After bounding through a tough Year of the Rabbit, we anticipate the Year of the Dragon will breathe fire back into Chinese markets in 2012.

FORBES: Chinese Dragon Still Snorting Loudly

This pressure on foreign companies only mounted as the financial crisis caused several companies to rethink their global operations only to discover it is now much harder to fire workers in their Chinese subsidiaries.

FORBES: Chinese Labor's New Muscle

Earlier this week, both Russian and Chinese officials have called for a cease fire in Libya.

FORBES: No Obama Support from Brazil, Russia, China on Libya Front

The Chinese Defence Ministry, in its statement, said that in each incident, the Chinese vessel "kept normal observation and alert, and fire control radar was not used".

BBC: China rejects Japan radar-lock allegation

The fire at the facility in Jilin province came as American regulators and consumers begin to scrutinize a bid by Chinese food company Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. to buy U.S. pork producer Smithfield Foods Inc.

WSJ: Poultry-Plant Fire in China Kills More Than 100

The fire sale, first reported by David Baker of the San Francisco Chronicle, shows that even as the Chinese solar industry struggles with its own severe financial problems China is poised to scoop up U.S. technology on the cheap.

FORBES: Can China Save Silicon Valley's Struggling Solar Technology?