Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.63/No.37 i Beijing Review

UZBEKISTAN Candidates sit for the university entrance examination at an outdoor site in Tashkent on September 2 GERMANY Meng Xiang and Meng Yuan, the first-ever twin giant pandas born in Germany, celebrate their first birthday in Berlin Zoo on August 31 CHILE Damaged houses in Atacama region after a 7-magnitude earthquake hit the northern part of the country on September 1 UKRAINE Students of a school in Kiev Oblast perform at the opening ceremony of the new school year on September 1. Over 4.2 million resumed their studies, except for those from cities in coronavirus quarantine zones JAPAN At a press conference in Tokyo on September 2, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga announces his candidacy in the Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership race after the abrupt resignation of Prime Minister Shinzo…

For several months Lhamo, a farmer in Xigaze, Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China, had been feeling enervated. The 23-year-old lacked strength to do any farm work and felt short of breath even during walking. She went to the Xigaze People’s Hospital, where she had to stay for 10 days. Doctors diagnosed her condition as iron deficiency anemia caused by an imbalanced diet and she braced herself for a pile of unpleasant medicines. To her surprise, she was discharged with just stick of special butter. Tailored solution The butter, also known as nutritional or tailored butter, is enriched with folic acid, vitamin B12 and iron elements, lack of which causes anemia. Lhamo was told to drink tea made with the butter regularly. Though relieved she didn’t need to take any…

Since the novel coronavirus disease outbreak this year, major world economies have been in a lockdown and the financial markets are more volatile than market expectations. Consequently, the renminbi (RMB) exchange rate has also been inevitably affected, with larger fluctuations than before. However, according to Zhou Maohua, an analyst with the financial market department of China Everbright Bank, these fluctuations are still the smallest among all major world currency fluctuations.“ The RMB has become one of the most stable currencies in the world,” Zhou told Economic Daily. The stability stems from a reform started five years ago. On August 11, 2015, the People’s Bank of China (PBC), China’s central bank, announced it was revamping the official central parity of the RMB against the U.S. dollar to better reflect market development…

Happy Celebrations Equestrian performances are staged in Subei Mongolian Autonomous County in Gansu Province, northwest China, on August 29, to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the county. Core Area On August 30, a detailed plan for developing the capital’s core area by 2035 was unveiled by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources, together with the government of Dongcheng and Xicheng districts. The goal is to develop the core area of about 92.5 square km into one with a sound administrative environment, strong cultural appeal and ideal living conditions. It offers stronger protection to the cultural and historical heritage in China’s political center. By 2035, the permanent population in the core area would be about 1.7 million. Job Fairs Beijing resumed on-site job fairs on…

Till two years ago, Tenzin was a struggling farmer in Lungsang, a village in the city of Xigaze in Tibet Autonomous Region, southwest China. Lying at an average altitude of 4,000 meters, with long sunshine hours and fertile soil, the area is one of the region’s major producers of highland barley. However, the crop had never brought the 75-year-old farmer any sizeable profit in his decades of farming. His family used it mostly to make tsampa, the traditional Tibetan staple food of roasted barley flour, and sold the rest. Selling was even harder than farming. Tenzin had to rent a truck to take the barley to nearby towns to sell it but would get only a little cash and sometimes, not even that but just sheepskin in barter. Then in…

For Gu Lifeng, who runs a self-driving club in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province in northwest China, August signaled fresh opportunities as he set out for a new tour to Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China. The route started from Xi’an, passed through Qinghai Province and arrived at the Changtang National Nature Reserve in north Tibet. “The self-driving route developed by the county government of Shuanghu in Tibet is the only one to the area open to tourists for now. The highest altitude in the county is 5,728 meters, and the scenery is spectacular,” Gu told Beijing Review. The ride is surprisingly smooth as Tibet’s infrastructure and tourism services have phenomenally improved, with fewer checkpoints and more hotels providing better services, he added. It’s a testimony to how the tourism industry is…

The 14th Five-year Plan (2021-25) is the first five-year period after reaching China’s first centenary goal, that is, to complete building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the time the Communist Party of China celebrates its centenary in 2021. It is a critical juncture for China to embark on the journey to build China into a great modern socialist country, that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful by the time the People’s Republic of China celebrates its centenary in 2049. Thus, how to do a good job during the 14th Five-Year Plan period becomes a question hanging over the government’s head. In order to formulate an effective five-year plan, the Chinese Government solicited the public’s opinions, ideas and suggestions online during August 16-29. Netizens can…

Complaint System The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on August 31 issued the rules on handling complaints from foreign-invested enterprises, which will come into force on October 1 this year, to improve the foreign investment complaint system. The rules consist of five chapters and 33 articles, further refining the relevant requirements of the foreign investment law and its implementing regulations. The interim rules of the MOFCOM on complaints of foreign-invested enterprises, which was published on September 1, 2006, shall be repealed simultaneously. The new rules broaden the scope of complaints, making it clear that foreign-invested enterprises and foreign investors may apply to the complaint agencies for solutions to their legitimate rights and interests being infringed upon by administrative acts, or report problems to the complaint agencies in the investment environment, and…

When Polish-born Chinese journalist Israel Epstein went to Lhasa for the founding of Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965, there were only a few special flights to the Roof of the World, mostly by veteran military pilots. And it was a no-fly zone for helicopters due to the bad weather and complicated terrain. But 55 years later, Tibet has 120 regular domestic and international air routes and dozens of ethnic Tibetan civil helicopter pilots. In 2018, 23-year-old Gyatso became the first ethnic Tibetan civil helicopter pilot in China thanks to a free training program offered to youngsters from impoverished families. A dream come true One of four children born into a farmer’s family in Lhasa, Gyatso had never thought he could ever become a pilot. The opportunity came in 2016, when…

Gyaltsen, a Tibetan born in Markam County in eastern Tibet Autonomous Region, started his own online business this summer after years of working in faraway cities. Now, the 27-year-old runs two online shops and one offline store in his hometown, selling local specialties such as matsutake mushrooms, wood ears and chili sauce with the help of a local e-commerce company. “I got about 200 to 300 orders per month, which brought me a net profit of 7,000 yuan ($1,020) to 8,000 yuan ($1,165). It’s twice my average monthly salary when I worked for other companies,” Gyaltsen told Beijing Review. Gyaltsen’s online stores are part of Markam’s ambition to bring e-commerce into its rural areas. Markam in 2016 was listed as a national-level test field to promote rural e-commerce. Markam East…

Phuntsog Gyatso, 33, seldom left his village in Sangri County, Shannan, Tibet Autonomous Region, in the first 30 years of his life. Both his mother and brother are disabled people who need care and support. As the only working person in the family, Phuntsog Gyatso had limited choices—he had to take care of the family and the highland barley fields all by himself. He could not think of finding jobs in the nearby town. His village was located on top of a 4,053-meter-high mountain, and his highland barley fields were half way up the peak. There was no irrigation system. The family lived at the mercy of the elements. His mother and brother have been receiving basic living subsidies from the government, but the family was far from prosperous before…