Philippe Lopez / AFP - Getty Images

A map of China made from more than 1,800 cans of baby formula created by dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei highlights the controversy over raging demand for milk powder from Hong Kong in mainland China. Hong Kong has passed a draconian law to limit supplies.

BEIJING – His art may be forbidden in China and his name blocked as a search topic online, but Chinese artist and social activist Ai Weiwei still knows how to grab headlines.

His latest art project on display in Hong Kong is titled “Baby Formula 2013” and is an 860-square-foot map of China assembled from more than 1,800 cans of formula.

The exhibit strikes at the heart of a number of key social issues affecting China right now: from ever-present domestic food scandals to growing tension between Hong Kong and the mainland.

A former British colony, Hong Kong became a self-administered region of China in 1997 and operates under different laws. It remains free from state censorship and has become a mecca for shoppers from the mainland who believe they are buying the real – not fake or copied – items. 

Ed Flanagan / NBC News

A sign at the Air China check-in counter in Hong Kong says, "Departing with excessive powdered formula COMMITS AN OFFENCE ... each may take 2 cans of powdered formula with a total net weight up to 1.8 kg out of Hong Kong."

But on March 1 Hong Kong’s government ordered a two-can limit be enforced on people attempting to bring baby formula out of the special administrative region.

The draconian law is meant to prevent anxious parents from the mainland from buying up its formula in the wake of the 2008 melamine milk scandals that killed six children and left 300,000 others ill.

“I understand the intention of the milk power law, but it’s not a law that should be accepted in a free-enterprise city like Hong Kong,” Ai said by phone Tuesday. “You don’t limit the sale of things like Coca-Cola or formula. This is something Hong Kong should work with the mainland government to solve.”

Ai, who used eight brands of popular foreign baby formula to construct the map, said it took a number of buyers some time to purchase all the cans needed for the project. 

“We went out and researched and bought the brands of formula that were popular amongst Chinese parents,” he said, noting products from Switzerland, Australia, Germany and the U.S. were particularly hot sellers.

In China -- where Ai’s name continues to be a blocked term in Chinese social media due to his run-ins with the government -- reaction to his newest exhibition ranged from frustration with the steady flow of food scandals to amusement over the Hong Kong law.

“It is like a slap across the face of China’s milk powder industry,” wrote one angered user on China’s twitter-like service, Weibo, “Do they have the nerve to keep living?”

“I’m going to steal some cans of formula when I go to see the exhibition!” another user chimed in.

Despite his concerns over the Hong Kong law, Ai’s focus seems to be more on the ongoing concerns over food safety in China.

“That Chinese people have to go across the border just to get a fresh supply of baby formula and clean food, that’s shocking to me,” Ai said. “Food safety is a huge issue now due to the neglect of the government."

“I just wanted to speed up the change and development," he added.

Philippe Lopez / AFP - Getty Images

A woman walks along Ai Weiwei's baby formula map of China. "Food safety is a huge issue now due to the neglect of the government," Ai said.

The insatiable demand for foreign baby formula and other products in China has in recent years led to fears of shortages in Hong Kong, where resentment toward visiting mainland shoppers – sometimes derogatorily referred to as “locusts” – has grown.

Concern that mainland shoppers could buy up the entire supply of formula prompted the changes to the law that seemed out of character with Hong Kong’s reputation as the world’s freest economy.

Hong Kong is not the first part of the world to change the rules on baby formula purchases. Retailers in Australia and Britain have also imposed can limits as a result of surging Chinese demand.

But Hong Kong’s law angered mainland parents who found themselves suddenly facing fines upward of $64,000 and two-year prison sentences if found guilty of trying to sneak more formula out for their children.

It also inflamed tensions in mainland China, where the formula limit was seen as a sign of Hong Kong’s ingratitude for the inherent economic benefits enjoyed by its close proximity to the mainland.

NBC News’ Lorraine Liu and Huang Pei contributed to this report.

Slideshow: The artist strikes a nerve

Sharron Lovell / Polaris

Ai Weiwei is an artist and social activist who has a history of courting controversy in China. Click to see photos of some of his most influential works.

