The news in China is rarely quiet and this year was no exception. From the triumphant success of China's space program to the devastation of the Wenzhou rail crash. Take a look at some of the biggest domestic news stories of 2011.Click on the small images above to see who made the cut in our Year in Review.
More than 720 barrels of crude oil and 2,610 barrels of oily mud were spewed from the Penglai 19-3 oilfield in June, polluting 6,200 square kilometers of water in North China's Bohai Bay. The environmental disaster was blamed on the negligence of ConocoPhillips China, according to the State Oceanic Administration, and operations at the oilfield were halted after the company failed to seal the leaks in Sept.
China's high speed rail suffered its first fatal accident after two trains collided on a viaduct in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, on July 23, killing 40 people and injuring at least 192.
A report into the accident released on Dec 28 cited "serious design flaws" in the control equipment used at Wenzhou South Railway Station, sloppy management and the mishandling of a lightning strike that crippled equipment as reasons for the crash.
A total of 54 people, held accountable for the fatal crash, will face punishment, an executive meeting of the State Council said. [Read more]
China's Got Talent judge Gao Xiaosong, 42, faced his own justice and got six months in jail after a drunken crash that caused a four-vehicle pileup and injured four people on May 9 in Beijing. He became the first celebrity to be punished under tough new traffic rules which came into effect on May 1.
The list of food safety scandals exposed in 2011 reads like a roll call of shame, including milk with excessive cancer-causing toxin, steamed buns containing illegal dyes, nitrite-tainted bird's nest, gutter oil, and clenbuterol-tainted pork or lean meat powder.
China launched its first unmanned space lab module Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace-1 on Sept 29, paving the way for China's first rendezvous and space docking mission. On Nov 3, the unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou-8 successfully docked with Tiangong-1, and two more spacecraft- at least one manned- will be launched in the next two years.
An overloaded van crashed with a truck while traveling to a kindergarten in Gansu province on Nov 16, killing 19 children and 2 adults. A month later, 15 students died when a school bus fell into a ditch in Jiangsu province on Dec 12. In the wake of several school bus accidents, China published draft regulations focused on school bus safety and solicited public comment.
Two-year-old Wang Yue, dubbed Yue Yue, was run over by two vehicles on a street and subsequently ignored by 18 passersby in Foshan, Guangdong province on Oct 13. She died of severe injuries eight days later and her death triggered a nationwide wave of mourning and reflection on social morality.
