China will host the biggest-ever world martial arts competition in the hinterland city of Shiyan over the next three days in a move to promote the Asian economic powerhouse's traditional culture internationally.

If two countries can respect each other's culture, the possibility of conflict will be vastly reduced, James Leach, chairman of the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), commented in an interview with Xinhua.

Taiwan's traditional ambivalence over its relations with mainland China has taken a knock as it struggles to formulate a response to the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to imprisoned pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo.

To discuss the development of financial derivative products and structured products in China, over 300 regulators and market players from Hong Kong and mainland gathered in Beijing for the Treasury Markets Summit 2010 on Friday.

US public diplomacy has morphed the Liu case out of the soft power human rights community into the hard power arena of economic warfare designed to pressure Beijing to devalue the Yuan and give Democrats badly needed credibility, votes and dollars in the run up to US midterm elections.

A group of 1,000 Japanese youngsters will be visiting the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai from Oct 27 to 30, another step toward restoring soured bilateral relations. Originally scheduled on Sept 21, the trip had to be postponed due to the rift between the two countries caused by a boat collision and consequent diplomatic rows.

The Chinese government continued its vilification campaign against the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a jailed dissident, Liu Xiaobo, by canceling another meeting with Norwegian officials and lambasting the award as an affront to the Chinese people and a ploy to try to change the country’s political system.

A Sino-Italian coproduction of Luigi Pirandello's drama "Six Characters in Search of an Author" was performed here from Thursday to Sunday, paving the way for a reinforced partnership with a view to the Milan Expo 2015.