Launch slideshow

Related stories: 

• Chinese spooked by food scandals take action - by growing it themselves
• Will China mediate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process?
• NBC News complete coverage of China in the Behind the Wall blog

Slideshow: The artist strikes a nerve

Sharron Lovell / Polaris

Ai Weiwei, whose sculpture representing the mythical figures of the Chinese zodiac will be unveiled Monday in New York, has been detained by Chinese authorities and accused of serious crimes. Click to see photos of some of his most influential works.

Launch slideshow

BEIJING – China’s Ai Weiwei on Wednesday released a profanity-laced heavy-metal single based on the 81 days the firebrand artist and activist spent in detention.

Written and sung by Ai with music by prominent Chinese rocker Zuoxiao Zuzhou, “Dumbass” is “is a wall-to-wall simulation of the prison cell that Weiwei was detained in,” a spokeswoman for Ai said.

Lyrics in the song, translated into English, include "**** forgiveness, tolerance be damned, to hell with manners, the low-life’s invincible," and "The field is full of ****ers, dumbasses are everywhere."

A video to accompany the song is available to watch on YouTube [note: profanity in Chinese].

Ai’s detention and the hefty $2.4 million tax bill later levied against him led to protests around the world, as well as an upsurge of support in China for the award-winning artist, who was placed under house arrest following his release.

Ai said that recreating his cell and the traumatic experience of being imprisoned – which Ai claims included 24-hour supervision by two military police sergeants, even as he slept and used the bathroom – was a cathartic experience.   

The Chinese government has never confirmed the details of Ai’s detention.

The track, the first single off his new album “The Divine Comedy,” was described in a press release from his studio as “Ai Weiwei’s reflection on the struggle of protecting human rights and the freedom of expression in China.”

The Divine Comedy is expected to be released fully in June on Ai’s website and on iTunes.

Ai’s spokeswoman said that the artist was working on a second album that will shift away from the heavy-metal and towards a more romantic tone.

Related:

• Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei goes 'Gangnam Style'

• Chinese artist Ai Weiwei warned not to attend his own court case

• Ai Weiwei turns camera on himself, citing 'global' problem

BEIJING – Over 1,000 chanting demonstrators took to the streets of the southern Chinese city of Kunming on Thursday to protest plans for a state oil refinery - the latest sign of popular anger at environmental pollution.

Some carried signs emblazoned with, “PX… Get out of Kunming,” in reference to paraxylene, a chemical used to make plastic products. If inhaled or absorbed, paraxylene can damage to the central nervous system.

Protesters who spoke to NBC News put the number of demonstrators at around 1,000, while The Associated Press reported that about 2,500 had attended. There was no explanation for the discrepancy and Kunming police declined to comment.  

The Kunning demonstration - the second in the city this month - comes amid growing anger against pollution and environmental degradation brought on by unchecked economic development throughout China.

"We don't need speedy development. What we need is a healthy and peaceful country," Kunming resident Liu Yuncheng told The Associated Press. "I still haven't given birth to a baby. I want to be pregnant and I want a healthy baby."

China National Petroleum Corp’s (CNPC) construction of paraxylene-producing petrochemical plants has sparked protests from Ningo to Xiamen. In the case of Ningbo, thousands of residents clashed with police in October, eventually prompting officials there to halt construction of an installation.

Protesters in Kunming told NBC News by telephone that they had tried to march towards city hall, but were stopped by police who formed a security cordon around them.  By mid-afternoon, demonstrators had filtered through the blocks by using side streets, effectively ending the protest.

In Kunming, local government and company officials have tried to assuage health concerns by assuring residents that the plant would maintain strict environmental standards, and not necessarily produce paraxylene.

These assurances did not assuage many residents’ fears.

“I don’t know if this protest will be effective or not,” one organizer said. “But if the government continues to build this plant, I’ll keep protesting.

Another protester said she had been pulled in for questioning by local authorities this week for about nine hours. She did not participate in Thursday’s protest.

Officials from CNPC were not available for comment.

According to the South China Morning Post, officials successfully blocked a similar protest against another proposed CNPC refinery in the provincial capital of Sichuan province, Chengdu.  Government officials announced an earthquake drill and effectively sealed off a number of landmarks where the rally had been planned, the newspaper reported. 

The Associated Press, and NBC News’ Le Li and Lorraine Liu contributed to this report.

