Empress Dowager Cixi, which promises to overturn conventional understanding of the Chinese ruler, is Jung's first book in eight years

Wild Swans author Jung Chang's first book in eight years, the "extraordinary" story of the Empress Dowager Cixi, will be released this autumn, her publisher has announced.

Chang has based her biography on "long and detailed" research in newly opened Chinese and western archives, said publisher Jonathan Cape, and has revealed "a totally different picture" of Cixi "to the one that has prevailed for a hundred years". One of Emperor Xianfeng's 3,000 concubines, Cixi rose through the ranks by producing an heir, Tongzhi, and when Xianfeng died in 1861 she ousted other contenders and installed herself as sole regent for her son, ruling China for 47 years.

Chang's last book, Mao: The Unknown Story, was published in 2005. Her "groundbreaking" new biography will "comprehensively overturn … the conventional view of Cixi as a deeply conservative and cruel despot", said Jonathan Cape, and show how she abolished foot-binding, developed foreign trade and diplomacy, and revolutionised China's education system.

"Jung Chang looks in detail at her conduct of domestic and foreign affairs, but also takes us into Cixi's splendid Summer Palace, where she lived surrounded by eunuchs. The world Jung Chang describes here, in fascinating detail, seems almost incredible, a unique mixture of the very old and the very new," said the publisher. "This biography will revolutionise historical thinking about a crucial period in China's – and the world's – history."

Chang is best known for the bestselling Wild Swans, which looks at the history of China through the lives of her grandmother, her mother and herself, and has sold 10m copies worldwide. Empress Dowager Cixi will be published on 3 October.

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Gartse Jigme, 36, sentenced in Qinghai province after his book, Courage of the King, covered officially banned topics

Tibetan rights groups have reacted with outrage after Chinese authorities sentenced a Tibetan monk to five years in prison for criticising the Chinese government.

Gartse Jigme, 36, was sentenced on 14 May by a county court in Malho, a prefecture in western Qinghai province bordering the Tibetan autonomous region. Jigme, a monk at Gartse monastery in the mostly Tibetan county of Rebkong, has been a writer since 1999, according to rights groups. He has been in detention since 1 January.

"The distribution of his book Courage of the King was cited as a reason for his detention," an unnamed source told Radio Free Asia. The book covers topics Tibetans are not allowed to openly discuss, such as the Dalai Lama, protests, and self-immolation.

According to Tibetan rights groups, 117 Tibetans have self-immolated since February 2009 to protest Chinese rule over the Himalayan region.

"This is really outrageous, because [Jigme] was not involved in any criminal activities at all," said Tsering Tsomo, executive director for the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Dharamsala, India, home of the self-declared Tibetan government in exile. "He just wrote a book – this was just a form of peaceful resistance against the government."

Jigme was arrested soon after finishing the second volume of Courage of the King, an outspoken work aimed at Beijing for its policies in Tibet. Exiled Tibetans in India published the volume – which calls the Chinese government "evil," "blind" and "dictatorial" – soon after he was sentenced.

Tsomo called Jigme's voice "one of the most courageous to come out of Tibet".

"These people, they know that when they write these things, they know that they're going to jail," she said. "They know that, but they do it anyway."

Two days after Jigme's sentencing, Chinese state television broadcast a documentary blaming the self-immolations on Tibetan exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

"The truth is that no particular organisation or lama instigated the martyrs to commit self-immolations," Jigme wrote in the book, according to a translation by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. "They were motivated by the sufferings and aspirations of their fellow six million Tibetans."

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Investors take fright at weak Chinese manufacturing data and concerns that Federal Reserve might end QE next month

Leading shares have fallen sharply from their recent 13-year highs, as investors took fright at weak Chinese manufacturing data and concerns that the US Federal Reserve might end its bond-buying programme sooner than expected.

A day after the FTSE 100 came within 90 points of its December 1999 peak, the index has slumped nearly 2%, down 117.80 points at 6722.47.

But after its recent strong surge, this latest fall merely wipes out the gains made since Monday.

Overnight the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 80 points or 0.5% while the Nikkei 225 dropped more than 7% to 14,483.98 in the wake of a Chinese survey showing factory activity had fallen for the first time in seven months in May.

Global markets have been buoyed in recent weeks by the various measures taken by central banks to stimulate the global economy, as well as growing signs that the actions were having a positive effect.

The US Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, soothed market fears of an early end to its $85bn a month bond-buying programme in a testimony to Congress on Thursday. But just hours later, the minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting seemed to paint a different picture, suggesting the stimulus programme could ease off as early as June.

