Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 60/No. 23 i Beijing Review

PMI Expands China’s manufacturing sector ex-panded for the 10th straight month in May, an official survey showed on May 31. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) came in at 51.2 in May, flat with April, ac- cording to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP). A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below reflects contraction. The latest reading reaffirmed a stabilizing Chinese economy, said Zhang Liqun, a researcher with the Development Research Center of the State Council. The sub-index for production stood at 53.4 in May, down from 53.8 in April, while the sub-index for new orders came in at 52.3 in May, unchanged from that in April. Chen Zhongtao, an analyst at the China Logistics Information Center,…

Stomps, punches and kicks. Many of James Healy’s movements are swift, powerful and explosive. Every time Healy, a 59-year-old American copy editor and an advanced stu-dent of Chen-style tai chi in Beijing, finishes his “tai chi break”—practicing tai chi’s essen-tial 18 forms in his company’s rose garden after long office hours, a dialogue is usually generated between Healy (H) and passers-by (P): P: What is that? H: Tai chi. P: No, it’s not. You practice it fast. H: It’s the real tai chi. Healy’s answers often surprise the ques-tioners, most of whom are Chinese. “Even sometimes Chinese people don’t understand the real tai chi… And people don’t realize that tai chi is martial,” Healy told Beijing Review. His remarks came a month after a controver-sial “fight” between a self-proclaimed tai…

The battles among tech giants are legend- ary. But whereas in the past Apple and Samsung used to trade blows over pat-ents, there’s a new major player in the ring. In a shift of roles, China’s Huawei Technologies has joined in. Huawei filed a lawsuit against Samsung’s subsidiaries in China, claiming that more than 20 models of Samsung smartphones and tablets, including the flagship Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, have infringed its pat- ents. In April, the Quanzhou Intermediate People’s Court in southeast China’s Fujian Province ruled that Samsung Electronics should pay 80 million yuan ($11.6 million) to Huawei for patent infringements. The court ruling marked the giant Chinese smartphone maker’s first victory in safeguard- ing its intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the local market. Huawei is one of…

It takes more than high-quality products and services for Chinese enterprises to complete internationalization, according to a Chinese business magnate. “Localization of employment, manage- ment and operation is the key to making the cut in overseas markets,” Zou Weimin, Chairman of Metallurgical Corp. of China (MCC) Overseas Ltd., told Beijing Review. From a remote water treatment plant in Nigeria to the W Hotel in Malaysia, 30 years have elapsed since MCC made its first at- tempt to test the water in foreign markets. MCC Overseas has now spread its business to more than 30 countries and regions. Since China unveiled the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, Chinese enterprises have revamped efforts to expand their businesses overseas with vigor. “On the one hand, we continue to adjust overseas business layouts…

Ma Qinghua, a craftsperson skilled in making traditional Chinese accessories, conducts a weekly thread-knitting class to pass on the intangible heritage to residents of a Beijing community. The course is a service purchased by the community from the Xicheng District Century Traditional Culture Inheritance Association and provided to residents for free. Around 30 locals have signed up for the class. Zhao Peizhu, 64, said the course has improved the dexterity of her fingers and is good for her health. She also derives a sense of achievement by sending her knitting work to her granddaughter. In addition to communities, the association, founded in 2016 and counting more than 50 artisans as its members, promotes traditional culture among school students. Liu Lu, a fine arts teacher at a primary school in Haidian…

Premier Li Keqiang attends a welcome ceremony held by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on May 31. Li joined Merkel for an annual meeting between the two heads of government, a mechanism that has been in place since 2004. Berlin was the first leg of a three-day European trip that also took Li to Belgium. The Chinese premier co-chaired the 19th China-EU leaders’ meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels, besides paying an of ficial visit to Belgium.…

ITALY Leaders from the Group of Seven and the European Union pose for a group photo during an annual summit held in the Italian town of Taormina on May 26 EGYPT People attend a funeral for victims during a bus attack by masked militants at a church in Maghagha, south of Cairo, on May 26 SRI LANKA People wait to evacuate from a floodaffected area in Hitthatiya of Sri Lanka on May 30 THE PHILIPPINES Thick smoke billows from a residential area after an airstrike in Marawi, Lanao del Sur Province, on May 27 during an operation by Philippine security forces to counter militants inspired by the socalled “Islamic State” NETHERLANDS Visitors watch giant panda Xing Ya at Ouwehands Zoo in Rhenen City on May 30. Two giant pandas, Wu…

Comments to linan@bjreview.com As people lay more importance on heath and a healthy lifestyle, tai chi is gaining popularity among people of all ages. Chen Zhenglei, a tai chi master, established Zhenglei Tai Chi Academy in March 2016. Having set up more than 100 schools worldwide, he hopes to bring the discipline to the rest of the world and enable more practitioners to benefit from traditional tai chi.…

