Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 62/No.17 i Beijing Review

More on Board With five more companies’ applications accepted for listing by the Shanghai Stock Exchange on April 15, China has 77 companies applying to be listed on the new science and technology innovation board. The companies have to go through a second stage of audit and inquiry before they can be listed on the sci-tech board. In the second stage, they must show they have complied with listing rules and that there are no flaws in their finances. The new sci-tech board, which will pilot a registration-based IPO system, focuses on companies in hi-tech and strategically emerging sectors such as new-generation information technology, advanced equipment, new materials and energy, environmental protection and biomedicine, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission. The launch of the new board has entered a…

As trees burgeon and flowers blossom in Beijing, choreographing a spring chorus of colors and aromas, the site of the International Horticultural Exhibition 2019, sprawling at the foot of the Badaling Great Wall, is finally ready to burst into bloom. The expo, to be held in Yanqing District of Beijing, is scheduled to kick off on April 29, and last for 162 days until October 7. The preparation work has gone well and Beijing will do a remarkable job in presenting this expo to the world, said Tim Briercliffe, Secretary General of the International Association of Horticultural Producers, on April 13, while visiting the expo site. The organization, founded in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1948, states its mission as to “reignite and uphold an appreciation of plants that we believe is…

The 2019 World Economic Outlook released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on April 9 forecasts a decline in growth this year for 70 percent of the global economy amid trade tensions and financial tightening alongside normalization of monetary policy in advanced economies. Global economic growth is projected to decline from 3.6 percent in 2018 to 3.3 percent. However, the outlook for China’s growth has been revised up from 6.2 percent to 6.3 percent, making it the only major economy to have its growth rate forecast raised. The Chinese economy expanded 6.4 percent year on year in the first quarter of this year, 0.1 percentage point higher than the IMF forecast, with the GDP reaching 21.34 trillion yuan ($3.18 trillion), according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on April…

Impact investing, a form of socially responsible investment that tries to benefit society or the environment while pursuing financial return, is in line with China’s new vision of innovative, coordinated, green, open and inclusive development. It can play a key role as the focus of China’s economic growth shifts from high speed to high quality. Technological revolution, financial innovation and the globalization of the capital market have promoted economic development worldwide, with global wealth witnessing exponential growth in the past 20 years. Still, poverty, hunger and problems in many fields such as education and health continue to pose grave challenges. Against this backdrop, in 2015, the UN member countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, committing to meet a set of 17 time-bound goals that range from ending extreme…

On April 13, the marathon event for the 10th National Paralympic Games (NPG) was held in Wuqing District, north China’s Tianjin Municipality. Co-hosted by the China Disabled Persons’ Federation, the General Administration of Sport of China and the Tianjin Municipal People’s Government, the 10th NPG has 43 events, with the marathon the first competitive event. The 10th NPG will also function as the Seventh National Special Olympics. The 10th NPG will officially kick off in Tianjin on August 25 and continue through September 1. Some events are being held before the official opening, while during the main competition period, about 4,700 athletes will participate.…

Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli (center), Prime Minister of Nepal, attends a ceremony on April 16, celebrating the completion of the main part of the 12.2-km tunnel of the Bheri Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project. It has been completed almost a year ahead of schedule. Located in west Nepal, the project was designed and is being constructed by China Overseas Engineering Group Co. Ltd. The irrigation-cum-hydroelectric project is one of the country’s strategic projects to help ease the food crisis in the region by increasing agricultural yield.…

FRANCE People gather around the damaged Notre Dame Cathedral on April 16, a day after a fire destroyed the spire and roof of the iconic building in Paris. In a message to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Chinese President Xi Jinping said like the French, the Chinese were also deeply saddened by the devastation PERU Zulema Tomás (center), Health Minister of Peru, speaks to the press from a hospital in Lima, after ex-President Alan García shot himself in the head to avoid arrest on corruption charges. The former leader died hours later INDONESIA A man reads candidate information at a polling station in Jakarta on April 17, as voting began in presidential and legislative elections. Some 193 million people were eligible to vote THAILAND People splash water on each other…

China and the EU “need to work together to promote an open world economy and address long-running issues and new challenges confronting the human society to inject stability into an increasingly uncertain world,” Chinese Premier Li Keqiang wrote in a signed article published in German newspaper Handelsblatt on April 8, as he embarked on a visit to Europe. In the article titled Embracing Openness and Cooperation for Mutual Benefit, Li said “China is ready to work with Europe to promote two-way opening up and provide a level playing field for our companies to strengthen cooperation in each other’s countries.” Li’s Europe tour, which ended on April 12, took him to Brussels, Belgium, for the 21st China-EU leaders’ meeting, and to Croatia for an official visit as well as the eighth…