Related:

China's state media finally admits to air pollution crisis

More than 2,800 dead pigs found in Chinese river

Le Li / NBC News

Jiang Yuhong, with her husband and son, at the Carrot Organic Farm in Shunyi, China.

BEIJING – Shopping for groceries is a painful process for Tan Yinghong, a mother in her mid-30s. Just to buy meat, vegetables and milk for her 7-year-old son she has to pick her way through a minefield of possible perils – fake lamb, diseased pork, toxic ginger, tainted milk and unsafe bottled water.  

So after years of scandals and the government's inability to clean up the food supply chain, this spring the former high school teacher took matters into her own hands and signed a lease on about a quarter of an acre of farmland on the outskirts of Beijing with six other families.

It ends up urban gardening isn't just for hipsters in Brooklyn and San Francisco.

Tan and her friends plan to start by raising their own chickens and vegetables, and eventually grow all of their own food. The tender shoots of their first vegetable crop of tomatoes, cucumbers and onions have just broken through the soil.  

“I was so excited to see seeds growing from the earth,” Tan said.

Tan is part of a growing group who are tackling the food safety issues in China by raising it themselves.

Not much faith in ‘organic’ label
In 2006, when Tan moved to Beijing from a town near the southwestern city of Chongqing with her husband, she expected an adjustment to fast-paced city life.  She did not foresee spending countless hours looking for safe food for her son.

A 2008 scandal involving melamine-tainted milk and infant formula was the first wakeup call. As a result of the chemical melamine being added to the milk and baby formula, an estimated 300,000 were sickened and six infants died. Two people from one milk company were executed in the aftermath, but no new regulations were put in place.

After that, Tan switched to imported and organic food. But a rash of scams, including fake Evian destroyed her trust in products that were supposedly imported.

And Tan was skeptical that the vegetables marked with green "organic" stickers were really any safer.

She’s not alone. A recent survey by Insight China Magazine and Tsinghua University indicates almost 70 percent of China’s consumers feel insecure about food safety.

The government regulates organic labels, but farmers must pay a fee to apply for the certificates, and many Chinese consumers don’t believe the market is regulated strictly enough to ensure the veracity of producers' claims.

China’s official Xinhua news agency reported Thursday that the State Council, China's cabinet, recently ordered local government departments to step up checks on meat and processed meat products, and carry out detailed inspections of rural factories, workshops and warehouses as well as private slaughterhouses.

Beijing has repeatedly called for greater inspections of food processing facilities, but they haven’t had much success building consumer trust in the past. The latest clampdown encourages local governments to offer rewards to individuals who inform on illegal activities

Le Li / NBC News

The greenhouses at Carrot Organic Farm in Shunyi, China.

Carrot Organic Farm
Like Tan, Jiang Yuhong, 37, became aware of the food safety when she was pregnant in 2010. She decided to stick to organic food sold at Walmart, which many consumers trust more because it’s a foreign company. While Jiang barely considered the cost, she just thought the organic vegetables didn't taste right.

Eventually she moved from the center of Beijing to the suburbs of Shunyi and built a house beside a plot of land where she could grow her own vegetables. 

After two years of farming, Jiang realized many of her friends actually enjoyed working in her fields during weekend gatherings. She saw a business opportunity and went big.

So she founded Carrot Organic Farm on 124 acres in January 2012. 

The Carrot Organic Farm has 207 greenhouses; each is about 8,000 square feet and is divided into 23 units of about 350 square feet. Customers can rent as much space as they like, but the minimum is one unit. And it’s pricey:  the minimum membership fee is about $600, roughly a month’s salary of a recent graduate in Beijing.

For those too busy or not inclined to spend spare time tending crops, the farm provides workers and door-to-door delivery. Jiang decided not to pay for the organic certification, and instead lets customers watch their food grow themselves. She installed surveillance cameras to allow clients to monitor their vegetables at any time. 

Her bet paid off. Within a year of opening, she's recouped her initial investment and her scheme has 3,000 members. Given the cost, most of her clients are members of the elite, as well as international tech companies like Oracle and Panasonic.

Jiang now divides her time between the company, her own farm and her son. She says she gets just five or six hours of sleep a night and works straight through the weekends, but has no complaints.

On her phone Jiang scrolls through pictures of her son, running in her ample backyard.    

