Although facing economic uncertainty on the grandest of scales, China’s economy will enjoy robust growth of 8.6 percent in the coming year, well above the world average level of 1.9 percent, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) predicted on its annual global research released last week.

 最大的沙漠淡水湖10年后或消失

    Hongjiannao, China’s largest desert lake, is still shrinking and it could vanish in just a decade. The lake, sandwiched between the Muus Desert in Shaanxi and the Erdos Plateau in Inner Mongolia, has shrunk by over 40 percent in the past 15 years. Its lake area measured 7,000 hectares in 1996, but has shrunk to 4,000 hectares, and its water level is declining by 60 centimeters annually.

 广州“八胞胎”引争议

    A rich Chinese couple who had eight babies with the help of two surrogate mothers could face a large fine for breaching strict family planning laws mandating only one child. The couple from Guangzhou had the children last year, but the story only came to light after media discovered a picture of the babies - four boys and four girls - taken by a photography studio.

    China aims to keep the unemployment rate among registered city dwellers under five percent through 2015, according to a statement released last week by the State Council. The government aims to create jobs for 45 million people in cities and 40 million unemployed laborers in the countryside.

    China’s recent measures to levy antidumping and anti-subsidy duties on the imports of some U.S. vehicles are consistent with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a Chinese official said last week.