Last year the Miao minority people of Yunnan province finally got to read the whole Bible in their own language.
According to some estimates, a third of China's population - some 429 million - are now overweight or obese, making them prime candidates for heart disease and diabetes.
In an attack on 28 January, Sudanese rebels seized 29 Chinese nationals in the South Kordofan area where the Sudanese army has been fighting insurgents for months. The Chinese construction workers were involved in road projects in the region, which borders newly-independent South Sudan.
At the end of November 2011, the China Internet Network Information Centre reported that China had over half a billion Internet users. At the same time, the number of microblog users had reportedly jumped to 300 million from 195 million at the end of June.
"2012 promises to be a landmark year for China, a year of change," the BBC reports. "But here's the paradox," the article continues, "you are unlikely to see much change, not for most of this year, not in China."