Shenzhen

One of China's so-called "Special Economic Zones"--Shenzhen, located next to the Hong Kong border--will hold a three day, 10th anniversary celebration starting next Monday. The commemoration is expected to highlight the zone's rapid growth and to promote its image for potential investors.

Leonardo had Vinci. Georgia O'Keeffe had New Mexico. But the most productive place for their work has turned out to be this Chinese village. In tiny garrets and vast factories, a few centuries' worth of art emerges each day in the southern Chinese town of Dafen.

The stock exchange in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, launched in 1987 as an economic "experiment," has plunged 30% since the end of 1990, the China News Service said today. "Experts regard a drop of 30% as a collapse," it said, noting that profit taking had escalated to panic selling. Shenzhen's "experimental market" had jumped more than 30% in the fourth quarter of 1990 as funds from other parts of China poured in. Official estimates showed that about 30 million yuan ($5.

The South China dream machine runs in high gear in this bustling, money-chasing, noisy and often tawdry boom town that lures the ambitious with visions of once-forbidden riches. For the past decade they have come pouring in--everyone from simple farm youths to guileful offspring of high Beijing officials.

A Chinese real estate firm with one Los Angeles hotel in its fold closed on a deal to buy the Sheraton Universal hotel, showing a growing trust in a recovery of the hospitality industry and the rising interest of Asian investors in U.S. commercial property. The price of the Sheraton was not disclosed, but industry experts who tracked the deal said Shenzhen New World Group Co. paid about $90 million for the 451-room inn overlooking Universal City. That would make it a deep discount from the $122 million that previous owner Lowe Enterprises paid for the hotel at the top of the market in 2007.

Li Xin knelt in a hotel room here, wearing polka-dot boxer shorts and a grimace on his face. The deputy mayor of Jining, in Shandong province, was pleading with his lover not to report him to authorities. But in the end, the 51-year-old official was exposed and sentenced to life in prison. His crime: accepting more than $500,000 in bribes, which he used to support at least four mistresses in Jining, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

The first time the pair of Shanghai private detectives came to this remote village known as China's pen capital, they ran into big trouble. They were on a mission, along with provincial police, to raid a factory and seize thousands of counterfeit Parker pens. They made it inside the building and found the bogus goods. But then a mob of locals arrived, hemming them inside and barricading the only street leading out of town.

That the current ruler of the People's Republic of China, Hu Jintao, is a bore will no doubt be a relief to most people, including 1.3 billion Chinese. Hu's dullness is remarkable given the high drama of China's fairly recent transformation from a poor, blood-soaked totalitarian country to a rich (in patches) superpower aspiring to take over America's lead in the not-so-distant future. But perhaps his lack of charisma is part of the point. The first 27 years of the People's Republic, under Chairman Mao, when millions died in almost constant purges and upheavals, and tens of millions died of starvation in bizarre economic experiments, were so awful that most Chinese are quite sick of charismatic leadership.

Universal Studios Inc. on Monday confirmed it is studying whether to build a theme park at a third potential site in China, this one in the southern city of Shen-zhen. Universal said in October that it signed agreements with Chinese officials to launch feasibility studies for potential parks in Beijing and Shanghai.

The Chinese government, attempting to quell rampant rumors about the failing health of senior leader Deng Xiaoping that sent stock markets reeling, declared Tuesday that there was "no great change" in the 92-year-old's condition. "There has been no great change in Comrade Deng Xiaoping's health situation," Foreign Ministry spokesman Tang Guoqiang said. "I have no new information to provide."