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.”

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• 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

Slideshow: Earthquake in China

How Hwee Young / EPA

A strong 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit a remote, mostly rural and mountainous area of southwestern China's Sichuan province on Saturday, killing scores of people and injuring thousands close to where a big quake killed almost 70,000 people in 2008.

Launch slideshow

LUSHAN, China - Hundreds of survivors of a 6.6-magnitude earthquake that hit southwest China, killing nearly 200 people, pushed into traffic along a main road on Monday, waving protest signs, demanding help and shouting at police.

"We are in the open air here. No place to sleep, nothing to eat. No one is paying any attention to us," said Peng Qiong, 45, a farmer in Chaoyang village on the outskirts of Lushan, near the epicenter.

China has poured resources into Sichuan since Saturday's quake, including 1 billion yuan ($161.9 million) from central coffers for disaster relief and compensation. About 18,000 troops are in the area.

The earthquake killed at least 186 people and injured more than 11,000, state media said.

But while many have praised the government for its swift response, growing anger among some underscores the government's challenge, magnified by the fact that Sichuan bore the brunt of a 7.9 earthquake in 2008 that killed nearly 70,000 people.

In some cases, roads closed to non-emergency traffic have been clogged with all kinds of government vehicles.

On the way to Baoxing, a heavily damaged area about 25 miles from Lushan, idling ambulances, troop transporters, construction vehicles and tour buses for relief workers blocked both lanes of the road, making access possible only on foot or by weaving motorcycles. 

Tian Kuanqian surveyed a winding fissure that split the upper level of his house. For more than two days, the 40-year-old farmer has watched as emergency vehicles passed their wrecked village by.

"If they continue to ignore us like we are trivial, we will have no choice but to protest," he said.

The back room hung of Tian's house was torn from the building and perched on a steep slope. Inside, a poster of former revolutionary leader Mao Zedong hung above a collapsed wall. Tian's family including elderly parents sleep on the ground.

"It's been three days and we haven't seen noodles or water. What we need are tents," Tian said.

A police officer in Chaoyang trying to calm protesters on the road said the authorities were doing all they could.

"Our leaders have visited and we're working getting these people food and water," said the officer, who declined to give his name.

Mountainous terrain and poor infrastructure have made reaching victims difficult. The Xinhua news agency said aftershocks had triggered landslides that blocked a main road.

In Zhongba village, part of Baoxing, residents said it took two days for help to arrive. When it did, supplies and tents were in short supply. Almost all buildings are damaged and many have collapsed.

Zhang Zhenghua, a 41-year-old farmer, said officials drove through the village on Monday and stopped briefly to apologize for the delay in help.

"The secretary mentioned subsidies to rebuild our homes. We hope they do what they say," Zhang said.  

Related:

Rescuers struggle to reach China quake zone after scores killed, thousands injured

Slideshow: Earthquake in China

Jason Lee / Reuters

A strong 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit a remote, mostly rural and mountainous area of southwestern China's Sichuan province on Saturday, killing scores of people and injuring thousands close to where a big quake killed almost 70,000 people in 2008.

Launch slideshow

LUSHAN, China - Rescuers struggled to reach a remote corner of southwestern China on Sunday as the toll of the dead and missing from the country's worst earthquake in three years climbed to 203 with more than 11,000 injured.

The 6.6 magnitude quake struck in Lushan county, near the city of Ya'an in the southwestern province of Sichuan, close to where a devastating 7.9 temblor hit in May 2008 killing some 70,000.

Most of the deaths were concentrated in Lushan, a short drive up the valley from Ya'an, but rescuers' progress was hampered by the narrowness of the road and landslides, as well as government controls restricting access to avoid traffic jams.

"The Lushan county centre is getting back to normal, but the need is still considerable in terms of shelter and materials," said Kevin Xia of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

"Supplies have had difficulty getting into the region because of the traffic jams. Most of our supplies are still on the way," Xia said.

In Ya'an, relief workers from across China expressed frustration with gaining access to Lushan.

"We're in a hurry. There are people that need help and we have supplies in the back (of the car)," said one man from the Shandong Province Earthquake Emergency Response Team, who declined to give his name.

In Lushan, doctors and nurses tended to people in the open or under tents in the grounds of the main hospital, surrounded by shattered glass, plaster and concrete that fell during the quake. Water and electricity in the area were cut off by the quake.

"I was scared. I've never seen an earthquake this big before," said farmer Chen Tianxiong, 37, lying on a stretcher between tents, his family looking on.

