Innholdsfortegnelse for April 7, 2016 i Beijing Review

Pricing Reform In a bid to open the electricity industry, China will expand its power pricing reform nationwide in 2017 following a two-year pilot period in several regions, according to official sources. The transmission and distribu-tion pricing system reform will be pushed forward for all power grid operators nationwide next year, Zhang Manying, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said during a press conference on March 29. First rolled out in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, in 2014 and then introduced to five more regions last year, the reform aims to remove official interference in price determination and grant the market a decisive role. Complaints have increased among users in recent years that current controls on electricity rates allow state-owned power grid companies to make large profits and…

Comments to dengyaqing@bjreview.com In Hainan’s coastal town of Boao, which means “teeming with fat fish” in Chinese, panels made up of government officials, business leaders and scholars articulated their views on how to fuel Asia’s economic development and deal with potential risks and challenges. Having been battered by the global financial crisis, developing countries now seek to recover and revitalize their economic pros-pects. That’s why “new” was the most-repeated keyword on the lips of participants. Under the theme of Asia’s New Future: New Dynamics, New Vision, the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2016 attracted 2,100 representatives from 62 countries and regions, of whom 13 were heads of state. “Although eight years have elapsed since the eruption of the global financial crisis, the world is still by and large…

Comments to yulintao@bjreview.com When Xi Jinping’s plane touched down in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, on March 28, it marked the first time a Chinese president paid a state visit since it established diplomatic relations with the former nation of Czechoslovakia 67 years ago. It was also Xi’s first trip to Europe this year. Due to the pro-Western and hawkish stance that laced previous Czech policies toward China, relations between the two had long been tepid, despite enjoying growing bilateral economic cooperation in recent years. Since Milos Zeman of the Czech’s Social Democrat Party assumed the presidency in March 2013, however, relations are now developing at a fast pace, and the tone has changed completely. In discussing the significance of Xi’s visit, President Zeman said to China Central Television…

Comments to yuanyuan@bjreview.com Modern metropolises and ancient capitals, the world’s largest online shopping platform and a renowned poverty alleviation project, an independent organization and a series of government departments, beautiful spring scenes in the south and the haze in Beijing—the recent trip itinerary of a group of Harvard students presented a holistic picture of China that few expected. “What I want to show them is the real China, both positive and negative,” said Liu Xi, the founder of WYDForum, organizer of this tour. “This was my intention in organizing this trip, [without] hiding or exaggerating anything, just a true picture.” Here I am A graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) in 2015, Liu, 25, founded the WYDForum, a non-governmental organization (NGO) committed to increasing dialogue and promoting idea-sharing opportunities…

Comments to yanwei@bjreview.com There’s an unusual woman in Nan Yang’s life. The 30-year-old Chinese language teacher with a passion for making classroom teaching vivid and related to Chinese history and culture is under the spell of someone who, according to legend, was one of the 60 wives of an ancient king. That is not the only remarkable thing about Fu Hao. Born at a time when society was dominated by men and women stayed in the home, Fu Hao led military campaigns to protect her kingdom and is hailed as China’s first female general. The story of the extraordinary queen unfolded in a wealth of details in 1976. Archaeologists unearthed red lacquer artifacts while excavating sites in the Yinxu area in central China’s Henan Province, the site of the ruins…

American tourists pose for photos at the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall in Luanping County, north China’s Hebei Province. On March 25, some 1,000 tourists from the United States hiked through Jinshanling—one of the best-preserved sections of the wall—as part of the China-U.S. Tourism Year. The tourism year was brought up during President Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States last September. A series of other events will be carried out throughout the year to promote tourism between the two countries.…

EGYPT The passengers aboard a hijacked EgyptAir flight return safely to Cairo airport from Cyprus JAPAN People cheer at the inauguration ceremony of the newly formed party coalition, Minshinto, or the Democratic Party, in Tokyo on March 27. It is now the largest opposition party in the country NORTH KOREA The Korean People’s Army fire long-range artilleries during a drill as a response to the ongoing U.S.-South Korea n military show of strength PAKISTAN A man makes a phone call at the site of a suicide bombing in Lahore, capital of the country’s wealthy Punjab Province. The attack took the lives of at least 38 and injured more than 100 UNITED STATES Cherry blossoms bloom in Washington, D.C., attracting a lar MYANMAR A military parade is held in Naypyidaw to…

Comments to baishi@bjreview.com America’s ongoing presidential campaign was temporarily upstaged by U.S. President Barack Obama’s historic state visit to Cuba on March 20-22. There is no doubt that Obama’s visit to Cuba—which was in the epicenter of a nuclear confrontation during the Cold War— is of great significance. Obama became the first sitting U.S. President to visit the country in 88 years since Calvin Coolidge’s visit to Cuba in 1928. During his stay in Havana, Obama made history for U.S.-Cuban relations in a number of ways, including his address on the history and future of the two nations which was aired throughout the width and breadth of Cuba. Obama also attended an event on entrepreneurship wherein he encouraged Cubans to start their own businesses within their country’s command economy. At…