Michael Hewson, senior market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: "There was an expectation after Bernanke's testimony on Capitol Hill that the latest Fed minutes wouldn't add too much to overall market expectations around the prospects for further easing against expectations of possible tapering.

"The release of the latest Fed minutes completely changed that dynamic with a single line, 'a number of participants express a willingness to reduce QE in June'.

"This is hugely significant because this Fed meeting came before the most recent payrolls data and the huge upward revisions to the numbers that we saw at the beginning of May. If members of the committee felt this way before the huge upward revisions to the jobs numbers, then it stands to reason they probably feel even more inclined now, bringing forward the probability of an even livelier debate about the timing of a slowdown in the current levels of stimulus, when the Fed next meets on 18 and 19 June."

In China the HSBC purchasing managers index fell to 49.6 points in May, from 50.4 the previous month. Any level below 50 indicates contraction.

The news has hit commodity stocks, since China is one of the world's top consumers of metals. Anglo American is down 74.5p at £15.79 and Vedanta Resources has fallen 57p to £12.78.

Investors also shied away from riskier assets including financial shares, with Royal Bank of Scotland down 15.1p at 334.5p.

But in the search for a haven, water shares were in demand. United Utilities, which reported a rise in dividend despite a 9.3% profit fall, is up 6p at 787.5p while Severn Trent, currently fending off an unwanted bid, is 6p better at £20.51.

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Nation's first trading scheme in the southern city of Shenzhen will cover 638 companies when it begins next month

China has unveiled details of its first pilot carbon-trading programme, which will begin next month in the southern city of Shenzhen.

The trading scheme will cover 638 companies responsible for 38% of the city's total emissions, the Shenzhen branch of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced on Wednesday. The scheme will eventually expand to include transportation, manufacturing and construction companies.

Shenzhen is one of seven designated areas in which the central government plans to roll out experimental carbon trading programmes before 2014.

China is the world's biggest carbon emitter and burns almost as much coal as the rest of the world's countries combined.

Li Yan, Greenpeace east Asia's climate and energy campaign manager, said that the pilot programmes will inform the central government on how to motivate local authorities to adopt low-carbon policies.

The push to reduce carbon emissions coincides with the newly installed leadership's effort to tackle the country's dire air pollution problem, which has emerged as a source of widespread anger and frustration in recent months. "Having a mid-term strategy, and trying to prepare years ahead, is actually in line with China's interests and its political and social priorities," she said.

On Monday, the Chinese newspaper 21st Century Business Herald reported that the NDRC has discussed implementing a national system to control the intensity and volume of carbon emissions by 2020. The agency expects China to reach its carbon emissions peak by 2025, five years earlier than many recent estimates, according to unnamed sources quoted in the article.

At a recent climate change meeting, the agency "announced that it's currently researching and calculating a timetable for the greenhouse gas emissions peak, and will vigorously strive to implement a total emissions control scheme during the '13th five-year plan' period (from 2016-2020)," the paper quoted a NDRC official, also unnamed, as saying.

"The NDRC is looking for a national cap, but nobody knows exactly when that is going to happen," said Wu Changhua, greater China director of the Climate Group. "There's still a lot of work to be done."

The EU's carbon trading scheme, the world's largest, has suffered repeated setbacks in recent months. In April, MEPs voted against a proposed reform aimed to raise the price of carbon, which has been diluted by an overabundance of permits.

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Choe Ryong-hae, a close aide to Kim Jong-un, arrives in Beijing as tensions with South Korea appear to ebb

North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, has dispatched a special envoy to China, its state media announced on Wednesday, as Pyongyang seeks to improve its strained relations with its main ally and lifeline.

Choe Ryong-hae, a senior Workers' party official and a vice-chairman of the top military body, arrived in Beijing with a political and military delegation. A close aide of the youthful leader, he is the first senior North Korean to visit China since last summer and the first special envoy since Kim took power in 2011.

China provides North Korea with the vast majority of its fuel and trade – reportedly accounting for almost nine-tenths of its imports and exports in 2011 – and its support has become even more important as Pyongyang's relations with Seoul have deteriorated.

But it has shown increasing signs of frustration with the regime over its weapons programmes and angry rhetoric.

"Since North Korea had the third nuclear test [in February], the relationship between China and North Korea has been pretty tense. To ease the relationship, the visit is very normal and necessary. It helps to stop the bilateral relationship deteriorating," said Cai Jian of the Centre for Korean Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. "This visit shows China is also willing to improve the relationship with North Korea."

China's state news agency, Xinhua, said Choe, 63, met Wang Jiarui, head of the international department of the Communist party. It gave no further details.

