For much of the last year, intellectuals and officials in China -- land of world-beating students and, in a bygone age, the scholar official -- have been wringing their hands over the country's declining interest in reading. bygone:过去的        wringin…

SHANGHAI—Trading volume in China's bond market has plummeted in recent months, in another reminder of how the country's shifting interest-rate environment has taken a toll on a once fast-expanding financial sector. bond market:债券市场          plummet:骤…

BEIJING—Chinese government officials destroyed more than six tons of ivory that had been illegally smuggled into the country, signaling that Beijing is willing to play a greater role in protecting dwindling elephant populations. smuggle:走私       dwin…

Last month's Third Plenum meeting of Chinese leaders seemed to signal Beijing's intention to experiment with more economic and financial freedom. Leaders now acknowledge the old model of cheap inputs—inexpensive labor, low-cost capital for state-owne…

BEIJING—The death toll from a pair of oil pipeline explosions on Friday in the eastern China port city of Qingdao has risen to 52, with another 11 people still missing, the city government reported Sunday. pipeline:管道,输油管 Citing rescuers, the Qingdao…

BEIJING—China's family-planning agency is projecting a slow rollout for an easing of its one-child policy, underscoring reluctance by the government in moving too quickly to let some couples have two children and a law in place for decades. rollout:首…

China's appetite for coal, once seemingly unlimited, is starting to wane, and the effects are rippling far from the Middle Kingdom. wane:衰落,退潮,衰减 ripple:波纹,涟漪 With the world's second-largest economy, China in recent years has been driving demand for…

Apple's roll-out of its latest iPhones landed with a thud in China, the company's biggest foreign market, despite a new effort to court the country's consumers. underwhelmed:感到乏味的,未留下深刻印象 roll-out:首展,推出 In a signal of China's importance to Apple, the…

With considerable fanfare, China's anti-graft squad has rolled out a brand new website in the ongoing fight against corruption. anti-graft:反腐 tale:故事,传说,叙述 fanfare:炫耀 roll out:铺开,推出 Billed as a new channel for the public to report corruption - whethe…

China is now home to the world's largest diabetes population. The number of people who have diabetes or early signs of the disease is greater than the entire population of the U.S. diabetes:糖尿病 An estimated 113.9 million Chinese adults 18 years or ol…