Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.64/No.16 i Beijing Review

Well before the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, the Communist Party of China (CPC) had set up many strategic revolutionary bases in its battle against first the Kuomintang (KMT) as early as the 1920s and later the Japanese invaders during the World War II. These bases, nowadays referred to as the old revolutionary bases, mostly lie in the nation’s vast and remote rural areas. With poor access to transportation, they were extremely difficult for the KMT or Japanese troops to penetrate, spoiling and hampering enemy attacks and creating space for the CPC to develop a legacy of red memories that inspired a nation. Nonetheless, after the founding of the PRC, these old revolutionary bases lagged behind other regions in terms of economic development, especially following…

The China skeptics are hard to please and anything the Chinese Government does will be viewed by them in a negative light. According to them, China’s rise should be feared, while forecasting China’s doom is smart thinking. But what is the real China and how to understand the nation from a more neutral perspective? The future is more important than the past and that’s why China’s Central Government makes a big splash when announcing its five-year plans to reaffirm its commitment to keep the nation vibrant while adapting to changing geopolitical conditions and international business trends. At this year’s annual session of the National People’s Congress, lawmakers formally adopted the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year…

NEW STAR PLAYER OF CHINA’S NATIONAL WOMEN’S SOCCER Wang Shuang, a midfielder on China’s national women’s soccer team, contributed one goal and one assist as the women’s soccer team, nicknamed the Steel Roses, beat the Republic of Korea (ROK) by 4-3 on aggregate in the Olympic Qualification playoffs on April 13. Wang’s successful strike in the second half of the game was crucial to the team’s victory in the first leg of the playoffs and cemented her reputation as a powerhouse in Chinese soccer. The opposition coach, Colin Bell, described Wang as a world class player. Wang, 26, began her soccer career as a child living and training far away from home. Since turning pro and subsequently making her national debut in 2013, she has played for China’s national team,…

U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry’s visit to China in mid-April intended to smooth over relations with China before the Earth Day Virtual Summit on climate change hosted by the Joe Biden administration on April 22-23. Prior to his China trip, Kerry toured a number of European Union countries and selected parts of Asia for the same purpose. The Biden administration has invited leaders from 38 countries, including China and Russia, in addition to President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen China did not attend the global summit on climate and development organized by the UK on March 31. Against this most recent backdrop, China’s positive stance on the upcoming U.S. summit has received global attention. The U.S.…

At the end of March, a new retail experience project of China Sinopharm Healthcare Industry Co. opened for business in the Yangpu Bonded Port Area in Hainan Province. Initiated at the end of last year, the complex consists of a duty-free shopping center dedicated to imported health products through e-commerce channels and exhibition and leisure facilities. By mid-2022, Sinopharm Healthcare will build more workshops, production lines and warehouses in the area, according to the company, a subsidiary of the pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm. Sinopharm Healthcare’s investment was inspired by preferential policies put in place for developing Hainan into a world-class free trade port (FTP). According to Wang Yaoqi, General Manager of the company, most of its raw materials are imported from abroad, and the products are sold in China and in…

After China’s policy of reform and opening up got underway in 1978, electronic industry resources from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong consistently gathered in the southern city of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. That was the one moment in time when the Huaqiangbei Electronic Market in Shenzhen’s Futian District set off on its now legendary journey. A manifestation of cutting-edge information, the tech super-hub today accounts for nearly 90 percent of the city’s electronic digital products trading shares. This particular street market grew from several factories of roaring machines into a street of small electronics processing and trade outlets. Nevertheless, today, it is an established business circle featuring multifaceted structures of all sorts. The area’s development embodies both the launch of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the ultimate motivation for…

Smart Manufacturing Large manufacturing firms with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan ($3.06 million) will have all introduced digitalization by 2035, according to a draft on intelligent manufacturing development issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) for public feedback on April 14. By 2025, these firms will basically have achieved digitalization, while leading firms in key industries will basically have achieved intelligent transformation, the document read. The intelligent manufacturing equipment will meet 70 percent of domestic demand, while the industrial software manufacturing will meet half of domestic demand by 2025, it added. Residential PV In order to reach the goal of carbon neutrality, China’s residential photovoltaic (PV) industry will embrace huge growth in the next five years and beyond, Wang Bohua, an official…

Since childhood, Mao Haofu has been hearing stories about revolutionary figures and the revolutionary base in his hometown—Jinggangshan City in Jiangxi Province—from his grandfather Mao Binghua, former curator of the Jinggangshan Museum. In 2015, Mao Haofu graduated with a master’s degree in accounting and finance and began working for a company in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi. However, spurred on by his desire to record and pass on the revolutionary legacies, two years later he decided to return to his hometown and become a tour guide at the Jinggangshan Museum. “I hope that through my introduction, visitors can develop a deeper understanding of China’s revolutionary history and culture, even if they had little knowledge of them prior to coming here,” Mao Haofu told ThePaper.com. Jinggangshan is one of the hottest destinations…

President Joe Biden took office three months ago, talking about improving the diplomatic relationship between the United States and multiple nations, China among them. But so far, little has changed. In fact, the current relationship between Washington and Beijing might be worse than it was when Donald Trump was in the White House American and Chinese officials held a series of meetings in Anchorage, Alaska, in the middle of March. The various officials had barely settled into their seats before the Chinese delegation was on the receiving end of a rebuke from the American side about human rights, cyber attacks and economics, all of which Washington claimed were efforts by Beijing to undermine the world’s “rules-based order.” That rebuke, of course, met with a strong rebuff from the Chinese side…

‘The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has announced an imminent overproduction of cotton; main exporters being India, the U.S., and China. The U.S. has now launched a global smear campaign [against Xinjiang cotton] and if this proves successful, countries and companies alike will no longer be buying Chinese cotton,” explained French journalist and writer Maxime Vivas in an exclusive interview with Beijing Review, shortly after the Better Cotton Initiative—a non-profit, multi-stakeholder governance group based in Switzerland—initiated its so-called Xinjiang cotton boycott. On March 19, Vivas shared a video of Lawrence Wilkerson, a retired U.S. Army Colonel and former chief of staff to former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, in charge of the East Asia and Pacific sector, giving a speech in August 2018. Wilkerson said in the video,…

With a cup of pu’er tea and a burning sandalwood incense stick on the desk, Zhang Xiaodong begins a day’s work at his studio in Yizhuang in the southeastern suburb of Beijing. Zhang is the inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage known as Dragon Scale Binding Also called Fish Scale Binding, Dragon Scale Binding is an ancient bookbinding technique that emerged during the transitional period when collected writing shifted from scrolls to books formed with leaves during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The binding technique not only shortened the length of a book to facilitate a more efficient reading and searching process, but also vastly improved the reading experience. However, the original exquisite and intricate technique was once lost, and the only existing ancient book using this binding technique was preserved…

Culture and tradition are the soul of a country. When a country loses its culture and tradition, it is difficult for it to make progress. Chinese people protect their culture and traditions I have learned about Chinese culture and tradition at school. It is visible everywhere in China but I did not really understand it in the beginning. Then I realized sometimes I have to experience something in order to understand it. During the winter vacation this year, I decided to stay at our university to participate in all the activities organized for foreign students to celebrate the Spring Festival and immerse myself in Chinese culture. The preparation began a month ago with the decorating of our rooms with Spring Festival couplets and new year paintings. People in China usually…