OBAMA TO VISIT CHINA

China is gearing up for the arrival of the US President Barack Obama, who’s expected for his first official visit to the country. He is going to be arriving on Sunday for a wide-ranging series of discussions with President Hu Jintao, the most delicate of which is likely to be trade.

H1N1 MASK FRAUD

A facemask which was marketed as an effective shield against contracting H1N1 has been revealed to be bogus. The private science and technology company in Tianjin has been closed down. The public have been warned against similar scams.

CLEAR UP CONTROVERSY

Beijing is clearing up after a week of disruption caused by heavy snow, during which subway lines were closed, and also 200 flights were either cancelled or delayed. But controversy has emerged over the so –called ‘snow melting agents’. These agents are added to snow to help with the clear-up, with the main part of them is chloride. The concern is that they will be weakening building structures, by eroding steel.

CAR SALES REV UP

China's vehicle sales have breached 10-million for the first time ever, with 10.9 million cars sold in the first 10 months of this year. That’s almost 40 percent up from the same period last year. And car sales are expected to continue to rise, despite the price hike in fuel this week.

SHOP FOR YOUR COUNTRY

It seems the Chinese are shopping their way out of the global financial crisis, with retail figures in October showing a 16.2 percent increase compared with a year earlier. A further boom on the high street is expected in the run up to New Year.

"DADDY" VISITS GIFT PANDAS

Now, who doesn’t like a visit from their Dad, even when they’re panda. Well, Zhang Hemin, dubbed the "father of pandas" and the director of China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, has been to Taipei Zoo to visit the panda pair that were give to Taiwan as gifts last December. "Tuan Tuan" and "Yuan Yuan" are said to be in good health and growing up well.

MINIATURIZATION TOO FAR?

We’ve had the iPod nano and the Chinese small car QQ. But is this miniaturization too far? A man in Guangzhou has made a violin which is 1cm long – compared to the normal violin which is 35.5cm. The 66-year-old violin maker calls it the ‘a(chǎn)nt violin’. Rather hard to play a concerto on that.

YOUR VIEW: OBAMA'S VISIT

Before we go, back to our top story President Obama’s impending visit. Will he talk about tough topics? Chinese and Americans we asked hope ‘yes he will’ and these are a few of their suggestions.

RELATED VIDEO:

Welcome to China, President Obama

Views from Central Park, New York