Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 61/No. 24 i Beijing Review

GUATEMALA Rescue workers search survivors after the eruption of the Fuego Volcano in Escuintla on June 5. A total of 192 people are still missing following the eruption YEMEN UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths speaks during a press conference at Sana’a International Airport on June 5, calling on all parties to the Yemen conflict to restart negotiations. He left the country that day after three days of talks with Houthi rebels UNITED NATIONS María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, Ecuadorian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, gives a speech after being elected president of the 73th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York on June 5 EGYPT President Abdel Fattah alSisi speaks during his inauguration ceremony in Cairo on June 2. He was reelected as president for…

Since it was announced earlier this year that Chinese smartphone and technology giant Xiaomi was planning to go public, the tech world, investors, and those who closely follow the development of China’s economy and globalization have been abuzz. There has been speculation over what this major IPO will mean for Xiaomi; for Chinese capital markets; the coming wave of new Chinese tech IPOs; and China’s growing leadership, influence and role as an exporter of new technologies. The IPO planned for the Hong Kong exchange may raise $10 billion or more and value the company at around $100 billion. It would make it the largest IPO of the year and the largest since Alibaba Group’s 2014 IPO. From a grain of rice Xiaomi was founded in Beijing in 2010 with the…

Trade volume between China and Russia is expected to reach or exceed $100 billion this year, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce, as the country continues to be Russia’s largest trading partner for the eighth consecutive year. Bilateral trade totaled over $84 billion in 2017, up 20.8 percent year on year and China’s direct investment in Russia surged 72 percent to reach $2.22 billion last year. Despite the rapidly growing economic relationship, both Chinese and Russian scholars claimed that there was huge potential that could be further tapped for bilateral economic cooperation. At the China-Russia Think-Tank Forum held in Beijing on May 29-30, scholars from both countries expounded on the deepening bilateral relations. “The bilateral trade scale is still far from enough. To fully tap the huge potential for further…

A day before World Environment Day on June 5, the new Ministry of Ecology and Environment bared its teeth on the governments of three localities after concluding that they had not taken strong enough measures to correct environmental problems exposed during earlier inspections. The ministry summoned their leaders and demanded they rectify the situation. Previously known as the Ministry of Environmental Protection, it obtained its current name after the 13th National People’s Congress approved a government reshuffle in March. As of May 31, all of the 25 institutions involved in the reshuffle had been launched, according to Xinhua News Agency. “From the Ministry of Environmental Protection to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the change is not just in name,” said Liu Youbin, a spokesperson for the restructured ministry. He…

Worries about her declining English language proficiency have been rattling around in Liang Rui’s head since she graduated from the University of Huddersfield in Britain three years ago. Working at a private company in her hometown of Taiyuan, capital of north China’s Shanxi Province, the 26-year-old has such a tight daily schedule that she has no time for her hobby of reading English classics. Her quandary has now been resolved thanks to a mobile reading app called MintReading. She starts her day with breakfast and a browse of MintReading to enjoy her newly purchased English e-book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, an exact reflection of her recent transformation. “The app assigns the task of reading for 10 minutes a day and elaborates on the discourse so that readers…

In 1999, China passed the threshold for an ageing society, and by 2017, the country’s elderly numbered 241 million, accounting for 17.3 percent of the total population. It is predicted that by 2050, China’s seniors will number some 487 million, constituting 34.9 percent of all the country’s people. An ever-growing demand for nursing services thus follows, which people are attempting to solve through the concept of shared nurses. With the use of a mobile app, professional nurses will now come to homes of registered patients to offer a dozen of services including intravenous injections and aspiration. Patients, especially the elderly and infirm who cannot easily get to hospital, are able to access convenient and professional services via shared nurses, economical in terms of both time and money. Meanwhile nurses, whose…

Lucky Gesture Students pose for a lucky gesture at No.1 High School in Handan City, north China’s Hebei Province, on June 7. About 9.75 million students sat for the national college entrance examination, which took place on June 7-8. Conservation Boost Southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region spent more than 1.1 billion yuan ($172 million) on ecological conservation projects in 2017, the region’s environmental protection bureau said on June 5. The projects ranged from grassland, wetland and wildlife protection to construction of nature reserves and afforestation. In 2009, China introduced a 23-year plan with a total spending of 15.5 billion yuan ($2.42 billion) to boost ecological conservation in the region. Statistics showed that in 2017, Tibet had 47 nature reserves covering 412,200 square km, or more than one third of the…

Under the theme of “carrying on the Shanghai Spirit and Ushering in a New Era for Media Cooperation,” the first Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) media summit was held on June 1 in Beijing, attracting over 110 media outlets from 16 countries. The summit was initially proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year in the Kazakh capital of Astana, where he suggested that it could enhance people-to-people exchanges among SCO member states. Xi reiterated these views in a congratulatory letter to the summit, adding that he hoped the event would play a positive role in the further development of the organization. Bridging hearts In the modern world, as information technology develops ever more rapidly, the media plays an increasingly significant role in communication between people and cross-cultural exchange, Xi wrote…

