The sight of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao pottering about Iceland's natural wonders in windbreaker and hiking boots has raised suspicions over what China really wants from the island nation of 320,000. more ›

Nearly 1.1 million wealthy Chinese tourists visited America in 2011 to fill their suitcases with jewellery from Tiffany, bags from Burberry and a whole bunch of other brands that would cost thrice as much back home. more ›

Simon Murray, British businessman, adventurer and author, is better known as the “Tai Pan” (world's most venomous terrestrial snake) of Hong Kong in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Watch him tell Russia Today's Sophie Shevardnadze why he thinks China will not "lead the world forever and ever" or be "the centre of the world's economic future." more ›

Zong Qinghou, China’s second-richest man, talks about the economy and the government's economic policy. Zong, the 66-year-old self-made billionaire who is chairman of Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co., is a member of China’s legislature. He also discusses Europe's sovereign debt crisis and his company's legal disputes with Danone SA. He spoke on March 3 in Beijing with Bloomberg Television's Stephen Engle. (Source: Bloomberg) more ›

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Phil Inman argues on The Guardian: "China is a one-trick pony. Without the US and Europe to soak up its factory output, it doesn't have a growth plan. Except that isn't quite true. Like Japan in the 1980s and the UK in the decade before the boom, it has a liking for property investment. As a sideline to its enormous manufacturing sector, there is an ever-expanding apartment and office-building craze." more ›

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China Premiere Wen Jiabao has a piece in today's Financial Times about China's economy. He says in the article (most of which is behind the FT's paywall, grr!) that China is capable of sustaining fast economic growth and that it has brought inflation under control. more ›

Always a defender of the little people, China has now criticized European Union plans to impose a carbon emission cap on airlines flying in and out of Europe beginning on January 1, 2012. more ›

Part of a series of 12 audiovisual productions on show at the Belgian-EU pavilion to illustrate long-standing exchanges between China and the EU in the fields of education, science, technology, trade and lifestyle:
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15 years ago, Minhua Xia, the founder of Chinese clothing brand Été, came from her home in northern China to Shanghai alone to study fashion at China Spinning University (中国纺织大学), struggling to keep herself financially afloat by working at a clothing factory in her spare time. more ›

Shoppers in supermarkets across Europe will soon get the rare "treat" of watching short broadcasts from Xinhua while picking out their groceries. more ›

• Wen says Beijing ready to hold talks with Taiwan [The Associated Press] "China's Premier Wen Jiabao says Beijing is ready to hold talks with Taiwan on political and military issues aimed at ending hostility with the rival island. In a work report he delivered Thursday at the opening of the annual session of parliament, Wen cheered a significant improvement in ties and a major reduction in tensions over the past year with Taiwan."
• In Crisis, China Vows Openness [Washington Post] "In his first online chat with China's 1.3 billion citizens this weekend, Premier Wen Jiabao tried to charm his audience... It was almost as if Wen were campaigning for reelection, an effort unnecessary in China, where the Communist Party enjoys a monopoly on political power. But as the top legislative body, the National People's Congress, holds its annual meeting Thursday in Beijing, China's leaders acknowledge that these are extraordinary times. "
• Highlights of Premier Wen's gov't work report [Xinhua] "Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is to deliver a report on the work of his cabinet at the opening meeting of the annual full session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, scheduled to start in the Great Hall of the People at 9 a.m. Thursday."

Chinese premier leaves Beijing for European tour [Xinhua] more ›

He may not have won the Nobel Peace Prize that he was tipped to win, but Chinese dissident Hu Jia has just been awarded the Sakharov Prize, the top human rights award given out by the European Parliament. China had lobbied hard for Hu Jia to be passed over for the award, as it did during the Nobel selection, with Song Zhe, the Chinese ambassador to the EU delivering a stern warning that this "would inevitably hurt the Chinese people once again and bring serious damage to China-EU relations". For all the work he's done, Hu Jia remains relatively unknown in China today, although he is a favourite posterboy for Chinese dissidents among EU lawmakers because he once addressed the European Parliament via webcam while he was under house arrest. Next week's EU-China summit in Beijing will be a fun one to watch. more ›

Recliners made by the Dongguan-based company Linkwise are causing cases of eczema, stinging allergic rashes and infections among French customers who bought them. The problems were traced to the use of the chemical, dimethyl fumarate, which is used to prevent mould and fungus on the chairs. The French distributor Conforama has since severed its business ties with Linkwise and told its suppliers to stop all use of the chemical. Out of the 38,000 Linkwise chairs it sold, it says customers have returned about 800 so far. A rash of cases has also cropped up in Britain, Sweden and Finland. One British attorney is now representing 1,300 customers and suing Linkwise for compensation. [Source] more ›

If you've been looking to fly to Europe for that much-needed break, ladies and gentlemen, that time is now. Air fares to Europe are at all-time lows and have never been cheaper in the six years that we've been here. Lufthansa leads the pack with the eye-popping offer of a return flight to Germany from Beijing at RMB3,760 and from Shanghai at RMB4,880. Air France has the very special web deal of a return tic to the UK from both Beijing and Shanghai from RMB4,040. KLM is also flying to the UK from RMB4,040 and elsewhere in Europe via Amsterdam from RMB4,470. In the meanwhile, new kid on the block Air Berlin flies direct from Shanghai to a host of destinations in German-speaking Europe including Berlin, Hamburg, Duesseldorf, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Munich, Vienna and Zurich. We found a one-way ticket to Duesseldorf for about EUR300 (incl. taxes) — not a bad price at all, if you're not thinking of coming back to Shanghai that is! more ›

Honestly, when China threw a shitfit after German chancellor Merkel met the Dalai Lama, we really didn't give a hoot, in part because we've given up on seeing our dream of Tibetan secession realized in our lifetimes. But one thing you might not have known is that this diplomatic contretemps spilled over to affect our fair city. There was supposed to be a week long symposium sponsored by Der Spiegel at the Duolun Museum... more ›

According to a blog essay we found, a recent poll by Harris Interactive showed that of 6,000 people from France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and the US, the overwhelming majority considered China the second most powerful nation in the world after the USA. We did some searching on the internet, and couldn't find mention of that report. We tried on Harris Interactive's site as well, but no dice. Perhaps we haven't looked hard enough? Or... more ›