“Look at the way he is kicking,” Jiang said. “He is organic.” 

Reuters contributed to this report.

Related links:

Food supply under assault as climate heats up

'Get out': Over 1,000 take to the streets in China to protest oil refinery

A Nixon returns to China, retracing steps of 1972 visit

This story was originally published on Tue May 14, 2013 4:51 PM EDT

BEIJING -- Christopher Cox Nixon began retracing the steps of his grandfather's historic 1972 visit to China by walking across Tiananmen Square with an entourage that included several former Nixon aides.

"The stark contrast between then and now," marveled Jack Brennan, who had accompanied President Richard Nixon to China as his Marine Corp aide. "The colors, and nobody smiled back then."

As if on cue, a young Chinese woman in a bright dress, big white-rimmed sunglasses and a smile that seemed as broad as the Tiananmen Gate, bounded forward requesting a photograph. Although not with Brennan, but with the young Nixon's glamorous wife, Andrea Catsimatidis, clad in a striking red dress.

Catsimatidis, daughter of supermarket billionaire John Catsimatidis -- a candidate for mayor of New York -- duly obliged, as she would several more times as the group strolled on through the Forbidden City.

It is likely that none of the Chinese fans had a clue who she was -- and they may never have heard of either of the Nixons. But it seemed a cool thing to do, uploading the photo from a smartphone to one of the many social networking sites patronized by young Chinese.

Yes, this country has changed.

Andy Wong / AP

In this combo photo, U.S. President Richard Nixon and his wife Pat Nixon have light moments at a huge stone elephant, left, on Feb. 24, 1972; while at right, Nixon's grandson Christopher Cox and his wife Andrea Catsimatidisat visit the same spot at the Ming Tomb, north of Beijing, on  May 4, 2013.

President Nixon called his historic 1972 visit "the week that changed the world," ending 25 years of a diplomatic freeze between the two countries. The young Nixon’s visit marked the centenary of his grandfather's birth.

"What an incredible change from 40 years ago," said the young Nixon, a 34-year-old investment banker with political ambitions of his own. "Just look at the personal freedoms, not political freedoms, but personal freedoms -- how people dress, how people interact with each other."

The 1972 trip is credited with opening China to the world. It was also an important Cold War play, driving a deeper wedge between China and the Soviet Union. Nixon was fiercely anti-communist, and the term "Nixon going to China" became a catchphrase for an unexpected action by a politician.

"We should never keep a billion of the world's most able and hard-working people in isolation," said his grandson. "I think that he [President Nixon] would have expected to see the Chinese people so prosperous and industrious."

The anniversary trip was designed to stress the positives of both the Nixon administration and the Chinese Communist Party, which gave the group red-carpet treatment as they traveled last week to Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou.

One highlight was a banquet at the Great Hall of the People, hosted by State Councilor Yang Jiechi, China's top foreign policy official, and designed to mirror a banquet thrown for President Nixon.

A big screen at the front of the room described the 1972 summit as the "most important event in the history of international diplomacy in the 20^th century."

Andy Wong / AP

Christopher Cox, grandson of former U.S. President Richard Nixon, second from right, and his wife Andrea Catsimatidis, third from right, pose with Chinese tourists as they tour the Great Wall of China at Badaling, north of Beijing, on May 4. A delegation led by Cox is here to commemorate Nixon's centennial by retracing his 1972 historical visit to China.

Among the Chinese dignitaries was Tang Wensheng, who had been interpreter for Chairman Mao Zedong back then. Mao had suffered a stroke a few days before Nixon arrived, and she said the Chinese side was worried about whether Mao would be well enough. But the ailing Mao was able to meet Nixon.

Robert McFarlane, former national security adviser to President Nixon, said the summit set the scene for extensive sharing of privileged information.

"We shared the most sensitive intelligence about the Soviet Union with China, intelligence we didn't even share with our allies," he said.

He said this was designed as a mark of sincerity, but it also served Washington's purpose of further poisoning relations between the two communist giants.

Back then, of course, relations between China and the U.S. were fairly simple -- there weren't any.

Today China is a much more open, yet complicated, place. Relations can be tense and difficult. The two are economic and political rivals, and U.S. officials are much more regular visitors as they grapple with a host of issues from cyberspying to North Korea. 

