Fright night

Ghosts and goblins are preparing to prowl Beijing's streets as Halloween's popularity grows in China. Mike Peters samples the tricks and treats available in the capital.

Immense brown spiders squat on orange cupcakes in a bakery window. Australian student Brian Wilson, 10, arrives at his international school with blood streaming out of a gash on his face. Skulls, some of them broken, leer menacingly from shop windows and billboard advertisements.

None of this weirdness around Beijing causes much alarm. The spider, the bloody gash and the skulls are all fakes, artful creations for a Western holiday that many in China have cheerfully imported.