Today we will learn about how to use traditional Chinese medicine for oral healthcare.  Tapping the teeth is an important method to promote oral health and longevity, and of particular importance in the mornings．The method is as follows．Get rid of all those stray thoughts in order to relax your mind．Then, gently close your mouth．Next, tap the back teeth approximately fifty times．Afterwards, tap the incisor teeth, here, again approximately fifty times．Finally．tap the molar teeth with the upper and lower teeth’ staggered around 50 times．Do this exercise once in the morning and once in the evening, or perhaps three times a day if you like．For massaging the lips, close your mouth and lips tightly．Then, use the four closed-up fingers of the right hand to gently knead and rub the outside margins of lips both clockwise and anticlockwise until the area becomes slightly hot and tempered．This method promotes oral and gingival blood circulation, helping to make the teeth healthier and stronger．It can also prevent dental diseases and has the added benefit of facial beautification and general health care too．

As one of North Koreas' few friends, China has more interest than most in political changes in its small next door neighbor. Many analysts see the recent promotion of Kim Jong-un - son of current leader Kim Jong-il - to the rank of general as a clear sign he's being placed to take over from his father. If so he’ll be the third generation of Kims to lead the country after his father and grandfather. So what do ordinary Chinese people feel about the possibility of an inexperienced twenty-something year old, whose main qualification seems to be his family name, taking over the leadership of a nuclear power on their doorstep? Well, that’s what we went out and asked in today’s Straight for the Street.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is in South Korea this week to show unity between the two countries and to plan joint-military drills meant to-- as one U.S. military official put it-- send a message of deterrence to North Korea. This comes four months after the sinking of a South Korean warship- the Cheonan- which killed 46 soldiers. The United Nations condemned the attack, but did not go as far as laying blame on North Korea. An international investigation led by south Korea concluded it was sunk by a North Korean torpedo, which North Korea denies.

North Korea often makes the headlines. And usually for the wrong reasons…the country is regularly referred to by western media as a rogue state. And its unpredictable diplomatic maneuvers don’t help matters. But this has not deterred a company run by Westerners… based in Beijing…from doing business in what is sometimes called a “hermit kingdom”.

STORMS EXPOSE CITY PROBLEMS
MED SCHOOLS GO ANTI-SMOKING  
CHINA'S RED TIDE
KOREAN WARSHIP MYSTERY
AS CLOSE AS LIPS AND TEETH?
CHINA'S NEW STOCK IN TRADE
TAIWAN EXPO PAVILION SHINES BRIGHT

Main Stories in today's BON News:

Al-Qaida Threat To China
New Antarctic Expedition
Grain Security
All Aboard In Yunnan!
Blog: No Nobels - Again
Net Check: China And North Korea
Feature: Doing Biz In North Korea

China says it is concerned about reports that a U.S. aircraft carrier may join a military exercise with South Korea amid a tense standoff with North Korea over the sinking of a warship from the South.

The South Korean corvette the Cheonan was sunk off the peninsula's west coast in March, killing 46 sailors. South Korea has blamed the North for sinking the Cheonan with a torpedo fired from a submarine, a charge the North denies.

The United States and South Korea have since said they will hold a joint anti-submarine drill.