Chengdu

The U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong reported at noon today that the situation in other Chinese cities outside Beijing continued to deteriorate. The worst unrest was in the main city of Chengdu in Sichuan province in central China. According to a U.S. official, downtown Chengdu now resembles the urban riots of the United States in the 1960s. The city's main department store has been burned out and some residents of Chengdu have been smashing windows and looting other stores. Overall, at least four people were reported to have died.

A racing wooden roller coaster debuting this spring at a Chinese theme park will feature a first-of-its-kind element in which riders in dueling trains reach out toward each other and attempt to exchange high-fives. Dubbed the High Five by the American ride designers, the wooden coaster opening in April at Happy Valley Wuhan will be officially known as Dragon Wings. Riders traveling in parallel trains along banked tracks during the unique High Five element will tilt inward 90 degrees, allowing their upward raised hands to almost touch during the near-miss moment.

While the world watched in horror as army troops and tanks brutally suppressed protesters around Beijing's Tian An Men Square on June 4, a similarly violent confrontation took place in this provincial capital, off camera and out of sight to all but a few Western observers. The details may never be fully known, but what is certain is that thousands of Chengdu residents defied authorities by rushing to defend a student-led demonstration from an attack by police, and that some paid with their lives.

A crusading former police chief in the boomtown of Chongqing disappeared under unexplained circumstances and reportedly may have tried and failed to obtain political asylum at the nearest U.S. Consulate. Chongqing issued an unusual and cryptic statement Wednesday saying that Vice Mayor Wang Lijun was "highly stressed and in poor health … because of long-term overwork" and that he was "accepting vacation-style treatment. " The reports that he might have sought asylum in the United States were fueled by an unusual police presence at the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu.

It's past midnight on a cold, wet Tuesday and the MGM club is hopping. Scantily dressed women stand behind a large circular bar, playing dice with customers to see who will take the next drink. Disco balls twirl from the mushroom-shaped ceiling. Cigarette girls peddle roses and Havana cigars. David Xu, a 24-year-old businessman with a wisp of hair under his lip, is on his fifth glass of wine and crooning along with a band performing on stage. "This is my home," he says.

Foxconn Technology Group, the maker of Apple Inc.'s iPhones and iPads, has shut down the plant where an explosion Friday killed three workers and injured 15 others. The company said that within a week, it expects to complete a safety inspection of the facility in the southwest Chinese city of Chengdu before resuming operations. It said suspending operations for a week would not affect supply of the Apple devices because it has a week's worth of inventory. Preliminary findings suggested that the blast was caused by combustible dust in one of the facility's polishing workshops, the company said in a news release.

A racing wooden roller coaster debuting this spring at a Chinese theme park will feature a first-of-its-kind element in which riders in dueling trains reach out toward each other and attempt to exchange high-fives. Dubbed the High Five by the American ride designers, the wooden coaster opening in April at Happy Valley Wuhan will be officially known as Dragon Wings. Riders traveling in parallel trains along banked tracks during the unique High Five element will tilt inward 90 degrees, allowing their upward raised hands to almost touch during the near-miss moment.

A crusading former police chief in the boomtown of Chongqing disappeared under unexplained circumstances and reportedly may have tried and failed to obtain political asylum at the nearest U.S. Consulate. Chongqing issued an unusual and cryptic statement Wednesday saying that Vice Mayor Wang Lijun was "highly stressed and in poor health … because of long-term overwork" and that he was "accepting vacation-style treatment. " The reports that he might have sought asylum in the United States were fueled by an unusual police presence at the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu.

If pandas weren't so darn cute, we wouldn't be up in the clouds at the edge of a mountain ravine slick with moss and mud, clinging for life to shoots of bamboo. And get this: There is almost zero chance that we'll actually see a panda. We keep our eyes on the ground, not just to keep from falling, but because the best we can hope for is to discover panda droppings (and even the chances of that aren't so hot). "To be honest, I've been working in these mountains for 20 years and I've never seen a panda in the wild," says Dai Bo, 43, a wildlife biologist with China's Forestry Ministry who's wearing a camouflage jacket and hiking boots and has a zoom-lens Canon around his neck, just in case.

