The Loulan Beauty is one of more than 200 remarkably well-preserved mummies discovered in western China over the last few decades.

The final death toll from the collapse of a subway tunnel that was under construction in eastern China has reached 21, with all hope gone of rescuing 13 missing workers, state media reported.

China's president signed trade deals with communist ally Cuba and agreed to help it modernize its ports and hospitals on Tuesday, part of a Latin America trip on which Chinese businessmen have been snapping up raw materials.

In the latest vent of wrath of small land owners against Chinese leaders, rioters smashed windows and hurled rocks at the Communist Party headquarters in Gansu province.

Any attempt to separate Tibet is doomed to fail, China govt said, even as Tibetan exiles hold talks in India on a new strategy for their campaign against Chinese rule.

Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Cuba on Monday for a two-day visit to promote further economic ties with the island struggling to recover from three hurricanes and global financial crisis.

The risks of an economic downturn in China are growing and protectionist sentiment abroad could hurt global growth, the country's central bank said on Tuesday.

China isn't letting the global financial crisis shrink its ambitions in Latin America, where it has sunk billions into mining and replaced the United States as Chile's top trading partner.

China is not planning on sending troops to Afghanistan to join the International Security Assistance Force there, state media said on Tuesday.