Wuqiao County, in the flat farmlands of Hebei Province on the North China Plain, is home to dozens of acrobatic schools.
The meeting in Washington was a show of solidarity between the US, Japan and South Korea in the face of China's reluctance to lean on North Korea, the BBC's state department correspondent Kim Ghattas reports.
Despite the sluggish recovery in the economy, Coach posted better-than-expected results on the back of healthy sales in North America and China.
The tone Mr Rumsfeld struck in Singapore marked a departure for a Bush administration that for the past several years had been relying on China for active assistance in the management of the North Korean nuclear dispute and for tacit approval of its far-ranging actions in its global war on terror.
The success of a new round of sanctions could depend on enforcement by China, where most of the companies and banks that North Korea is believed to work with are based.
In return for food, North Korea has given China a new lease on harbour facilities in the north-eastern port of Rajin.
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The new emphasis on the north-east has much more to do with the political necessity of combating wealth disparities within China.
Byron Dorgan, a Democrat from the farming state of North Dakota, wants to turn the clock back on trade relations between the U.S. and China.
The two men attended the June 2011 grand opening accompanied by a brass band and the celebratory release of doves, giving rise to hopes that China's advice was having an impact on the North.
But what diplomats are saying on the sidelines is that the main idea of the draft document that the host nation China put forward is to get North Korea to shut down its main reactor at Yongbyon and to reintroduce the international inspectors that they kicked out in 2002.
Many of the underground networks helping North Koreans on the run in China are organised by South Korean Christians.
"China knows North Korea is useful as an irritant that prompts the U.S. and Japan to moderate their attitudes to China in the vain hope of eventual assistance on North Korea, " says Gerald Segal, director of studies at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
High Commissioner on Refugees to visit North Koreans in China and to stop refoulement (the forced repatriation of North Koreans against their will).
Shares of Ford Motors have rallied more than 20% in the past three months on the back of solid North American operations, some improvement in Europe and surging sales in China.
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Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom had sought a new resolution imposing new sanctions on North Korea, but China and Russia -- permanent members of the Security Council with veto privileges -- blocked the way.
China is too concerned about maintaining the figleaf of stability on its north-eastern flank to discuss the frailty of the regime.
Songpan county is perched on the north-eastern edge of Aba and has become a magnet for ethnic Han tourists from across China.
Five North Koreans thought they had reached their goal when, on May 8th, they entered the premises of Japan's consulate in China's north-eastern city of Shenyang.
It is on the basis of this claim that China has justified opposing sanctions against rogue states like Iran and North Korea.
In 2006 after the US imposed sanctions on Banco Delta Asia, a Macau bank that held North Korean funds, Bank of China responded in similar fashion by freezing North Korean-related assets at its Macau branch.
Meanwhile, North Korea's leadership is aware of its ever-increasing reliance on China, and the Juche ideology may catalyze diversification -- as in Myanmar.
Japanese officials feared that similar unrest might break out on September 18th, the anniversary of an incident in 1931 that led to Japan's occupation of north-east China.
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The strategists argue that the presence of so many armed Marines on the island has kept vital trade routes open while also serving as a deterrent of sorts to China and North Korea.
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For all of the above reasons, we believed that China might begin taking the initiative on touchy issues like North Korea and Iran.
Like his predecessors, he worries that overt pressure would undermine advocates of reform inside China, principally the People's Bank of China, and erode co-operation on other issues such as Iran and North Korea.
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Chen Fengjun at the School of International Relations in Peking University notes growing public debate on whether to "abandon" North Korea but stresses that China's priority consideration is preventing an outflow of refugees or nuclear weapons triggered by instability or war.
"The U.S. has to be cautious in expecting a major breakthrough on North Korea out of the new Chinese leadership, " said Christopher Johnson, a former CIA analyst who is now a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
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