"The problems haven't become any easier," McFarlane said. "Issues like cybersecurity, regional territorial disagreements between China and her neighbors and certainly terrorism -- all of these look daunting."

As the toasts got underway, there was much talk at the banquet of reviving the spirit of 1972.

"It’s important for the two countries to talk to each other frankly," McFarlane said.

Related links: 

Chairman Mao's granddaugher makes China's rich list 

China labels US the 'real hacking empire' after Pentagon report 

'Charlie Two Shoes': A story of wartime loyalty and friendship

Wang Ming Yi / AFP

Kong Dongmei, the granddaughter of Chinese Communist Party founder Mao Zedong, during a visit to Taipei, Taiwan, in 2009.

BEIJING -- Anywhere else in the world, placement on a rich list would be cause for celebration.

Not so in China.

For China's richest, being listed on wealth reports can be deeply undesirable, inviting unwanted extra scrutiny from tax collectors to a general public increasingly suspicious of the origins of the wealth that has poured into the mainland from uncertain corners over the last few decades.

The latest person to find herself facing this tough media spotlight: Kong Dongmei, the granddaughter of late Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong.

With assets estimated at around $815 million, Kong and her husband, Chen Dongsheng, placed 242nd on Chinese magazine New Fortune's 500 Rich List for 2013 released this week.

The specific kind of attention attracted by such an appearance has many nicknames. One Chinese author dubbed it "The Curse of Forbes"; others have called these wealth reports "sha zhu bang" or "kill pig list."

Whatever you call it, there is no denying that the lists can be perilous for China's wealthy. A study last year entitled "The Price of Being a Billionaire in China: Evidence Based on Hurun Rich List," found that companies listed on the notorious "Hurun Rich List" had their market values rapidly decline within three years – victims of increased tax audits, cutting off of government subsidies and financial investigations.

Indeed, many who have found themselves among the lucky few have soon after landed in jail as media and government interest shifted to their business dealings.

'Honest and clean'
The irony that the granddaughter of the country's founding Communist leader is now one of its wealthiest citizens was not lost on the public here -- that despite carefully cultivating a veneer of modest living, Mao's offspring have in fact been profiting handsomely.

In 2009, another grandchild of Mao, Major General Mao Xinyu, told Chinese media, "The Mao Family heritage is honest and clean. None of the Mao family members have entered business. They all live on their modest salaries."

Meanwhile Kong authored four bestsellers about her grandfather and even ran a bookstore that specialized in Communist culture.

The revelation that Mao's granddaughter has risen to become one of China's wealthiest citizens only confirms what many in this country increasingly believe: Patronage is the path to wealth in today's Chinese society.

That perception is backed up by a recent survey conducted by Tsinghua University and reported in the Beijing Evening Post that found that college graduates in China who had a parent serving as a government official were found to earn 15 percent more than their peers.

The study also found that children of well-connected families were more likely to be recruited into sectors like finance, government agencies and international organizations, while other graduates ended up in industries like manufacturing and construction.

Related stories:

• Chinese officials embrace 'low-key luxury' to dodge corruption crackdown
• Chinese ex-police detained while trying to stamp out corruption
• More China coverage on our Behind The Wall blog

Mark Ralston / AFP - Getty Images

A Chinese paramilitary officer rides a scooter in Beijing on Wednesday. Beijing dismissed an annual Pentagon report that accused it of widespread cyberspying on the U.S. government, rejecting it as an "irresponsible

BEIJING -- China on Wednesday accused the United States of sowing discord between it and its neighbors after the Pentagon said Beijing is using espionage to fuel its military modernization, branding Washington the "real hacking empire.”

The latest salvo came a day after China's foreign ministry dismissed as groundless a Pentagon report that accused China for the first time of trying to break into U.S. defense computer networks.

The Pentagon also cited progress in Beijing's effort to develop advanced-technology stealth aircraft and to build an aircraft carrier fleet to project power further offshore.

The People's Liberation Army Daily called the report a "gross interference in China's internal affairs.”

"Promoting the ‘China military threat theory’ can sow discord between China and other countries, especially its relationship with its neighboring countries, to contain China and profit from it," the newspaper said in a commentary that was carried on China's Defense Ministry website.