The ancient Silk Road, explored more than 2,000 years ago, used to link China and the Arab world together. Now a group of people are endeavoring to unveil the modern picture to each other. “Some people in Arab countries might have a rough idea of China’s history, but few know the realities of today’s China and the current life of Chinese individu- als,” Ahmed al-Saeed, an Egyptian living in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, told Beijing Review. As one of the first batch of students at the Chinese language degree program in Al-Azhar University in Cairo in 2001, Saeed never thought this choice could completely change his life path. Startup in Ningxia While working as a part-time tour guide in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, Saeed met some tourists…

Jim Spear was minding his own business when the village loudspeaker crackled into life and he heard the booming voice of Li Lianting, the village head, asking him to report at the village office right away. “I was very nervous,” the 61-year-old said, recollecting the incident nearly two decades ago which he now regards as the turning point in his life. An American with a Chinese wife and two daughters, he was the only foreigner living in Mutianyu at that time, a sleepy village lying in the shadow of a section of the Great Wall passing through Beijing, and he felt all kinds of alarming thoughts passing through his mind as he hurried to the village office. He found the head looking stoney-faced. “We have a serious problem,” Li told…

By shortening its negative list for foreign investment, China further opens its vast market. Revised guidance for foreign investment in China will soon come into force, with relaxed restrictions on foreign ownership in automotive electronics, new energy vehicle batteries, motorcycles and other industries, the Ministry of Commerce announced on May 25. The new guidance was adopted on May 23 at the 35th meeting of the Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform, which urged further opening up in such sectors as services, manufacturing and mining. A draft of the new guidance, published earlier this year to solicit public opinion, showed the number of industries in which foreign investment is either restricted or not permitted, which together comprise the so- called negative list, would be cut from 93 to 62. The…

Tradition Mixes With Fashion Kunqu opera actresses and models perform during a fashion show at Jiangnan International Fashion Week, held in Suzhou Kunqu Opera Theater in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, on May 26. Info Protection The Cybersecurity Law took effect on June 1, banning online service providers from collecting and selling users’ personal information. Internet service providers cannot collect user information that is irrelevant to their services, and they should handle such information in line with laws and agreements, according to the new law that was adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, in November 2016. Users now have the right to ask service providers to delete their information if such information is abused. Cybersecurity management staff must also protect information obtained and are banned…

As soon as the first ray of sunshine pierces through the air in southeast China’s Fujian Province, a lacquerware workshop opens its doors for business. The workshop’s owner is Li Changmin. He is a senior lacquer artist and a second generation practitioner of Fuzhou bodiless lacquerware art, which was listed as a part of the nation’s intangible cultural heritage in 2006. The lacquerware is made with linen, gold and silver and often involves the use of numerous processes to create the finished product. Bodiless lacquerware is one of the most delicate art forms developed in Fuzhou and has more than 1,000 years of history. Today, due to the support of the Belt and Road Initiative, Li Changmin and his son Li Qiang are working hard to revive the tradi- tional…

The winter of early 2017 in Tajikistan was unusually cold, and so was the Central Asian country’s economic cli- mate. The government’s financial situation was strained, and many projects scheduled for launch had to be shelved because of a lack of funds. A World Bank report showed that in 2016, Tajikistan’s GDP growth rate was 4 percent. Continuing economic sanc-tions imposed by the West have led to Russia’s economic downturn, and as a result, a large number of Tajikistanis working in Russia have had to return home, resulting in the remittance income that Tajikistan highly depends on plummeting. Weak exports in recent years have also been an important factor adversely affecting Tajikistan’s econo-my. Despite the harsh economic situation, Chinese companies in Tajikistan continue their operation without respite. So far, in…

Born to a family of blacksmiths in the city of Agadez, on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert in Niger, nothing predestined Goumour Omar Adam to become a musician. In fact, his journey into music was strewn with pitfalls and marked by the rejec-tion of his family and a move away from his homeland. But when Omar and his band EZZA stepped on the stage at the Dusk Dawn Club in Beijing, there was nothing but pure joy. “This is our first concert in China and even in Asia, so we’re a little nervous about people’s reactions here; but on the other hand, we be-lieve our music is universal, and that everyone can appreciate it,” Omar told Beijing Review shortly before the show. Warmly acclaimed by the crowd, the…

In the past six years, drunk driving has been strictly classified as a criminal of- fense in China, even if no accident is caused, as long as drivers exceed the limit of 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millili- ters of blood. In a recently issued guideline, however, the Supreme People’s Court states that if the offense is not so serious, drivers will not necessarily be criminalized. A criminal punishment may cast a shad-ow over one’s life and career. One will not be able to apply for government jobs, and an incumbent civil servant will be fired, to name some of the serious consequences. Criminalization has sharply reduced the cases of drunk driving and related traffic accidents. As these benefits now appear to the public eye to be at risk,…