Nineteen people died in Chengdu and seven were seriously ill after drinking almost pure industrial alcohol sold as rice wine, the People's Daily reported Friday. The paper said two farmers and a wine merchant in the central Chinese city had been arrested and charged. It said the three bought more than four tons of industrial alcohol in mid-May, added some water and a dash of flavoring, then bottled the brew and sold it as rice wine.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping will travel to Washington next month for meetings with senior U.S. officials ahead of his expected ascendance to the nation's presidency, a visit that will also include stops in Iowa and California, the White House announced today. The trip to the White House is scheduled for Feb. 14 -- Valentine's Day. Xi will meet with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and other senior officials "to discuss a broad range of bilateral, regional and global issues," according to a statement from Biden's office.

If pandas weren't so darn cute, we wouldn't be up in the clouds at the edge of a mountain ravine slick with moss and mud, clinging for life to shoots of bamboo. And get this: There is almost zero chance that we'll actually see a panda. We keep our eyes on the ground, not just to keep from falling, but because the best we can hope for is to discover panda droppings (and even the chances of that aren't so hot). "To be honest, I've been working in these mountains for 20 years and I've never seen a panda in the wild," says Dai Bo, 43, a wildlife biologist with China's Forestry Ministry who's wearing a camouflage jacket and hiking boots and has a zoom-lens Canon around his neck, just in case.

Vice President Joe Biden used the keynote address of his four-day visit to China to again make a strong pitch about the health of the U.S. economy, stating that the nation “will never default” and continue to tackle its deficit challenge. Referring to the debt-ceiling accord that averted such a default earlier this month, Biden passed blame from foreign soil on what he called the "strong voice" within the Republican Party that prevented an even stronger deal, and predicted it will ultimately be decided in the 2012 campaign.

The United States and China "have a stake in one another's success," Vice President Joe Biden said here Sunday, calling increased cooperation - and economic competition - between the two superpowers a key to boosting the world economy. In the keynote speech of his four-day visit, Biden defended the Obama administration's efforts to ramp up engagement with Beijing, and argued that the Chinese have an economic incentive to become more open both with regard to trade and on the delicate issue of human rights.

Vice President Joe Biden said that the United States and China "hold the key" to the global economy Thursday, the first full day of a visit focused as much on a broader relationship between the two global powers as building a personal relationship with its future leaders. Biden, at the start of a nine-day visit to Asia, said he came with a  dual message - that the United States will continue to be "engaged totally" in the world, and that a close partnership with China "is of the utmost importance.

Foxconn Technology Group, the maker of Apple Inc.'s iPhones and iPads, has shut down the plant where an explosion Friday killed three workers and injured 15 others. The company said that within a week, it expects to complete a safety inspection of the facility in the southwest Chinese city of Chengdu before resuming operations. It said suspending operations for a week would not affect supply of the Apple devices because it has a week's worth of inventory. Preliminary findings suggested that the blast was caused by combustible dust in one of the facility's polishing workshops, the company said in a news release.

Vice President George Bush will make a six-day trip to China, beginning Oct. 13, for talks with government leaders and representatives of the American business community, it was announced Friday. A statement issued by Bush's office said the journey, including four stops outside of Peking, will give the vice president a chance to view Chinese efforts to modernize public works, industry and agriculture.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping will travel to Washington next month for meetings with senior U.S. officials ahead of his expected ascendance to the nation's presidency, a visit that will also include stops in Iowa and California, the White House announced today. The trip to the White House is scheduled for Feb. 14 -- Valentine's Day. Xi will meet with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and other senior officials "to discuss a broad range of bilateral, regional and global issues," according to a statement from Biden's office.

We arrived at the north train station in this central Chinese city at 12:25 p.m. on a Thursday, five minutes before our scheduled departure. The ticket lines were so long they spilled out of the building. In a similar situation in Anhui province a couple of years ago, my research assistant and I found someone wandering outside the station whose sole task was to look for passengers in a hurry, collect their money for the ticket, plus a $2.

On the outskirts of this western city, in a field of bright yellow flowers, Wang Xi stood on a wrestling mat and eyed her opponent, a brawny man with short-cropped hair fresh from the army. After a quick bow, she lunged at his legs, flipped him over and, within seconds, pinned him to the ground. Yang Shengli, a career military man turned entrepreneur, watched from behind his sunglasses with satisfaction. Wang, a former junior judo champion from Inner Mongolia, is a star on his female team training for the Summer Olympics in Beijing.