I had just arrived in Washington when the news broke that Osama bin Laden had been killed. I went immediately to the street in front of the White House, where a jubilant crowd was celebrating. Culture shock would be an understatement.

But despite the breaking news and the reports on the destructive tornados in the south of the country, there was still a steady stream of news and discussion about China here, especially among academics in the US capital.

On April 25, I watched a forum on C-Span in which three leading US China experts, including David Shambaugh, elaborated on different "factions" in China, their influence on the formulation of the country's foreign policy, and their relations with China's neighbors and the United States.