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Despite the end of the Cold War and the break-up of the USSR, Central Asia remains a core element in the security strategy of the People's Republic of China. This strategy, establishing a continuum between China's internal and external security, has evolved from a strategy of influence following the independence of the new republics to a period of pragmatic adaptation to developments in the international arena after the terrorist attacks of September 11th. The Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) has emerged as the instrument for this flexible strategy of adaptation, of which the economic and energy dimension has now become key.

The recent surge in China's foreign exchange reserves (one trillion US$ in October 2006), is behind this update analysis of the domestic issues that it raises. The speculation on a future appreciation of the yuan has recently boosted money growth in China. Some controls on capital inflows reduced short-term capital in 2005 and 2006 but this has been compensated for by a surge in the trade surplus. This has resulted in abundant liquidity in China responsible for distortions which this article endeavours to analyse.

In a country where memory is tightly controlled, cultural heritage has a particular role to play. Research in a protected township in Jiangsu has made it possible to distinguish the different forms of memory passed on through heritage buildings. The dominant version is still that provided by official discourse, but the manner of its reception and appropriation varies according to the generation of its addressees.

The multinational coffee shop chain Starbucks has proved to be a pioneer in the United States, with the deployment of Wi-Fi access. Declaring itself to be an ethical company, it provides a non-smoking environment and non-alcoholic beverages and charges a fee for secure internet access, in the fashionable areas of big cities. Having first placed the company's economic model in the global context of new forms of mobility and of the development of the commercial opportunities they provide, the authors present the initial findings of research, carried out in April 2006, on the users of the Starbucks cafés in Beijing. The social practices observed reveal the need for access to distant services and a strong desire for local social interaction. These new areas of mobility, which are semi-public/semi-private spaces, have elements of both the SOHO (Small Office Home Office) and the meeting place.

Since the 1990s, several thousand migrants from the People's Republic of China have settled on Madagascar, in particular in the capital Antananarivo. There, they have gained a very high profile, principally through their business activities which are concentrated in one particular downtown area. The article begins by examining how this recently arrived community makes its presence felt, then asks how these “new Chinese” perceive their host country and city, and finally how Malagasy society in turn perceives them, often negatively, in fact. However, the positive contribution of Chinese businesses to improving the purchasing power of the city residents is often appreciated. Lastly, the presence of the “New Chinese” raises the question of their finely balanced relations with the group of “old Chinese” who have been living on Madagascar for several generations.