Trade in the balance

Tough times ahead for China's exports as global uncertainties continue.

Feeling the pinch

Time to play the import card

It's what comes in that matters

Success lies beyond borders

Quotable

"Some officials dare not show their watches in public. If they are caught wearing luxury watches, people will be asking whether they're corrupt, because they can't afford to buy that kind of thing with their salaries."

IN BRIEF (Page 2)

Ticket changes aim to ease the load in great migration

Oil's well that ends well

China's appetite for oil has been soaring over the past two decades, and its oil imports will continue to soar in the decades ahead. The country will thus become far more exposed to the risk of international supply disruptions than it is today. This has raised great concern about China's energy security, because its rapidly increasing oil imports come mainly from politically unstable regions and are shipped through lengthy sea lanes over which China has little say.

A whole new world

In Japan, the sun also sets

Talking about a revolution

A locomotive that could give more pull

Shopping elsewhere

As prices of luxury items remain prohibitive in China, affluent consumers rack up sprees abroad.

Old is the new new

Quotable

IN BRIEF (Page 14)

Authorized big deal

Streets ahead

Red, white and no blues

Original designs on the road

Avis does a balancing act in China

Spinning a wider web

Discovering a recipe for success

Self-styled approach pays off

Grandparents without borders

In villages across China, grandparents have set aside their dreams of retirement to raise children left behind by their reluctant parents, who migrate to the cities in pursuit of making more money than they can at home. At a different level up the economic pyramid, in urban households, grandparents are now migrating from their homes to take care of their grandchildren in cities hundreds of kilometers away - as families scatter across a rapidly transforming China.

Lost luster

30 years of photography

The perfect balance

With a history of more than 7,000 years as well as rapid development, Ningbo enjoys the best of both worlds. It manages to balance both traditional and progressive, peaceful and lively, with an array of surprising but pleasant contrasts along the way.

Not lost in translation

Despite the language barrier, Marcello Lippi, coach of Italy's 2006 World Cup winning team, has found success in Guangzhou.

A different kind of goal

Markets put in the dock

Market principles should not be allowed to invade our civic, social and family lives, says Michael Sandel, a political philosopher and a professor at Harvard University's Department of Government.

Entertaining overseas Chinese

Performing artists have been lined up to entertain overseas Chinese across the world for the forthcoming Spring Festival season.

Conferences & Meetings

Diplomatic Pouch: With Mike Peters

A sense of history

Emmy-award winning broadcaster Carrie Gracie does not believe China is as uniquely shaped by its history as is often assumed.