Dubbed the Ice Ribbon, the skating venue for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing (Beijing 2022) won praise from the International Skating Union (ISU) on May 27, though it is still under construction. As the only new permanent structure being built specifically for the Games in Beijing’s downtown, it is expected to be completed by the end of 2019. Featuring 22 separate light strands flowing up and around the oval, with a distinctive and poetic facade, the National Speed Skating Oval (NSSO) can accommodate 12,000 spectators, including 6,800 permanent and 5,200 temporary seats. The design is flexible so as to enable it to stage long- and short-track speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey and curling competitions. In the lead up to and during Beijing 2022, the NSSO, which began…

With the inclusion of China A-shares on a key global index, a step has been made for more foreign investors to increase exposure to China’s capital market and share its growth dividends. Global index compiler MSCI included 226 China large-cap A-shares on its MSCI Emerging Markets Index at the close of trading on May 31. These stocks, at a partial inclusion factor of 2.5 percent, have an aggregate weighting of 0.4 percent in the index. In the second step of the inclusion in September, the factor and weighting will increase to 5 percent and 0.79 percent respectively. MSCI indices are tracked by global funds at an estimated $3.7 trillion. “International institutional investors are devoting more time and resources to learning how to navigate Chinese markets,” said Chin Ping Chia, head…

China has achieved incredible growth since it adopted its reform and opening-up policy 40 years ago. What exactly is going on in China? What is the secret behind such rapid development? How can a rising China get along with the rest of the world? For U.S. readers who are eager to find answers to these questions, a series of new books may hold the key. At the 2018 BookExpo America (BEA) held in New York from May 30 to June 1, the first selection of Understanding China, a series of books telling the stories of contemporary China, was presented to U.S. readers for the first time since their publication in April. “Telling the stories of China, the Communist Party of China (CPC) and China’s communication and interaction with the rest…

Private Railway East China’s Zhejiang Province has granted permission for the country’s first high-speed railway project undertaken by private investors, said the provincial economic planner on June 5. The railway, 226.56 km long and capable of a maximum speed of 350 km per hour, is an intraprovincial route connecting the cities of Shaoxing and Taizhou. The project is to be jointly funded by private capital led by Fosun Group, state-owned China Railway, the Zhejiang Communications Investment Group Co. Ltd. and the local government. Private capital will hold a 51-percent stake in the railway, whose planned investment totals 44.9 billion yuan ($7.01 billion). Fosun Group signed an agreement on the project with the Zhejiang Provincial Government in September 2017, with the railway expected to be completed in 2021. Belt and Road…

China’s new-look economy is gaining momentum. With focus having been laid on entrepreneurship and innovation, a cluster of privately owned and rapidly growing startups have provided a boost for the country as it undergoes a momentous shift in growth drivers. According to a study released by Deloitte, by the end of June 2017 there were 252 unicorns—startup companies valued at over $1 billion—worldwide, 106 and 98 of which were in the United States and China respectively, far surpassing every other country. “China’s innovation capacity is now largely on par with America’s, which is reflected by the robust growth of Chinese unicorns. Most of these companies are excellent performers and frontrunners in their respective fields,” said Albert Wang, founding partner of Maintrend Capital and former partner of SAIF Partners, in an…

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) declared in October 2017 that socialism with Chinese characteristics had entered a new era, charting a new historical direction for China’s development. In this new era, the Chinese nation is experiencing a tremendous transformation: it has stood up, grown rich, and is now becoming strong. In recent times, the Chinese nation has become independent and more prosperous. The key to this is the CPC and the Chinese people’s correct understanding of the characteristics of the times, as well as the guidance of the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the opportunities availed during 40 years of reform and opening up. Peace and development remain the call of our time. China is still in the primary stage of socialism…

Teapots that combine traditional porcelain-making techniques with modern design, handmade stylish furniture for children made using a mortise and tenon technique, and brooches that incorporate elements of embroidery from the Miao ethnic group mainly living in southwest China. All of these exquisite handicrafts are on sale at the Jiachuan Experience Center in Qianmen, a historical commercial area adjacent to Tiananmen Square in downtown Beijing. Zhang Erze, founder and CEO of the Jiachuan Culture Company in Beijing that owns the Jiachuan Experience Center, said the best way to preserve intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is to make it applicable to people’s daily life during a speech at the Beijing International Forum on People-to-People Friendship held on May 27-29. The event, hosted by the Beijing People’s Association for Friendship With Foreign Countries, the…