In a tent, Zhou Lin sat tending to his wife and three-day-old son who were evacuated from a Lushan hospital soon after the quake struck on Saturday.

"I was worried the child or his mother would be hurt. The buildings were all shaking. I was extremely scared. But now I don't feel afraid any more," said Zhou, looking at his child as he slept soundly wrapped in a blanket on a makeshift bed. 

Premier Li Keqiang flew into the disaster zone by helicopter to comfort the injured and displaced, chatting to rescuers and clambering over rubble.

"Don't be sad, we will rebuild after this disaster and your new homes will be even better than before," state media quoted him as telling residents.

Xinhua news agency put the number of dead and missing at 203, with almost 11,500 injured, 960 of them seriously.

Schools withstand quake
But no schools had collapsed, unlike in 2008 when many schools crumpled causing huge public anger, prompting a nationwide campaign of re-building.

"Our schools are the safest and sturdiest buildings," Chen said. "The Chinese government has put a lot of money into building schools and hospitals. I can guarantee that no schools collapsed."

Xinhua said 6,000 troops were in the area to help with rescue efforts.

Rescuers in Lushan had pulled 91 survivors out of rubble, Xinhua said. In villages closest to the epicenter, almost all low-rise buildings had collapsed, footage on state television showed. 

The China Meteorological Association warned of the possibility of landslides in Lushan county, with more than 1,000 aftershocks registered.

Ya'an is a city of 1.5 million people and is considered one of the birthplaces of Chinese tea culture. It is also the home to one of China's main centers for protecting the giant panda.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially put the magnitude at 7, but later revised it down.

In 2010, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake killed 2,700 people in Yushu, a largely Tibetan region in northwest China. 

This story was originally published on Sun Apr 21, 2013 4:00 AM EDT

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

AFP – Getty Images

Chinese authorities have closed some live bird markets in an attempt to stop the spread of a deadly strain of bird flu. A vendor, above, washed a chicken stall in a poultry market in Hefei, China, shortly before it was due to be closed Thursday.

BEIJING -- It began in late February when an 87-year-old man started coughing up phlegm. A high fever followed, he struggled to breathe and was dead just 13 days later.

His death in Shanghai, China, was one of 13 fatalities out of 41 known cases to date of a new form of bird flu that experts warn may pose a "serious human health risk."

On Saturday, China's center for disease control announced the first case in Beijing, and outside of eastern China. The seven-year-old girl, whose parents work in the live poultry trade, was stable in a hospital in the capital, media reports said.

Around the world, scientists are now beginning to examine samples of the virus with a significant question in mind: Could this strain of the disease cause a global pandemic?

This international network of scientists keeps constant watch for good reason.

In 1918 and 1919, a flu pandemic killed between 20 million and 40 million people, more than the total death toll of World War I, more in a year than the Black Death of 1347 to 1351. More recently, an H1N1 swine flu pandemic was blamed for more than 284,500 human deaths worldwide between April 2009 and August 2010.

So far, the signs are that this is a localized outbreak. The number of cases is low and the virus -- an H7N9 strain -- does not appear to be capable of jumping from one person to another.

But each case represents a chance for the virus to mutate into one that is highly infectious in humans. And it is an unusual strain -- normally avian diseases make birds sick first, giving an early warning sign, but this one does not.

Scientists have established it is from an "avian reservoir" but still don't know the precise source. Chinese officials have dismissed suggestions of a connection with the large number of dead pigs and other animals found recently in rivers.

Many in China are understandably worried, with some deciding to avoid eating chicken, even though it poses no threat if properly cooked.

KFC’s parent company Yum reported on Wednesday that sales in its Chinese restaurants had dropped by 13 percent in March, saying “publicity associated with avian flu in China has had a significant, negative impact.”

Even Jiangsu Zoo, just north of Shanghai, reportedly stopped feeding chicken to animals such as lions and tigers and started giving them a traditional medicinal herb called ban lan gen.

Xie Li, an accountant in Shanghai, admitted she was “kind of nervous.”

“Now, we only eat vegetables," she said. "My daughter's school is measuring students' temperatures. We were told that we should eat less eggs or not touch eggs because they might have some excrement from chickens."

But others in the city of 23 million people were more sanguine.

Yan Zhanlin, a 40-year-old businessman, said he was “not scared, because there are not many cases, and the number of deaths is not high” and the virus had not yet spread between people.

“Today, I went to a train station, and I only saw few people wearing masks,” he said.

