Society

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 5.3 percent in April from a year ago, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Wednesday.

A customer looks at price tags in a supermarket in Hefei, Anhui province May 11, 2011. China's headline consumer price inflation slowed to 5.3 percent in the year to April from 5.4 percent in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on May 11, 2011.

The April figure was down 0.1 percentage points from March's 32-month high of 5.4 percent, according to the NBS.

According to Beijing Daily, the Forbidden City has been robbed and 7 Hong Kong private collections lost early on 8th May 2011.

Armed Policed stand behind security line on 10th May 2011.

Tornado attacks Foshan, Guangzhou Province 7th May, 2011.

Natural disasters in China left 34 people dead and caused 5.11 billion yuan (US$786 million) in direct economic losses in April of this year, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said in a Monday report.

Hailstorms proved to be the month's most deadly natural phenomenon, with 18 people killed in south China's Guangdong Province after hailstorms and strong winds rocked the region.

Other areas were damaged by droughts, floods, earthquakes, sleet, landslides, forest fires and pests, according to the report. However, the degree of damage done was not as serious as in past years, the report said.

Thousands of talcum-powder-feed Chick have been verified in Chongqing.

Tainted melamine milk powder, salted duck eggs containing cancer-causing dyes, artificial honey, fake wine, donkey-hide gelatin, waste oil, sulfur steamed ginseng, plaster tofu, dyed bread…the list goes on.

Sadly, many people estimate that the list will get longer. Every day we worry about the next food time bomb exploding, we just do not know where the site of the blast will be.

In the past, my impression of Chinese enterprises was in copyright fraud, counterfeit brands, later spreading to other areas like toxic toys. The food industry now faces its own serious problem.