Friends for life

China's top 10 international friends were honored for "making exceptional contributions to the country in the past 100 years", at an awards ceremony on Tuesday.

The list of luminaries selected by Internet users included Norman Bethune, a Canadian doctor who died during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in the 1930s; and John Rabe, a German who rescued 250,000 Chinese people during the Nanjing Massacre.

Also chosen were Juan Antonio Samaranch Toriello, honorary president of the International Olympic Committee who supported China's bid for the 2008 Olympics; Edgar Snow, an American journalist who wrote Red Star over China; Dr Joseph Needham, a British scientist who spent some 50 years writing Science and Civilization in China.