Amid rising tension between Beijing and Washington over the US sale of weapons to Taiwan, China successfully test fired a system for intercepting missiles last week. A short report by the official Xinhua News Agency stressed that the test was defensive in nature and was not targeted at any country.
But after several complaints by Beijing in the preceding days over the 6.5 billion dollar US-Taiwan weapons deal, the test was widely seen by commentators as a public flexing of Beijing's military muscles. In today's edition of Straight from the Street, we asked ordinary Chinese residents what they thought about their country's anti-missile system.
China executed two people last week for their roles in one of the country's worst ever food safety scandals - the sale of contaminated baby formula. Analysts say the executions signal Beijing's determination to clean up the country's food industry and restore public confidence. But a little over a year on from the devastating scandal, has anything really changed? Tom Mackenzie reports.
It's the second day of China’s national college entrance exam, and the entire country is taking measures to prepare for the exam. BON's Susan Tart has more.
The web in China is buzzing these days with the story of a student who faked being a member of one of the country's minorities to get extra points in the national college entrance exams. But for He Chuanyang in Chongqing, the decision earned him an F for foolish when he was turned away by Beijing University. Still, it's not at all uncommon for members of China's majority Han to take this risk.
Despite recent attempts to regulate the food industry and improve hygiene standards, new figures from China’s Ministry of Health show incidents of serious food poisoning remain high.
Our reporter Andrew Livingstone shines the spotlight on food safety progress in China.
The economic crisis has forced a lot of families to cut back on the amount of high-priced organic food they buy. The growth in the US organic market has dropped from 24% at the beginning of 2008, to just 1% this year. In China, however, the organic food market is still recording double-digit growth. Elise Potaka reports on how a scares over tainted food scandals and hazardous agricultural chemicals are sparking a new consumer trend.