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China will grow relatively quickly for a long time, and its market will be open and fair, President Xi Jinping said on Monday, soothing fears over the Chinese economy.

Meeting more than 30 foreign and domestic business leaders at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2013, Xi said China's market potential is huge thanks to the country's rapid agricultural modernization, industrialization and urbanization.

"China's economy will go upwards instead of downwards for a long time," Xi said.

Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady of British politics who died on Monday at 87, played a key role in China’s relationship with the United Kingdom, especially in the peaceful handover of Hong Kong, experts said.

Britain’s first and only female prime minister, Thatcher died peacefully at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke, her family announced. She governed Britain from 1979 to 1990.

A day before the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference kicks off on April 6 in the eponymous former fishing village in China’s Hainan province, now widely known due to the event, the Nobel Prize winning economist Edmund Phelps puts forward a “provocative” question.

At the curtain-raising panel discussion on April 5 that features questions by leading economists, the Nobel laureate asks: What do Asian business leaders believe to be the main obstacles to a boost of indigenous innovation in Asia? Do they lie in the government? Finance? Where?

Andrew McEvoy makes no apologies — he is passionate about Australia. “It’s a magnificent country. A country which has been taken for granted by many Australians,” the country’s tourism chief says.

“But all that is changing now. Australians have woken up to the fact that there is a lot to see and do right here … at home.”

At 48, some would say he has one of the best jobs in Australia.

When other children of his age thought a stone was just a pebble to play with, Shmuel Schnitzer knew it was a priceless object with many facets — a diamond.

“I saw my first diamond when I was very young, maybe five or six years old,” says the 63-year-old who, besides being honorary life president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), is co-founder of S Schnitzer Diamonds, one of Israel’s leading diamond companies.

“My father used to bring diamonds home. Already then, I adored them.”

Will Europe’s debt problems continue to weigh on Asia’s growth prospects?

The European sovereign debt crisis will continue in 2013, albeit less intensely, and austerity policies have to be pursued.

As the EU27 represents broadly 30 percent of global trade, export-based economies in Asia will suffer.

Commodity prices will remain stable with global demand affected by the persisting effects of a negative shock in Europe. As a result, inflationary pressures should remain muted in Asia.

Laurence Lien’s path was set by the time he was 19. He had just completed his pre-university studies and had won an Overseas Merit Scholarship from the Public Service Commission. Four years later, he bagged a Singapore Government Scholarship. The prestigious scholarships stand testament to Lien’s abilities. After completing a bachelor’s degree in Oxford University, Lien returned to Singapore and began his career in the civil service.

Remember those days when you had to make your way to the nearest travel agency and buy your air ticket one month ahead? On travel day, you had to wait in line for half an hour to check in.

Today, you can buy a ticket via your mobile phone three days before traveling, charge the flight to your phone bill and reserve a seat online. With a two-dimensional bar code sent to your mobile, you scan it for a boarding pass at a do-it-yourself check-in counter. You’re good to go in less than 15 minutes.

An 18-year-old opera performer represents both the past and future of traditional Chinese opera, according to Liu Xiangrui.

Yan Dandan has lived like a gypsy from an early age and made her debut on the opera stage at 9.

As the youngest member of her Sichuan Opera troupe, from Qingquan in suburban Chengdu, 18-year-old Yan has traveled across Sichuan, following in the footsteps of her parents, who are both performers.

Xu Niansha submitted a simple but highly focused proposal in March as a new member of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the nation's top political advisory body.

He said the central government should help and support State-owned enterprises buy high technology from abroad.

A look at what Xu and his company, China National Machinery Industry Corp (Sinomach), is all about shows that his proposal is more than reasonable.

Trading of live poultry suspended following deaths, report Shan Juan and He Na in Beijing, and Wang Hongyi in Shanghai.

Few stalls were open on Sunday in Shanghai's Wanshang flower and bird market in the wake of deaths from the H7N9 strain of bird flu. Sunday is usually the busiest day of the week as bird lovers of all ages wander around and listen to the chorus of thousands of birds.

On April 6, the local government ordered the suspension of all trading in live poultry and pet birds, but so far there has been no official directive to close the market.