China seems to have been flitting across my personal horizon quite a lot over the last week or so.
We've all been moved by the coverage of the earthquake tragedy in Sichuan, with the focus on individual human stories managing to personalise so effectively the enormous, almost incomprehensible death toll.

These awful events, and the desperate relief efforts, were only too fresh in the minds of the audience last Friday night at St George's Hall for the recording of the second of this year's BBC Radio Four Reith Lectures, Chinese Vistas.
The lectures are being delivered by Professor Jonathan Spence, an Englishman who has made the USA his home and is the Sterling Professor of History at Yale University and one of the world's foremost experts on Chinese history.
It is quite a coup to have one of these lectures in Liverpool in this, their sixtieth anniversary year. Two of the four lectures are taking place in London, and the other one in New York. Liverpool was chosen because of its strong historical ties with China, and of course because of our European Capital of Culture Year.
The lecture itself, on the subject "English Lessons", was very thought-provoking, and flagged up some issues about our past relations with the Chinese which do not necessarily reflect our nation in the best possible light. Interesting audience, too, with some excellent questions from members of Liverpool's diverse Chinese community, and from a Wirral sixth form student currently studying Mandarin, with a clear view to the burgeoning business opportunity China represents. The lectures will be broadcast on Radio Four and the World Service next month.
Fast forward, skipping over Saturday, and my regular visit to Chinese doctor Juli Xiang for an acupuncture session at her Hoylake clinic (she's wonderful, by the way, if anyone has ever considered seeking out acupuncture from a genuine medical expert in the field), and yesterday I was visited by Dr Kerry Brown, Chief Operating Officer of the Liverpool Shanghai Partnership. We had a fascinating discussion about the growing economic power of China and the opportunities it represents for Liverpool.
Kerry worked in China for several years, and has a level of insight into the workings of the Chinese state and its people that represent a valuable asset for the Partnership and for Liverpool. He told me, for instance, that the population of Shanghai is now growing at around half a million a year - more than the population of Liverpool - and that there are now more Chinese language websites in the world than any other language.
The emergence of China as an economic superpower, probably the pre-eminent economy of the 21st century, is going to have an impact on all our lives. It is a very different country, with a very different outlook on world affairs and of course on human rights issues.
Seeing the way it has thrown open its borders and welcomed support and help from the international community in the wake of the earthquake disaster is heartening, and in sharp contrast to events in Burma. But it is still, by western standards, an authoritarian and repressive country, and the way it interacts with us in the years to come is going to be as fascinating as it is unpredictable.
There are some very interesting developments in terms of Liverpool's own relationship with China in the wings, news of which we hope to be able to bring you in the Liverpool Daily Post in the next couple of weeks. The editorial team will be using that as the peg for a more in-depth exploration of Liverpool's historical, current, and future links with China.
Should be intriguing stuff, and we would be very interested in hearing from you with your own stories and experiences of China, whether they be family connections or your own business relationships with the country and its people.

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