At a speech at the China Gold and Precious Metals Summit in Shanghai Thursday, Mr. Shen detailed the size of China's imports this year, Xinhua said.

WSJ: China Buys In to Gold's Allure

But if you really want to dig behind the headlines (about things like stellar IPOs, trade issues, COP16, territorial disputes, rare earth metals, even Shanghai test scores), you need to take a quick look more on that later at what may well be the definitive guide to China, or at least the most up-to-date.

FORBES: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About China

We noted that copper experts were reporting that there were only 4 trading days of inventory in copper at the London Metals Exchange and in Shanghai.

FORBES: JP Morgan Chase Owns Half Copper Stockpile

Metals companies led the Shanghai Composite's losses.

WSJ: China Shares Fall 1.6%

Jiangxi Copper rose 1.7% in Hong Kong and 1.9% in Shanghai, while in Sydney, Fortescue Metals Group and BHP Billiton advanced 3.8% and 0.7%, respectively.

WSJ: Greek Hopes Help Asia Markets