Zheping Huang

The US on Thursday (April 6) launched dozens of missiles at a Syrian military airfield, in retaliation for the Assad regime’s alleged use of chemical weapons that killed dozens of civilians earlier this week. US officials have said they have no doubt Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was responsible, although Syria has denied using chemical weapons. On the same day as the US strike, the UN’s top decision-making body failed to do anything about the suspected toxic gas attack. In general, the body has been unable to act on Syria, mainly due to vetoes by Russia and China.

The first meeting between US president Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping today (April 6) brings together two men who have been sending the world contrasting messages in the last few months.

The meeting between US president Donald Trump, 70, and China’s Xi Jinping, 63, in Florida this week, brings together two men with wildly different backgrounds and governing styles.

In China, a job at a bank was once dubbed the “golden rice bowl” as it promised decent pay and a respected, secure career. Fresh college graduates who majored in finance didn’t mind being a bank teller for years, if it helped them get a more lucrative position in the future.

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There’s no doubting China’s love for pigs. The country consumes half of the world’s pork, and imports a record amount of the meat on top of its own herd of 700 million pigs (link in Chinese). The government is so worried about wild swings in pork prices that it turns to a strategic pork reserve to keep prices stable if necessary. Now it has decided to let the market have a bigger say.

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A mysterious collapse in a Chinese dairy maker’s shares last week has renewed fears that China’s financial system is so shaky that authorities can do nothing but to muddle through a credit crunch.

One of the legacies of the recently-ended Park Geun-hye administration in South Korea is an explosion in household borrowing as Koreans took out loans at a record pace for homes, education, and to start small businesses.

China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), has been working to develop its own digital currency. Having recently completed a trial run of its cryptocurrency based on blockchain technology, the PBoC is moving closer to becoming one of the first central banks to issue digital money.

Hong Mei, a reporter in China who was covering domestic violence, was killed by her husband last year.

Airbnb is now known as something different in China.

Xi Jinping is, undoubtedly, China’s most formidable leader in decades. Since becoming president in 2013, he’s consolidated power to a level his last two predecessors could only have imagined. Last year he declared himself the “core” of the ruling Communist Party, and he heads a dozen party agencies controlling everything from economic reforms to state security.

An avid soccer fan, China’s president Xi Jinping has never shied from voicing his ambition to turn the nation into a superpower in the sport. That has spurred Chinese investors to buy up European soccer clubs and lure star players away from their home teams with astronomical paychecks.

Among the most eye-catching aspects of US president Donald Trump’s first budget, released last week, is a proposed $54 billion annual increase in defense spending—which will be paid for by cuts to agencies that he deems pointless.

The man-versus-machine battle in the complex board game Go had become a one-horse race, thanks to Google’s artificial intelligence program Alpha Go. Last year the AI program made history by taking down Lee Sedol, one of the world’s best Go players. This January, it re-emerged even stronger, racking up 60 wins and zero losses against more big names in the sport’s professional circle.

A Chinese businesswoman who specializes in connecting her clients with the powerful in China bought a $16 million penthouse in a building owned by Donald Trump, one of the first notable deals at any Trump property since he became US president.

US president Donald J. Trump’s antagonism toward the press has been extraordinary, as was his notorious denunciation of five news organizations as “the enemy of the American people” (including CNN and the New York Times).

In a rare speech, China’s official Tibetan spiritual leader, the Panchen Lama, called on the nation to develop monks who love the Communist Party, the same officially atheist party that appointed him to represent Tibetan Buddhism.

Two weeks ago, John Oliver said the Republican plan being drafted to replace Obamacare appeared to offer such poor coverage, it was basically an ill-fitting thong. Now that the GOP has actually presented its healthcare bill, known as the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the British comedian explained how terrible the plan will be for millions of Americans.

US president Donald J. Trump’s swelling trademark portfolio in China has—once again—raised eyebrows over potential conflicts of interest, after the Chinese government granted him pre-approval to 35 new marks in recent weeks.

According to Sigmund Freud, a human being’s psychosexual development has five stages: the oral, the anal, the phallic, the latent, and the genital. During the oral stage spanning from birth until the age of one, an infant satisfies its desires simply by putting all sorts of things into its mouth, whether it’s a pencil or its mother’s breast.

US president Donald J. Trump has won preliminary approval to register three dozen new trademarks in China covering everything from bars and hotels to child-care and massage services, raising further concerns over potential conflicts of interest.