The United States is "trumpeting China's military threat to promote its domestic interests groups and arms dealers,” the newspaper said, adding that it expects "U.S. arms manufacturers are gearing up to start counting their money.”

The remarks in the newspaper underscore the escalating mistrust between China and the United States over hacking, now a top point of contention between Washington and Beijing.

A U.S. computer security company, Mandiant, said in February a secretive Chinese military unit was likely behind a series of hacking attacks that targeted the United States and stole data from more than 100 companies.

That set off a war of words between Washington and Beijing.

China has said repeatedly that it does not condone hacking and is the victim of hacking attacks -- most of which it says come from the United States.

"As we all know, the United States is the real 'hacking empire' and has an extensive espionage network," the People's Daily, a newspaper regarded as a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, said in a commentary.

"In recent years, the United States has continued to strengthen its network tools for political subversion against other countries,” the article said.

"Cyber weapons are more frightening than nuclear weapons," the People's Daily said. "To establish military hegemony on the Internet by repeatedly smearing other countries is a dangerous and wrong path to take and will ultimately end up in shooting themselves in the foot."

Related links:

Report: China snooping around Pentagon computers

'Not based in fact': China angrily denies being behind widespread US hacking

Analysis: As cyberthreat looms, here's what really matters

Wang Zhao / AFP - Getty Images

A new strain of bird flu identified in China "is one of the most lethal influenza viruses we have seen so far," Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the World Health Organization (WHO)'s Assistant Director-General for Health Security, tells journalists at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

BEIJING – A new type of bird flu that has killed 22 people in China since March is one of the most deadly strains of influenza known, international health experts said on Wednesday. 

"This is one of the most lethal influenza viruses we have seen so far," said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Assistant Director-General for Health Security. "We are at the beginning of our understanding of this virus."

The H7N9 strain appears to spread more easily to humans than SARS, a different virus that started killing people in Asia a decade ago, experts said. Severe acute respiratory syndrome killed around 800 people globally in 2003 before it was stopped.

"This is an unusually dangerous virus for humans," added Fukuda, who was speaking in Beijing alongside leading flu experts from around the world.  

The delegation from United States, Europe, Hong Kong and Australia, as well as China, have just concluded a week-long investigation that took them to affected areas in Shanghai and Beijing.

Little is known
The group of experts made an impressive display of international cooperation, but at the same time admitted just how little is known about the virus that has infected 108 people since March.

"We are at the very early stages of this investigation," said Dr. Nancy Cox, who heads Influenza Division at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "There's a lot to be learned.”

Most of the cases so far have been found in eastern China, around the Yangtze River delta, but in recent days there have been cases in central and northern China, including the capital. Most have been what Fukuda called "sporadic cases."  

He said a few family clusters have been found, which could be the result of exposure to the same source of virus, or limited person-to-person transmission.

But he said: "'Evidence so far is not sufficient to conclude there is person-to-person transmission. Moreover, no sustained person-to-person transmission has been found.”

The experts concluded that live poultry markets were the most likely source of infection.

The experts praised the swift action of Chinese authorities in closing live poultry markets, and said it was "encouraging" that there have been no new cases in Shanghai since its markets were shuttered.

And they called for continued international cooperation against a virus that doesn't recognize borders. 

"The risks of an outbreak situation are shared in a globalized world, where we are all interconnected," said Fukuda.

Legacy of distrust
All of those who spoke today went out of their way to praise the response and of the Chinese authorities and their openness and transparency. There is enormous sensitivity to any suggestion that their presence in China implies any criticism of local efforts.

China still lives in the shadow of the SARS pandemic, which began here a decade ago and killed hundreds worldwide, including in the U.S. It was made worse by an initial cover-up by the Chinese authorities.

"The response reflects earlier and strong investments in health and preparedness made by China," said Fukuda.

SARS also left a legacy of distrust, which was on display earlier in the week in Shanghai, when a press conference by the local government and WHO was gatecrashed by the daughter of a couple infected with H7N9. The 26-year-old demanded information about her quarantined father; her mother had died.

"The hospitals and medical staff appear friendly to members of the media like you but have responded in a lukewarm manner to inquiries from family members like me," she told the South China Morning Post. She was taken away by officials.

