On second thought, I'm much too lazy to go back and research the top stories of the year, review them, and add new comments. Sounds like way too much work this close to another holiday.
Do your own research. (Hint: keywords/phrases like "Olympics," "financial crisis," and "labor contract law" might be helpful.
In other news — [...]

1. The stock market will, for the first time in history, move into negative territory. Yes, companies will be paying you to hold their crappy shares.
2. Commercial leases will become so inexpensive that the guys selling lamb chuan(r) on the street will be able to move into storefront operations (without raising their prices).
3. Following the [...]

A hotel manager and a meat supplier have been jailed by the District Court for their roles in a food supply scam.

The Department of Justice has released a new code for prosecutors, revising earlier prosecution policy guidelines and incorporating new areas of prosecutorial responsibility.

You will either find this very interesting or come away thinking that I'm a conspiracy theorist that hides in the basement with tin foil on my head (so as to block alien transmissions from Mars, of course).
Here's the deal. Earlier this month, the US Trade Representative complained to the WTO about China's support (more specifically, [...]

As a trademark lawyer who has worked for a lot of foreign brand owners in China, I usually like to tell horror stories of companies that failed to register their Chinese names, companies that failed to choose good Chinese names, and companies that are lazy and have let their distributors/licensees/the market choose their Chinese names. [...]

Story originates from Florida (a West Palm Beach tv station), so I'm not sure how widespread this is. I also cannot vouch for the accuracy.
Martin and St. Lucie counties are two of nearly a dozen counties where complaints of possible exposure to the contaminated drywall in new homes have arisen.
The problem may have been sparked [...]

CCTV.com, the official website of China Central Television, has been sued by the Beijing-based Qiusuo Hengda Investment Consulting Co., Ltd. for illegal broadcasting of a TV series.
The complaint asks for CNY23 million compensation and the case has been accepted by the No.1 Intermediate People's Court of Beijing.
Qiusuo Hengda said in its legal forms that the [...]

OK, there is a decent Oracle at Delphi allusion to be milked here, but this is a serious topic, so I'll move on without indulging.
Here's the bad news:
U.S. car parts maker Delphi has suspended work at a factory in Suzhou due to shrinking demand amid the global economic slump, a media report and a staff [...]

Now that the Obama trade and foreign policy team is in place, there are new stories floating around out there about his China policy. The one thing everyone is nervous about is summarized quite well in this Reuters piece:
President-elect Barack Obama may face pressure early in his administration to use the threat of trade sanctions [...]