Tuesday handed out apologies and cash to passengers who barely escaped a blaze that destroyed one of the Taiwanese carrier's planes on a runway in Okinawa, Japan. Amman, Jordan - Interpol issues arrest warrant for Saddam's daughter [BBC] Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Raghad Hussein, the eldest daughter of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Meanwhile,......