China

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In this photo released by China's Xinhua news agency, a high-speed train G802 leaves for Beijing from Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei province, on Dec. 26, 2012. China has opened the world's longest high-speed rail line, which runs 2,298 kilometers (1,428 miles) from the country's capital in the north to Guangzhou, an economic hub in the Pearl River delta in southern China. (Associated Press/Xinhua)

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Sun Li (second from left) stars in “The Legend of Zhen Huan,” which has captivated viewers in Taiwan but the TV show's emphasis on the dark side of human nature has made it less popular with cultural authorities in China. (Associated Press)

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Gan Lulu was called the next Lady Gaga by her mother, who got into a raucous shouting match on a TV show about whether risque images of her daughter have undermined China’s morality. (Associated Press)

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China's Defense Minister Liang Guanglie speaks at a news conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, not seen, at the Bayi Building in Beijing, China Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Larry Downing, Pool)

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Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihino Noda, front left, U.S. President Barack Obama, center front, and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, sitting right, attend the East Asia Summit at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

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The new Chinese passport outlines all of the South China Sea as part of China’s territorial waters. The Philippines has protested China’s depiction of its claims. The potentially oil- and gas-rich waters also are claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia. (Associated Press)

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People stand near a house which sits in the middle of a newly built road in Wenling city in east China's Zhejiang province on Nov. 22, 2012. The house belongs to an elderly man, who refused to sign an agreement to allow his house to be demolished by the authorities, as the compensation offered to him was not enough, according to local media. (Associated Press)

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President Obama listens as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao speaks across the table from him Tuesday during the East Asia Summit at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** A huge screen shows a broadcast of China's new Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping speaking in Beijing's Great Hall of the People on Nov. 15, 2012. (Associated Press)

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Molly Britt, Gaylord National Resort, Public Relations, tries out the big ice slide, under colorful lights in a room temperature of nine degrees, as the artisan ice sculptors from Harbin, China, put the final touches on the attraction ICE! featuring DreamWorks Shrek the Halls at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., Friday, Nov. 9, 2012. These sculptors are master carvers who spend a month here each year turning two million pounds of ice into colorful ice sculptures in an environment of nine degrees. They are from Harbin, China, the capital city of China's northernmost province, Heilongjiang, across the border from Siberia, Russia. Harbin, China has been host of the Ice and Snow Festival for more than 25 years, welcoming approximately 800,000 visitors annually. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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China’s new leaders, led by new Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping (left), must deal with problems that have long festered — from a sputtering economy to friction with the U.S. — that have worsened in recent months as leadership focused on this week’s power transfer. (Associated Press)