Heads of State around the world just might be eating Mac and Cheese this week. That’s because presidential and royal chefs left them home alone as they jetted off to China to trade culinary trends and taste Chinese delicacies with their foreign counterparts. BON’s Katie Fischer reports.

China has about 400 million web users, by far the largest in the world.  This has also given rise to a strong internet culture that is very particular to this country.  One of the most peculiar aspects of this culture is what's known as wangluo hongren, which roughly translates as "internet celebrities". 

These are usually people who have become famous online for no fathomable reason.  Of course, this phenomenon is by no means confined to China, but just by the power of sheer numbers, anyone who does capture web users' imaginations here can become very famous, very quickly. 

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Since Barack Obama became American president in 2009, the Sino-US relationship – widely seen as one of the most important in the world – has been through something of a honeymoon period.

That culminated in a visit by the US President to China in November which was seen as generally successful by both sides. But the goodwill appears to be dissipating fast in 2010.

Analysts from both sides are predicting stormy weather ahead. Dean Cheng, a China analyst at Washington think tank, The Heritage Foundation, says the US can expect a “an ugly, turbulent year with China" in 2010.

Meanwhile Shi Yinhong, a professor of international politics at Renmin University in Beijing says "This year the United States won't be like last year when it comes to human rights, political control and the Internet -- there will certainly be ructions in China-U.S. relations.

For many Chinese people there is a fascination with the current US Secretary of State and former first lady Hillary Clinton.

Many remember her from when the first state visit to China made by her husband and were surprised at the high profile she maintained in comparison to the wives of Chinese politicians.

And, despite a number of tense disagreements between the two countries during his tenure, her husband Bill was a relatively popular US President in China.

When she ran for the US Presidency in 2008 there was strong support amongst many Chinese, particularly women, for someone they felt they already new.

And when she was defeated by Barack Obama in 2008 there was widespread speculation here about whether she would run again in 2012.

A recent media interview in which Clinton said she did not see herself serving as head of the State Department should Barack Obama be elected to a second term was translated and posted in China sina.com.

There it caused plenty of discussion between those who believe she is considering retirement from public life and those who feel it may be to pursue even greater political aims.

U.S. President Barack Obama says last week his administration is putting increased pressure on China to open up its domestic market further to reciprocal trade.

Speaking at a Washington meeting with Democratic Party senators on February 3, Obama said that if the United States can increase its trade with Asia by even one percentage point, that will create thousands, maybe millions, of new U.S. jobs.

He said the important thing is to get Beijing to live up to existing trade rules. Obama also raised the thorny issue of the exchange rate of the Chinese yuan, which for years U.S. officials have considered to be deliberately undervalued by China. Experts estimate the yuan is presently undervalued by about 30 percent overall against major world currencies and about 40 percent against the dollar.