National economic blueprint set to tackle pollution and waste, and invest in renewable energy Whisper it, but could China be about to turn an environmental corner after more than three decades of filthy economic growth? Hopes for a cleaner future are rising ahead of a national blueprint to tackle pollution, waste and champion renewable technology. The five-year plan, due in March, is being hailed as the greenest strategy document in the country's history. Sceptics warn that one environmental threat industrial pollution may be replaced by another excess consumption. The five-year economic plan, once an arcane exercise in communist fiat, has big implications for the outside world. It could affect the colour of the sky, the planet's temperature and the welfare of billions of people beyond the jurisdiction of the country's mandarins. An army of cadres, officials and academics have spent years laying groundwork for the plan the 12th since Mao Zedong started Soviet-style stra...

William Hague told security conference that an attack was repelled from 'a hostile state intelligence agency' China has penetrated the Foreign Office's internal communications in the most audacious example yet of the growing threat posed by state-sponsored cyber-attacks, it emerged tonight. William Hague told a security conference in Munich that the FO repelled the attack last month from "a hostile state intelligence agency". Although the foreign secretary did not name the country behind the attacks, intelligence sources familiar with the incidents made it clear he was referring to China. The sources did not want to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the issue. In his speech Hague was reflecting growing anger and concern within the government about the increasing threat posed by cyber-espionage states, as well as individuals, using cyberspace to steal defence, diplomatic and commercial secrets. "It is a new development. The UK is prepared to ad...

National economic blueprint set to tackle pollution and waste, and invest in renewable energy Whisper it, but could China be about to turn an environmental corner after more than three decades of filthy economic growth? Hopes for a cleaner future are rising ahead of a national blueprint to tackle pollution, waste and champion renewable technology. The five-year plan, due in March, is being hailed as the greenest strategy document in the country's history. Sceptics warn that one environmental threat industrial pollution may be replaced by another excess consumption. The five-year economic plan, once an arcane exercise in communist fiat, has big implications for the outside world. It could affect the colour of the sky, the planet's temperature and the welfare of billions of people beyond the jurisdiction of the country's mandarins. An army of cadres, officials and academics have spent years laying groundwork for the plan the 12th since Mao Zedong started Soviet-style stra...

William Hague told security conference that an attack was repelled from 'a hostile state intelligence agency' China has penetrated the Foreign Office's internal communications in the most audacious example yet of the growing threat posed by state-sponsored cyber-attacks, it emerged tonight. William Hague told a security conference in Munich that the FO repelled the attack last month from "a hostile state intelligence agency". Although the foreign secretary did not name the country behind the attacks, intelligence sources familiar with the incidents made it clear he was referring to China. The sources did not want to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the issue. In his speech Hague was reflecting growing anger and concern within the government about the increasing threat posed by cyber-espionage states, as well as individuals, using cyberspace to steal defence, diplomatic and commercial secrets. "It is a new development. The UK is prepared to ad...

National economic blueprint set to tackle pollution and waste, and invest in renewable energy Whisper it, but could China be about to turn an environmental corner after more than three decades of filthy economic growth? Hopes for a cleaner future are rising ahead of a national blueprint to tackle pollution, waste and champion renewable technology. The five-year plan, due in March, is being hailed as the greenest strategy document in the country's history. Sceptics warn that one environmental threat industrial pollution may be replaced by another excess consumption. The five-year economic plan, once an arcane exercise in communist fiat, has big implications for the outside world. It could affect the colour of the sky, the planet's temperature and the welfare of billions of people beyond the jurisdiction of the country's mandarins. An army of cadres, officials and academics have spent years laying groundwork for the plan the 12th since Mao Zedong started Soviet-style stra...

After decades of filthy growth, China's new five-year cleanup strategy is the most ambitious in its modern history China is to impose an environmental tax on heavy polluters under an ambitious cleanup strategy being finalised in Beijing, according to experts familiar with the programme. The tax will be included alongside the world's most ambitious renewable energy scheme and fresh efforts to fight smog when the government unveils the biggest, greenest five-year plan in China's modern history next month. After three decades of filthy growth, the measures are designed to pull the country from the environmental mire and make it a leader in the low-carbon economy. But sceptics question whether the policy will have any more success than previous failed efforts to overcome the nexus of corrupt officials and rule-dodging factory bosses. The environmental tax which will levy fees according to discharges of sulphur dioxide, sewage and other contaminants is intended as a disincenti...

Eight years after tacitly ceding the high-tech metals market to Beijing, a US minerals company prepares to reopen a California mine holding vast deposits of the elements. Suzanne Goldenberg reports. It's a deep pit in the Mojave desert . But it could hold the key to America challenging China's technological domination of the 21st century. At the bottom of the vast site in the American west, beneath six metres of bright emerald-green water, runs a rich seam of ores that are hardly household names but are rapidly emerging as the building blocks of the high-tech future. The mine in south-eastern California, near the Nevada border -- is the largest known deposit of rare-earth elements outside China. Eight years ago, it was shut down in a tacit admission that the United States was ceding the market to China. Now, the owners have secured final approval to restart operations, and hope to begin production soon. "We will probably never be the largest [mine] in the world again. It...

