A recent survey shows that China is rapidly replacing the US and Britain as the top source of inspiration for many Africans, with 34 per cent of Kenyans looking up to Beijing as a role model and destination for business opportunities, technology and infrastructure development.

While Mao Zedong once said that women hold up half of the sky, in truth women wield relatively little power in China, particularly in politics. There are no women among the recently elected members of the Politburo Standing Committee. Traditionally, first ladies rarely entered the spotlight and fell under a cloak of secrecy.

A five-way agreement between New Zealand and Chinese agriculture-related institutions will help develop China's sheep farming and pasture growth, New Zealand Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said Friday.

Werbel's new book Lessons from China: America in the Hearts and Minds of the World's Most Important Rising Generation chronicles her experiences in and out of the classroom. The book captures Werbel's Chinese students in their own words as they grapple with America's tragic and transcendent past and, in doing so, inevitably reflect upon their own country's past, present, and future.

Ethiopia, however, is not the sole recipient of aid, loans or developmental assistance from China. The country is fourth on a long list - behind Ghana, Nigeria and Sudan - among the top African beneficiaries of Chinese largesse. Since 2002, China has invested an estimated $75bn on the continent, hot on the heels of the United States, which invested $90bn during the same period. The US might still hold the edge over China on investment, but the Chinese replaced the US as Africa's biggest trade partner in 2009.

The U.S. culture of openness and innovation will keep this country central in an information age in which networks supplement, if not fully replace, hierarchical power. The United States is well positioned to benefit from such networks and alliances if our leaders follow smart strategies. In structural terms, it matters that the two entities with per-capita income and sophisticated economies similar to that of the United States — Europe and Japan — are both allied with the United States.

The recent summit meeting in California between President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping was seen by many as an important milestone in Sino-American bilateral relations. Indeed, the informality and broad range of subjects discussed between two competitive nations led many observers to draw parallels to the U.S.-Soviet summits of yesteryear.

Buddhist associations from both Taiwan and the Chinese mainland were involved in a gesture heavy with symbolism on Thursday. Taiwan’s Ling Jiou Mountain Buddhist Society brought a Tara Guanyin statue to Putuo Mountain, one of China’s four Buddhist mountains. A total of 27 monks and 374 pilgrims from Taiwan accompanied the statue which is a smaller version of Ling Jiou Mountain’s iconic Guanyin statue. It will be placed in Putuo Mountain, and the gesture marks deepening exchanges.