Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 62/No. 2 i Beijing Review

Economic Census The fourth national economic census entered its registration phase on January 1. The survey will cover all businesses involved in the secondary and tertiary industries, painting a wide economic picture. About 30 million impersonal entities and industrial activity units, as well as about 60 million self-employed entrepreneurs will be involved. Ning Jizhe, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission and head of the National Bureau of Statistics, said the registration will determine the quality of the whole census and called for efforts to ensure statistics are accurate and true. A total of 2 million census workers will be deployed to nearly 900,000 communities to conduct the survey. China has conducted three national economic censuses previously in 2004, 2008 and 2013. Threading Results Workers make clothes in…

When Su Yiming and her seven former classmates had a reunion party at the end of 2018, it was Su’s phone that became the center of attraction. When she took a photograph, the young women were blown away by the stunning features of the phone camera. Su, an office worker, also told them how her new Huawei phone scores over the latest iPhone model. It allows her to have two accounts on popular social media platform WeChat simultaneously, one for her personal use and one for her office use, a feature unavailable on the iPhone. Su also told them how she had to queue up for a long time when she bought the phone, reminiscent of the iPhone’s launch of new models in the past. It testified to the Chinese…

China must be and will be reunified, President Xi Jinping said at a gathering in Beijing on January 2 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Chinese mainland’s Message to Compatriots in Taiwan. “It (reunification) is a historical conclusion drawn over the 70 years of the development of cross-Straits relations, and a must for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in the new era,” Xi said. Speaking at the Great Hall of the People, Xi called for joint efforts across the Taiwan Straits to advance peaceful national reunification. The longstanding political differences cannot drag on generation after generation, Xi said. He added that since 1949 the CPC, the Chinese Government and the Chinese people have unwaveringly seen the resolution of the Taiwan question as a historic task to realize…

Acultural variety show titled Shang Xin Le Gu Gong is taking China by storm. Translated as There Is Something New in the Forbidden City, the unique broadcast has been going on air every Friday night since November 9 on Beijing TV and video streaming on iQiyi.com. This is not the first time that the Forbidden City, or Palace Museum, China’s royal residence during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, has appeared in a TV program. Previous endeavors sought to introduce the historical site to audiences through documentaries such as Masters in the Forbidden City, which followed cultural relic repairers at the Palace Museum and was first broadcast on China Central Television in 2016. However, the new show is being acclaimed for its light-hearted way of bringing the museum closer…

($1=6.9 yuan) $23.3 bln China’s current account surplus in the third quarter of 2018, up 338 percent from the second quarter 210.82 tln yuan Total transaction value of the Chinese futures market in 2018, up 12.2 percent from 2017 610 mln Passenger trips handled by China’s civil aviation industry in 2018, up 11.4 percent year on year 102 Number of initial public offering applications approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission in 2018, down from 401 in 2017 China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) China’s Non-Manufacturing PMI China’s Comprehensive PMI (Source: National Bureau of Statistics) 41% Year-on-year growth of the number of trains running to Europe from the freight logistics center in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in 2018 1.7% The general unemployment rate in Macao from September to November 2018,…

This photo provided by the China National Space Administration shows the first image of the Moon’s far side taken by the Chinese robotic probe Chang’e-4. The lunar explorer touched down on January 3, marking the first spacecraft soft-landing on the Moon’s uncharted side in history that is never visible from Earth. The probe was launched on December 8 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest Sichuan Province, opening a new chapter in lunar exploration. The tasks of the Chang’e-4 mission include low-frequency radio astronomical observation, surveying the terrain and landforms, and measuring neutron radiation to study the environment on the far side of the Moon.…

CROATIA Fireworks light the sky to celebrate the new year in the capital city of Zagreb on January 1 BRAZIL President Jair Bolsonaro waves during his swearing-in ceremony amid heightened security in Brasilia on January 1 DENMARK A police car stops at the scene of a train collision on a bridge near Nyborg on January 2, where six people were killed and 16 others injured BELGIUM Euro notes are displayed in Brussels right before January 1, the 20th anniversary of the launch of the currency CUBA Raul Castro, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee, highlights the “heroic sacrifices of Cuban people” during the 60th anniversary celebration of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in Santiago de Cuba, on January 1 BANGLADESH Voters line up at a…