But even he said he had stopped eating “poultry, pork and other meat.”

Tang, a company manager in his late 20s, who declined to give his full name, was also relatively unconcerned.

“I do not fear [the virus] at all. It is just a kind of flu, and will pass quickly,” he said. Avoiding poultry was “not too bad, because it forces us to eat vegetables and fish, which are nutritious,” he added.

'Watching very carefully'
Perhaps in a sign of the country's nervousness, People's Liberation Army Colonel Dai Xu claimed the U.S. was behind the outbreak, saying the U.S. had used "bio-psychological weapons" to cause the deadly 2003 Sars outbreak and the current flu one, The South China Morning Post reported.

Such allegations aside, this apparently local problem is being treated seriously on a global scale.

Samples of the virus – or non-infectious nucleic acid from it — are being sent to scientists in up to 140 national influenza centers recognized by the World Health Organization, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Work has already started in the U.S. to make a vaccine against the new strain -- just in case.

Scientist John McCauley, of the U.K.’s National Institute for Medical Research, received his consignment on Thursday.

“We’re watching very carefully the events there [in China] because we are aware although there’s no human-to-human transmission, these are unusual infections people have been getting from an avian reservoir,” he said.

“China will need to identify the source and hopefully be able to control the cross-species transmission,” he said. “We’re watching very carefully to see how it does.”

“In the meantime, the national influenza centers around the world are developing their ability to detect this newly emerging virus” and also working on vaccines, McCauley said.

Experts needed to find out how vaccines would perform “in case this virus becomes pandemic,” he said.

Coincidentally, John Oxford, a professor of virology and an expert on the 1918 flu pandemic, was in Shanghai about eight weeks ago -- roughly the same time that the elderly man first fell ill – for a meeting about hygiene, important in the fight against viruses such as flu.

He said the situation in China was “getting a little more worrying.”

“I don’t like the sound of it. Every day I open up the reports and find out someone else has died,” he said. “I just don’t like to see the figures going up day after day.”

“So far there’s no human-to-human transmission. What’s tomorrow going to bring, what’s the next day going to bring? You don’t know and I don’t know,” he added.

But Oxford, of the U.K's Queen Mary, University of London, stressed there was “no need for anyone to start flapping at the moment.”

“I don’t think we should start thinking of 1918 scenarios, definitely not,” he said.

Bobby Yip/Reuters

Officials from the Center for Food Safety get a blood sample from a chicken imported from mainland China at a border checkpoint in Hong Kong on Thursday.

A group of Chinese scientists, writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, also warned that the “pandemic potential of these novel avian-origin viruses should not be underestimated.”

“Severe avian influenza A (H7N9) infections, characterized by high fever and severe respiratory symptoms, may pose a serious human health risk,” it added. “We are concerned by the sudden emergence of these infections and the potential threat to the human population.”

However – mirroring the split on the streets of Shanghai – other experts were less worried.

Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, a microbiology professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and principal investigator for the Center for Research on Influenza Pathogenesis, said while it was “too early to be able to conclude anything …  the probabilities are very low” that a global pandemic is looming.

He was comforted by the lack of a surge in the numbers of people with the disease.

“It’s not that it’s increasing by ten times per week, I think right now the number of cases is what you would have expected from the original numbers,” he said.

“Right now there are no major indications to become highly alarmed.”

Ian Johnston reported from London.

Related:

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 Sun Apr 14, 2013 12:47 PM EDT

BEIJING -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met China's top leaders on Saturday in a bid to persuade them to exert pressure on North Korea to scale back its belligerent rhetoric and, eventually, return to nuclear talks.

Traveling to Beijing for the first time as secretary of state, Kerry made no secret of his desire to see China take a more activist stance toward North Korea, which in recent weeks has threatened nuclear war against the United States and South Korea.

As the North's main trading partner, financial backer and the closest thing it has to a diplomatic ally, China has a unique ability to use its leverage against the impoverished, isolated state, Kerry said in the South Korean capital, Seoul, on Friday before leaving for Beijing.

"Mr. President, this is obviously a critical time with some very challenging issues -- issues on the Korean Peninsula, the challenge of Iran and nuclear weapons, Syria and the Middle East, and economies around the world that are in need of a boost," Kerry told Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People.

Kerry said after the meeting that his talks with Xi were "constructive and forward-leaning", though he did not elaborate.

China had a testy relationship with Kerry's predecessor, Hillary Clinton, believing her to be too abrasive in their disagreements over everything from human rights to territorial disputes like the South China Sea.

