The Great Wall of shopping
"Adore the world. Be after it. Be in it." Translation: Go shopping. In fact, "shop till you drop" is the mantra of today's Shanghai of glitzy malls, Ferraris, Armanis and stylish jackets for top cadres for $1,200 - more than their annual disposable income. No big deal. Welcome to the new China.

Selling China to the world
The label "Made in China" was once virtually everywhere; today, however, it's more like "Bought by China" as the world's factory turns its hand to developing and buying brand names. Beijing wants to forge the equivalent of a Chinese Sony or Samsung, but it faces a very long march to win that commercial war.

The hottest label: China chic
Forget the shopworn "made in China" label - make way for China chic. High-quality textiles are now designed by hip Chinese designers, produced by skilled artisans and sold by China, with profits repatriated to the Middle Kingdom. The message: just give us a little time, and we will also swamp you with our cool new designs.

The peasant Tiananmen time bomb
Over the centuries China has been devastated by peasant revolts, and today's leaders, like past emperors, are obsessed with the need for stability. They fear that the enormous wealth gap, rural poverty, restive migrants and pervasive party corruption could explode.

Guangdong, unstoppable 'world's factory'
China encompasses many mini-Chinas, among the most notable being the "world's factory", Guangdong province. It's part of a great necklace, the Pearl River Delta, embracing nine provinces plus Hong Kong and Macau and is an industrial planner's dream of incalculable riches - if integration succeeds. By 2016 it could become within China what Spain or Ireland became within the EU.

Never mind the party, let's party!
As Beijing works out for the 2008 Olympics, its feats and features amaze, appall and inspire. They include Beijing Barbie with designer jeans, mobile phone, laptop and Louis Vuitton luggage; faux French chateaux, and world-class theaters and museums by renowned architects. These days one breathes boundless optimism, touching naivete and the urge to party. 

The emperor's new clothes
China's supreme leader Hu Jintao, once described as a moderate reformer and humanist, may look like a (dark) horse of democracy, but in fact he's a crouching tiger. He ordered a crackdown against any dissent by public intellectuals, democracy, labor and rural rights activists, and 'Net surfers. And his top priority is fighting "separatism".