Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.64/No.23 i Beijing Review

The oldest Chinese opera dates back more than 2,000 years. For centuries, traditional Chinese opera was the most popular cultural entertainment in the daily life of ordinary Chinese people. Traditional Chinese opera features many schools, including Peking Opera and Kunqu Opera—both are listed as World Intangible Cultural Heritage—as well as hundreds of local types across the country. However, nowadays entertainment has become more diversified and the space for traditional Chinese opera to develop is narrowing. A faster pace of life has also altered the people’s perspective and some forms of Chinese opera are dying; many opera performers are leaving the stage and the audience is shrinking. Traditional Chinese opera faces the unprecedented challenge to remain relevant. Traditional Chinese opera requires not only a huge amount of time, but also a…

Jiang Li’s fondest childhood memory brims with images of The Legend of the White Snake. The classic TV series based on a Chinese folktale is in fact the same age as Jiang, having premiered in 1992. The traditional tale tells the story of a female white snake spirit who dreams of transforming into a goddess by doing good deeds and ends up falling in love with a human. Nevertheless, demons and humans are not supposed to develop such relationships, so their connection from the start faces many a challenge. Raised by her grandmother, a fan of the drama, in Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province, this 29-year-old accountant, has watched the series so many times that she can recall almost every single detail of every single episode. Recently, Jiang watched a movie…

Jigme Dorje, Du Fuguo and Peng Shilu. These names may sound unfamiliar to the foreign ear, but when their stories are told, everyone will find in them qualities they can identify with. Jigme Dorje is an ethnic Tibetan postal vehicle driver in Sichuan Province. For more than 30 years, he has risked his life traversing a dangerous route on average 3,500 meters above sea level. Du lost his eyes and forearms trying to protect his fellow soldier in an explosion during a mine clearance operation. Peng was a scientist who played a key role in the development of China’s nuclear submarines and power plants. They are among the 124 individuals and teams recognized as role models of the times. Since 2014, this title has been conferred to those who embody…

Recently, a piece of information posted by a Shanghai-based domestic service agency on a social media platform has garnered much attention. It reads that a Tsinghua University graduate applied for the position of domestic housekeeper with a monthly salary of 35,000 yuan ($5,400). The agency also reveals that it is not a small number of graduates from prestigious universities who have taken on domestic service jobs. Traditionally, any occupation within the domestic service field is not considered a decent job, so some people believe that the marriage between prestigious university graduates and domestic service positions is a mismatch and even a waste of talent. However, for the most part, popular opinion holds that domestic service jobs also deserve respect, and, more importantly, some of the jobs in the sector nowadays…

FAMOUS ARCHITECT AWARDED JULY 1 MEDAL Wu Liangyong, a famous architect, educator and founder of the science of human settlements, was recently awarded the July 1 Medal for outstanding Party members by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. Born in 1922 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, Wu graduated in 1944 with a bachelor’s degree from the Department of Architecture at the National Central University in Chongqing. Projects under Wu’s instruction won several awards on the national level, a gold medal from the Asian Architects of Regional Council Award for Architecture, and the UN World Habitat Award. The July 1 Medal, established by the CPC Central Committee, is the highest honor in the Party. In general, it will be granted every five years to celebrate major anniversaries of the founding…

Much has been written about China’s socialist market economy since October 1992, when the concept was formally endorsed. Many have debated its true nature. Is it really a socialist or a market economy? Is it an unwieldy synthesis of both, or has it through time matured into a manageable system for continued national development? And relatedly, especially since 2008 (although such policymaking is much older), what are macro controls and how do they support both the concepts and practices associated with the Chinese economy? One question that has bedeviled socialists in particular is whether a socialist market economy is a contradiction of terms. From a Marxist perspective, markets are problematic. However, not even radical socialists should view a market as being necessarily bad or evil. This is because in its…

U.S. President Joe Biden emerged from the election as a redeemer, promising to put Donald Trump’s mistakes behind him and lead the country back on track. But after more than four months in office, Biden has not really lived up to his promise, with the domestic and foreign policies of the United States essentially following the path set by his predecessor: “Trumpism,” just without Trump. This is particularly evident in China-U.S. relations. On May 26, two important events took place in the field of China-U.S. relations. The first was Biden requesting the CIA, not the scientists, to accelerate its investigation into the origin of COVID-19, including the possibility that it emerged from a lab accident; which was perceived as a slight at China. The second, also that night, was U.S.…

Poverty shouldn’t be a controversial subject, but it is. The World Bank, the World Health Organization, the U.S. State Department and pretty much every government in the world has a different definition of what poverty means. In China, absolute poverty is defined as 11 yuan a day; this is about $1.7. The World Bank disagrees and sets a higher number. In 2011 the U.S. considered people to be in poverty if their consumption was less than $21.7 a day. If that were the case, given inflation, almost all Chinese people outside of a few large cities would be in poverty. But living in China is different. China doesn’t claim poverty eradication; it boasts a poverty alleviation program. The aim is to lift every Chinese person into a category they call…

The current world order produces a sentiment of anxiety and fear within the international community. China’s development is often interpreted in negative terms by the West and this evaluation shapes antagonistic tendencies. Sino-European relations have been partly affected by this atmosphere. Although last year ended with the conclusion in principle of negotiations for a comprehensive agreement on investment between China and the EU, tensions have not been uncommon in the first months of 2021. The decision of the European Parliament in May to freeze the ratification of the deal influences the usual kinetic energy of the bilateral partnership. The EU had already imposed sanctions on China for alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, to which the Chinese Government fiercely responded. The European Parliament now hopes that China…

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the opening of the 74th session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) took place via video link on May 24. The assembly highlighted such issues as pandemic responses, the World Health Organization (WHO) reforms and budgets, among other topics. However, even before the convening of the assembly, certain countries had already claimed they would file a request with WHO to investigate China regarding the origin of the novel coronavirus. They intended to use WHO as a tool to mount political pressure, for example by proposing to allow China’s Taiwan to attend the assembly, which only allows sovereign countries and regions to participate, and seriously violated China’s territorial sovereignty. Although WHO was somewhat distracted by these disruptions, on the whole, it was able to stick to its…

The COVID-19 pandemic still spreading globally has forced people to wear masks and reduce their outdoor activities, but women in pursuit of beauty have never really ceased to buy cosmetics. According to U.S.-based cosmetics giant Estée Lauder, its net sales for the first quarter (Q1) of the year reached $3.86 billion with a year-on-year increase of 16 percent, a number in which the Chinese market held some high stakes. In Q1, its makeup sales rose slightly in the Asia-Pacific market, reflecting the region’s more advanced recovery, primarily in China where occasions to actually wear makeup are on the rise. The net sales in the Chinese mainland saw a double-digit growth, which can be largely attributed to the opening up of domestic travel, especially in Hainan Province where duty-free stores tend…