Society

China wrapped up the Asian Games with a record 199 gold medals, more than double its nearest rival, but team leaders won't relax preparations for the 2012 London Olympics.

The Chinese appear driven to repeat their performance from Beijing two years ago, when they topped the gold medal count for the very first time at the Olympics.

China faced little resistance at the Asian Games, widely seen as an Olympic warm-up event, winning so many golds that the result sometimes just seemed like a foregone conclusion.

If you thought His Holiness the Dalai Lama was 100% Tibetan, think again.

“I am a son of India,” he declared during questions after his appearance at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi. Not only has India been his transplanted home since he fled Tibet about 50 years ago, but “this body has survived by Indian daals, Indian rice, so therefore I describe myself as a son of India.”

No city is immune from tragedy. But in the wake of a heart-wrenching apartment fire in Shanghai this week, which killed at least 58 people and injured well over 100, public anger is smoldering.

Shanghai is no ordinary city: It’s the site of the just-ended World Expo, designed to showcase China’s efforts to meld modernization and globalization. High profile projects, massive infrastructure, and a glistening skyline are promoted as public policy done right.

The fire, though, was a reminder of the many shortcomings of governance in China – failings that were underlined by the government’s hesitant and divided response to the disaster. Shanghai officials appeared to be operating on one agenda; central officials another.

China's government-backed Catholic church ordained a bishop who did not have the pope's approval Saturday, despite objections from the Vatican and comments by a key papal adviser that the move was ``illegitimate'' and ``shameful.''

Rev. Guo Jincai's ordination at Pingquan Church in Chengde city was carried out amid a strong security presence, with dozens of police blocking the building and denying entrance to reporters. But there was also an air of festivity, with colorful banners and traditional Chinese lanterns hanging outside the church and worshippers posing for photos.

It was not immediately clear if bishops loyal to the pope had been forced by government officials to attend the ordination, as the Vatican had feared.