Analysts say Beijing rebuffed earlier proposals of high-level exchanges because it wanted to demonstrate its displeasure and was not guaranteed a meeting with Kim if it sent an envoy to Pyongyang.

Major Chinese banks recently suspended financial dealings with the Foreign Trade Bank of North Korea – Pyongyang's main conduit for international transactions.

Kim Jong-un has not visited Beijing since he took power following his father's death in late 2011, though his uncle Jang Song-thaek visited in August last year. Chinese politburo member Li Jianguo went to Pyongyang with a letter from Xi Jinping, who had just become the Communist party leader, in November.

John Delury of Yonsei University suggested that Chinese leaders might also be looking ahead to South Korean president Park Geun-hye's visit next month.

"China wants to have good relations with both Koreas … They don't want to go too far with a great splashy meeting [with the South] while things are still off-kilter in the North Korean relationship. For its part, North Korea may want to recalibrate; they wanted a bit of distance from Beijing, but they don't want to push it too far," he said.

The North Korean news agency story on Choe's trip also revealed that General Kim Kyok-sik has become military chief again – a post he held before 2009 – replacing Hyon Yong-chul.

General Kim was recently replaced as defence minister – a lower ranking position – by Jang Jong-nam.

North Korea tested short range missiles over the weekend, but tensions have ebbed on the peninsula and there are signs of diplomatic engagement again.

Last week the Japanese prime minister sent a close aide to Pyongyang to hold talks over abducted Japanese citizens – a move greeted with dismay by South Korea, which described the trip as unhelpful.

On Tuesday, a Chinese fishing boat owner said his vessel had been released, two weeks after it was taken captive by gunmen in North Korean military uniforms. He said the captain was beaten and fuel stolen.

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Chinese artist says single is a way of venting the trauma he experienced while held in detention by the state

The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has always had something of the rock star about him. Now his hotly anticipated musical debut has finally emerged blinking into the glare of international attention: the self-proclaimed heavy metal single Dumbass. 

The 55-year-old said his first foray into music was "a kind of self-therapy" helping him to deal with the impact of his 81-day detention in 2011. He was one of dozens seized in a crackdown on campaigners, lawyers and dissidents.

He told the Guardian his country was one of "crazy menace and inhuman conditions" and the video shows an "inch-accurate" recreation of the cell where he was held – down to its wallpaper. He had nothing to do while he was there but memorise every detail, he said.

Going back into that situation "was very hard, but I had to do it because that helped me to overcome the trauma", Ai added.

"Music is a kind of self-therapy and at the same time helps the public to see. Even conditions like these can still turn into a positive effort."

The song also offers a scathing verdict on intellectuals trying to work with the system. "So many people think they can improve the situation or collaborate. I think that's very wishful thinking in this political structure. It makes people not very conscious of what's happening," he said.

In the song he growls: "When you're ready to strike, he mumbles about non-violence … [I] stand on the frontline like a dumbass, in a country that puts out like a hooker. The fields are full of fuckers, dumbasses are everywhere.

"Fuck forgiveness, tolerance be damned, to hell with manners, the low-life's invincible."

"Dumbass" is a mild translation of the stronger Chinese expletive – though still too racy, it emerged, for the New York Times to print.

The track is not exactly Metallica: others might peg it closer to avant-garde rock. "After I said it would be heavy metal I ran back to check what heavy metal would be like. Then I thought, oh my god, it's quite different," Ai acknowledged.
 
"So it's Chinese heavy metal, or maybe Caochangdi [where his studio is based] heavy metal."

The video for the single – available for download at www.aiweiwei.com – was a collaboration with acclaimed cinematographer Christopher Doyle. Diving in and out of the cell's reality and the soldier's fantasies, it begins with Ai in a black hood bearing the word "suspect" and ends with him shaven and slathered in red lipstick.
 
Ai said he and his friends and family still suffered nightmares about his experience. 

Police had told him, he said, that "you ask for your freedom but we will make you pay with your life".

He added: "It leaves a permanent mark, like a scar."

The single is taken from his forthcoming album, the more eruditely titled Divine Comedy, possibly inspired by the words Dante said appeared across the gates of Hell: Abandon hope, all ye who enter here. It will be launched on 22 June, the second anniversary of his emergence from detention.

Ai wrote the lyrics for the album and sings, while his friend Zuoxiao Zuzhou provided the music. 

The artist has said he was also inspired by Elton John, who dedicated a concert in Beijing to Ai in 2012.

Ai has already begun work on his second album, which he has said will have a more romantic tinge. "They are love songs – to people who need love or need to be believed and to children, to Tibet, to this land. Many people need love," he said.

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