China

Before her family bought a solar water heater, Liu Yan would bathe the way many working-class Chinese have for generations: boil water, dampen a rag and wipe away the dirt. Today, the 40-year-old mother and her family shower every day and wash their dishes with hot water. The stainless steel heater affixed to her red-tiled roof cost about $220. The device has become a symbol of China's rising standard of living and its leap into the era of clean energy. In the seaside city of 2.8 million where Liu lives in Shandong province, 99% of households use solar water heaters.

Nike Inc. said it found falsified documents, underage workers and unpaid wages at suppliers in China, despite what experts say is one of the top social compliance regimes in the industry. The Beaverton, Ore.-based company's difficulties highlight the deep roots of some of the problems businesses face in manufacturing in China, particularly at a time of sharply rising costs and a stiffening legal environment. In its first country-specific supply chain report, which it said focused on China because of the upcoming Beijing Olympics, Nike detailed the efforts it has been making to get suppliers to comply with its code of conduct and Chinese law, including a program to monitor Olympics-related suppliers.

Walt Disney Co. said it would film "Touch of the Panda" in Sichuan, China, following a strategy to make more films abroad. The movie, about a boy who befriends a panda, will be made with Chinese film producers Castle Hero Pictures and Ying Dong Media, Burbank-based Disney said. "Touch of the Panda" will be Disney's second production in China after "The Secret of the Magic Gourd," an animated film released last year.

Harvard University, the richest U.S. school, is opening an office in Shanghai and plans to start another in Beijing, partly to spur research into the world's fastest-growing major economy. The office will help faculty and students who are teaching or doing research in China and arrange interviews of prospective students, the Cambridge, Mass., university said. The office also will foster collaboration with universities and other organizations in the country and build ties with Harvard alumni there.

Fearing a deepening downturn, China's government is using its muscle to prop up the nation's economy. It's encouraging banks to lend. It's investing billions in infrastructure. It's stockpiling key raw materials. And it's placing restrictions on purchases of foreign goods. Those measures have helped keep China growing faster than any other major country. Its economy is projected to expand by 7.2% this year, according to a recent World Bank estimate.

Coca-Cola Co.'s $2.4-billion bid to buy China Huiyuan Juice Group, rejected Wednesday by the Chinese government, is the biggest of a growing number of failed mergers and acquisitions in Asia. Analysts say the decision could hurt efforts by Chinese companies -- both state-owned firms and private ones -- to buy companies and assets around the globe.

Yang Xuemei grew up tending yak with her family in this outpost on the edge of the Tibetan plateau. These days, she herds tourists through the alpine pastures and other scenic climes of Pudacuo National Park -- 1,243 square miles of soaring mountains and glacial lakes inhabited by red pandas and nearly 100 other endangered species. Her job as a tour guide broadens her horizons beyond the toothy mountains that define her life. "It's hard to go out into the world from here," said Yang, 23.

Venezuela took control this weekend of a Chinese-built communications satellite, part of a deepening trade relationship that some say illustrates waning U.S. influence in Latin America. Accompanied by Chinese technicians at a communications facility in western Guarico state, President Hugo Chavez presided at a ceremony in which Venezuela formally assumed operation of the Simon Bolivar, a $400-million satellite that China launched in October.

The long-awaited golden monkeys from China have some bad news: They're not coming to the Los Angeles Zoo. The arrival of the exotic blue-faced simians was part of a deal struck during a 2002 trade trip to China by former Mayor James K. Hahn. He wanted pandas but was offered the loan of three golden monkeys instead. The deal, however, became mired in the intricacies of global panda politics, something mostly beyond the zoo's control.

At a time when the U.S. and other traditional economic powers are weakening, China is flexing its muscles, signaling it will seek a much more assertive role in shaping the future of the world financial order. The apparent shift in Beijing's approach is likely to be displayed at the Group of 20 nations' summit today in London, as China presses for changes in a global finance system long dominated by the U.S. and Western Europe.