The experts said that in the absence of so much basic information about the extent of the public health risk it was critical to maintain a high level of awareness. They also noted that the weather is warming up in China, which might provide a bit of a respite and buy them some important time, since H7N9 -- in common with other influenza -- spreads less easily in the spring and summer.

Related:

• A new openness as new bird flu virus spreads in China
• Six more diagnosed with new bird flu in China
• Scientists ready to re-start bird flu experiments

This story was originally published on Wed Apr 24, 2013 6:19 AM EDT

Andy Wong / AP

A Chinese man walks past a huge screen reporting on the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three, including a Chinese student, and wounded more than 170 people, in Beijing, China on April 17.

SHENYANG, China – Any Chinese person following news in the United States this past week might be forgiven for thinking the country was populated by trigger-happy outlaws.

“America made me feel unsafe," screamed a headline on Phoenix Satellite TV, a popular cable outlet, quoting another Chinese student who attended the Boston Marathon.

But for many in the rustbelt city of Shenyang, where Lu Lingzi, one of the three people killed in the Boston Marathon bombings grew up, America remains a promised land for ambitious young students and their doting parents.

A father waiting to pick-up his only son outside the elite Yucai Northeast High School that Lu, 23, attended before going to the United States to study at Boston University, said he was saddened but would still send his child to study in the U.S. if he could.

“If [American] schools offer scholarships, I’ll send my son right away,” said Li, who asked to be identified only by his family name.  Lu was just extremely unlucky, he and others said.

This calm was tinged with sadness over the death and sympathy for Lu’s parents – especially given China’s controversial one-child policy which was implemented in 1979 to control population growth. As a result, parents hopes, dreams – and care in their old age – is all dependent on their one child, making their loss that much more painful.

“All these years of devotion are lost,” said Li, sighing and shaking his head.  “She was their only child.”

Nevertheless, Li took photos of a billboard outside the school’s gates advertising private classes to help prepare students for the SAT and TOEFL tests – essential to gain entry to American universities.  The billboard listed the names of four top American schools where alumni had won scholarships.

Le Li / NBC News

Parents wait to pick up their children at Yucai Northeast High School in Shenyang, China -- the school that Lu Lingzi, the Chinese victim of the Boston Marathon bombing attended. The parents stand next to billboards listing the names of top American schools where alumni won scholarships.

He remained upbeat despite the Chinese media’s portrayal of the United States as an ocean of violence after the deadly bombings that injured more than 170, sparked a citywide manhunt and prompted the lockdown of the entire city of Boston.

“Do you still want to take a risk and send your child to America?” was the lead of an article by the “Chinese News,” one of the country’s biggest state-run news agencies.

Li and other parents outside of Yucai – which admits the best and brightest students of the region – held fast to their faith in the American Dream.

In recent years, Chinese parents have been sending their kids to the U.S. in record numbers. The number of Chinese students in the United States grew by 23 percent to more than 194,000 in 2011-2012, according to the Institute of International Education.  At a quarter of all international students in U.S. universities and colleges, Chinese students make up the country’s largest group of foreign students, it said. 

Le Li / NBC News

Wang Wenyi, left, is a 15-year-old student at Yucai Middle High School in Shenyang, China, the same school Lu Lingzi, the Chinese victim of the Boston bombing attended. Referring to Lu's death, she said, "My dream is to study in US. Lu Lingzi is just extremely unlucky.

Dong Yu, a saleswoman of health products, has already decided that the United States will play a big role in her high-school-aged daughter’s future. Even though 16-year-old Zhang Yingchen is only a high school freshman, and will likely spend her undergraduate career in China, Dong is confident where her daughter will eventually end up.

“America,” she said with a smile.

For Zhang Dechang, Dong’s husband, America is still the safest place to be even after the Boston attacks.  Zhang feels the morals of Chinese society are crumbling—even at universities. Pointing around at the crowd he indicates that no one feels safe.

“Look around, all the parents come to school to pick up our child,” he Zhang. “What does that show you?”

In the apartment complex where Lu’s parents and grandparents live, which belongs to an elite provincial Communist Party training academy, many residents have studied in the United States.

Zhang Yuqi, a colleague of Lu Lingzi’s grandfather, wanted to send his granddaughter to the U.S. as well. America is a great country, he said.