The E9 Zone, located in east Beijing’s Chaoyang District, used to be a wasteland after a dairy plant moved out in 2012. But two years later, a makeover took place in this 78,000-square-meter area, turning it into a modern industrial park that integrates both culture and technology industries. By the end of March, over 80 innovative companies were settled in the zone, including three unicorns. A unicorn is a startup company valued at over $1 billion. The zone’s transformation is part of Beijing’s plan to phase out some non-essential functions, become the country’s center of scientific and technological innovation and pursue high-quality development. Industrial upgrading Beijing is currently home to over 21 million people, and the number is expected to climb to 23 million by 2020. Traffic congestion, soaring property…

‘In this digital era, I’m very much puzzled by the lack of communication among humans,” Jin Liqun, President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), said when he was asked what the AIIB is, the first question at a panel discussion during the Harvard College China Forum in Boston on April 13. Jin said he was puzzled because since he was appointed inaugural president and chairman of the Beijing-based multilateral development bank in January 2016, he has spent a lot of time explaining what it is. In three years, the bank’s members have increased from 57 to 93, the second largest global membership after the World Bank. The members have expanded from Asia to the rest of the world. The AIIB has provided financial support worth $7.5 billion for infrastructure…

($1=6.7 yuan) 6.5% Year-on-year increase of China’s industrial output in Q1 2019, 1.2 percentage points higher than the January-February period 11.8% Year-on-year growth of China’s real estate investment in the first three months of 2019, compared to 11.6 percent in the first two months $25.21 bln China’s non-financial outbound direct investment in 143 countries and regions in Q1 11.6 mln Number of electric cars Volkswagen plans to produce in China by 2028 6.2% Year-on-year increase of China’s fiscal revenue in Q1 2019, or 5.36 trillion yuan 65.7% Debt-to-asset ratio of China’s centrally administered state-owned enterprises by the end of March, down 0.2 percentage points year on year $300 mln Tech giant Huawei’s planned annual investment in basic science and technology research for the next five to 10 years $1 tln…

Job Bonanza Job seekers interact with employers at a job fair during the 17th Conference on International Exchange of Professionals in Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong Province, on April 14. The event attracted some 4,000 agencies and organizations from more than 50 countries and regions, as well as more than 40,000 government representatives, experts and top-level professionals. Protecting Riverheads China plans to invest 900 million yuan ($134 million) this year to protect Sanjiangyuan, the cradle of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers in Qinghai Province in the northwest. The fund is to be used for wildlife protection and ecological restoration of grasslands, lakes and glaciers in the area on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, said the Qinghai Provincial Development and Reform Commission on April 15. Between 2005 and 2018, China invested more than…

On April 13, 700 Chinese sturgeons, known as “living fossils,” were released into the Yangtze River in central China’s Hubei Province to give a fresh lease of life to one of the oldest extant species dating back to 140 million years ago and once coexisting with dinosaurs. The Chinese sturgeon, a rare fish, is being bred artificially after efforts to protect the species started in the 1950s. “Unfortunately, the rare species in the Yangtze are becoming increasingly endangered as the water and ecology deteriorated due to human activities. No natural reproduction was seen in the Chinese sturgeon in the past two years,” Zhao Yimin, an official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said. Zhao was speaking at the ceremony to release the fish in the Yangtze after they…

With clouds hanging over its global sales in 2018, Audi, the luxury arm of the Volkswagen Group, saw a silver lining in its push into the Chinese market. Despite lower sales in both Europe and the U.S. last year, Audi’s performance in China stood out as an exception. Data released by the company showed that its sales in the European and U.S. markets declined by 13.6 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively, year on year in 2018, while its deliveries in the Chinese market exceeded 660,000 units, gaining a year-on-year growth of 11 percent. China continues to be Audi’s largest single market in the world, covering one third of its sales. Like Audi, many foreign car brands are increasingly focusing on the Chinese market. Infiniti, Nissan’s premium brand, announced in early…

A U.S. Broadway show highlighting the transforming power of music struck the right chord during its premiere in China. School of Rock, a kind of Sound of Music story based in a classroom, had its first stop in Shanghai, and then traveled to Beijing for almost a month-long run at the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center from March 22 to April 14. Based on the 2003 film of the same name, the musical is the story of Dewey Finn, a maverick rock singer and guitarist who, after he is kicked out of his band, joins a prestigious prep school pretending to be a substitute teacher. There he decides to create his own curriculum, turning his class into a guitar-shredding, bassslapping and mind-blowing rock band. Oscar-winning British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who…

In late March, a group of developers started an initiative on computer code-sharing platform GitHub, called 996.ICU, to complain that their 996 work schedule was a shortcut to the ICU. The term 996 refers to a draconian work schedule that is from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, however, called the 996 schedule “a huge blessing.” Richard Liu, founder and CEO of JD.com, said in a WeChat post that while he would never force his staff to follow a 996 schedule, people who slacked off were not his “brothers.” Their remarks triggered further remarks and the controversial schedule has now developed into a nationwide debate. Working with passion Jack Ma (www.weibo.com): While the laws will decide whether the 996 schedule is right…