Comments to wanghairong@bjreview.com Spring did not forget to visit the yard behind an old house in Xieyuan Village in south Shaanxi Province, even though the house is no longer inhabited. On March 23, a cherry tree was quietly blooming therein, and a bamboo bush in front of the gate grew sturdily despite the absence of the property owner. The rundown house, made of just clay and straw, provides a glimpse of the village’s history. “About 50 to 60 years ago we all lived in such houses,” an elderly man confirmed. Today, the adobe house is surrounded by concrete and steel structures, mostly two to three stories high. “Twenty years ago, the village was very poor,” Wang Hongwei, Secretary of the Yangyuhe Township Committee of the Communist Party of China, told…

Comments to yushujun@bjreview.com When China hosts the Group of 20 (G20) Summit in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, this coming September, the world will be watching not just the country’s leaders for signs of how its economy is performing, but also what steps the G20 countries are taking to maintain order in an increasingly fraught period of economic and social unrest. This is the first time that China, a non-Western world power, has held the presidency at the G20 summit, marking both China’s rise as an economic powerhouse and world leaders’ recognition of the power of emerging economies. The presidency responsibilities rotate to a different country each year. The G20 is comprised of 19 countries, plus the European Union. Born out of crisis— it was first created in 1999 in…

Dear Readers, Forum is a column that provides a space for varying perspectives on contemporary Chinese society. We invite you to submit personal viewpoints on past and current topics (in either English or Chinese). yanwei@bjreview.com Please provide your name and address along with your comments A residential community in a small city in China has been christened Venice. Another is named Manhattan after the famous New York borough. These are just a couple of examples of the current phenomenon sweeping construction sites across China: naming them after Western landmarks. Some worry that the trend of using foreign place names as well as bizarre, exaggerated names, such as calling a community a garden even though there is no actual garden to speak of, is eroding local and traditional culture. Many argue…

Grand Celebration Dancers perform at an event marking Serfs’ Emancipation Day in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, on March 28. In 2009, March 28 was designated as the day to mark the freeing of 1 million people, or 90 percent of the region’s population at that time, from the feudal serf system in 1959. Child Census China will carry out a nationwide census on rural left-behind children, those whose parents work away from home, to ensure proper arrangements are being made for their lives and education. The census, which began on March 29 and will go until the end of July, covers rural children under the age of 16 whose parents are not their main caregiver, according to Wang Jinhua, an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA). A statement…

Comments to yushujun@bjreview.com The explosion in cultural and economic diversity that, today, billions of people around the world are taking part in is a result of a long historical process that is rapidly picking up momentum. As e-commerce develops in China, for example, ordering dates from the Middle East—a prospect that would have taken weeks or even months in previous eras—merely requires a press of a button for the product to arrive the next day. “I couldn’t imagine how fast the dates would be delivered,” claimed Mo Yan in surprise at the Dialogue of Asian Civilizations session at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2016 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, on March 23. Mo, the 2012 Nobel Laureate in Literature, used the example to muse on how closely…

Comments to yulintao@bjreview.com Shortly after the fatal bomb attacks in Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the heart of the EU on March 22, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel told the public, “What we feared has happened.” For weeks, intelligence agencies had warned of the possibility of a large-scale terrorist attack on the European continent, saying that it was only a matter of time. The recent attacks killed at least 35 people and injured several hundreds more. The terrorists were not just targeting the Belgian Government, but aimed to at least symbolically inflict damage on the European establishment. At the time of writing, at least two suspects are still at large. Less than five months ago, deadly blasts rocked Paris, France, claiming more than 130 people’s lives. The March 18…

Comments to tangyuankai@bjreview.com Beijinger Lu Xing went to a renowned public hospital before daybreak one day in March in the hopes of securing a registration ticket for his 1-year-old son, who had come down with a cough the night before. But when Lu arrived, he found a long queue that had already formed. Patients showed up in the early hours to ensure they see a doctor that day. Luckily, he scored the last appointment with a specialist. But his son wasn’t able to see the doctor until hours later, past 10 a.m. “With so many sick children waiting, why aren’t there more doctors for such a large hospital?” Lu complained. The shortfall in doctors Lu isn’t alone in his frustration. China is facing a severe shortage of pediatricians. The number…

Chinese and U.S. representatives expressed optimism for the future of the China-U.S. Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) negotiations during a session at this year’s Boao Forum for Asia annual conference. Against the backdrop of a global economy facing risks of derailment and investment and trade rules becoming increasingly fragmented, it is necessary for China and the United States—the two most important economies in the world—to collaborate as much as possible with each other in order to maintain global economic and financial stability, boost world economic growth and create new investment and trade rules. Chen Deming, China’s former Minister of Commerce, said that China-U.S. BIT talks are nearing the final stages of completion, with most of the core issues resolved. The only remaining issue is the negative list, a management model that…

Comments to yanwei@bjreview.com Street culture has a long and rich history in China. In Beijing, common sights include newspaper and magazine stands, or musicians playing guitars or strange-looking antique instruments. A wide assortment of transactions happen on these curbsides, including the purchases of colorful balloon arrangements, fruit, tea and snacks. In some provinces it is still customary to see middle-aged residents with stools and shoe-shine kits in hand— keeping a sharp eye out for leather-soled footwear to shine—not to mention intervening neighborhood police patrols. While the capital city has launched policies to marshal such workers to ply their trades inside, its curbs still play host to countless souls making ends meet by hawking food, domestic utensils or esoteric potpourri along streets and narrow alleys, also known as hutongs. China’s streets…