His boss at Liaoning Provincial Party School told him that the American government treats its citizens very well, and even dubbed it a “true Communist society,” referring to the fact that everyone has an opportunity to succeed there. 
 
Similarly, Wang Qiong, a Yucai alum, who is currently working towards her doctorate at Rockefeller University, enjoys the U.S. for its transparency and lack of bureaucracy. 

“I came to the U.S. in 2003, after 9-11,” she told NBC by phone from the U.S. “I may return to China one day, but not because of safety concerns.”

Related:

• 7 biggest unanswered questions over Boston Marathon bombings
• Badly wounded Boston Marathon bombing suspect responding to questions
• Police, citizens honor officer killed during hunt for Boston bombing suspects
• 'Rapid strides': Limb advances offer hope for Boston amputees
• London Marathon competitors, spectators defy security fears

BEIJING – Dr. Jiang Rongmeng had no sooner walked out of the hospital door when he was mobbed by journalists. Camera crews jostled for position and microphones jousted in front of his face as he was bombarded with demands for information about the latest case of bird flu.

In Hong Kong or Taiwan this wouldn't be an unusual sight, but in Beijing it's rarer to see such raw displays of journalistic pushiness.

Rongmeng is Dr. Bird Flu -- he is the chief physician at the Center for Infectious Diseases at Beijing's Ditan Hospital. Since the weekend, when the capital announced its first case of the deadly new H7N9 virus -- the victim is a 7-year-old girl -- he's been a man in demand.

On Monday a 4-year-old boy was found to be carrying the virus -- though without symptoms, a discovery that has further puzzled experts. In both cases the parents were live poultry traders.

The girl was well enough Tuesday to leave intensive care; the boy remains in quarantine.

When asked if he expected more cases, Ronmeng said: "It is possible. It's certainly possible."

As the figures have ballooned -- 63 cases now with 14 deaths since March -- and spread from the eastern provinces, the authorities seem to have concluded after initial hesitation that openness is the best strategy.

It appears they have learned from the deadly SARS pandemic that struck 10 years ago. It started in China before spreading worldwide, killing hundreds, and was made worse by a government cover-up.

The World Health Organization has even praised the authorities for their new openness.

To some extent, though, they are bowing to the inevitable: H7N9 is the first such outbreak in the era of social media. Information is tougher to control, and when it's restricted, rumor can run rife.

One local newspaper reported that 13 people have been arrested for spreading rumors about the disease on social media.

But not everybody is convinced. At the Ditan Hospital, Yang Shengli scoffed at the suggestion of government openness.

"It's hard to say if the government really is telling the truth," she said, as she brought in her feverish 16-year-old daughter for tests. Thankfully it wasn't bird flu.

In Beijing the response to the first case, the 7-year-old girl, seems to have been quick and efficient. Her parents had reportedly bought their chickens in the east, in Tianjin, and some of those chickens were sold to the neighbor of the 4-year-old boy hospitalized Tuesday.

Health authorities quickly followed the chicken trail, and when NBC arrived in the boy's village on the outskirts of Beijing Monday, loudspeakers were calling on anybody to come forward if they had bought chickens from the neighbor or the boy's parents.

Officials in white coats and masks were disinfecting the streets and roadblocks had been set up in and out of the village. Cars were searched, and even frozen poultry was confiscated.

So far there is no evidence that the H7N9 virus spreads from human to human, although there is one ambiguous case of a husband and wife in Shanghai that is causing concern.

One big challenge for the authorities is that chickens carrying the virus do not appear to show any signs of sickness. And the symptomless 4-year-old is also creating more uncertainty.

But there are no signs of panic -- only worry, with sales of chicken pretty much drying up and neighboring countries on alert.

"We absolutely should not be panicking," said Dr. Tristan Evely, medical director of the International SOS China, a Beijing clinic. "But high vigilance and monitoring of the situation is absolutely crucial at this point of time."

Related links: 

It started with a cough: Deadly China bird flu outbreak raises fears of pandemic

Deaths from new bird flu underscore grim fears, reports show

US rushes to make vaccine against new bird flu -- just in case

New H7N9 bird flu has officials worried about skimpy resources

This story was originally published on Tue Apr 16, 2013 11:05 AM EDT