As the Chinese celebrate a new year of the rabbit, Asia environment correspondent Jonathan Watts looks back on some of the stories from the year of the tiger Jonathan Watts

Revellers around the world welcome the Chinese lunar year of the rabbit

As the Chinese celebrate a new year of the rabbit, Asia environment correspondent Jonathan Watts looks back on some of the stories from the year of the tiger Jonathan Watts

The Chinese economy has experienced spectacular growth, but investment fund managers are divided over its future outlook Today marks the start of the Chinese year of the rabbit symbol of longevity and serenity. But the Chinese economy over the past year has been anything but serene, with GDP growth bouncing along at 10.3% and inflation leaping to 4.6%, both well ahead of the government's target. The key question for the new year is whether the government can calm the economy down gradually without jeopardising its long-term growth. China and other emerging markets have become the destination of choice for investors seeking decent returns as western markets labour under the twin burdens of sluggish growth and record low interest rates. Slim Feriani, chief investment officer of Advance Emerging Capital , which runs a range of emerging market funds, says a record $94bn (59bn) poured into emerging markets last year, beating the previous record of $83bn in 2009. That wall of money, co...

Britain braced for influx from China as wealthy tourists make a beeline for bargains in high-end shops Oxford Street is anticipating a shopping spree from Asia today as Chinese tourists celebrate the lunar new year by snapping up luxury brands. Although the Chinese new year is traditionally a time for families to gather at home, a burgeoning middle class has the money and inclination to travel. Increasingly, the wealthy are using the holiday to get away, and Chinese tourist numbers are set to double by 2014. In London, Chinese tourists make a beeline for the high-end shops. Wang Yanming, a Beijing publisher, is typical of the affluent visitors arriving in the UK. "I have always wanted to go to the UK. It is a beautiful country with a long history," said the 32-year-old. "I did a lot of shopping, because it was so much cheaper. In outlets and factory shops, the prices for brands like Burberry, Mulberry, Vivienne Westwood and Ben Sherman were incredibly low. For some of t...

Shoppers from mainland China and Hong Kong account for about 30% of the luxury goods market in Britain, with British shoppers making up only around 15% of the purchases Oxford Street is anticipating a shopping spree from Asia today as Chinese tourists celebrate the lunar New Year by snapping up luxury brands. Although Chinese New Year is traditionally a time for families to gather at home, a burgeoning middle class has the money and inclination to travel. Increasingly, the wealthy are using the holiday to get away, and Chinese tourist numbers are set to double by 2014. In London, Chinese tourists make a beeline for the high end shops. Wang Yanming, a Beijing publisher, is typical of the affluent visitors arriving in the UK. "I have always wanted to go to the UK. It is a beautiful country with a long history," said the 32-year-old. But she added: "I did a lot of shopping [too], because it was so much cheaper. In outlets and factory shops, the prices for brands like Burber...

Chinese porcelain taken to Dorchester auction house in a cardboard box identified as a rare Yongle-era moonflask A retired chocolate factory worker who took an old vase to a provincial auction house in a cardboard box is in line for a million-pound bonanza after being told it was a Ming moonflask. Experts at Duke's in Dorchester, Dorset, were stunned when the 79-year-old man, who used to work for Cadbury, showed them the 29cm-tall vase, thought to date from between 1403 and 1424. The vase was made during the reign of Yongle the third emperor of the Ming period features simple loop handles and appears to be influenced by Islamic design. Guy Schwinge, from Duke's, said he was stunned when he first saw the elegant blue and white piece. "When my colleague initially showed me what had arrived in a cardboard box I could not believe my eyes," he said. "The vase is in perfect condition and it is amazing to think that it has survived unscathed for almost six hundred yea...

City may be seeing the last of its smogs, as benign weather and controls on coal burning and vehicle exhausts take effect Notoriously smoggy Beijing is set to start the Chinese new year at midnight with the city's first uninterrupted month of blue skies in a decade. Benign weather and government controls on coal burning and vehicle exhausts cut pollution to more than half the normal levels in January, raising hopes the worst of the haze may finally be drawing to an end. In an interview with the Guardian, Du Shaozhong, the deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Administration , which has been much criticised over the years, was in an ebullient mood. "This is the best month we've had in terms of air quality since 1998," he said. "In terms of environmental quality, we are on the way. We are climbing every day and trying to improve air quality." He acknowledged that the air quality over the past month had benefited from meteorological ...

Acclaimed natural history photographer Heather Angel has made 31 trips to China, discovering its varied landscape and recording its uniquely rich flora and fauna Eric Hilaire

Hydroelectric power company Huadian will build a cascade of 13 dams in the spectacular 'Grand Canyon of the Orient' China 's dam builders will press ahead with controversial plans to build a cascade of hydropower plants in one of the country's most spectacular canyons, it was reported today, in an apparent reversal for prime minister Wen Jiabao. The move to harness the power of the pristine Nu river - better known outside of China as the Salween - overturns a suspension ordered by the premier in 2004 on environmental grounds and reconfirmed in 2009. Back then, conservation groups hailed the reprieve as a rare victory against Big Hydro in an area of south-west Yunnan province that is of global importance for biodiversity. But Huadian - one of the country's five biggest utilities - and the provincial government have argued that more low-carbon energy is needed to meet the climate commitments of the fast-growing economy. Their lobbying appears to have been successful...