Swiss synergy

Free trade agreement likely to create more market access opportunities for Chinese, Swiss businesses.

Building up the image

Waiting for the sun to shine again

Making the right choices

Mutually beneficial partnership

Quotable

"Industrialization and urbanization represent people's endeavor of creating wealth, but low-quality urban life can make them feel depressed, anxious or even angry, instead of feeling more happy."

IN BRIEF (Page 2)

Too much talk and too little action, says IMF deputy chief

Good set of numbers disproves doubters

When it comes to the Chinese economy, it seems that there are none so blind as they who will not see. For once again, hard facts last year got the better of those who are forever predicting doom.

Does FDI provide spoils, or does it just spoil?

The city that is ready, willing and able

Time to defeat poverty in Mali

Trade data is not what it seems to be

The bane of domestic consumption

Reaching out

China's commitment to healthcare in rural areas, small cities bodes well for foreign pharmaceutical firms.

The need for speed

Quotable

IN BRIEF (Page 14)

Ipsen aims to cure China's chronic ills

The Milan plan

Keeping it in the family

Men's wear wolf in the pack

A fitting acquisition

All as smooth as Swiss chocolate

Rolling out the red carpet

Heads in the cloud, hands-on solutions

The price of love

A New Year service with Chinese characteristics is the rental of young men and women who pose as dates to fool parents. It may sound suspicious to a foreign ear, but if you look deeper, it's much newer than the world's oldest profession.

The collectors

March of the QQ Penguin

Perfect peak

For lovers of snow and ice there are few better places in China than Changbai Mountain, whose name means "white mountain all year long". It stretches from Jilin province in Northeast China to a part of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, near which the country's former leader, the late Kim Jong-il, was born.

Shine a light

Following a night-time arrival into the blackness of Beijing in 1976, Hans Boller has dedicated himself to telling the world about China.

The Nixon connection

Magic of the mundane

Born in the 1980s, Ma Qiusha is an up-and-coming artist living in Beijing. For her first UK solo exhibition with the Chinese Arts Center, she will be showcasing her key works. Ma Qiusha's work reflects a special sensitivity with everyday objects and materials.

Conferences & Meetings

Diplomatic Pouch: With Mike Peters

Trade friction is teething problem

With more Chinese companies looking to spread their wings in overseas markets, Patrick Chovanec believes that trade friction is often a misconception.