If you find yourself in Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria, and you’re a gadget freak, make your way to the Ikeja electronic market, which is possibly the largest of its kind in West Africa. Also known as Computer Village, it is one of the busiest and most popular places in Lagos. There, among the myriad different electronic devices sold in its countless alleys, a marketing phenomenon with a bright blue shopfront rules the roost. Welcome to TECNO, the Chinese brand that in just 10 years of its existence has emerged as the frontrunner in Africa’s booming mobile phone market. In China, few people have heard of TECNO or its owner, TRANSSION Holdings. It doesn’t have a single store in China and operates from a low-key headquarters in Shenzhen in…

Kou Hongyan was laid off from a factory in Beijing 14 years ago. At the time she could hardly imagine that one day she would become a pioneer leading her fellow townspeople in Beijing’s western suburbs to shake off poverty and become prosperous. In her early 40s, Kou had no idea what to do after losing her job in 2005. But her enterprising spirit pushed her to move forward and after serious consideration, she went back to her hometown in Zhaitang Town in Mentougou District and started a rural homestay business with five friends. In spite of difficulties along the road, her business stabilized and in 2007, Kou established a cooperative to enable more local people to join the business and earn a share. Now there are over 300 people…

On December 25, 2018, when many parts of the world were celebrating Christmas, foreign investors eyeing China and Chinese enterprises also received a long-term gift. China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) released a nationwide negative list, detailing the industries prohibited or restricted for investment from both foreign and domestic investors. Industries not on the list are open for investment to all market players, creating a level playing field for all in terms of entry rules. There are 151 sectors on the list. Four of these are prohibited for investment, including illegal financing and unlawful Internet activities. The rest, such as agriculture, manufacturing, mining and ride-hailing business, needs government approval. The list also includes 581 specific rules. This is a shorter list following a trial…

Art and Fun in the Snow Visitors play at the Harbin Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo on December 29, 2018. The 31st edition of the expo covers an area of 900,000 square meters. IPR Court The Supreme People’s Court (SPC) started to hear intellectual property rights (IPR) appeals that require more expertise starting on January 1. As a permanent division under the SPC, the new IPR court will be made up of four departments, said Luo Dongchuan, Vice President of the SPC and the IPR court chief, at a press conference announcing the measure. IPR cases refer to a broad range of lawsuits involving patents, copyrights, trademarks, new plant varieties, integrated circuit layout design and monopoly. IPR cases are complex and expertise is needed for their trials. IPR…

Padma Yangdron’s 2019 New Year’s wish has been refined from her 2018 one. Her wish for 2018 was to have the Lum medicinal bathing of Sowa Rigpa, traditional Tibetan medicine, included in UNESCO’s World Intangible Cultural Heritage list. This became a reality on November 28, 2018, at the 13th session of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Port Louis, Mauritius, where the decision to inscribe it on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity was announced. As director of the Tibetan Medicine Hospital in Lhasa, southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, and one of the members of the application team, Padma saw the event via live broadcast and was thrilled. “It is a milestone in promoting Tibetan medicine to the world,” she…

‘Current financial risks have generally retreated, and initial success has been achieved in amending financial dysfunction,” read a report on China’s financial stability issued by the People’s Bank of China (PBC), the central bank, at the end of 2018. Despite mounting growth pressures and external headwinds, China has made notable progress in defusing financial risks compared to a year ago, when international organizations warned the country of emerging “tensions” in the financial sector. “The system’s increasing complexity has sown financial stability risks,” the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a report at the end of 2017, which identified three major risks in China’s financial system. Instead of ignoring or denying the issues, the PBC had a timely and rather modest response, recognizing the assessments as “professional and valuable” while pledging…

First Olympic Gold in Men’s Ice Sports Wu Dajing set a new world record in men’s 500-meter short-track speed skating at the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games in South Korea on February 22, winning China’s only gold at the games and also the country’s first Olympic gold in men’s ice sports. Winter Olympics Entering ‘Beijing Time’ After the conclusion of PyeongChang 2018 on February 25, the Olympic Winter Games entered “Beijing time” with preparation for the Beijing 2022 accelerating. On August 8, organizers launched a global competition to design the mascots for the Olympic and Paralympic winter games in 2022. On October 15, proposals for the opening ceremony were solicited. First Medal at Winter Paralympics China claimed a 6-5 win over Norway in the wheelchair curling final at the PyeongChang Paralympic…