Chinese Troops

China has blanketed Tibetan areas with a huge buildup of troops, turning small towns across much of western China into armed encampments. Hundreds of paramilitary troops aboard at least 80 trucks were seen traveling along the main road winding through the mountains into southeastern Tibet. Others patrolled streets wearing riot gear and carrying rifles in Tiger Leaping Gorge, a tourist town in Yunnan province on the border with Tibet.

Retired Army Col. James L. Stone Sr., who received the Medal of Honor for bravery under fire in Korea, died Friday at his home in Arlington, Texas. He was 89. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society announced his death but did not reveal the cause. There are 80 living recipients of the medal, the nation's highest award for wartime valor. Col. Stone was a 28-year-old first lieutenant when his 48-man platoon was attacked by Chinese troops on a hilltop near Sokkogae, Korea, on the night of Nov. 21, 1951.

Chinese-born pianist Lang Lang denied Monday that he sought to insult the United States with the choice of a song he played at a White House state dinner last week, despite the claims of some mainland Chinese and conservatives in the U.S. Lang Lang, the 28-year-old virtuoso who performed at a dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday, said he played "My Motherland" not because of its anti-American associations but entirely "for the beauty...

China has become such an important market for U.S. entertainment companies that one studio has taken the extraordinary step of digitally altering a film to excise bad guys from the Communist nation lest the leadership in Beijing be offended. When MGM decided a few years ago to remake "Red Dawn," a 1984 Cold War drama about a bunch of American farm kids repelling a Soviet invasion, the studio needed new villains, since the U.S.S.R. had collapsed in 1991. The producers substituted Chinese aggressors for the Soviets and filmed the movie in Michigan in 2009.

China has become such an important market for U.S. entertainment companies that one studio has taken the extraordinary step of digitally altering a film to excise bad guys from the Communist nation lest the leadership in Beijing be offended. When MGM decided a few years ago to remake "Red Dawn," a 1984 Cold War drama about a bunch of American farm kids repelling a Soviet invasion, the studio needed new villains, since the U.S.S.R. had collapsed in 1991. The producers substituted Chinese aggressors for the Soviets and filmed the movie in Michigan in 2009.

China has agreed to allow access to military records that may provide information on 8,100 Americans missing from the Korean War. U.S. officials say that, at least at first, only Chinese archivists with security clearances will do document searches and turn over relevant records to U.S. analysts. Chinese troops killed and captured thousands of American troops during the war and managed many of the prisoner of war camps in North Korea.

Britain agreed to allow 509 Chinese troops into Hong Kong hours before the colony's return to China, ending a last-minute stalemate. The troops will drive into Hong Kong in passenger vehicles rather than armored vehicles at 9 p.m. on June 30, three hours earlier than scheduled, to be in place when China takes control of the British territory at midnight.

Britain told China on Monday that it should immediately release a Hong Kong student arrested in Shanghai and warned that any maltreatment of Hong Kong Chinese would have damaging repercussions. Meanwhile, Canada recalled its ambassador to China for consultations to protest the military crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators, External Affairs Minister Joe Clark said. Clark said Ambassador Earl Drake will be brought back to Ottawa by the end of the week to talk about what the Canadian government can do to influence events in China.

CBS correspondent Richard Roth was freed Sunday after nearly 20 hours in captivity in Beijing, during which time he said he was kicked and punched by the Chinese troops who had arrested him and his cameraman. He immediately resumed reporting from Beijing. His release and news reports came as the three major TV networks and CNN aired graphic photographs and videotape footage--the latter flown out by couriers--of the pre-dawn carnage in Tian An Men Square, where army troops late Saturday and early Sunday crushed the long student demonstration.

Gen. John W. Vessey Jr., chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, left Peking on Tuesday after a series of meetings with Chinese civilian and military leaders that produced no announcement of when U.S. Navy ships may visit Chinese ports. Vessey, the highest-ranking U.S. military official to visit China since 1949, held discussions with Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang and with Yang Dezhi, chief of the general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, during a three-day visit here.

Chinese-born pianist Lang Lang denied Monday that he sought to insult the United States with the choice of a song he played at a White House state dinner last week, despite the claims of some mainland Chinese and conservatives in the U.S. Lang Lang, the 28-year-old virtuoso who performed at a dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday, said he played "My Motherland" not because of its anti-American associations but entirely "for the beauty...

On a cloudless day near the top of the world, Swiss tourist Claude Balsiger had just finished a late-morning cup of tea and stepped out onto the streets of Tibet's capital. Buddhist monks had been marching against Chinese rule all week, but today seemed calmer. Suddenly, Tibetan youths started hurling paving stones at police, who tried to protect themselves with their riot shields.

China has blanketed Tibetan areas with a huge buildup of troops, turning small towns across much of western China into armed encampments. Hundreds of paramilitary troops aboard at least 80 trucks were seen traveling along the main road winding through the mountains into southeastern Tibet. Others patrolled streets wearing riot gear and carrying rifles in Tiger Leaping Gorge, a tourist town in Yunnan province on the border with Tibet.

China has agreed to allow access to military records that may provide information on 8,100 Americans missing from the Korean War. U.S. officials say that, at least at first, only Chinese archivists with security clearances will do document searches and turn over relevant records to U.S. analysts. Chinese troops killed and captured thousands of American troops during the war and managed many of the prisoner of war camps in North Korea.

Britain agreed to allow 509 Chinese troops into Hong Kong hours before the colony's return to China, ending a last-minute stalemate. The troops will drive into Hong Kong in passenger vehicles rather than armored vehicles at 9 p.m. on June 30, three hours earlier than scheduled, to be in place when China takes control of the British territory at midnight.

In China's first expression of sovereignty before it takes control of Hong Kong on July 1, an advance unit from the People's Liberation Army crossed the border Monday to prepare its new home base. On the way, the Chinese convoy rumbled down the same streets that filled eight years ago with 1 million people marching to protest that army's brutal suppression of demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

An old bridge with 200 stone lions adorning its sides and acclaimed by Marco Polo 700 years ago as a world marvel is being renovated by the Chinese in hope that modern-day travelers will add it to their tours. It is commonly known as the Marco Polo Bridge because of what the Venetian traveler said about it. "Over this river there is a very fine stone bridge," he wrote. "So fine, indeed, that it has very few equals in the world."

Retired Army Col. James L. Stone Sr., who received the Medal of Honor for bravery under fire in Korea, died Friday at his home in Arlington, Texas. He was 89. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society announced his death but did not reveal the cause. There are 80 living recipients of the medal, the nation's highest award for wartime valor. Col. Stone was a 28-year-old first lieutenant when his 48-man platoon was attacked by Chinese troops on a hilltop near Sokkogae, Korea, on the night of Nov. 21, 1951.

Chinese soldiers are repairing roads and guarding the peace in Cambodia, which their country helped destroy by arming the Khmer Rouge guerrillas for nearly 13 years. China's participation in its first U.N. peacekeeping operation is part of an effort to regain international standing after the bloody military crackdown on its pro-democracy movement in 1989. The U.N.

Britain told China on Monday that it should immediately release a Hong Kong student arrested in Shanghai and warned that any maltreatment of Hong Kong Chinese would have damaging repercussions. Meanwhile, Canada recalled its ambassador to China for consultations to protest the military crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators, External Affairs Minister Joe Clark said. Clark said Ambassador Earl Drake will be brought back to Ottawa by the end of the week to talk about what the Canadian government can do to influence events in China.