DUNHUANG, China — As the United States takes its first steps toward mandating that power companies generate more electricity from renewable sources, China already has a similar requirement and is investing billions to remake itself into a green energy superpower.

Through a combination of carrots and sticks, Beijing is starting to change how this country generates energy. Although coal remains the biggest source of energy and is almost certain to stay that way, the rise of renewable energy, especially wind power, is helping to slow China’s steep growth in emissions of global warming gases.

Beijing -- China will delay a plan that requires all new computers sold in the country to carry Internet filtering software after a barrage of criticism from business groups, foreign officials and Chinese computer users.

The announcement was made through the government's official news agency late Tuesday, hours before the original deadline to include the so-called Green Dam Youth Escort program on all new computers sold in China.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) Monday signed a supplementary Memorandum of Co-operation to prepare for the implementation of a renminbi trade settlement pilot scheme.

Speaking after the signing ceremony in Hong Kong, Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of PBOC, said the State Council had given the green light for RMB trade settlement services to be provided in the special administrative region.

The nation is bracing for a higher risk of more extreme weather as a trend toward increasing weather-related disasters has been recorded since the 1990s, top weather experts have said.

"Extreme weather will be more frequent in the future due to the instability of the atmosphere, and global warming might be the indirect cause," He Lifu, the top weather forecaster at the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), told China Daily.

As private equity luminary Hugo Shong, founding general partner of China-based IDG Technology Venture Investment, noted at the recent Wharton Global Alumni Forum in Beijing: “The IPO market is pretty much dead.” Since IPOs are a crucial exit route for investors, you might think a panel titled, “Private Equity in China: Challenge and Opportunity,” would have been a downbeat affair. But Shong’s mood -- and that of his fellow panelists -- was anything but morose.

As a business innovator, China has a wealth of advantages. These include a huge, adaptable population with an affinity for improvisation and reverse engineering; low-cost labor, operations and overhead; and mature industrial clusters ready to supply a variety of parts, components and subassemblies. These elements are creating a strong culture of innovation, one that companies from developed economies soon will either profit from, or compete against, as China moves beyond labor-intensive, low-value-added consumer goods.

On April 6, the Chinese government published the details of its long-awaited health care reform plan: It will spend RMB 850 billion (US$124 billion) over the next three years to extend health care deep into the provinces and rural areas, by upgrading and expanding the country’s basic medical infrastructure. Inside the big cities, it will try to relieve pressure on the hospitals by establishing a network of community health centers. For rural areas, the goal is to strengthen township hospitals and rural clinics.

The late April outbreak of a new strain of H1N1 flu sent a spasm of anxiety through the global tourism industry. The concern was especially strong in Asia, where tourism has been growing faster than in any other region. During the short-lived SARS epidemic of 2003, travel in Asia plunged dramatically, and hotel occupancies in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore dropped from between 70% and 80% to as low as 10%. Airlines, restaurants, travel agencies, theme parks and other tourism-related businesses suffered accordingly.

How good was business at last week's Beijing Wedding Expo?

The ATM machines ran out of money.

"I didn't bring enough cash," lamented 26-year-old Wang Lin, attempting to console his fiancee, Zhao Yue, as they waited in line at one of the few machines that was still operating.

"I never thought we'd make so many spur-of-the-moment decisions," said Wang, an IT worker, as he and Zhao leafed through brochures for gifts, photo albums, clothing, banquets and honeymoons.

Buyers and sellers at the 105th Canton Fair in south China's Guangdong province are no longer restricted to using the US dollar to settle their deals. This year they can also use the yuan, China's currency.

Last week, the State Council (Cabinet) gave the greenlight to five major trade cities -- Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Dongguan -- to use the yuan, also known as Renminbi, as an option to settle international trade deals.