After more than 70 years a large rare fungus collection has been returned to China from Cornell University. Curator Shu Chun Teng smuggled the collection out of the country at the start of World War II just as the Japanese were invading to keep it safe. He later suffered during the Cultural Revolution for "selling China's history." [New York Times] more ›

• China's Worsening Water Crisis [Forbes] "China is facing an extremely severe water resources problem. This year, northern China is experiencing a huge drought, and it is a warning bell. Solving our worsening water problem is a difficult undertaking the Chinese government and people can no longer avoid. Since entering a period of rapid economic growth 30 years ago, China has had at its disposal only 7% of the world's arable land to meet the needs of 20% of the world's population. It has had to utilize these scare land resources with relatively low average per-capita water supplies and backward technology."
• A conversation with China's young Communists [CNN] "When we requested an interview with members of the Communist Youth League, I expected an army of suits with well-rehearsed answers. Instead, we met three students casually dressed in jeans, just 18 to 23 years old.The interview was arranged by the State Council Information Office, in advance of the upcoming 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China."
• Beijing gets ready for H1N1 inoculations [China Daily] "Beijing is gearing up for a mass H1N1 flu inoculation of young students as its previous vaccination of hundreds of thousands of Chinese nationwide proved to be safe. No "serious adverse reactions" were detected among the recipients, the country's health minister, Chen Zhu, said Monday at a press conference, without elaborating on the definition of serious adverse reaction."