"Clinton added fuel to the mistrust during her four-year term. We hope Kerry can pull it in the other direction," China's widely read and influential Global Times tabloid said in an editorial.

Kerry's visit to Asia, which will include a stop in Tokyo on Sunday, takes place after weeks of shrill North Korean threats of war since the imposition of new U.N. sanctions in response to its third nuclear test in February.

North Korea has repeatedly said it will not abandon nuclear weapons which it said on Friday were its "treasured" guarantor of security.

No sign of imminent missile launch
North Korean television on Saturday made no mention of Kerry's visit and devoted most of its reports to preparations for Monday's celebrations marking the birth date of state founder Kim Il-Sung.

These included a numerous floral tributes and grandiose flower show, foreign visitors seeing the sights of the capital ahead of the festivities and the unveiling of a monument in a provincial town.

But Rodong Sinmun, the ruling Workers' Party's newspaper, issued a fresh denunciation of joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, saying: "The outbreak of nuclear war has now become a fait accompli, owing to the U.S. and the South Korean puppet forces.

"If the enemies dare provoke (North Korea) while going reckless, it will immediately blow them up with an annihilating strike with the use of powerful nuclear means."

However, South Korea's Yonhap news agency, quoting a government source, said North Korea had not moved any of its mobile missile launchers for the past two days after media reports that as many as five missiles had been moved into place on the country's east coast.

Yonhap said there had been no signs of any movement by the mobile launchers since Thursday "or that missile launches are imminent".

U.S. 'fanning the flames'?
Beijing has been reluctant to apply pressure on Pyongyang, fearing the instability that could result if the North were to implode and send floods of refugees into China, and has looked askance at U.S. military drills in South Korea.

China's official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary that Washington had itself been "fanning the flames" on the Korean peninsula with its shows of force.

"It keeps sending more fighters, bombers and missile-defense ships to the waters of East Asia and carrying out massive military drills with Asian allies in a dramatic display of preemptive power," it said.

However, U.S. officials believe China's rhetoric on North Korea has begun to shift, pointing to a recent speech by China's Xi in which -- without referring explicitly to Pyongyang -- he said no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain".

Kerry told reporters in Seoul that if North Korea's 30-year-old leader went ahead with the launch of a medium-range missile, he would be making "a huge mistake."

At a news conference in Seoul on Friday and in a U.S.-South Korean joint statement issued on Saturday, Kerry signaled the U.S. preference for diplomacy to end the tension, but stressed North Korea must take "meaningful" steps on denuclearization.

The United States and its allies believe the North violated the a 2005 aid-for-denuclearization deal by conducting a nuclear test in 2006 and pursuing a uranium enrichment program that would give it a second path to a nuclear weapon in addition to its plutonium-based program.

Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

David Guttenfelder / AP

As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

Launch slideshow

Related:

John Kerry in Seoul: North Korea missile launch would be 'huge mistake'

Missile launch is North Korea's exit strategy, experts say

Google+ Hangout featuring NBC News correspondents in Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo

Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

As North Korea continues its bellicose rhetoric, the U.S., as well as China and the rest of Asia are on high alert.

A team of NBC News correspondents have been deployed to cover the potential impact of a missile launch: Richard Engel is in Seoul, South Korea;  Ian Williams is in Beijing, China; and Ayman Mohyeldin is in Tokyo, Japan.

On Friday, they all participated in a Google+ Hangout and discussed the attitudes in their respective countries towards North Korea's rhetoric, the real potential of a missile launch and much more.

Ian Williams weighed in from Beijing saying that the North Korea story has recently generated an “explosion of interest” in the official Chinese state media over the last few days. But what he finds even more significant is the attention the story is getting on social media in China.

Left to right: Ayman Mohyeldin, Richard Engel, Ian Williams.

“Social media, the Internet, is the closest barometer we have got of public opinion here in China. And they are absolutely laying into North Korea. The criticism is  – not of the U.S. – but of North Korea. There are caricatures, there are cartoons, they’ve dubbed the leader Kim Jong Un as ‘Fatty the Third’ or ‘Little Fatty,” Williams reported. Adding “It’s serious – they are questioning precisely what he’s going to stick on top of one of his missiles, questioning the military capability. But also criticizing their own leadership for their association with what they see as a Neanderthal regime whose methods are very chilling.”

Click on the link above to replay the informative chat from three of NBC’s most experienced foreign correspondents.

This story was originally published on Thu Apr 11, 2013 7:10 PM EDT